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Future Of Nursing, Political Changes In Cuba And Haiti, Live From the 305: Afrobeta

The members of Afrobeta pose with toys.
Afrobeta
Cucci Amador and Anthony Laurencio (Smurphio) make up the electronic music duo Afrobeta. The Cuban-American electronic duo are the latest in our series Live from the 305

Nurses have been forced to evolve their practices as a result of COVID-19 and the protests over racial injustice. Plus, political leadership changes in Haiti and Cuba and electronic music duo Afrobeta the latest in our series Live from the 305

On this Thursday, April 15, episode of Sundial:

Future of Nursing

COVID-19 has changed the way healthcare providers serve their patients. The impact of these changes might be most profound for nurses, who represent 80% of the industry’s workforce.

“Human touch has taken a different approach where the connection to the patients, that connection to the family members, has the six feet of distance that needs to exist or the barrier through the protective devices that need to be used. But, you still rely 100 percent on that eye contact and the ability to see the patient and the ability to let them know you're there”, said Dr. Yhovana Gordon, associate dean of academic affairs at Florida International University's Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences.

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New attention has been brought to the bias and racism inherent in medicine. But, some advocates are hoping this crisis brings with it positive and lasting change.

“Things that may have been acceptable in the past or comments that have been said in the past will no longer be accepted. It brings up our professional responsibility to have our own internal compass ... because there is that increased sensitivity across that population in general and patients in time of need,” Gordon said.

Gordon also works part time at FIU’s vaccination site. She says their site hasn’t been disrupted by the CDC-mandated pause of COVID-19 vaccinations, following complications among six women related to blood clotting. They’ve been given a limited number of Moderna and Pfizer shots because they have a special refrigeration unit on site for holding the doses.

Political Changes in Cuba and Haiti

The prime minister of Haiti Joseph Jouthe resigned Wednesday, just weeks before citizens were set to vote on a constitutional referendum. The political instability in government has made receiving and implementing foreign aid even more challenging. We spoke earlier Thursday with the Miami Herald’s Jacqueline Charles.

“Those of us who follow Haiti closely, we were not surprised by this at all. Just a few weeks ago, the prime minister announced that to address the kidnaping and the rampant insecurity, that all Haitians, with the exception of government officials and diplomats, would need to remove the tints from their vehicles," said Charles. "Well, this led to a very public disagreement with a very close adviser of the president who went on social media to announce this disagreement and then later said it publicly on radio. At this point, we started to count how many days the prime minister may have."

Haiti is not the only Caribbean country in the midst of political change. Cuba’s Communist Party leader Raúl Castro recently announced he is resigning. It will be the first time in 62 years that a man named Castro will not be holding a top post in government.

“I don't think it necessarily means any sort of significant change in political policies or any changes to the political model. But in terms of historical significance, people are expecting generational changing of the guard and the hand over to perhaps some younger party members,” said Pascal Fletcher, a reporter for BBC Monitoring based in Miami.

Live From the 305

Cuci Amador and Anthony Laurencio have performed everywhere from South Florida bars to music festivals across the globe as the electronic duo Afrobeta. The group infuses their dance music with Latin pop, reggaeton, folk and rock sounds.

“When we write, we write from in these places where these ideas are coming from so many different parts of us. And so, the genre is really defined by the songwriting and the lyrics and whatever is coming out. We don’t let any convention take that down,” said Amador.

Afrobeta Returns to Cuba in 'Birthright'

In March, they premiered their documentary film "Birthright" at the Miami Film Festival, about returning to Cuba for the first time for a concert. Their latest album, "Illusion Motel," was released last October.

Afrobeta is the latest in our series Live from the 305, profiling the artists that make South Florida’s music scene thrive.

Suria is Sundial's fall 2020 high school intern and a production assistant.
Chris knew he wanted to work in public radio beginning in middle school, as WHYY played in his car rides to and from school in New Jersey. He’s freelanced for All Things Considered and was a desk associate for CBS Radio News in New York City. Most recently, he was producing for Capital Public Radio’s Insight booking guests, conducting research and leading special projects at Sacramento’s NPR affiliate.