[00:00:04] Um, from the natural state. This is Public Facing the Podcast.
[00:00:17] Hello and good day to each of you across your respective time zones and around the globe.
[00:00:23] Come on in, let's get comfy.
[00:00:26] Allow me to introduce myself. I'm your host, Joe Holman.
[00:00:30] It's very nice to meet you.
[00:00:32] Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Public Facing the Podcast, where culture and community meet.
[00:00:41] This is where we share everyday voices and extraordinary stories.
[00:00:46] This is the talk show that deep dives into the true stories, sharing the everyday voices and shedding light on the positive issues that shape our world.
[00:00:59] We openly welcome the conversations, the testimonies, and the personal stories that impact the lives of so many.
[00:01:07] Because these stories should always be public facing, our episodes are that of a scripted yet unscripted talk show.
[00:01:18] Regardless of what you hear shared during our time together, it is my hope that you can find truth and hope inside the stories that we share.
[00:01:30] My dear listeners, I find that I need to address an aspect of these broadcasts as there is a notable message that has been received.
[00:01:45] Uh, when I began the Public Facing podcast, I'd always acted with good intentions and with purpose.
[00:01:56] I'd manage things with an open door policy, if you will.
[00:02:01] Your input and your feedback are valuable and are given, uh, the concern and, and uh, the gravity that they should be taken seriously.
[00:02:15] So with that said, some collective feedback has been received and, uh, as it's been shared, I just like to address that before we go any further.
[00:02:32] Uh, you see, when this program began, my title and my show description were true, and they still are.
[00:02:44] The description, though, cast a wide net.
[00:02:48] The description included sharing conversations in the areas of topics on the current events that shape our lives.
[00:02:57] Areas like government, science, religion, onward to the arts, music, film and more.
[00:03:11] I give you the whole set because I'm now aware that my listeners feel that there has been a bit of a heavy hand when it comes to our government and politically charged stories.
[00:03:27] Now, this was never really my intention.
[00:03:30] I shared informational stories, updating on the cause and the status of our government at work or not, and the effects of its decisions as they impact the lives of its citizens.
[00:03:49] So, moving forward, I endeavor to be more balanced in the topics and the stories that I bring you.
[00:03:57] Now, I'm in no way saying that political stories are of no importance, because they absolutely are important.
[00:04:06] What I'm saying is that there are plenty of other shows, sites, outlets and podcasts that can service this area of interest, you know, and far better than I can.
[00:04:24] We don't go to the mechanic in order to pick up a gallon of ice cream, right?
[00:04:32] See, we go to the right source to obtain the right product or service that we're looking for.
[00:04:40] Oh man, now I want ice cream.
[00:04:44] All right, enough of that.
[00:04:47] But I do welcome your comments and your feedback and at any time, uh, just to take them all into consideration.
[00:04:59] Now, that said, note that I am the ultimate decision maker for the content shared within these broadcasts. Here at Public Facing the podcast, I have the final say on content additions and exclusions.
[00:05:19] I do. Thank you for your listenership. It really does mean a lot to me.
[00:05:27] Armed with this knowledge that I've just shared with you, does this commentary resonate with you personally?
[00:05:37] Does is your opinion differ from what you thought before as to where you're coming from now?
[00:05:49] And if so, how?
[00:05:52] Uh, join the conversation and send me your comments.
[00:05:58] To share comments or story ideas or even to just say hello.
[00:06:04] Send us an email at hello at Public Facing Pod dot stream.
[00:06:14] So stick around. There's a lot of good stuff here to pass on and we're just about getting ready.
[00:06:22] We begin today with a, uh, story out of the UK where a Parkinson's patient plays the clarinet, uh, during brain surgery and is delighted with how it went.
[00:06:36] Under local anesthesia, a woman in England was able to play her clarinet for the first time in five years while receiving treatment for Parkinson's disease.
[00:06:48] The Deep Brain Stimulation, or dbs, procedure promised, if successful, to restore motor control in the patient's hands such that she would be able to play her her beloved instrument again, and the surgeon asked her to bring it with her to test the theory.
[00:07:11] The resulting video makes for quite the sight as the surgery team behind the plastic sanitary screen sat listening in wonder.
[00:07:25] 65 year old Denise Bacon from Crowborough in the English county of East Sussex was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2014 and she gradually lost the ability to do her favorite things such as swim, dance and play the clarinet.
[00:07:47] DBS is a surgical procedure that delivers an electrical current to electrodes implanted deeply in the brain and is suitable for some patients with disorders such as Parkinson's.
