Tuesday Group

Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate (HPHC) presented Tackling Climate Change as a Health Emergency to the Tuesday Group on November 21, 2023. Minnesotans are feeling the effects of climate change with extreme weather events and increased air pollution from fossil fuel burning and wildfires. Climate change is impacting our health, contributing to asthma, heart disease, other chronic illnesses and premature death. We’re also seeing increases in vector-borne diseases and adverse effects on mental health. This climate and health emergency must be addressed at all levels to prevent current and future impacts on our health, including actions by individuals, communities, government bodies, and health systems. This session will highlight climate and health effects, HPHC’s work on public policy solutions, and why it’s important for health care systems to reduce their carbon footprint, and ways to get involved. Speakers: Brenna Doheny, PhD, MPH – Executive Director & Board Chair, HPHC Kathleen Schuler, MPH – Policy Director & Board Treasurer, HPHC Jo Bjorgaard, BSN, RN, PHN, CSSBB - Board Member & Health Care Sustainability Team Leader, HPHC

The Tuesday Group presentation on November 7, 2023 was provided by Kap Wilkes and Emmy Ferguson, who gave us an introduction to a community-based recovery program. A Community-Based Recovery Program is being developed by a team within Well Being Development (WBD), starting with funds from the St Louis County Opioid Settlement Funds, awarded to WBD in early 2023. Well Being Development is a non-profit community agency serving the Ely area providing person-centered behavioral health education and resources. WBD helps people impacted by mental health and substance-use challenges live their best lives through values of respect, compassion, collaboration, community, and impact. Over the past year a project team and advisory group of committed community members have been exploring community perceptions and researching the impact of substance use and opioid use disorders (SUD and OUD), and options for treatments and recovery support that could be used here in the Ely area. We are presenting our findings and early ideas for a recovery residence with co-located support services and talking with our community to gather additional input that can be used for further design and implementation ideas. Kap Wilkes has been bringing people together for positive change for over twenty years. She has worked in over 40 states and with more than 200 rural leaders providing expertise in thinking strategically, engaging stakeholders, developing sustained networks, retaining staff, and managing change. Kap is the Executive Director with Well Being Development and a rural health consultant. She is an adjunct faculty for The College of St. Scholastica teaching within the Rural Healthcare MBA program, taeching both Organization Development and Performance Improvement courses.

Tuesday Group on October 31, 2023 was a presentation on Human Trafficking and Exploitation in Minnesota provided by Tatiana Bergum and Mel Alvar. They talked about the myths we often hear portrayed in the media, federal and state response to human trafficking and exploitation, terminology, data surrounding youth in MN, protective factors + resiliency, best practices, and prevention. Data shows that youth in rural communities across Minnesota are experiencing exploitation at higher rates than those in rural areas. It’s important for rural communities to better understand this issue and how to support survivors in their community. Tatiana Bergum and her family live in Duluth, Minnesota. She’s a wife, mother, and social justice advocate. She has worked in the anti-trafficking and mental health field in the past 5 years with survivors, and has a powerful story of her own that fuels her heart for the issue of youth experiencing sexual violence. Prior to anti trafficking work, Tatiana worked in Washington, D.C. doing communications and federal policy work. Most recently Tatiana worked as a federal contractor with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP). She provided national training and technical assistance as part of OTIP’s National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center where she had the opportunity to train systems, communities, and organizations across the country on the issues of trafficking. She has extensive experience in community planning and collaboration, non-profit strategy, and state legislative and policy work around the issue of commercial sexual exploitation of youth and children. Mel Alvar (she/her) is a community advocate, public health educator, and human trafficking subject matter expert from Duluth, Minnesota and a 2023 National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center (NHTTAC) - Human Leadership Academy (HTLA) Cohort 8 Fellow. Mel’s current work as the Safe Harbor Regional Navigator for Northeast Minnesota at PAVSA (Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault) connects her to communities and professionals across the region to build capacity for walking alongside individuals and families impacted by exploitation and human trafficking. For nearly 20 years, Mel has been involved in harm reduction, gender-based violence prevention, and outreach efforts in the Twin Ports area (Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin). Mel is fiercely passionate about improving equity, assisting families in navigating complicated systems and lowering the barriers that folks impacted by violence encounter on their healing journey. Mel is a mother, jewelry artist, business owner (Traveling Beads by Melissa), podcaster (Parent Chat), and CrossFit athlete in recovery, with lived experience of intimate partner trauma and exploitation.

