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Safer Drug Use Saves Lives

by suelowe

Safer Drug Use Saves Lives

 

Improving Fentanyl Overdose Outcomes Is Just One Facet Of DAP Health’s New Harm Reduction Program

 

Words by Jim Macak

 

Tom (not his real name) is a tall, thin, handsomely weathered 67-year-old Maui native raised in Long Beach. He’s been HIV-positive for 17 years, unhoused in Palm Springs for 12, and a moderate crystal meth user for 10. 

He discovered DAP Health’s Harm Reduction Program about a year ago, thanks to his daily attendance at Well in the Desert’s hot meal service. DAP Health’s team — Community Health Harm Reduction Supervisor Neil Gussardo, Educator Bree Clark-Pharr, and longtime volunteer Suzanne Petersen — shows up twice a week at this location. Tom recalls that, without any reservation, he jumped at the chance to benefit from their provision of clean bubble bowls, which are the part of glass pipes where methamphetamine is heated.

“They’re completely compassionate,” Tom says of Gussardo, Clark-Pharr, and Petersen. “They’re sensitive to your needs. They want you to have the safest equipment for your drug use. They’re very supportive without ever pushing recovery on you.” In fact, he recommends the program to all his unhoused friends who use drugs.

Gussardo is no newcomer to serving people experiencing substance use disorder. He has worked in the field for more than 20 years, beginning his career in San Francisco, then transitioning to the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage. He has been with DAP Health since February 2022, and explains that the Harm Reduction Program has two priorities. The first is to provide equipment that will reduce the transmission of HIV, hepatitis C, and other illnesses. 

Specifically, the program provides fresh syringes, gift cards as an incentive for those who bring in used syringes, alcohol swabs and cotton filters for injections, test strips to determine if a more dangerous synthetic opioid like fentanyl is mixed in with other drugs, cookers to help convert drugs in solid form to liquid, and clean pipes, glass bubble bowls, pipe extensions, and foil used in smoking opiates.

The second priority, Gussardo says, is to distribute opioid overdose treatments proven effective, such as injectable naloxone and the nasal spray Narcan (recently approved for over-the-counter sales by the FDA, and likely available by late summer). Persons who overdose cannot typically self-administer such aids, so the products are provided to fellow users who can come to the rescue should need be. Proper training for administering overdose therapy is provided as well.

The reaction to this program has been positive. But occasional negative comments are not uncommon from passersby who learn what services Gussardo and his colleagues supply. “We absolutely encounter folks who think we’re enabling drug use rather than reducing the risk of harm,” he says, adding that by diminishing disease transmission, the program is saving society a considerable amount of money and time spent treating people infected with HIV or hep C. “We’re helping alleviate a drain on the system, person by person.”

More importantly, according to Gussardo, “It’s been reported to us from our participants that they’ve used either naloxone or Narcan provided by DAP Health to reverse 104 overdoses from September through January. That’s 104 lives saved.” 

The Harm Reduction Program took root in the middle of 2022, at a time when overdoses from fentanyl had become an epidemic throughout the country. The drug is a legally prescribed painkiller, but in the last 10 years it has become a widely used street drug that’s up to 50 times stronger than heroine and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s often added to other drugs because of its extreme potency which, according to the CDC, makes substances cheaper, more powerful, more addictive, and much more dangerous. The number of overdose deaths involving fentanyl, the CDC reports, shot up from 1,615 in 2012 to more than 71,000 in 2021.

According to the California Department of Public Health, there were 408 overdose deaths involving fentanyl in 2021 in Riverside County. Statistics on confirmed overdose deaths for 2022 are not yet available. Sheriff Chad Bianco told City News Service last October that the rate of fentanyl poisonings is soaring, and that the number of confirmed deaths “is going to increase significantly.” 

The majority of participants in DAP Health’s Harm Reduction Program, Gussardo says, are unhoused. Twice a week, his team drives its van to churches on the western end of the Coachella Valley, linking arms with the aforementioned Well in the Desert, a nonprofit that provides hot meals five days a week for working poor, persons without homes, and others. 

When Gussardo, Clark-Pharr, and Petersen aren’t with Well in the Desert, they look for encampments. And if people at these locations are interested, the team works with them, too.

“We’re not doing counseling,” maintains Gussardo, “but we do see people on a repeat basis. Sometimes we see the same person twice a week. And we’re building a rapport with them, building trust, and providing referrals for additional services.”

Gussardo reveals the Harm Reduction Program has started reaching out to another group he refers to as “the party and play crowd” — gay men who, in sexual situations, occasionally use crystal meth, and who “potentially share syringes” — by establishing a Thursday evening presence on Palm Springs’ Arenas Road, where a number of gay bars are located. While still in its infancy, that initiative is slowly but surely building a clientele. 

Next steps, Gussardo says, will include strategically based vending machines allowing for 24-hour access to complimentary safer-use materials such as Narcan and clean paraphernalia.

One theme Gussardo stresses in terms of harm reduction generally is how much of the population stigmatizes those who use drugs. Based on his experience in talking with those who use, he says that when these people reach out for help, they’re often met “with all the stigma of addiction. They’re met with people who don’t treat them as human beings, which then becomes a barrier to any kind of treatment.”

Part of the solution, Gussardo maintains, would be to reference “a person who uses drugs” as simply that, or as a person with a substance use disorder — rather than as a drug addict. This is part of a “people first” use of language to reduce the impact of stigma that Gussardo and other Harm Reduction team members emphasize.

Does this approach really work? According to Tom, it definitely does.

Anyone interested in receiving clean supplies is encouraged to visit DAP Health’s Harm Reduction team in the field.
Call 760.323.2118, Extension 504, to inquire about schedules and locations. 

On the Rack

by suelowe

On the Rack

 

Revivals shows its cheekier side

 

Words by Daniel Hirsch • Photo by Aaron Jay Young

 

Voted Best of the Desert thrift store and furniture store, DAP Health's Revivals Thrift Store brand offers visitors many unique treasures. Beautiful midcentury modern furniture and eclectic fashion finds, of course, but also — if you come by the back alley after closing on just the right night — leather harnesses, chaps, cat o’ nine tails, rare erotic artwork, and a plethora of other adult-centric goodies.

“Just the right night” is whenever Revivals After Dark, the store’s 18-and-over evening event, occurs. Revivals first hosted this pop-up sale four years ago to sell items inappropriate for the family-friendly retail space’s regular hours and racks. It’s since become a semi-annual, highly anticipated, and buzzy community event. Like general sales from Revivals, all Revivals After Dark proceeds go to support DAP Health patient and client services, and more than $70,000 has been raised since its first outing. 

“This is a win-win-win,” says Revivals volunteer Mark Musin, who has spearheaded Revivals After Dark since 2020. “You get to get rid of some stuff that you loved, that you had great memories with, and pass that along to someone else.” Musin adds those beloved items have included vintage leather chaps, adult movies, vintage photographs, and even a sex sling or two. “You should see the people who buy these things! They are so thrilled.”

