KLF - April 2020 Newsletter

COMPASSION APRIL 2020 HARD WORKKELLEY FIRM NEWSLETTER CHARACTER US FUNERAL WORKERS AMONG MOST EXPOSED TO CORONAVIRUS CASES CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER, MLK AIDE JOSEPH LOWERY DIES A POSITIVE DAY OF GIVING IN NORTH TULSA AMID COVID-19

US FUNERAL WORKERS AMONG MOST EXPOSED TO CORONAVIRUS CASES Mortuary employees wearing face masks wheel a coffin into the crematorium of La Almudena cemetery in Madrid during the funeral of a COVID-19 coronavirus victim The National Funeral Directors Associ- Also included in the list was access to a church — had to re-size the guests down ation called on President Donald Trump vaccine when it becomes available. to 50. to recognize funeral workers in a special way. They said that the workers should be She highlighted a precedent for the cur- Among other rules, the CDC also provid- designated “essential critical infrastruc- rent situation: the 2009 H1N1 virus, ed guidelines for the proper handling of ture workers” as the coronavirus contin- where the Center for Disease Control and those who died from the disease. These ues to claim the lives of U.S. citizens. Prevention (CDC) designated “mortuary rules govern how to handle funerals service providers” as critical workers. during the pandemic and how to disinfect Christine Pepper, the group’s CEO, wrote body bags, as well as precautions meant a letter on March 20 addressed to the It’s not as if they are not taking precau- to be taken in the event that “splashing of president, according to NBC News. In it, tions, either. One prime example is the fluids” cannot be avoided. she highlighted the importance of death- case of a Jamaican immigrant who lost care during such cases as a pandemic her life due to a massive heart attack, or, in current cases, an epidemic like WBAL TV News reported. However, fu- COVID-19. She said the service of funer- neral homes have already placed rules al homes was essential to help the nation where gatherings of people are limited, “heal and recover.” making it difficult to hold funeral services. In light of the current situation, the group The family had initially planned to have asked for more protection for their work- around 100 guests from different parts ers. On top of their list are protective of the country, as well as those over- equipment, exemptions from the rules seas. Due to the current situation and imposed by the quarantine, and to be on the state’s COVID-19 outbreak laws, the a list of prioritized patients to be tested. funeral home — in partnership with the



A POSITIVE DAY OF GIVING IN NORTH TULSA AMID COVID-19 Vehicles filled the parking lot at 36 Street North or even longer. Common symptoms of the virus Event Center an hour before for the Free Drive- are fever, cough and shortness of breath. How- Through Lunch event began, sponsored by ever, there have been reports of body aches, the Terence Crutcher Foundation, 36th Street chills and even diarrhea. There is currently no North Event Center, Northside United Co- vaccine to prevent people from contracting the alition of Clergy, and Tulsa District One City virus. Councilor. Yet, local leaders are still remaining hopeful that The Foundation, along with the other com- Tulsans will get through this globally trying time munity organizations and its volunteers, gave if community members stick together. northside residents healthy meals, as well as vital literature on the novel coronavirus dis- “We are stronger together, and we believe that ease (COVID-19) that’s rapidly spreading across this will pass if we all simply do our part. That Green Country. means staying at home and protecting the el- derly and these babies and making sure that we Among the benevolent or North Tulsa’s doers of spread that same message [on the importance good deeds, District 1 City Councilor Vanessa of social distancing] to everyone. The quicker Hall-Harper and the Terence Crutcher Founda- we do that, the quicker we do our part, the tion’s executive director, Dr. Tiffany Crutcher. quicker this will all pass over. But in the mean- time, I remain hopeful. We live in the best coun- “We have to stay educated on this virus — how try in the world, and I do know that we’re going it passes from one person to another. We have to figure this out,” Dr. Tiffany Crutcher said. to be vigilant. Everyone should act as if they have it, and as if they are not trying to spread The Tulsa Dream Center delivered 1,373 gro- [COVID-19],” Hall-Harper said, adding, “We ceries to Tulsa families. Hundreds of grocery have to be hopeful — for me and more Lord and baskets aligned the sidewalk as volunteers di- Savior, Jesus Christ, but at the same time, in- rected traffic into the center’s parking lot. Each telligent. We can’t do things as some churches family received two bags of groceries: one filled have.” with produce and the other with dry goods. Many of those families traveling to 36th Street The Center for Disease Control says that the North Event center for their free lunches. COVID-19 is likely spread through those who contract the virus and are asymptomatic, mean- Between the Tulsa Dream Center and the 36 ing people who show no symptoms of the virus. Street North Event Center, over a thousand Tul- sa families received free meals, life-saving infor- People who contract the coronavirus may ex- mation about COVID-19 and groceries making perience symptoms as early as two days from today a positive day of giving. when the first contract it or as many as 14 days

