The pandemic…
Every day brings us new numbers – every single one of them represents someone whose life has been affected by this horrifying pandemic that has changed our world in ways we could not have imagined or predicted. Someone infected or deceased. Those numbers keep growing every day and we all pray or wish for the day when we hear that they have begun to drop.
In POLcast episode 72, I presented to you my conversation with Dr. Rafal Kustra, Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. This was your encounter with science.
In Episode 73 I showed you the pandemic as experienced by someone who risks her life every day, a front line worker who works in a long-term care facility (The risk is obvious, but it doesn’t matter).
Today we will talk about mental health, a very important face of the COVID-19 crisis.
• Kids and the pandemic
I talk to Dr. Ewa Antczak, a child psychologist, who deals with the emotional/psychological impact of the pandemic on kids.
• Poland and its first three days of May
On May 1 2004, Poland joined the European Union (EU), fulfilling its great dream to rejoin the great European family and community, from which it was isolated by the communist regime and system.
May 2 is Polish Flag Day which has been celebrated since 2004. May 2nd is also celebrated as a day of Polish diaspora or Poles abroad, so called POLONIA DAY. There are roughly 20 mln people of Polish ancestry living outside Poland, making the Polish diaspora one of the largest in the world and one of the most widely dispersed.
May 3 is Poland’s national holiday: Polish Constitution Day. Poles are celebrating the declaration of the constitution in 1791, the second (after the American Constitution) democraitic, progressive constitution in the world.
• Konekt’s 2nd Birthday
Two years ago a new young Polish Canadian professionals’ own organization Konekt was established. And it’s dynamically evolving and offering new interesting programs.
Since its very beginning, POLcast has been happy to support and promote Konekt. On April 18 2018 Konekt held its official launch at Baro on King Street in Toronto. On May 6th 2018 I interviewed its founder Louiza Szacon – you can listen to it in Episode 53. The corresponding story was titled “Konekt – a new brand of polishness”. POLcast received a prestigious award from POLcast for our collaboration (thank you!). To celebrate their 2nd anniversary – remotely, the pandemic style, alas – Konekt featured an online lecture “Non-Depressing Lost Polish History” (to be heard at Facebook HERE).