More than just a clothing sale, Revivals After Dark, which takes place outside, behind the four-store chain’s Palm Springs location, has a party-like atmosphere. It’s a place not to just get a great deal — with a leather harness going for as little as $25 — but to see and be seen. Past events have featured DJs and Mr. Palm Springs Leather contestants modeling looks. It’s not uncommon to see strapping fellows stripping off clothing to try on a leather vest. It’s fun that also makes an impact.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to get together, which is really important for the leather community,” says Palm Springs Leather Order of the Desert (PSLOD) President David Dunn. “And Revivals provides a fun, and somewhat different, environment in which others can be introduced to us. It’s awesome!”

PSLOD, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the leather, kink, and fetish community of the Coachella Valley, has been a partner with Revivals at all the After Dark events, promoting it widely to its membership and being on hand to answer any leather- and kink-related questions curious shoppers may have. PSLOD also receives $1,000 in donations from each event. 

“The leather community has a lot of purposes and a lot of goals, but one of them is philanthropy. Another is supporting the community,” says DAP Health Director of Brand Marketing Steven Henke. “PSLOD’s mission is to build a stronger, healthier community — and that’s DAP Health’s mission as well.”

The initial idea for Revivals After Dark — as well as the partnership it would solidify between DAP Health and PSLOD — emerged from pure happenstance. Henke recalls walking through the Revivals warehouse one day and noticing a large pile of books and magazines of a “more adult nature.” When a volunteer explained they were too graphic to put out in the store and that there were many more items like that in the Revivals trove of donations, Henke realized there was an opportunity to do a uniquely private event that connects with members of the leather and fetish community while raising funds for DAP Health.

The first Revivals After Dark occurred inside the Revivals Palm Springs store in 2019, featuring merchandise laid out in the aisles. To everyone’s delight — but not necessarily to anyone’s surprise — it was a hit, raising nearly $6,000 in 90 minutes. A second event seemed like a no-brainer, but 2020, with its ensuing global pandemic, required getting creative. So, Revivals After Dark moved from inside the store to the alley outside — with clothing racks and tables of merchandise set up al fresco. In doing so, it fully crystallized into the form it was perhaps always meant to have. “It has a vibe that fits the merchandise really, really well,” says Henke of the backlot setting. 

In November 2020, the second back-alley Revivals After Dark proved to be even more successful, with more than 200 people lined up, masked and socially distant, hours before the event’s start time. Since then, there’s been two sales a year and the curation of items available, led by Mark Musin and a squad of Revivals volunteers, has grown more expansive.

Musin emphasizes that it’s not just leather gear or material of interest to the leather community that’s on sale. The product mix his team puts together boasts a wide array of fashion, erotica, and kink objects favored by the general LGBTQ+ community. According to Musin, shoppers have included young people and older alike, an expansive gender spectrum, as well as residents from every corner of the Coachella Valley.

For many, the history of some objects also adds to their allure. At the Revivals After Dark in June, Bob Miller, a Desert Hot Springs resident who has long been involved in the leather community and describes himself as “a boot guy,” was surprised to meet another boot collector who had donated about 50 pairs to Revivals. The man had lived abroad in Europe, where he collected various rare and heritage boot brands, maintaining them in immaculate shape. Miller snapped up about seven pairs at a great price, each with an intriguing backstory, um, to boot!

“I get most excited about the vintage photography and oil paintings,” says Henke, noting that these objects are often created by, or feature, gay men that may no longer be with us. “This is our history… They beg to be remembered.”

With history in mind, Musin and his team often consult with historians and organizations like the Tom of Finland Foundation to make sure they’re appropriately handling any rare or historically significant donations. 

For Dunn, speaking on behalf of PSLOD, Revivals After Dark also represents his community’s future. It’s an event that can demystify leather, kink, or fetish communities to those who may be curious. Given the affordable price tags, it’s a more accessible place to start a leather collection, spring for a set of quality restraints, or acquire whatever article expresses a part of one’s identity yet to be explored. “It’s a very sex-positive event where there’s no shaming of anyone,” says Musin. “There’s a place for everyone.”

Given the lines at the door and the fact that the harnesses sell out in mere minutes, everyone indeed seems to have gotten the memo about Revivals After Dark.

Hope & Triumph

by suelowe

Hope & Triumph

 

Damian Calmett offers endless inspiration at DAP Health and beyond 

 

Words by Greg Archer • Photo by Zach Ivey • Creative Director Snap Studios Ryan Auble

 

As the sun shines vibrantly outside DAP Health, inside the main building, things are just as bright. That’s because Damian Calmett is waiting to greet people as they arrive. The cheery 73-year-old resident of Vista Sunrise, DAP Health’s affordable housing complex, is full of wide-eyed optimism. Clearly, the man loves being the organization’s chief greeter and safety monitor. On any given day, Calmett helps people find their way around, and even offers compassion or bits of life wisdom from time to time. 

A ray of sunshine? That’s Damian Calmett.

“What’s important to remember is that DAP Health is a place where people come at various levels of their health,” he says. “You may be the only light somebody sees that day, or the only person they encounter because many people are shut-ins. So, if you can make their day a little lighter for five minutes, great. Then you’ve done a wonderful service.”

Calmett knows about the “light.” Because he’s spent a lot of time emerging from the dark. The multi-faceted yet unpretentious soul is somebody you’d want to know, and he swims deep emotional waters, waxing philosophical with ease: “I believe within each of us is a homing device that is good; we were born with it, and it leads us to a power bigger than us.” 

In the next breath, he may be brutally honest about his own journey: “I’m no stranger to homelessness, hopelessness, or hope, either. Or saying, ‘What is the lesson in this for me?’ Rather than, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ So, when I see people come into DAP Health, for me, it’s an opportunity to give hope.”

Calmett knows a lot about that. He had to rely on hope — even when he lost all signs of it — before he came on board at DAP Health in September 2021. And that’s where Calmett’s life story — a tale of heartbreak and triumph — becomes even more fascinating to explore. 

Damian Calmett was born Stephen Bruce Ford in Salinas, California on January 30, 1950. Several days after his birth, the child’s mother left him, and he went to live with his paternal grandparents in nearby Castroville. Calmett says he got “saved” at their church when he was 2. Then his mother returned and took him back with her to Los Angeles, where they moved into a trailer with a man she’d been seeing, Willie. 

“He was rough and tough, a ‘man’s man,’” Calmett shares. “What Willie said, you did. I was only 2 or 3 at the time, and more than anything, I thought I was going to die because he often waved a gun around and was drunk and acted like a crazy man.” 

Calmett’s mother worked at a nearby bar. One time, when she wasn’t home, Willie “put the gun [with one bullet] in my rectum and proceeded to pull the trigger. I was terrified and probably also in shock. He had been abusive before, and each time the abuse got worse.”

What followed was a nightmarish labyrinth for any human to walk through. When Willie left for good, Calmett’s mother didn’t hang around much longer, and the child was tossed around from home to home.

First, there was Shirley and her husband, and their four children, in a single-wide trailer, where, Calmett says, “we ate hot dogs every day for almost three months, and I slept in the hall closet.” When the family abandoned him, he spent three days alone — or three weeks, he cannot remember — until a man name George, who frequented the bar where Calmett’s mother worked, arrived with his wife. The couple took the boy with them to Grants Pass, Oregon, but Calmett had shut down emotionally and quit speaking. He was given a new name, George Jr., but something ominous always lurked in the shadows.