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CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER, MLK AIDE JOSEPH LOWERY DIES The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, a veteran civil our nation to believe that, yes, we can values such as human worth and the rights leader who helped the Rev. Martin work together to achieve a more perfect brotherhood of man. Luther King Jr. found the Southern Chris- union,” he said. tian Leadership Conference and fought “I’ve never felt your ministry should be against racial discrimination, died Friday, In 2009, Obama awarded Lowery the totally devoted to making a heavenly a family statement said. He was 98. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the na- home. I thought it should also be devoted tion’s highest civilian honor. to making your home here heavenly,” he A charismatic and fiery preacher, Lowery once said. led the SCLC for two decades — restoring In a statement Saturday, Obama said the organization’s financial stability and Lowery “changed the face of America.” Lowery remained active in fighting issues pressuring businesses not to trade with such as war, poverty and racism long after South Africa’s apartheid-era regime — be- “He carried the baton longer and surer retiring, and survived prostate cancer and fore retiring in 1997. than almost anybody. It falls to the rest throat surgery after he beat Jim Crow. of us now to pick it up and never stop Lowery, considered the dean of civ- moving forward until we finish what he Lowery was pastor of the Warren Street il rights veterans, lived to celebrate a started — that journey to justice,” he said. Methodist Church in Mobile, Ala., in the November 2008 milestone that few of 1950s when he met King, who then lived his movement colleagues thought they In another high-profile moment, Lowery in Montgomery, Ala. Lowery’s meetings would ever witness — the election of an drew a standing ovation at the 2006 fu- with King, the Rev. Ralph David Aber- African American president. neral of King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, nathy and other civil rights activists led to when he criticized the war in Iraq, saying, the SCLC’s formation in 1957. The group At an emotional victory celebration for “For war, billions more, but no more for became a leading force in the civil rights President-elect Barack Obama in Atlanta, the poor.” The comment also drew head struggle of the 1960s. Lowery said, “America tonight is in the shakes from then-President George Bush process of being born again.” and his father, former president George Lowery became SCLC president in 1977 H.W. Bush, who were seated behind the following the resignation of Abernathy, An early and enthusiastic supporter of pulpit. who had taken the job after King was Obama over then-Democratic opponent assassinated in 1968. He took over an Hillary Clinton, Lowery also gave the ben- Lowery’s involvement in civil rights grew SCLC that was deeply in debt and losing ediction at Obama’s inauguration. naturally out of his Christian faith. He members rapidly. Lowery helped the or- often preached that racial discrimination ganization survive and guided it on a new “We thank you for the empowering of in housing, employment and health care course. thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire was at odds with fundamental Christian

LOCAL FUNERAL HOME OFFERS DRIVE-THRU WAKES In the midst of COVID-19 traditional Owner of The Promise Land Funeral the funeral home, stated Fields. “And of practices that were used to are being al- Home, Howard Fields says this was es- course you have people who are impaired tered to help prevent the spread of the tablished to comply with the practice of they may not be feeling well themselves virus. social distancing. they can take advantage of this drive thru.” The Promise Land Funeral Home in Alba- “That person who really desires to see ny is now offering a drive thru service to their loved one for their last wishes and view the body of their loved ones. last memory can see them outside of