[00:08:03] Her skull and scalp were numbered with anesthesia, but she stayed, uh, awake during the four hour intervention, which is when she was asked to play the clarinet to see if her motor control had improved.
[00:08:23] She goes on to say that I remember my right hand being able to move with much more ease once the stimulation was applied and this in turn improved my ability to play the clarinet, which I was delighted with.
[00:08:41] She told the BBC.
[00:08:44] I'm already experiencing improvements in my ability to walk And I'm keen to get back in the swimming pool and onto the dance floor to see if my abilities have improved there.
[00:08:56] We posted a video, uh, to this story and that's
[email protected] publicfacingpod We've got a post there. You'll be able to check out a, uh, few more details on this story.
[00:09:17] Now this one, this next one here is, is, uh, pretty amazing.
[00:09:27] So we're calling all Swifties and we're telling you to do not shake this off.
[00:09:34] 95 year old man starts Taylor Swift fan club in a retirement home and draws nationwide Swifty support.
[00:09:43] Taylor Swift just released her latest album, the Life of a Showgirl, and her popularity has reached every demographics, including a certain 95 year old in Nebraska in a retirement home.
[00:10:00] Uh, Frank Orias is a resident at the Remington Heights retirement community in Omaha.
[00:10:09] He was talking to a worker one day who expressed disappointment that Swift had never responded to any of her fan letters.
[00:10:19] Frank wanted to do something about it.
[00:10:22] He said, I know some people.
[00:10:25] That's what the 95 year old said in an interview with Omaha's KETV.
[00:10:32] He started a Taylor Swift fan club and worked to spread the word as far and wide as he could.
[00:10:40] Membership kept snowballing from 10 members to 20 and soon into the triple digits.
[00:10:49] In fact, so many people wanted to join that Frank had to add some membership stipulations, such as, if you're not a resident of Remington, then someone has to sponsor you.
[00:11:06] Uh, eventually, Frank's personality caught the attention of the Swifties fan base across the country.
[00:11:15] Molly from North Carolina sent Frank's fan club, um, a letter, some cookies and friendship bracelets, which are a staple souvenir of the Taylor fandom.
[00:11:29] I loved reading your story and hope these cookies and bracelets make your life of a showgirl listening party a little more enjoyable.
[00:11:40] Molly wrote.
[00:11:42] Welcome to the Swifty family.
[00:11:46] Another group of Swifties has invited Frank and his friends to join their online community, 50s for Taylor. 50 years old and plus, Frank continues to be a outspoken ambassador for Taylor and the, uh, Remington Heights fan club.
[00:12:06] During the interview with Hawaii tv, which I'll share a, um, link on our X page Again, that's x.comforward/public facing podcast.
[00:12:21] Moving on to the story. During the interview with ketv, he wore an I love Taylor button and some orange Swifty bracelets while touting a special Taylor Swift license plate affixed, uh, to his walker.
[00:12:36] The ultimate goal is to secure a visit from Taylor Swift herself.
[00:12:42] And the campaign has already begun.
[00:12:46] The club is preparing to deliver a big envelope to Taylor's team in Kansas City, where her fiance, Travis Kelsey, plays NFL football for the Chiefs.
[00:13:00] There's a letter typed for Taylor and Kelsey that includes marriage advice from Frank, who is a lifelong Chiefs fan.
[00:13:11] There's a letter for quarterback Patrick Mahomes in, uh, the envelope as well, along with photos of the newest, some might say oldest, Swifty fan club.
[00:13:26] Frank is having fun just thinking about all of them showing up to the Remington Heights building someday.
[00:13:33] And maybe that's the whole point.
[00:13:36] You're never too old to dream.
[00:13:40] We're having a wonderful time with this, he said again. For the video, check out our x.com public facing pod uh, another story we have coming to you right now from the UK Revolutionary implant enables Blind People to See in uh, a medical breakthrough that sounds like the stuff of science fiction, blind people have been able to read again thanks to a revolutionary eye implant.
[00:14:19] The microchip was inserted under the retinas of 38 blind people as part of a landmark global study.
[00:14:30] The results of each were published this week and uh, all those taking part had an untreatable age related macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness for over 50s and affecting some 5 million people worldwide.
[00:14:50] For 84% of the participants, the device enabled them to to see again.
[00:14:59] I was an avid bookworm and I wanted that back, said Sheila Irving, who took part in the multi country trial at London's Moorfield Eye Hospital.
[00:15:13] It was dead exciting when I began seeing a letter.
[00:15:17] It's not simple learning to read again, but the more hours I put in, the less the more I pick up.
[00:15:25] It's made a big difference.