George drank and always fought with his wife. When he disappeared, Calmett was taken in by the couple’s friends and was given yet another name — Richard. Eventually, he went to live with his maternal grandmother, Mary, and her husband Earl, in Compton, California. Earl was a gunslinger, which brought up disturbing memories of Willie. Somewhere in between, Calmett had to learn how to speak again, and when his paternal grandparents found him, he returned to Castroville, shaken, distraught, and full of trust issues.

“As long as I can remember, I always wanted to be someone else,” Calmett once shared. “I have never been comfortable in my own skin.”

Then fate stepped in… 

Years later, having coped and dealt with tremendous psychological maelstroms, Calmett was asked to be one of the Gospel singers at an Oakland concert. Inspired by the performers, he found something that had been missing — himself. Could he, in fact, be as free-spirited as some of the entertainers around him? Something shifted within. Calmett legally changed his name to Damian — just Damian — and went on to perform worldwide in several mediums, hope and perseverance becoming major throughlines in his life. 

Inspired to delve inward, he attended Oral Roberts University and at times, sang as a soloist on Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s “The PTL Club.” “I knew Tammy Faye,” he recalls. “She was genuinely naïve, and her eyes were full of love. But those long lashes were simply her armor against people getting close to her.” 

When he took a position as associate pastor at a Southern California church, pressure mounted — all the other pastors had wives. The writing was on the wall. “My marriage to my wife, Kathy, was more or less an arranged marriage. I hosted a television program called ‘This Is Your Life,’ and Kathy’s parents saw me on TV and drove 100 miles to meet me.”

That was around 1985. Eventually, Calmett left the church — and his marriage to Kathy — and moved to San Diego’s Hillcrest area. “I had difficulty fitting into the gay world,” he admits. “Things were awkward for me. I was about 34, and I didn’t get why the leather guys didn’t want to associate with the drag queens, the bears, otters, lipstick lesbians, and dykes. For a community claiming to be so inclusive, well, it was anything but.”

One Halloween, he dressed in girls’ clothes. “I felt pretty and got attention,” he says, adding, “I never felt handsome as a man. As strange as it might sound, there was a sense of realness I felt [dressing up]. It was natural for me. In 1992, I had three titles — Mayor of Hillcrest, Mr. Gay San Diego, and Miss Gay San Diego.”

A stronger sense of self emerged. So did another personality: Ivana. 

“For so long, I was just ‘Ivana,’” Calmett says of his famous alter ego. “I opened for Joan Rivers once, and let’s just say I drank a bit too much that night. Joan said, ‘Ivana, you’re just a tramp! Ivana Tramp. That’s who you are.’ The name stuck. I saw a different part of myself. Nobody ever referred to her [Ivana] as a drag performer, or as an impersonator. She was just who she was.”

Calmett performed as Ivana Tramp for nearly 20 years — from the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas to the MGM Grand Sanya in China, and then some. “I realized that I’m more than one person,” he reflects.

Through the years, Calmett lived in Palm Springs several times, but when he returned to the Coachella Valley more than three years ago, he brought with him decades of life experience. He’d become an alcohol and drug counselor, and was a sober-living manager at one point. He also remarried between Ivana Tramp and Palm Springs, taking on the surname of his husband, David Calmett. Their marriage lasted about seven years. “Relationships aren’t the thing that I do best,” he says.

Still, Calmett used his latest move to Palm Springs to fuel a burning need: to instill hope. In addition to overseeing the welcome desk at DAP Health, he manages a 20–25 volunteer staff and makes sure everyone is trained on how to be “welcoming.” While he’s been a minister for many years, he recently became an Innerfaith minister. As Rev. Damian Calmett, he inspires hundreds of thousands online, and oversees a congregation at Innerfaith New Thought Spiritual Center Palm Springs. He says he’s ready to embrace what lies ahead, too, keeping in mind how he can best “serve.”

When asked what got him through the tough times, Calmett is candid: “We can either choose to go through challenges or grow through them. You don’t evolve, you unfold.

“I’ve had 10 lifetimes full of experiences,” he quickly adds. “I’ve met and worked with famous people. And I’ve met and worked with people who were in the gutter. These are all the same people. People are just people. I’m a survivor. So, I do what it takes to put one foot on the ground and the other foot forward … and just keep going.”

Learn more about Damian Calmett at damiancalmett.tv.

He Ain't Heavy

by suelowe

He Ain’t Heavy

Brothers of the Desert President Tim Vincent says the organization’s wellness summit allows gay Black men to connect to community and health

Words by Trey Burnette • Photo by Aaron Jay Young

The Coachella Valley likes to pride itself on diversity. However, attending community functions, programs, or gatherings could lead one to believe the desert community is less diverse than it considers itself to be.

At a 2017 New Year’s Eve gathering, a group of friends — all of whom were gay Black men — realized they all shared similar feelings of isolation and disconnection from much of the greater Palm Springs community. They knew men like them were out there, living productive lives, but they didn’t always see one another partaking in the many activities the valley had to offer. They felt isolated not only as individuals but also as a smaller community within the larger desert family.

Tim Vincent was one of those men at the party. To meet him, it’s hard to imagine he would feel isolated and disconnected from any community, but he says after moving to Palm Springs with his partner about six years ago, they had “the only people in the room” moments. At first, he didn’t notice it; he was used to being different. “But it can be hard being the only Black person in the room,” he says. Then he discovered others were experiencing the same feeling he and his partner were, and suspected there had to be more men he didn’t know out there facing the same feelings. 

The men were having a James Baldwin flash — the challenge was in the moment and the time was right. So, they acted by reaching out to the other gay African American men who felt isolated and disconnected, and formed Brothers of the Desert (BOD). Their mission was “to nurture and support gay Black men and allies through education, advocacy, social networking, volunteerism, and mentorship.” 

Today, Vincent serves as the president of the nonprofit, which was formalized as such in 2020. He has more than 30 years of experience working in the HIV and health care fields, including work with the CDC and the University of California San Francisco. His understanding of health care and patient engagement was beneficial as BOD grew and formed partnerships with DAP Health. 

Vincent explains that BOD started with monthly meetings where members could discuss concerns affecting them and the community. The leading members realized the community needed more than meetings, so they formed their first outfacing event, their Wellness Summit, in November of 2019, originally held at the LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert. DAP Health became a sponsor in their third year.

“We were building and investing in the health and wellness of our community,” Vincent says. “We wanted to take a holistic and comprehensive approach, addressing community members’ physical, mental, spiritual, financial, and social health.” And they did. What the Wellness Summit offered was tailored to the needs of the Black community. They incorporated the intersection of being Black and gay and how the stressful effects of racism and homophobia affect the individual’s and community’s health. 

Four years later, the annual Wellness Summit has grown and is now held at Margaritaville Resort Palm Springs. DAP Health is still a sponsor, and the November 2022 summit had about 200 guests — twice the size of the first event. The Wellness Summit hosts speakers who are medical doctors, spiritual practitioners, business leaders, yoga instructors, and other experts offering education in their specialized fields. It creates a space where people feel comfortable asking wellness questions. Workshops are also available for guests to get hands-on experiences with wellness practices. Vincent has received positive feedback from attendees, and hopes the event will grow into a multi-day affair. 

