The Building Wealth and Health Network is a trauma-informed, healing-centered financial literacy program, that combines emotional and peer support to promote self-efficacy and resilience in traditionally under-resourced communities.
The Network was developed in partnership with the Center and Pennsylvania Department of Human Services to address the shortfall between the potential for families to break out of the cycle of deep poverty and public assistance programs intending to promote economic security. Its goal is to shift the discourse and policies surrounding public benefits programs to create equity for all people.
The Network provides healing-centered peer support and financial empowerment education focused on building family’s wealth and health. By addressing the associations between trauma and financial health, the Network is uniquely situated to make a tangible difference.
Human services, especially TANF, have lost sight of human potential and instead put heavy emphasis on work participation rates and compliance. These services are often counterproductive because they spend extensive time making sure participants are compliant with forms and protocol instead of focusing their resources on directly addressing what participants need most: healing, support, and financial empowerment. The Network brings the focus back to the individual and collective healing power within the trauma-informed peer support.
What We Do
Learn More About the Network
Confucius (551-479 B.C.) was a philosopher, teacher, and the founder of the Confucian school. He attached great importance to food and described it as one of the three basic conditions, along with an army and trust, for founding a state. He advocated that rulers �practice thrift and love the people.�
Confucius spoke highly of Yu the Great (2276 �2177 B.C., the founder of the Xia Dynasty). Yu paid little attention to food, but believed few people could abstain from good food and good housing because most people desire delicious food. Yu dedicated himself to the public good.
On the relationship between food and sacrifice, Confucius said animals offered in sacrificial rites should be chosen and cut according to fixed standards or they could not be eaten. He said meats given in sacrificial rites for the head of the state should be eaten the same day and not be kept until the next day. Meat offered in sacrifice at home should not be eaten if it were kept longer than three days.
Confucius advanced many principles of dietetic hygiene and criteria for testing the hygiene of foods. He said foods should not be eaten if they had rotted, if they were not well cooked, if their color had changed, or if the wine and dried meats bought from the market were not clean. He believed foods should only be eaten at mealtime, and if there were many meat courses, people should not overeat. This belief is reflected in the dietetic culture of the Chinese nation; it also conforms to dietetic hygiene because meats are not easily digested.
Confucius said, �Only wine drinking is not limited, but not so much as to make you confused.� He meant you could drink as much as you wanted, but should not become drunk. This was because the wine at that time contained little alcohol.
His advice, �Do not eat too much� and �Do not talk at meals,� conforms to the principle of building health through diet, as does �Do not take away the ginger.� Ginger is pungent, removes dampness, and reduces internal heat and fever, so eating a bit of it before meals aids health and digestion.
Confucius also said: �I do not eat if I do not get the proper soy sauce.� In his time meat dishes were unsalted, so they were dipped in soy sauce before they were eaten and different soy sauces were used for different meats. Confucius stressed that the dishes in his meals must be compatible, and did not resign himself to circumstances. �Although they use simple food, vegetables and melons, the three sacrifices must all be offered at the rite.� This shows Confucius was serious about meals. Even if simple food were involved, the attitude had to be serious.
In his writings, Mencius said that peoples� demand for delicious food was reasonable: �Fish is what I like as well as bear�s paw.� But, he opposed rulers disregarding the desire of common people for good food in order to satisfy their own desires. He exposed the dark reality that �They do not criticize themselves about dogs and swine eating human food, and they ignore the starved people lying on the roads.� He believed the emperor should share the joy of life with the people, and his �benevolent government� was the way to achieve this.
With regard to colonies, Mencius believed that only if people were clothed and fed would it be possible to establish harmonious relations and help the common people become cultured. He further believed that people should be vigorous and overcome their natural demands (overcome hunger) in order to shoulder the mission of humankind.
If we judge the history of China�s dietetic culture since these times, the Confucianists positively influenced the development of a dietetic culture. As Taoism and Confucianism have since blended spiritually, the two schools have complemented each other in the theory and practice of health building through diet.
