Today on “First Coast Connect,” we spoke about child safety with Patricia Medlock (01:05), the area director of the Department of Children and Families. We spoke with Patrick Lane, full-time agent for Aira, his father Peter, who is blind and hosts the podcast “Blind Abilities,” and Al Avina (20:06), Executive Director of the Blinded Veterans Association, which is holding its convention later this month in Jacksonville. We rebroadcast an interview with author Cindy Landham (31:27), and musicians Madison Carr and Lenn Johnson (41:13) joined us and performed live in-studio with a preview of their upcoming Jacksonville show “Imagine John Lennon.”
Patricia Medlock
Changes to Florida’s child welfare system are now law after years of debate. The changes were prompted after a Miami-Herald investigation into the Department of Children and Families found hundreds of kids had died on the state’s watch after they were left with known abusive guardians. The new law provides investigators greater oversight of children who may be in abusive situations. Meanwhile, DCF has new leadership in Northeast Florida, and child welfare officials are sounding the alarm about the greatest dangers to kids during the summer months.
Blindness
If you’re blind or visually impaired, chances are you know about Aira, the visual interpreter for the blind. There are an estimated 20 million blind and low-vision people in the U.S. Aira helps them interact with the world by removing barriers to living with greater independence. And the Blinded Veterans Association, dedicated to expanding services for the blind, will be holding its annual national convention at the downtown Jacksonville Hyatt later this month.
Cindy Landham
We are all born with innate wisdom about how to eat, but dieting leads us to disconnect from this intuition, leading to food obsession, body hatred, anxiety, and weight fluctuation.
That’s the message Jacksonville-based wellness coach and author Cindy Landham is delivering in her book, “The Liberated Eater,” and she said she’s learned these lessons the hard way.
‘Imagine John Lennon’
Jacksonville live music production guru and lighting wizard Richard Borders, who has worked with everyone from The Who to Janis Joplin, is producing a “labor of magical love” with young folk sensation Madison Carr. The project, “Imagine John Lennon” features Lennon impersonator “Lenn Johnston” opposite Carr for a live musical show. They will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Mudville Grille Music Room.
Kevin Meerschaert can be reached at kmeerschaert@wjct.org, 904-358-6334 or on Twitter at @KMeerschaertJax.