BOD also provides a quarterly speaker series throughout the year. Guest lecturers are thought leaders and experts who give educational talks that support and maintain what is learned at the Wellness Summit. Participants can engage and discuss topics like mindfulness, systemic racism, microaggressions, and mental health for Black queer people. Furthermore, those chats also act as a gateway for BOD to steer members to DAP Health, where they can find similar wellness opportunities to the ones they learned about at the Wellness Summit. Acupuncture, yoga, massage, sex and intimacy groups, stress-management groups, and building-positive-life groups are just some of the opportunities attendees can take advantage of to maintain a holistic approach to wellness.

As the partnerships between BOD and DAP Health grow, Vincent hopes Black community members will deepen their knowledge that both organizations can help them find health resources and solutions.

For more information, please visit brothersofthedesert.org and follow the group on Insta @brothersofthedesert.

How Will You Be Remembered?

by suelowe

How Will You Be Remembered?

 

Planned legacy giving is one way to ensure the continued success of DAP Health

 

Words by Greg Archer

The late, great civil rights icon Harvey Milk once said, “The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow…” 

 

Milk may have been referring to generating equality and fueling civil rights, but his words ring true today when it comes to planned legacy giving and the bequests individuals intentionally make to better their local community after they’re gone. In that respect, planned legacy giving is all about keeping hope afloat.

Including DAP Health in one’s estate plan allows the organization to continue ensuring the health and well-being of the community. As desert residents, and the LGBTQ+ community in particular, quickly head into the middle of the decade amidst social and political uncertainty, planning for the future has never been more vital.

“We all know that if you don’t plan your estate, the government will tell you where it’s going to go. I don’t think any of us want that to happen,” says Palm Springs realtor and philanthropist Andy Linsky, who served on DAP Health’s board of directors from 1990 to 2014, and who was its chair from 1998 to 2002. Linsky also founded Partners for Life (PFL), a prominent DAP Health donor group that offers significant financial support to assist the nonprofit with ongoing local health matters, social services, outreach, and much more.

“Planned giving is a great way to control your legacy,” Linsky continues, “and it doesn’t have to be huge dollar amounts. Whatever you have in your estate, it’s really comforting to know you have addressed it, and that your instructions will be followed. We had a presentation about planned giving a while back, and a gentleman made a statement that sums up why everybody should have an estate plan. He said, ‘Because everybody’s got stuff. And everybody’s going to die.’ It’s very basic, but it has humor in it, and it makes sense.”

Through the years, Linsky has been instrumental in stoking several creative fires at DAP Health — from creating the PFL program of sustaining donors to advocating for planned legacy giving. He’s quick to point out that the organization has been strategic in keeping up with all the changes throughout the decades, where some other organizations and communities may have “imploded because they failed to plan for the changing landscape. The important thing is that the need is there, and always will be, for Partners for Life and planned legacy giving.”

  1. Christopher Heritage — founder of Heritage Legal, PC, which offers legal services for estate planning — specifically hones in on the unique estate and relationship planning needs of the LGBTQ+ community and other non-traditional families. 

“Within the gay and lesbian community, for instance, most of us don’t have children. So, one way of ensuring a legacy is leaving a portion, or all of your estate, to charities,” Heritage says. “People leave to charities to try to reduce their taxable estate. One of the best tools for making charitable gifts is through retirement assets, such as IRAs and 401(k)s, because the charity receives 100% of those assets. Whereas, when you leave retirement assets to a person, they usually have to take a full distribution of it within 10 years and pay their personal income tax rate — federal and state — so you might lose 30-40% of the retirement assets’ value.” 

Heritage goes on to say that currently, “an estate is federally taxed only if its value exceeds $12.92 million per individual, and double that for married couples (estate and lifetime gift tax exemption), and the state of California has no estate tax at all since it was repealed by voters in 1982. However, even if an estate doesn’t reach the $12.92 million taxable threshold, there may be capital gains taxes that would need to be paid if an asset, such as a highly appreciated stock, or real estate, is left to an individual. Whereas, if you leave that asset to a charity, you can avoid any capital gains taxes.”

Another thing people should keep an eye on is that the current estate and lifetime gift tax exemption sunsets on December 31, 2025 — if Congress doesn’t do anything to change or extend it — and returns to $5 million per individual.
This will make many more estates potentially taxable. 

Other things to know: Secure Act 2.0 was introduced in 2023, making modifications to the original Secure Act affecting retirement. The change increases the required minimum distribution (RMD) age, meaning retirees must now begin taking taxable withdrawals at 73, and at 75 by 2033. The new law does not increase the age an IRA owner can make a qualified charitable distribution, which remains at 70 and a half years. This extension allows individuals more time to save. One thing to consider is to donate your RMDs to your charities.

For planned legacy donor and philanthropist Al Jones, DAP Health was the clear choice. Jones was married to his husband Marc Byrd for 26 years before Byrd passed away in 2018. Jones donated significant funds to the organization, which were specifically earmarked for the establishment of the Marc Byrd Behavioral Health Clinic, unveiled in spring 2022. 

“I think it’s important to consider thoroughly supporting an institution that reflects one’s philosophy and values,” Jones shares. “There is no better time to think of organizations to support via a planned legacy gift than the present. An organization like DAP Health needs to raise money to provide services to both those with and without insurance, both now and in the future. But it’s nice to know that the organization will receive funds in the future that will significantly help those budgets as well. So, legacy planned giving is really a way to provide a significant gift from your estate, deferring to give to a time in the future — literally, after you have passed away. And these legacy gifts give the organization an opportunity to plan for the future. 

“I wanted to do something memorable for Marc,” Jones continues. “I gave a legacy gift of $250,000, but also used that as a challenge grant to raise money for DAP Health’s general fund.” 

Sean K. Heslin — who runs Heslin Wealth Management, an affiliate of LPL Financial — advocates for making sure that upon death, a certain percentage of resources go to a charitable organization. “I educate my clients that it is just as simple as making sure you properly establish your beneficiaries,” he says. That’s typically where Heslin or other financial advisors will come in and make sure that an account is set up with a beneficiary designation. Other things come into play, too. 

“When you have an IRA or brokerage account, an annuity, or even a bank account —whatever it is — normally your spouse or partner is set up as the primary beneficiary,” Heslin continues. “But also, you can assign contingent beneficiaries and state, for example, that 50% is assigned to DAP Health and 50% is assigned to the LGBT Community Center of the Desert, or whichever charity you prefer. 

“That’s really important to do one way or the other — either having a beneficiary designation established, or title your accounts in the name of a living trust, when possible. Then the trust can have all the beneficiary designations you want to have. If you don’t have accounts titled in the name of a trust, or at least have assigned beneficiaries, when you pass away, your assets will most likely never make it to a charity. Funds and assets without beneficiary designations will most likely go through probate and eventually will either be paid out to a relative, a ‘next of kin’ you may not want to leave money to, or worse, funds will just be taken over by the state.”

Linsky sums up the importance of looking toward a future beyond your own in a graceful way: “Legacy planned giving is a very fulfilling act, emotionally and spiritually.”

Learn more about planned legacy giving by visiting PlannedGiving.DAPHealth.org.

