On this Wednesday, Jan. 27, episode of Sundial:
Florida鈥檚 Vaccine Rollout Woes
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Florida has been anything but smooth.
Those currently eligible for vaccines include healthcare workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, and people 65 and older.
But a new residency requirement has created obstacles for those who might need the vaccine the most.
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鈥淢any people who are homeless, who don't carry papers around with them, or immigrants who don't have a Florida ID but are nonetheless residing permanently in Dade County, are going to be very badly affected by this," said JoNel Newman, a professor of clinical legal education at the University of Miami.
And Floridians who should be the first in line for a vaccine right now are struggling to schedule an appointment, while doses are running out. A new created by a South Florida couple is helping those struggling to get an appointment. They include translators for Spanish, Creole and Portuguese.
Sundial spoke with SA国际传谋 health care reporter Veronica Zaragovia about these vaccine rollout issues. We also heard from Steve Ullmann, a professor and the director of the Center for Health Management and Policy at the University of Miami.
You can find more information on how to make a vaccine appointment here.
Remembering The Holocaust
Anita Karl's mother made a decision that would save her life and the lives of her three daughters. They escaped from a ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland and lived as Catholics for the remainder of the war.
"We admired [my mother] and we cherished her. We knew she gave us life twice," Karl said. "She is a heroine of our people. Maybe a silent heroine, but yet she is the heroine of our people. She saved three lives from the Holocaust."
Karl is one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust living in Miami. She shares her story whenever she can, as she believes it is important for younger generations to be aware of the atrocities that occurred during World War II.
She shared her story with us in the SA国际传谋 studio back in 2018 and stayed afterward for an extended conversation on .
We revisit that conversation on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Why The Obsession With Orchids?
Sundial is reading 鈥淭he Orchid Thief鈥� by Susan Orlean as January's Sundial Book Club title.
The book follows John Laroche, an eccentric plant collector who travels around the Everglades seeking the rarest forms of orchids on the planet. His obsession leads him to be consistently at odds with law enforcement and the judicial system, as some rare orchids are federally protected.
That never seemed to stop him, even after he was arrested.
鈥淥h my gosh, he was so intelligent,鈥� said Susan Edgar Lee, a retired science teacher and Sundial Book Club member. She added how Laroche鈥檚 idea to go around the law and clone an orchid, which led to what are now known as 鈥済rocery-store orchids.鈥�
鈥淚f we鈥檙e talking about Florida men ... I think that he would be kind of hard to date,鈥� said Pilar Uribe, a former SA国际传谋 host and book club member. 鈥淗e would be a great dinner party guest. I don鈥檛 know what he would be like to live with though.鈥�
Sundial also heard from orchid experts about the lengths that people will go to satisfy their obsession with the beautiful flowers.
鈥淚 had an orchid stolen this past January right from in front of my house it was on a hanging basket in the tree and it was 11:30 p.m.,鈥� said Lucy Matos Lodato, who leads the Flamingo Gardens' Orchidteers volunteer group. 鈥淚 saw this woman step onto my property and I thought she was just going to grab a flower and the next morning the orchid was gone. I was traumatized, I really was.鈥�
