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Communities Consider Ending Fluoridation, Blood Donation in Central Florida, Stand-Up Comedy Show Controlled by Your Cell

Central Florida communities are voting on whether to keep adding fluoride to the drinking water to prevent tooth decay or ending the practice of fluoridation. Engage Producer Richard Copeland did a deep dive into Central Florida blood donation. Many comedians melt down when the audience engages their cell phones instead of the performance, but Central Florida resident Larry Fulford encourages it in the stand-up comedy show he created.

Communities Consider Ending Fluoridation

More communities across Central Florida are voting to remove fluoride from the water supply. Last week, the City of Melbourne was the latest to opt out. State Department of Health data shows nearly half of Florida counties have public water systems that actively fluoridate. That practice of adding fluoride to drinking water began decades ago, to help prevent cavities and tooth decay. Central Florida Public Media Health Reporter Joe Mario Pedersen and Environment Reporter Molly Duerig join Engage to share voices from the debates happening in our communities.

Blood Donation in Central Florida

Most blood donors don’t think about where their donations are headed, and most recipients don’t consider the source of life-saving transfusions.

Indian Harbor Beach resident Bill Lundell is absolutely passionate about blood donation – he is at OneBlood every two weeks, like clockwork. This all began nearly forty years ago when, as Bill describes it, he was working for the city of Melbourne’s water and sewer department. Since 1987, he has donated 155 gallons of his blood.

OneBlood, the non-profit organization that collected Bill’s blood, operates from North Carolina to the Keys, providing safe and affordable blood in a regular supply. They recently became the first blood bank in America to receive FDA approval for “High Titer COVID-19 convalescent plasma” for immunocompromised patients, a breakthrough that allows patients to make their own antibodies to COVID that they couldn’t produce before. Engage speaks with Susan Forbes, Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications and Public Relations with OneBlood about the new plasma and the challenges of driving blood donors to the clinics.

When College Park residents Melissa and Michael Wiggins were told their twenty-month-old son Cannon had stage four neuroblastoma cancer, he was given a fifty-fifty chance of survival. Today, he is a healthy and energetic thirteen-year-old. He wouldn’t have reached this point without a colossal treatment plan that saw the Wiggins travel throughout the country for care, which included a seemingly endless series of blood transfusions. Engage talks with Melissa Wiggins about the about the transfusions that saved her son and the role donated blood played in his recovery.

Cheryn joined WMFE after several years as a weekend news anchor at Spectrum News 13 in Orlando.
Richard Copeland is the producer of Engage. The Pennsylvania native has produced news programming and developed shows including KNPR’s State of Nevada, Boise State Public Radio’s Idaho Matters and WITF-Harrisburg’s Smart Talk. Most recently, Copeland was a senior producer on KJZZ’s The Show in Phoenix.