We Are Family

by suelowe
DAP Health Magazine

We are Family

 

Why one couple has used their philanthropy to support DAP Health

 

Words by Jacob Anderson-Minshall - Photos by Donato Di Natele 

 

Walter Annenberg, a businessman turned ambassador, made millions in his life, and in his later years, he and his wife, Leonore, became two of the most prominent philanthropists in the United States. Their family name is emblazoned on literally dozens of buildings all over Southern California, and it can open doors to scientists and artists alike.

Scot and Lance Karp aren’t trying to compete with the Annenbergs, but their philanthropy is making a big impact in the desert all the same.

“We’re not the biggest givers in the valley,” Scot acknowledges. “We’re not competing with the Annenbergs; we never will, that’s not our goal. But [using] what we have, we feel that we’re duty-bound to contribute to making our community and other people’s lives better.”

That resonates with the mission of DAP Health, says Director of Development James Lindquist. “Philanthropists are the backbone of our organization. They are the ones who helped us first get started.” 

Today, the nonprofit founded in 1984 to respond to the AIDS crisis serves more than 10,000 people annually and hopes to reach 25,000 a year by 2025. It has been donors, Lindquist says, that “helped us to expand our services, to buy the Annette Bloch CARE Building, to make the Barbara Keller LOVE Building expansion, to build the Marc Byrd Behavioral Health Clinic, the Karla Kjellin-Elder and Jeff Elder Social Services Wing, and so much more.”

The Karps’ own philanthropy underwrote the behavioral health reception area within the Barbara Keller LOVE Building expansion. The couple says they were originally drawn to DAP Health via its association with Steve Chase, the world-renowned interior designer who was an early donor, volunteer, and board member of Desert AIDS Project (as DAP Health was originally known).

After the Karps first attended the annual Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards (dubbed The Chase), they ended up buying a home designed by him. A trained architect, Scot says he and his husband were just drawn to the home. “So that was another connection as we learned about Steve Chase’s depth of involvement with starting Desert AIDS Project back in the ’80s when there was no
health care.” 

Of course, Scot adds, the organization is no longer “just an AIDS organization anymore — it’s a community-based health organization that serves everyone.”

Scot and Lance built their own wealth in the highly competitive Southern Florida real estate world before buying a home in Rancho Mirage five years ago. 

The two came from middle-class families, and Scot says, “created our own destiny. We’re not inherited wealth; we’re not trust-fund guys. We created it and we wanted to use those resources for bettering other people’s lives. Lance and I feel very privileged to live the life we live; we don’t take it for granted. We both believe in our hearts that there’s an obligation. One of the basic tenets of philanthropy is ‘to those much is given, much is required.’ We don’t say that as a platitude; we live our lives that way.”

Drawn to DAP Health because of its involvement with the local LGBTQ+ community, Scot and Lance researched the organization, toured the campus, and met with CEO David Brinkman before deciding to throw their financial support behind it. 

Now in their 60s, the couple says their philanthropic philosophy is “to choose causes that are important to us and that benefit others, and to be examples to inspire others to join. We’ve always been connectors, and we’ve always been influencers within our circle because we’re quite careful with what we get involved in. When we choose a cause, it’s after doing a lot of research and study. And then we want to get other people involved. So it’s like leading by example. People know that we’re judicious and careful with our vetting of the causes we get behind.” 

Although the men make numerous smaller contributions to other organizations, they have chosen to focus on LGBTQ+ health care when making their more significant donations. To facilitate that giving, the couple established a foundation in 2018. 

“The naming of our foundation was quite purposeful,” Scot explains. “It’s the Scot and Lance Karp Family Foundation, and we wanted ‘family’ in the name because there’s two men and we’re a family.”

Choosing to underwrite the behavioral health reception area was equally considered. “We feel that there’s a huge need for behavioral health and mental health care,” Scot says. “DAP Health is dear to our hearts because it’s our community and we feel that we have to support our community … That’s why we feel passionate about it; because it serves the LGBTQ+ community.”

The Karps’ donation will both serve generations to come and continue to inspire others to give. 

Lindquist says the Karps are living proof that, “If you find something that you are passionate about, or that has changed your life, or that has meaning to you — find a way to support it. You don’t have to be a millionaire to be a philanthropist, you just have to care.”

Scots says he and Lance agree. “True philanthropy is, no matter what you have, you give something,” he reflects. “It may not be giving of financial backing. It may be giving of your time, giving of your support, or giving of your enthusiasm about an organization or a cause.”

The men truly prioritize causes where they can see results in their lifetimes, and while they may never know all of the names of the people they’ve impacted, Lindquist says they’re aware of the thousands of people whose lives they’ve changed. “I think that’s got to be the greatest gift of philanthropy,” he concludes, “when you can do it when you’re still alive.”

To follow the Karps’ example, contact DAP Health Director of Development James Lindquist at 760.656.8413 or via [email protected].

The Vision is Moving Forward

by suelowe

The vision is moving forward

 

DAP Health’s campus expansion gains momentum

 

Words by Ellen Bluestein

 

Vision Forward, DAP Health’s 10-year strategic plan, continues to gain momentum in 2023. The initiative, which will expand the organization’s ability to serve clients — from 10,000 to 25,000 annually — is slated to be complete by 2025.

The impetus for DAP Health to grow is a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “With [the ACA], lower-income Californians gained access to health insurance for the first time,” says DAP Health CEO David Brinkman. “All of a sudden, demand increased dramatically, and that’s when we knew we needed to be able to respond to this opportunity to increase the health and well-being of our community.”

The first phase of the campaign included purchasing the former Riverside County Health structure (renamed the Annette Bloch CARE Building) adjacent to DAP Health’s Barbara Keller LOVE Building, and renovating it to accommodate three primary care clinics and a sexual wellness clinic. “To me, it’s all about creating more access points to people in our community,” says Director of Community Health and Sexual Wellness C.J. Tobe. “And opening these new clinics in this capital expansion — that’s exactly what it is. It’s going to serve more people, and people are going to be healthier and happier. 

“Sexual wellness is really a gateway for people who don’t have access to community resources or to any primary care, behavioral health, or dental care,” continues Tobe. “They use sexual wellness as the first step to engage in some system to get support. And so, when you talk about opening a clinic … you’re opening a door to a community to say, ‘Hey, let’s have a conversation about your health and wellness.’”

With the clinics complete, the focus is on working with the Coachella Valley Housing Authority to create a second permanent supportive housing structure, named Vista Sunrise II, that will offer 61 new affordable-housing units on DAP Health’s Palm Springs campus. “The construction is moving fast,” says Brinkman. “It’s just a few months behind, and its completion impacts the next phase of construction.”

Given the current cost and availability of construction materials and labor, delays will actually help the project. “It behooves the organization to take its time, hoping that material supply-chain issues will be resolved, and inflation, materials, and labor will normalize,” says Principal Architect Maria Song of International Design Corporation, the firm leading the project. “That’s important because I think people are going, ‘Why is it taking so long?’ But there’s a real benefit to waiting right now.”

Once Vista Sunrise II opens, the next phase — building the Desert Care Network Health Pavilion — will accelerate. The 19,000-square-foot structure will bridge the Barbara Keller LOVE Building and the Annette Bloch CARE Building, and will boast a central registration area for all clinical services, a diagnostic lab, a pharmacy, and a café with outdoor seating that will be open to the public and staffed and managed by clients of DAP Health’s Return-to-Work program.