The Tuesday Group presentation on October 17, 2023 was provided by Kathryn Hoffman, the Chief Executive Officer of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. Kathryn graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2006 magna cum laude, and earned a Masters in Public Policy from the Humphrey Institute at the same time. After working in complex litigation in Zelle LLP in Minneapolis for four years, she joined MCEA as a staff attorney in 2010. She stepped into the CEO role in 2017, and she is proud of the way the organization has grown and changed since then. She has worked as adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota Law School, and is also a former Chair of the Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy Law Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association.

The Tuesday Group presentation on October 10, 2023 was A Trans Training: The Basics. Our featured speaker, Aleana (Ana) Kruger, provided an overview of the most important information when it comes to supporting, understanding, and being the best ally you can be to the trans, gender expansive, and questing people in your life. The presentation included definitions of terms, audience participation, and plenty of stories both from the presenters and from the audience. Aleana (Ana) Kruger (fae/faer & she/her) is a queer, disabled, young activist, public speaker, and Co-Chair for Trans Northland. Fae is studying Social Work at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She has created an educational platform that encourages open and honest conversations, mistakes, and radical acceptance and love.

The Tuesday Group presentation on September 26, 2023 was provided by Frank Sherman, who presented from his perspective as a long-time federal prosecutor. Frank provided a brief review of the cases pending against Donald Trump, and the litigation strategy behind those cases. Frank then answered audience questions about how the cases are proceeding. Frank Sherman worked for nearly forty years as a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, Miami, Rochester (N.Y.), and in the Southern District of New York under Rudy Giuliani. During that time, he worked for Democrats and Republicans and helped convict a wide range of criminals, including politicians, fraudsters, violent drug gangs, a mail bomber who killed five people, and a recruiter for the Islamic State terrorist organization. Particularly relevant to his presentation, he utilized the RICO statute to convict leaders, managers and participants in the Colombo organized crime family in New York City and a mayor of Miami Beach in Florida. He is retired and, since 2018, has lived full-time in Eagles Nest Township with his spouse, Valerie Myntti.

The Tuesday Group presentation on September 19, 2023 was provided by Maria Jensen, who discussed the economic potential of e-waste recycling in Minnesota. Maria was an integral part of a study that looked at peer reviewed research, reports, and local data on e-waste in order to document the elements contained in 14 categories of e-waste. They estimated that the value in a single year’s worth of e-waste generated in Minnesota (at a 100% recycling rate) would be $2.8 billion, and would include enough silver to produce 441,000 solar panels and enough copper for 155,000 electric vehicles annually. Recycling or refurbishing that amount of e-waste would also result in more than 3,000 new Minnesota jobs. Maria also presented on the 100% Collection Bill, which will be a replacement for an outdated program enacted in 2007.

The September 12, 2023 Tuesday Group program was about the North Country National Scenic Trail, and was provided by our neighbors Jeff Pike, Ozzie Raif, and Aaron Landon. Together they covered what the North Country Scenic Trail is, as well as some history on its development along with the formation of the North Country Trail Association. Additionally, Aaron will discuss his experience hiking entire 4,800 mile trail.

The Tuesday Group program on September 5, 2023 was provided by Randall Kolka, who discussed factors Influencing Mercury Cycling and Bioaccumulation in Fish. Cutting-edge research on the Marcell Experimental Forest and other locations in northern Minnesota over the past couple of decades have led to discoveries related to mercury biogeochemistry, atmospheric deposition, hot spots where the bioaccumulative methylmercury is produced and controls on that production, the impact of fire on the transport and bioaccumulation in fish, and how warming associated with climate change influences mercury cycles. As a result of our long-term mercury research program, EPA and the state Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has used our research in major cases such as the Polymet mine decision, and currently with proposing a total maximum daily load (TMDL) policy for the St. Louis River. Randy holds degrees in Soil Science, from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and MS and PhD degrees from the University of Minnesota with minors in Forest Resources and Water Resources. Following his last position as Assistant Professor of Watershed Management at the University of Kentucky, he became a Research Soil Scientist with the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station in Grand Rapids, MN in 2002. He studies the cycling of water, elements, and pollutants in urban, agricultural, forested, and wetland ecosystems across the globe. He is an adjunct faculty member at 6 universities and has published over 275 scientific articles in his career.