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Sargassum Blooms, Communal Therapy For MSD Staff & Venom Response Team To Restructure

Joe Cavaretta
/
Sun Sentinel
Mounds of the seaweed, sargassum, have developed on beaches in the Caribbean and South Florida, including on this one in Dania Beach.

You may have noticed brown, smelly mounds of seaweed covering beaches in South Florida and the Caribbean. It's called sargassum, and it's threatening the tourism industry, sea turtle populations and local fisheries. The weeds even produce a toxic gas that can be harmful to people. 

Florida Atlantic University professor Brian Lapointe joined Sundial to discuss why the bloom could be among the worst ever seen globally. 

Sundial host Luis Hernandez also talked with a noted expert on communal therapy who's speaking this week with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School staff members. 

Deb Del Veccio-Scully has worked with survivors of the 9/11 terror attacks and families impacted by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The licensed professor and nationally certified councelor discussed her event with MSD staff and what people can learn through communal therapy. 

Read more: Stoneman Douglas Staff And Therapists Get Free Trauma Training For Start Of School Year

Summer is known to be the peak season for snake bites. A special unit at Miami-Dade Fire Rescue helps prevent such bites from turning fatal. 

The Miami-Dade Venom Response Team, known as Venom One, specializes in treating venomous bites not just in South Florida, but across the country. The 24/7 response unit has special access to antivenoms in limited supply elsewhere and works with hospitals to administer the medications. 

But the fire department is now restructuring the team's operations. Lt. Scott Mullin spoke with Sundial about what the changes could mean for future bite victims.