A driveway will route clients to this new main entrance, and pedestrian-friendly pathways will link it to the rest of the campus. The existing entrance on Sunrise Way will be repurposed into a service entrance for deliveries, and a new entrance will be created by Vista Sunrise II. The Vista Chino entrance will remain as is.

“These are really impressive plans, both literally and figuratively,’ says Song. “And it’s going to make such a huge difference to [DAP Health’s] programs and what’s offered.” According to Song, it will take a year and a half to complete the pavilion. Current estimates for its opening range from June 2024 to the end of that year.

The overall campus design, including the pavilion and the housing project, was approved last year by the city of Palm Springs during what is called the entitlement process. “This is when the campus developer submits to the city the entire design and legal information of what they propose to do based on a general plan,” explains Song. Next is the plan check, which “means that the plan examiner of the city’s Building Department will be reviewing the plan for construction to see that it meets the building code, the energy code, the plumbing code, and the
structural code.”

While working with the Building Department during this process — which can take up to six weeks and involves correcting and reworking any code issues that are found — Song and her team will develop a tenant-improvement plan which fleshes out the plans for the interior of the buildings. Once permitting is approved, Song will select the general contractor and all the subcontractors, making sure the project comes in within budget.

“The city of Palm Springs Building Department has been very collaborative,” Song reveals. “DAP Health is an established and important organization here in the valley. The city knows and supports that.” 

Collaboration has been a key part of the entire Vision Forward planning process, and it will continue as DAP Health’s leadership works with Song to finalize the interior design. From the beginning, the goal was to create the look and feel of bringing the outside indoors, which will be achieved by using organic materials throughout the pavilion. With that, “those qualitative words now become quantitative in specification material selection,” says Song.

Song identifies the expansion as two separate projects: the west space (which includes the pavilion) and the east space (which is mostly facade improvements, exterior building upgrades, and smaller additions). The east space “is more of a site design,” says Song. But because the buildings are exposed and visually integrated with the image of the city, “any design that we do would have to go as a major architectural application so that [when] we get the concept approved … we can start developing the plans for construction,” she continues. 

Design of the east space will begin as construction is underway on the west area. That way, by the time construction is finished on the latter, plans will be approved for work to begin on the former.

As plans continue to evolve, input from staff becomes a vital part of the process. It also speaks to DAP Health’s mission of inclusion and collaboration. “There’s a saying that goes, ‘If it involves me, involve me,’ and so that’s what we do,” says Chief of Clinical Operations Carol Wood. “We really do get right down to the root of it, even to the extent of asking nurses and medical assistants, ‘What’s going to make your job more efficient, and how are you going to be able to do a better job for your patients in your role?’”

With the expansion of the campus comes the expansion of the definition of health care itself. No longer does it just include traditional physical well-being. “We have a very unique campus model,” says Brinkman. “It’s one that acknowledges that health care is access to housing, health care is access to acupuncture and chiropractic and meditation. Our model understands that health care is proper nutrition combined with good mental health care and substance use counseling and, last but not least, that it should be accessible to all, regardless of one’s ability to pay. To be able to go from offering all this to 10,000 folks today to 25,000 people at the completion of this campaign is extremely exciting.”

Revivals is a Girl's Best Friend

by suelowe
Revivals DAP Health Magazine

Revivals is a girl’s best friend

 

Step inside DJ Modgirl’s retro-filled mega-closet, an ongoing collaboration with thrift stores throughout the valley and beyond

 

Words by Kay Kudukis • Photos by Matthew Mitchell

 

Kellee McQuinn’s closet has its own closet. The doors to the closet’s closet have been removed, and that’s where her shoes live in clear plastic boxes. I pick up a sparkly pair with what I’m guessing is a five-inch spiked heel and ask if she can actually walk in them. “They go with an outfit,” she says with a shrug and a laugh.

I turn to look at the racks and racks of clothing behind me and wonder if it’s the beaded and feathered Las Vegas-style gown she showed me just minutes ago. It looks like one of the Bob Mackie confections Cher might have worn on her 1970s TV shows. I flash back to my youth, with my mom getting ready for an event at the country club, doing her hair and makeup, then slipping into a cocktail dress or a gown and a tiara, transforming into a 1960s princess. It’s a nice memory. I feel happy.

Of course, that feeling has a great deal to do with McQuinn herself. Known throughout the valley as DJ Modgirl, she played my 65th birthday party. It was her first gig, and the first time we met. We became instant friends, although I imagine that’s what happens with everyone who meets her. She’s a natural performer with a cloud of charisma surrounding her like Pigpen has dirt. But, you know, in a good way. 

For anyone who doesn’t attend or read about local events, DJ Modgirl has captured the valley’s fancy with her boundless energy and retro style that echoes whatever groove she’s been asked to spin at one of the hundreds of events she’s DJ’d over the past year plus change. Metaphorically, this girl is on fire. 

So, it isn’t surprising that she’s the face of the new “Re-Love the Pre-Loved™” campaign at DAP Health’s Revivals Thrift Stores, where profits from all four valley outposts — in Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Palm Desert, and Indio — benefit the nonprofit. 

“Kellee is the perfect person to bring our campaign to life,” says DAP Health Director of Brand Marketing Steven Henke. “She possesses an authentic passion for vintage and resale fashion, projecting a joyful persona wherever she goes. We are also proud to support her as an ally by sponsoring her new Sunday show on KGAY radio.”

That’s right, she has her own weekly radio show, too. But let’s get back to her closet. 

It used to be a second bedroom, and not a small one either. One entire wall is racks of clothing, all retro and separated by categories: glam, sporty, disco, cocktail, tea party, art gallery, yacht rock — and going waaay retro is one lone square-dancing dress. “It was for a hoedown,” McQuinn tells me, and it is not a knockoff. “This is handmade from the Ozarks.” 

All I want to do is to stay here and play dress-up forever. I snap out of it, reminding myself that not one item here would fit me. So, should I wish to create a closet like this for myself in my size, how would I go about that?

McQuinn enlightens me: “So thrifting — whether you’re in a store, at the vintage mart, or any kind of kiosk — can be a little overwhelming. I go for color. I’m attracted to color. Or anything shiny… I have a friend. His favorite color is clear. And he will argue that clear is a color.” She looks a little bewildered, then wryly intones, “I try not to wear clear clothes.”

She goes through her dresses as she talks, like she’s shopping, perusing the racks. She tells me her style icons are Audrey Hepburn and Jackie O, and that totally tracks. Put a pair of big sunnies on her with any outfit, and she could pass for either.

“It’s better, in a way, to go when you don’t have an agenda,” she tells me, “and you’re just in the treasure hunt of it all and looking for color and texture. I just open my mind and I’m like, ‘All right, fashion gods, guide me’ and boom, boom, boom — I find some really great stuff.” 

She continues down the rack. “I don’t want to sound like a New Age nut, but I really use the Force. If I’m looking for something — furniture, a knickknack, or something for an event — and I get an intuitive hit to go to Revivals, I beeline it there. And you have to sift because you might not notice… ‘Oh that’s just a pink dress,’” she says, as she pulls a pink dress off the rack. “Or is it?” Suddenly, the dress comes alive with its gorgeous bodice and twirly skirt.

“Just like music,” she continues, “clothes make me feel alive. And one thing I love, love, love about Palm Springs is: people turn it out.”