4 BRIGHT SPOTS AMID THE GLOOM OF CORONAVIRUS It can get overwhelming: a drumbeat of bleak news about the tains and flowered fabric into masks, and craft distilleries are using coronavirus pandemic, with events changing so fast that one week spirits to make hand sanitizer, for free. seems unrecognizable from the last. Some landlords are waiving or lowering rent, and some employers “In the moment, it’s painful and miserable and it’s hard,” said Jer- are recognizing an obligation to look out for employees. Broadway emy Ortman, a mental health counselor in New York. “We don’t producers agreed to pay actors and stage crew workers through know what it’s going to look like on the other side.” the next several weeks, and unions and companies negotiated to increase the salaries of some grocery store employees, who have But he and other experts said that, to stay resilient in uncertain and become an indispensable work force in the crisis. frightening times, it was critical to remember that bright spots do exist, and to keep those gleams of hope in mind. “Whenever I’ve In Jonesboro, Ark., Ramey Myers, a co-owner of the Parsonage, a asked people what thing they’re most proud of in their lives, it’s restaurant, feared she would have to lay off employees after she always connected to times of pain or strife or struggle and how and her husband shut it down except for takeout. The couple pan- they got through it,” he said. icked this month when they took in only $50 for an entire day. So, you are probably asking by now, what positives are there to But she then got a text from her landlord: “no rent April.” remember? With the reprieve, Ms. Myers and her husband could pay their Kindness is being celebrated. employees for two more weeks. “Other people need to do” what her landlord did, she said, calling it, “a blessing beyond anything It’s not often that kindness and fellowship grab headlines. Maybe anyone could have done. It’s huge.” people are being better to each other, or maybe we’re just noticing it more. Doctors and health workers are improvising and collaborating, and industries are trying to People are serenading each other across windowsills. Animal shel- help. ters are reporting upticks in foster applications. Volunteers are buying groceries for their neighbors, cities are starting programs On the front lines of the crisis, doctors and health care workers are to feed the homeless, and stores are offering exclusive hours for finding creative ways to cope with severe shortages at hospitals, older shoppers. and using social media to educate the public as federal health offi- cials have receded from view at White House briefings. Responding to dire equipment shortages at hospitals, sewing cir- cles organized on social media are stitching scraps of shower cur-

In New York, hospitals are pioneering a little-tested method of The crisis holds lessons for the future. “ventilator sharing,” and the Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use approval to a device, developed by a South This outbreak is bad, but experts say it contains important lessons Carolina-based company, that adapts one ventilator for use with for a disease with even worse factors. The innovations and proce- four patients. dures that cities, states and nations are putting in place now may prepare us for a pandemic with an even higher fatality rate. In Nebraska, administrators at the University of Nebraska Medical Center have begun an experimental procedure to decontaminate “What we’re facing is unprecedented, and I don’t want to down- masks with ultraviolet light. play its seriousness, but it’s not the worst-case scenario,” said Malia Jones, a researcher who studies infectious diseases at the Univer- In Massachusetts, Carney Hospital will be used exclusively to treat sity of Wisconsin in Madison. patients with the coronavirus, and in Washington State, the U.W. Medicine’s Medical Center Northwest in Seattle converted part of The worst-case scenario, she said, would be a new strain of flu a four-story parking garage into a mobile testing clinic. that humans have no immunity against, with a higher death rate than the coronavirus and the potential to kill billions. That scenario Major corporations are also trying to help. The Four Seasons Hotel is akin to movies like “Contagion” and “Outbreak,” but without a in Manhattan offered free lodging to doctors, nurses and other vaccine that miraculously appears before the credits roll. health care workers. Carmakers and Dyson are converting ma- “I hope the takeaway here is that we’ll be better prepared to deal chines to build ventilators, clothing companies are making masks with the next pandemic,” Dr. Jones said. “This is a good practice and the brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev is repurposing brew- run for a novel influenza pandemic. That’s the real scary scenario.” eries for sanitizer. At the very least, if the habits people are developing now stick — Research on a vaccine and anti-viral treatment washing hands for 20 seconds, not touching their faces, keeping a is moving at a breakneck speed. healthy pantry, staying home instead of working sick — they could have a positive effect on outcomes of more common illnesses, like Though a vaccine is expected to be at least 12 months away, the seasonal flu. doctors are scrambling to improve testing and find anti-viral treat- ments. A team of hundreds of scientists from New York to Paris are “If we could get some basic hygiene practices as norms in the Unit- testing 50 drugs as treatments against the virus. ed States we would have less flu deaths,” Dr. Jones said. “That would be a wonderful outcome.” One company has developed a “smart thermometer” that can track the coronavirus in real time, and researchers are racing to deliver new medicines. Even the failures should be encouraging, said Dr. C. Robert Hors- burgh, a professor of epidemiology at Boston University. “Doctors are practical people,” he said, noting that even tests that don’t work out can provide useful data. “If you keep trying, eventually something will work,” he said.