Pat B., a web designer in upstate New York, didn't think much of it when she got a sinus infection the first week at her new job. Two months later, she got another one. Then the muscle cramping began. "I would try to walk at lunch time and my hips would cramp so bad I had to go back," she recalls. "As soon as I entered the building, it felt like the breath was sucked out of me."
After batteries of tests, she went on a leave of absence and the symptoms leveled off. When she returned, her throat started burning the minute she stepped into the building.
"The ceiling tiles were moldy, everything was wet," she says. "I could smell formaldehyde and so could one other person." Eventually, Pat was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease, an ailment that had already killed a young, athletic male co-worker. She is convinced the building she worked in caused her illnesses.
Symptoms and Causes of Sick Building Syndrome
Actually, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (www.cdc.gov/niosh) prefers the term "Indoor Air Quality." If 20% of the work force has symptoms -- including watering eyes; hoarseness; headaches; dry, itchy skin; dizziness; nausea; heart palpitations; miscarriages; shortness of breath; nosebleeds; chronic fatigue; mental fogginess; tremors; swelling of legs or ankles; and cancer -- the building may be labeled a "sick building." The telling factor is if the symptoms ease when workers are at home or on vacation.
The causes are many. In the 1970s, there was a movement amongst builders and regulatory authorities to button-up buildings to save on fuels for heating and air conditioning. Many buildings became virtually air-tight. According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, some polluting factors include indoor combustion (heaters, ranges, smoking) and buildup of carbon monoxide and inhalable particles; volatile organic compounds such as benzene, styrene, and other solvents; and airborne-allergens and pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, spores, and protozoans. Added to that are new building materials (plywood, carpet glue) and fabrics (rugs, furniture) that "offgas" toxic fumes.
Prevalence of These Complaints
Time was, complainers were dismissed as hypochondriacs and neurotics, but companies and regulators are acknowledging now that the modern office environment can be toxic.
In 1980, NIOSH got 150 internal environmental quality complaints, 8% of total complaints. By 1990, 52% of complaints concerned sick-making work environments.
Kenny Oldfield, CIH, a hazardous materials trainer at the University of Alabama Birmingham Center for Labor Education and Research (CLEAR), says the nature of the problem may be changing slightly. "We may be seeing a decrease in offgassing," he says. "Just look in the paint department at Home Depot -- you will find kids' paint and low vapor emission paint. There is some indication this is being addressed."
However, the problem of biological contaminants is increasing, he says -- molds, bacteria, such ailments as Legionnaires' disease, now called legionella. Pat herself was finally diagnosed as having a fungal problem. "These are the result of poor maintenance," Oldfield says. "We need to see more upkeep on heating and air conditioning systems, but with the economy, we may see less."
Vincent Marinkovich, MD, an immunologist in private practice in Redwood City, Calif., who sees many sick-building patients, also criticizes maintenance. "Sometimes," he says, "the best filters in the building are the lungs of my patients." People come to him because he knows how to treat fungal infections with a nose spray he makes specially. The problem, he says, is that mold may colonize the patient's nose; thus, patients are carrying around the toxin, which keeps infecting them every day.
What Can Employers Do?
Pat had a terrible time getting anyone to believe her. Her employer -- ironically, an HMO -- showed her certificates from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to the effect that the building was OK. She was offered a different office in the same building with the same air flow system. Eventually, she resigned.
The Building Owners and Managers Association International (www.boma.org), urges its members to create a healthy work environment, relatively free of contaminants and adjusted for temperature and humidity. To neglect such matters, building owners are told, means increased absenteeism and productivity -- thus, unhappy tenants. Every complaint, BOMA says, merits a response.
What to Do If Your Company Is Not Responsive
If you suspect your building might be contributing to your symptoms, Pat suggests:
- Take pictures of discolored or wet ceilings or furniture.
