Gulf Coast Life

Since 2012 the Fort Myers nonprofit Pick Up the Ball has been mentoring young men in low-income, high-risk areas in order to give them opportunities with the intent of raising their level of expectations for life, increasing their chances of success, and improving their understanding of different communities.

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, we're sharing an episode of WGCU's podcasts Grape Minds. Julie Glenn & Gina Birch talk about and taste through a few options for the Thanksgiving table, while reminiscing with winemakers about their favorites and some hilarious turkey-day cooking fails.

The new documentary “Love Wins Over Hate” features a series of honest and thought-provoking interviews with former white supremacists, and others who held extreme views but have since renounced them. It attempts to get to the heart of why people hate, and sometimes take on extremist ideologies like white supremacy. And what it takes to escape that world, and in some cases go on to work to help others escape. We talk with its producer and director, Susan Polis Schutz.

The financial instability many people face as a result of the pandemic has put more people at risk of losing their housing. A national eviction moratorium established by the CDC is set to expire on December 31 and local governments have until then to use federal CARES Act relief funds designated to help people with past due rent and utilities. We talk with Janet Bartos, Executive Director of the Lee County Homeless Coalition, and the City of Fort Myers’ new mayor Kevin Anderson, about efforts being made to help people experiencing homelessness and those at risk.

Hope Hospice has been providing support to patients nearing the end of their lives and their families in southwest Florida for more than 40 years. But since the arrival of Covid-19 they’ve had to modify how they provide services to protect patients and caregivers, and have moved their support groups to virtual settings.

Election workers across the state of Georgia are conducting a hand count of every ballot cast for President during the general election. While it’s often being reported in the news as a recount, what’s happening is actually a kind of post-election audit that was not triggered by the closeness of the race, or by a candidate challenging the outcome, but because of a new Georgia State Law.

As the coronavirus outbreak continues researchers and doctors continue working to find new ways to treat Covid-19. Since the end of April Lee Health has been testing the use of convalescent plasma. It’s taken from the blood of people who have recovered from Covid-19 and then infused into people who are sick to hopefully reduce the severity of the disease.

We explore the coronavirus pandemic response in the United States from a public health perspective with Dr. Marissa Levine, Professor of Public Health Practice and Family Medicine in the University of South Florida College of Public Health, where she focuses on population health improvement and teaches leadership.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic we’ve worked to highlight the impact it’s having on different aspects of society and our lives. Today we’re looking at how it has affected those with Alzheimer’s Disease and other memory disorders, and their caregivers.

Back in mid-October the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began discharging billions of gallons of water from Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers. And with Tropical Storm Eta dumping rain across the region they have continued, for now.