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Inside the COVID-19 Unit, FAU Housing Study, And 'Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature'

An ICU nurse helps a COVID-19 patient speak to their family through an iPad.
Gabriella Angotti-Jones for NPR
An ICU nurse helps a COVID-19 patient speak to their family through an iPad.

A new series from the Miami Herald and McClatchy follows what work is like inside a hospital's COVID-19 Unit. A new Florida Atlantic University study says housing is 11% overvalued in the current market. And a new book brings to life old Yiddish stories for kids.

On this Thursday, April 1, episode of Sundial:

Inside the COVID-19 Unit

Doctors and nurses are at the center of the new McClatchy and Miami Herald documentary series “Inside the COVID Unit.”

The series follows a doctor and a nurse at Jackson South Medical Center beginning last April and includes footage captured by healthcare workers themselves.

“Believe it or not, this was filmed on their cell phones. It had to be simple and quick because these are healthcare workers battling COVID-19 in an ICU. The last thing they're worried about is how to handle equipment. It was just simply them pulling out their phones at the right time in the moment, and then sending me the footage,” said Reshma Kirpalani, a producer for McClatchy making her directorial debut with this project.

“What gives me that sense of hope is the healthcare workers that I've spent a year filming. Their courage and their dedication and their sacrifice. They just keep showing up day after day to battle this virus,” she said.

You can watch the series here.

Inside the COVID Unit
Niticia Mpanga, a registered respiratory therapist, checks on an ICU patient at Oakbend Medical Center in Richmond, Texas. The mortality rates from COVID-19 in ICUs have been decreasing worldwide, doctors say, at least partly because of recent advances in treatment.

FAU Housing Study

A new study from Florida Atlantic University finds the average home in South Florida is overvalued by more than 11% — is the finding a bad sign for the housing market?

We spoke with Ken H. Johnson, an economist at FAU’s college of business, about that question and more.

“In South Florida, there seem to be three driving factors right now — near record-low interest rates are causing a huge increase in demand for homeownership. Another potential driver in housing prices would be the significant influx of population coming mainly from the Northeast and the Midwest. Lastly, our chronic problem of inventory shortage, and that has a lot to do with the fact that we're constrained to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by the Everglades,” said Johnson.

Even with the threat of rising sea levels encroaching on properties, more people are moving into the region. In fact, many are buying homes above the asking price.

“We're definitely in the top half of what's called a housing cycle. You want to buy at the very bottom of the housing cycle and sell at the very top. But guessing or estimating those points is very difficult,” Johnson said.

FAU Housing Study

“Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature”

Miriam Udel, an Emory University professor and author, wants more children to be exposed to Jewish history — and in particular the rich tradition of Yiddish culture.

Her new book, "Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature," translates a variety of Yiddish stories throughout history into English and provides biographies of the authors themselves.

Sundial senior producer Chris Remington spoke with Udel about the book and the themes behind the stories she chose.

“It becomes a project of cultural preservation and consolidation. People go back to telling stories about the holidays because they want children growing up with Yiddish, even if they're not going to observe all of the holidays. They want them to be conversant with what the themes are, what the motives and practices are. We see all kinds of efforts in the '50s and beyond to try to to compensate for some of what was lost in the Holocaust,” Udel said.

A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature
The Yiddish language once had a vibrant written tradition.

Suria is Sundial's fall 2020 high school intern and a production assistant.