[00:15:28] Reading takes you into another world.
[00:15:32] I'm definitely more optimistic now.
[00:15:38] Designed by US based Science Corporation, the chip is paired with a set of video recording glasses which transmit live footage to to a pocket computer that converts the footage into an electronic signal.
[00:15:54] This signal is then beamed to the chip which sends it through the retinal uh, area and the optical nerve cells and into the brain where it is interpreted as vision.
[00:16:10] In the history of artificial vision, this represents a new era, says Mahi Mukit, senior vitreoretinal consultant at Moorefields.
[00:16:24] It has never been done before.
[00:16:30] And speaking of beating blindness, another story we have here comes out of Fiji, where Fiji has become the latest nation to eliminate trichoma as a public health problem.
[00:16:47] The World Health Organization or who, announced this week.
[00:16:51] Trachoma, the world's leading cause of infectious blindness, is spread via uh, contaminated fingers or flies that have come into contact with the eyes of an infected person.
[00:17:08] Fiji Success in defeating the disease follows improvements in water, sanitation, increased monitoring and community awareness programs.
[00:17:24] UH, future generations of Fijians have been given precious gift in being set free from the suffering that trachoma has inflicted on their ancestors, said Dr. Tedro Adhanam Gabreus, Director General of the WHO.
[00:17:52] Let's bring it back home. Let's bring it back here to the land of the free and the home of the brave. Right this story.
[00:18:03] Have you heard about this?
[00:18:04] Have you heard about the new study that came out saying that fewer Americans are developing peanut allergies?
[00:18:16] A spoonful of peanut butter helps the allergies go down.
[00:18:22] That's according to the new US Study, which suggests that fewer Americans have developed peanut allergies since guidelines advocating early peanut exposure were introduced.
[00:18:37] Scouring medical records, researchers compared rates of food allergies before 2015, when the early exposure guidance was introduced, and after they noted a significant decline in peanut allergies from 0.79% to 0.45% of the study population.
[00:19:04] And food allergies are more generally from, uh, the 1.46% to 0.93% now.
[00:19:21] The 2015 guidance was issued after a study found that supervised exposure of peanuts to 4 to 11 month old infants with severe eczema or egg allergy reduced peanut allergy risk by 81%.
[00:19:40] More awareness, education and advocacy could further increase the positive results we observed in this study, said senior research author David Hill, an attending physician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
[00:19:58] You know, I can remember when, when I was growing up, even when I was a kid, young kid, elementary, uh, school age and everything, um, at that point for me, allergy was almost unheard of.
[00:20:19] Um, I don't even think I'd heard about it. Like, I guess like in, in a setting, um, where I could see something, say firsthand until I was in high school.
[00:20:38] So it's interesting to me that, that over time that, that peanut allergies and food allergies, but peanut allergies specifically are, you know, they've trended upward for years and it sounds like they've are finally on track with uh, seeing a reduction in those peanut allergies. So that's wonderful.
[00:21:04] Listen, join the conversation and send me your comments.
[00:21:10] To share comments or a story idea or even just to say hello, send me an email at. Hello at Public Facing Pod Stream uh, Public Facing the podcast is powered by Castos.
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[00:21:41] So how about using an Enterprise podcast platform. Castos can help. Let's talk about it.
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[00:23:13] I want to, um, add in here that there may be a delay or perhaps even a off week for the Public Facing podcast next week.
[00:23:27] I will unavoidably be away and uh, but fear not, fear not. I will return on or before the following week's broadcast.
[00:23:40] Also, we're still pinning down an interview with one of my favorite authors who we hope to have her in the studio in the next few weeks trying to finalize before the holiday.
[00:23:54] And I know I uh, know it sounds so secret and cloak and dagger or whatever, right?
[00:24:01] I assure you that there will be more info to come and I assure you it will be worth it the wait.
[00:24:12] Uh, alrighty.
[00:24:14] That's going to do it for today's episode of Public Facing, the podcast where culture and community meet.
[00:24:22] I want to thank for tuning in today.
[00:24:26] Remember, the stories that impact the public should always be Public Facing.
[00:24:33] If you enjoyed our time together, find us at Public Facing Pod Stream and be sure to follow us and subscribe wherever you find your podcasts.
[00:24:47] Uh, share this episode with someone today and again, connect with us on
[email protected] public facing pod and send us your comments. Or just say hello to hello at Public Facing Pod Stream.
[00:25:11] Again, thanks for listening.
[00:25:13] Until next time, share those everyday voices and extraordinary stories.
[00:25:20] Keep things upright and public Facing.