We commiserate over peer pressure in Los Angeles, where we both lived for a while, and where people are judgy because you’re expressing yourself through your clothes — too many sequins, too much color… But here in Palm Springs, “There’s always someone who is going to be way more sparkly and way more rainbow bright than you,” McQuinn says.

She feels the same way about clothing labels as she does about people labels: she doesn’t care. A great dress is a great dress, whether it’s Chanel or an unrecognized designer. If she likes it and it fits, it’s hers.

Does she ever agonize about leaving an item behind for someone else to re-love? She laughs. “Forget about the man who got away. I have to forget about the dress that got away. But I also trust it.”

She gives me that 1,000-watt smile of hers, and I know she really means it when she says, “Everything happens for a reason, you know?” And I smile back because I live here too, and I know exactly what she means.

Extinguishing Workplace Burnout

by suelowe
DAP Health Magazine

Extinguishing Workplace Burnout

 

With a novel approach to wellness benefits, DAP Health ensures employees remain in their happy place

 

Words by Victoria Pelletier

 

DAP Health understands that the key to helping individuals navigate through times of crisis is to meet the hurting ones where they are in their personal journeys. This deeply empathetic approach to healing — especially healing rooted among those in the LGBTQ+ community — requires listening, compassion, and a commitment to connecting those seeking healing with a variety of tools that support it. To make all this possible, DAP Health leans on the passion of its employees, individuals who innately understand what it’s like to experience exclusion, as well as emotional and physical pain. 

DAP Health’s leadership cadre, led by CEO David Brinkman, recognizes that health care providers and other related professionals need vigorous health and wellness benefits themselves due to the tremendous stress associated with providing care to others. “Our wellness specialist and all the healers take health and wellness very seriously,” Brinkman notes, a sentiment that underscores the organization’s intent to combat the burnout pervasive in most work settings in the post-pandemic environment. “DAP Health honors all people,” Brinkman maintains, as the organization is “built around respect, admiration, and listening — values that create not only relationships but a community we all want to be a part of.” 

By the Numbers

While burnout is on the rise across demographics, young workers seem especially vulnerable to a trend we might expect to see among those who have been in the workplace for a while. A recent study of 1,000 Gen Z workers conducted by the Mary Christie Institute found that half of respondents had “experienced mental and emotional hardships in the past year.” A closer look at the data showed that 43% of respondents reported anxiety symptoms, while 31% described symptoms consistent with depression. Worst of all? A whopping 53% of the Mary Christie survey respondents reported experiencing significant burnout in the previous year. Without targeted interventions and long-term supports in place, many of those experiencing burnout will join the ranks of the Great Resignation within the next 12 months.

Influence of “Quiet Promotion”

Along with the advance of the Great Resignation, the Quiet Promotion dynamic continues to gain a beachhead in the workplace, leading to greater risk of burnout among those choosing to remain in their jobs. “Quiet Promotion” refers to those tasked with managing more responsibilities in the workplace due to the expansion of employee resignations and absences. 

Human resources guru Matthew Owensby of Aflac notes that employers, as well as employees, feel the pinch of all the turnover, and remain concerned that the personal suffering behind the resignation and promotion trends are here to stay. Owens notes, “A major concern of employee burnout is the impact on their well-being and how it affects engagement and retention.” In fact, an in-house study conducted by Aflac shows that in 2022, “more than half (59%) of American workers are experiencing at least moderate levels of burnout, a notable increase over 2021 (52%) and on par with the levels reported in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Amid his insights on burnout and overall employee health, Owensby notes “employers are looking for new ways to offer benefits that help improve their employees’ mental health balance.” 

For DAP Health, innovation means immediate access to resources and benefits that can address challenges in employee health before they become overwhelming. More about that in a bit. 

Burnout Defined

Burnout is pervasive in the workplace and can sap employee energy and motivation. But what is it, exactly? Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. The phenomenon leaves employees feeling overwhelmed by their work, emotionally drained, and often being unable to meet the demands in their portfolio of responsibility. Unchecked, burnout can spill over into one’s personal life, impacting the quality of relationships, personal health, and the ability to find enjoyment in activities and routines that once offered joy. Perhaps the most vexing aspect of burnout is that it can be slow-moving. The symptoms of burnout may gradually increase over time, until the one impacted is well beyond a place of healthy functioning.

Burnout in Health Care

DAP Health Employee Wellness Specialist Desiree Loredo and People Operations Manager Trish Sisneros understand that people serving in organizations like theirs are especially susceptible to burnout because of all the time invested in patients at various levels of wellness. Coupled with the recent history and lingering impacts of a global pandemic, the daily stress of work in health care can wear down even the most resilient employees. 

Both Loredo and Sisneros agree caregivers seem to be the worst at self-care, a reality that means prevention is not enough. Self-care measures must be continuous, varied, and exciting. One of the assumptions Loredo and Sisneros make in their wellness approach at DAP Health is that it’s okay to be human and not get everything done. 

Inasmuch, Loredo and Sisneros are proponents of mental, physical, and emotional “breathers” for DAP Health staffers, so that these compassionate caregivers will have the stamina and passion to offer ongoing support to those who need care. Further, breathers are just good medicine for everyone. Stepping away from the demands of work from time to time elevates one’s quality of life. 

A Robust Approach to Wellness

For DAP Health employees, the benefits/wellness program continues to cultivate feelings of connection, longing, and value. Along with the typical health, dental, and retirement offerings you might expect from an organization with a large staff, DAP Health also provides a host of wellness perks to employees that underscore ongoing self-care, not just prevention. With the complete support of CEO Brinkman and DAP Health’s board of directors, the benefits/wellness program includes partnerships with local fitness programs, credit unions, and other service providers; access to yoga, massages, and Transcendental Meditation (TM); mobile apps to manage personal wellness options and meditation; provisions for “self-care days” in addition to traditional sick leave; and, among other perks, the ability to use a DAP Health gym. 

Of course, the real strength of DAP Health’s benefits/wellness program is that it is people-focused, not cost-focused. Not too long ago, DAP Health employees participated in an organization-wide survey to measure the impact of burnout and the health of employee/management relationships as related to wellness. Out of this important work, initiatives were put in place that create healthy dialogue among employees and management, while also honoring the importance of employee input in crafting innovative wellness offerings. Employee engagement with Transcendental Meditation is one of DAP Health’s noteworthy innovations.

Meditation for Everyone on the Team

Bob Roth, CEO of the David Lynch Foundation, understands the positive impact of meditative practice. “Research shows that a simple meditation practice can reduce stress, prevent stress disorders, and improve cognitive function,” he notes. With more than 50 years of experience teaching TM, Roth sees meditation promoting wellness in a way a traditional medical model cannot. For a DAP Health employee, a 45-minute TM session can potentially lower their body’s level of cortisol, a hormone released as part of the body’s “fight, flight, fear” response to stressful inputs. While pointing out that “stress is destroying workplaces, families, and health,” Roth believes that educating people about the benefits of meditation, and then encouraging them to adopt a meditative practice, will mean better wellness outcomes for many. The data, and the anecdotal evidence offered by DAP Health employees who take advantage of this novel benefit, affirm Roth’s work and assertions about the benefits of meditation. 

