Community Conversations: A COVID-19 Online Series with Senator Metzger & Local Experts

Senator Metzger’s Community Conversations series streams live on Thursdays at 5:00 PM on her Facebook page, engaging local experts in discussions on COVID-19 topics important to Hudson Valley and Catskills communities. 

*Those who would like to tune in on Thursdays can CLICK HERE beginning at 5:00 PM.*

A list of upcoming episodes can be viewed below. 

WEEK ONE
Tuesday, April 28: Regional Medical Overview
Guest: Kenneth Steier, Executive Dean of Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine

Thursday, April 30: Food Insecurity and How to Help
Guests: Michele McKeon, Regional Economic Community Action Program (RECAP) and Dr. Shelly L. Bartow, Delaware Opportunities, Inc. 

WEEK TWO
Tuesday, May 5: Domestic Violence during COVID-19
Guests: Kellyann Costyal-Larrier, Fearless! Hudson Valley, Inc.  

Thursday, May 7: Education Resources for Students, Teachers, and Families 
Guests: A high school teacher and elementary special education teacher from Sullivan County

WEEK THREE
Tuesday, May 12: COVID-19 Mental Health Awareness 
Guests: Amy Nitza and Karla Vermeule, The Institute for Disaster Mental Health at SUNY New Paltz

​Thursday, May 14: Paying Your Bills and Preventing Shut-Offs 
Guests: Laurie Wheelock, Esq., the Public Utility Law Project

WEEK FOUR
Tuesday, May 19: Preventing Senior Scams and Sharing Legal Resources
Guests: Jaime Samarel and Jenny Turpin, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley 

Thursday, May 21: The Food Supply Chain and NY Agriculture
Guest: Maire Ullrich, Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County

WEEK FIVE
Thursday, May 28: Best Practices for Reopening Your Business
Guests: Roberta Byron-Lockwood, President & CEO of the Sullivan Catskills Visitors Association, and Lisa Berger, Director of the Ulster County Department of Economic Development

WEEK SIX
Thursday, June 4: Mitigating Opioid and Substance Use During COVID-19
Guests: John Ewanciw, City of Middletown Police Chief, and Dean Scher, CEO of Catholic Charities of Orange, Sullivan, and Ulster.

WEEK SEVEN
Thursday, June 11: Tackling Food Insecurity through Community Innovation
Guests: Amanda LaValle, Director of Ulster County Department of the Environment and facilitator of Project Resilience, and Sims Foster, Co-Founder of Foster Supply Hospitality.

WEEK EIGHT
Thursday, June 18: Our Local EMS System Amid COVID-19
GUESTS: Doug Foster, Chief of Wallkill Volunteer Ambulance Corps Inc., Doug Foster Jr. Board Chairman and Treasurer of Wallkill Volunteer Ambulance Corps Inc., Matt Goodnow, Chief of New Paltz Rescue Squad, and Scott Woebse, President & CEO of Mobile Life Support Services.

WEEK NINE
Thursday, June 25: Veterans Resources During COVID-19 & Beyond
GUESTS: Larry Neumann, Program Supervisor of the Orange County Vet2Vet program, and Staff Sergeant Doug Sandberg, host of Let's Talk Vets on WJFF Radio Catskill.

Additional topical events in the series will be announced as New York State continues to grapple with the novel coronavirus global pandemic.