- Ask to record conversations with company personnel about the problem.
- Put your complaint in writing. Say you know your bosses care about their employees and their productivity.
- If you have already incurred lasting problems, you may be entitled to workers comp or disability. You may even try to get early retirement. Call OSHA for a clinic near you to be assessed. You may be asked to submit to a home inspection or psychiatric exam. Don't be offended, this is part of the process.
- Go to OSHA or the EPA directly to ask for an air-quality investigation. You may have to get more than one person to complain.
- Look for another job if you can't get satisfaction. Your health is too important to stay and stand your ground, perhaps for years.
"I feel better now," Pat says, three and a half years after quitting. "But my toes are still numb."
Building evacuations plans are designed to assist Northwestern building occupants with safely evacuating the building in the event of a fire, explosion, spill, or other emergency. If employees and students are familiar with evacuation procedures, then threats to safety and health will be minimized in the event of an emergency.
Program Highlights
- Evacuation plan development
- Identifying evacuation assembly areas
- Identifying exit paths
- Understanding building safety systems
Documents and Forms
Evacuation Assembly Area Maps
Evanston Campus
Chicago Campus
Unless you are in immediate danger, stay at your designated assembly area and await further instruction from the authorities, such as fire or police department. Never re-enter the building until authorities have announced that it is safe to do so.
With degrees in fine and commercial art and Spanish, Ruth de Jauregui is an old-school graphic artist, book designer and published author. De Jauregui authored 50 Fabulous Tomatoes for Your Garden, available as an ebook. She enthusiastically pursues creative and community interests, including gardening, home improvement and social issues.
published : 8 Feb 2023 at 04:00
SCG Ceramics Plc and Huawei Technologies have teamed up to develop energy storage technology, aiming to serve factory operators that adopt renewable energy.
Entrepreneurs need an energy storage system, or battery, to serve as a back-up power source for electricity produced by intermittent renewable energy sources such as the sun.
SCG Ceramics will jointly develop the technology through its Susunn Smart Solution Co, established to offer consulting and design services as well as distribution and installation of renewable power generation systems for customers.
Under a memorandum of understanding between Susunn and Huawei, the energy storage will be based on an energy monitoring platform from Susunn and energy storage technology from Huawei.
"We expect the energy storage system to support customers who use green energy in the industrial sector," Nampol Malichai, managing director of Susunn Smart Solution Co.
Main customers will be factories, especially those using rooftop solar panels in industrial estates.
The Susunn-Huawei cooperation will pave the way for a business to offer services and maintenance for batteries to ensure safety and high efficiency, he said.
Wu Xianbo (Jason), president of Smart PV and ESS Thailand under Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co, expects the cooperation to stimulate use of energy storage in Thailand and lead to further development of the technology.
"Huawei aims to offer solar power solutions to our customers and wants to share our technology with Susunn to develop and push forward an energy storage system in Thailand," he said.
Susunn also aims to install solar panels for its customers, especially factory owners in industrial estates. Its target is for 20-30 megawatts in electricity generation capacity for each industrial estate.
In 2022, the company introduced a solar carport, a carpark with electricity generation capacity of 6 kilowatts during peak hours. It can help a company save power costs by 30,000 baht a year and reduce greenhouse gas, amounting to 4,400 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.
Building Code: PHS
Building Number: 165
The 59,000-square-foot William N. Pennington Health Sciences Building opened in 2011 and is located adjacent to the Pennington Medical Education Building. With the purpose of moving toward interdisciplinary health care teams, it was constructed to meet sustainable, environmentally friendly building standards. The state of the art building includes classrooms, laboratories and simulated patient-care settings where students will participate in educational role-play with trained patients and faculty observers. The William N. Pennington Health Sciences building is also home to the Orvis School of Nursing. Located on the third floor, the Orvis School of Nursing includes its faculty and nursing offices, nursing skills lab, and administrative offices.