Burnout is on the rise. The Great Resignation and Quiet Promotion phenomena are outward, measurable signs of the ways burnout impacts great organizations. Ultimately, however, great workers and the people who love them are the silent sufferers of burnout. Hopefully, novel and robust benefits/wellness programs offered by organizations like DAP Health will turn the tide and bring more joy and passion to the workplace.

A Greener Death

by suelowe

A Greener Death

 

More and more locals are joining the natural burial movement

 

Words by David A. Lee • Photos by Shawn O’Connor

 

With an ever-growing number of people seriously concerned about the current state of the environment, many readily embrace the notion of “going green” in life. They recycle, conserve water, compost, and rideshare, use public transportation, or drive hybrid or electric vehicles. But how many know it’s possible to go green in death?

On its website, the Green Burial Council (GBC) — a organization based in Placerville, California that focuses on alternative burial advocacy and education — defines the term as interment that cares for the dead “with minimal environmental impact that aids in the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the restoration and/or preservation of habitat.”

“Green burial isn’t necessarily the top option for everybody, and that’s OK,” says GBC Board President Caitlyn Hauke, adding that misconceptions are often what keep people from choosing that path. “Are there going to be grave disturbances from animals? Is there going to be soil contamination from putting bodies [in the ground] without a casket? These are misunderstandings that we need to educate folks on.” 

Indeed. Especially since conventional burials using caskets (made of wood or metal) enclosed inside concrete vaults in a cemetery still account for 35–40% of deaths in the United States today. In the “Disposition Statistics” portion of its website, GBC quotes Mary Woodsen of Cornell University and Greensprings Natural Preserve in Newfield, New York as saying that U.S. burials use approximately “4.3 million gallons embalming fluid (827,060 gallons of which is formaldehyde, methanol, and benzene), 20 million board feet of hardwoods (including rainforest woods), 1.6 million tons of concrete, 17,000 tons of copper and bronze, 64,500 tons of steel, [with] caskets and vaults leaching iron, copper, lead, zinc, and cobalt.”

When one factors in that this age-old custom forces funeral workers to wear personal protection equipment (PPE) to help shield them from toxic and cancer-causing chemicals, it’s obvious there’s nothing ecologically sound about this preference.

Palm Springs’ Wiefels Cremation and Funeral Services Pre-planning Director Kasey Scott offers green burial, along with many other more traditional services, to a wide array of clients. Wiefels owns Joshua Tree Memorial Park in the high desert, which facilitates 100% natural burials. “Which basically means that when you die, there is no embalming, there is no traditional casket, there is no vault,” she says. “Your body is either wrapped in a biodegradable shroud, or a biodegradable casket, and placed directly into the ground. And we hand dig the graves, so it is fully green.”

“Green burial … has the added bonus of being what many cultures have done with their dead for tens of thousands of years,” maintains Caitlin Doughty, a mortician, author, blogger, and influencer whose YouTube web series, “Ask a Mortician,” has almost two million subscribers. The founder of The Order of the Good Death, Doughty is one of the most vocal proponents of reforms to the Western funeral industry. Her trio of books — 2014’s “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory,” 2017’s “From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death,” and 2019’s “Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death” — are all New York Times best-sellers.

The interest in green burials has grown exponentially in the past 10 years, with more and more cemeteries accommodating the practice opening all the time. According to the website of the nonprofit New Hampshire Funeral Resources, Education & Advocacy, there are currently 386 certified green burial cemeteries in the U.S. and Canada.

Also encouraging: The 2022 Consumer Awareness and Preferences Report of The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) states that “60.5% would be interested in exploring green funeral options because of their potential environmental benefits, cost savings, or for some other reason, up from 55.7% in 2021.”

Scott reports that locally, more and more people are investigating this alternative, and that she firmly believes awareness will continue to grow as curiosity about it mounts. 

For now, traditional cremation is by far still the most popular way of caring for human remains in the U.S. The NFDA claims the 2021 American [fire] cremation rate was 60% (and more than 70% in Canada), and is projected to reach 80% by 2035. Although environmentalists concede cremation is “better” than traditional burials, the process for each body nonetheless uses some 30 gallons of fossil fuel per cremation, releasing 140 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and discharging dangerous amounts of mercury into the air if the deceased had mercury tooth fillings.

The greener alkaline hydrolysis (also known as aquamation, or water cremation) has been used since 1888, when it was developed in England to process animal carcasses. It’s been slowly gaining traction as replacement for casket/vault burial or traditional fire cremation. Available now in more than 50% of U.S. states — including all those on the West Coast, and locally in the Palm Springs area — the practice converts soft tissue into salt, amino acids, and sugars, and produces neither carbon emissions nor fossil fuels. The process destroys all DNA and RNA, and at its conclusion, the family receives remains similar to traditional cremation.

After studying the process of human decomposition, Katrina Spade founded Seattle’s Recompose, a company that composts human beings, a process officially known as natural organic reduction. “Microbes break the body and the plant materials down in about a month, cocooned in woodchips and straw,” Spade explains on the “Let’s Visit the Human Compositing Facility” episode of Doughty’s “Ask a Mortician.”

Adds Doughty: “As the body decays into soil, it changes on a molecular level, and pathogens, pharmaceuticals, and chemotherapy drugs are all neutralized in the process, reduced to well below what the EPA considers safe levels. After the 30 days, about one cubic yard of the nutrient-dense soil comes forth from the vessel. The soil is then allowed to cure before it can be used in gardens, forests, or conservation land.”

Natural organic reduction is now available in Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, and Vermont, with other states soon to come.

Matt O’Neill and Perri Peltz, director-producers of the popular and groundbreaking (pun unintended but unavoidable) HBO documentary “Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America,” offer myriad other creative ways of dealing with death, some greener than others. They include adding ashes to small concrete “sculptures” that help form artificial aquatic reefs, shooting cremains into space for those who always dreamed of eternity among the stars, and setting a body atop a funeral pyre to be ceremonially incinerated in a celebration of life before family and friends.

Another way to lessen the burden of death on the earth is
organ and/or body donation. DAP Health Manager of Home Care Supportive Services Becky Sandlin, who oversees nurses and social workers who visit patients and clients in their homes, says it’s not uncommon for the topic to come up with those in end-of-life hospice care. “It’s a heartwarming, selfless act to [donate one’s body to science] to help clinicians and
patients alike.” 

Bimonthly magazine MIT Technology Review estimates that, “In the U.S., about 20,000 people or their families donate their bodies to scientific research and education each year. They do it because they want to make their deaths meaningful, or because they’re disenchanted with the traditional death industry.” Unused tissue and remains are cremated and returned to the family, along with information on how the body was purposed to further medical science. 

Since the interest in going green in death shows no sign of slowing down, it’s promising that federal, state, and municipal laws that have historically prevented ecological burial options in the U.S. are continuously being challenged and changed — some after years of effort. As more and more Americans feel the need to leave a smaller footprint on this earth after they
die, green burials will surely prove to be the new interment
of choice.

As far as Scott sees it, the only way for one’s body to be disposed of in precisely the way one wishes is to look ahead. “I understand that people don’t want to talk about dying, or to plan for anything of that nature,” she says. “My job is to educate them as to why pre-planning is important. Then, if they want to move forward, it’s my honor to take care of them.”