Latest / The SEANC View / Charlotte murder highlights the need for more investment in mental health services

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Charlotte murder highlights the need for more investment in mental health services · The SEANC View

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Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Scenic View podcast,
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post-Scenic Convention edition.
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This is Jonathan Owens, the Communications Director. I'm here with Artis Watkins,
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the Executive Director, and Sam Klein, our podcast producer.
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We're going to get through the convention hangover and give you a great episode this week.
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Music.
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So I guess the first question is, have you recovered from our week in Greensboro?
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Sort of. And by hangover, y'all, he doesn't mean alcohol. Not real hangover. Just exhaustion.
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It is such an amazing event, but it is grueling on staff.
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Sam, you just said, how many pictures did you take? Close to 7,000 photos. I mean, can you imagine?
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I don't think I've taken 7,000 photos in my life. Yeah.
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That's amazing. There's a lot of good photograph opportunities there,
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too. So a lot of action and things.
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We try to get people raising their hand or stepping to the mic and actually doing stuff.
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It is a really democratic with a little D event.
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There's so many people speaking out. It's perfect. You know, it's what you want.
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Yeah. People to speak out. I think I may have mentioned it on our convention
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podcast last week. But this year seemed a little more lively than in years past.
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Not that it's been dead in years past, but it seems like it was a lot of action this year.
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I noticed that. I noticed that even in the pictures I got. There are a lot of
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people who were very excited, very high energy.
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There were some moments where I would just accidentally capture a couple people
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sitting at their table laughing and giggling while things were happening.
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Every emotion in the world happens on convention floor. You know,
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we're like any other group that gets together and votes on stuff.
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I mean, we scrap each other and then we're loving on each other.
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And it's, emotions are running the gamut. But it's like any other political
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process. You have to make the sausage and it's not pretty.
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Well, we hope you'll join us next year at the convention. Get active in your
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district and you can take part in the fun slash hard work.
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I guess we'll move on to other topics. Well, I may bring back some convention-related
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things here in a few minutes, but I guess today is 9-11, September 11th, 2025.
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It's the 24th anniversary of the tax. Can you believe it? It's been that long. I can't. I can't.
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Where were you on 9-11? I guess that's a question you have to...
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Ask first. I was a junior in college and I just remember I had class that day.
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I woke up, I think it was like Econ and that was the early class.
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So it was like at 9 a.m. So I woke up and like, as I was getting ready for class
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to go, I saw the news story came on about the plane crashing into the towers.
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And then at that point it was like, oh, this is probably just a crazy,
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you know, some pilot mishap or something. And we just really didn't know what was going on.
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And then I guess When I got to class, the second plane had hit,
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and it was a crazy day on the campus at UNC.
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They brought TVs into the pit, and all these students went down there and watched
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what was going on and everything.
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I guess at that time, we didn't really have smartphones, so we weren't just
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walking around watching it on our phones.
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So that was pretty crazy. What do you remember of that day?
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My mom was in the early stages of dementia.
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And when she saw the television and I saw her seeing the television,
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we were about to go to a neurologist appointment for her.
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And it definitely, you know, people, if you've ever been around someone with
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dementia, things that are tragic or really upsetting can really throw them off.
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And it was instant. I could see it in her. So that was a rough day.
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And then my daughter came home from kindergarten. Wow.
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You know, where they talked about it. And so that was a whole other,
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you know, got both ends, beginning and ending of life spectrums of that day.
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But it was, that's what will always stick out with me is dealing with an older
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person with dementia and a kindergartner about that and trying to talk to either
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one of them about it. That was, it was just so awful.
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The stories, though, afterwards, honestly, were so amazing.
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People who had so much bravery and I couldn't even fathom.
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You know, you have to ask yourself, what would you have done if you were on
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one of those planes? Or would you have done the things some of these people were brave enough to do?
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I don't know. Definitely a watershed moment in our lives. Just a where were
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you type moment. Sam, where were you? Tell us where you were.
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I was getting fed breakfast. I wasn't even a year old.
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I was 15 days away from being one. I remember hearing the stories.
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My brother was still asleep. My mom was feeding me because I always woke up earlier.
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I don't wake up early now. And my mom got a call from my dad who was stuck trying to get on base.
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And shortly after my first birthday, my dad was one of the first special forces
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groups on the ground sent to Afghanistan for...
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Operation Enduring Freedom. Thank you to your dad.
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Yeah, if you're a new listener to the podcast, you may not know that Sam's dad
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is a superhero. Pretty much.
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Yeah, but. A lot of fun stories from him. I think we all found a very quick
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appreciation of folks like your dad at that time.
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Absolutely. And the country pulled together.
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It was like nothing I'd ever seen in my lifetime. Yeah, it really was just a
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totally different. People stopped arguing with each other. Yeah. We soon returned.
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Yeah, I know. It was sad. It was like two months.
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Honestly, but if you ever hear me talking about how I had a blast of a first
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birthday party, it's because my dad was deployed shortly afterwards and all
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of his family came, all of my mom's family came. How quickly was it?
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Because I know they were like talking about, you know, operations within like a week or so.
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Yeah, it was maybe a couple days after my birthday.
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Oh, okay. So it was really, it might not have even been that. It was really quick.
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I don't 100% know the details. My birthday party might have honestly been a
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little early because of that situation.
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But all I know is that my parents would tell me, they were like,
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yeah, everyone was here.
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All the family was here because your dad was leaving and we didn't know.
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I tried to tell my daughter this morning on the way to school about 9-11 about
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what happened that day. And she's pretty into current events and things. So she did listen.
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But it's just weird to think that there, I mean, there's a whole,
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a whole lot of people who have no concept of what happened that you just.
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It's been that long. Yeah, it's just been so long.
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And we're not stepping around the obvious news of the day, the death of Charlie Kirk.
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We, I mean, there's not really much we can add to the discussion except,
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you know, just prayers for his family and everyone who loved him.
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And it was just a terrible, terrible scene yesterday.
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Yeah, any family or any person should have to live through, and our hearts go out to them.
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Yeah, I mean, talking about 9-11 and the aftermath and how everybody banded
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together, and then looking at where we are now politically in terms of,
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you know, it's obviously not just Charlie Kirk.
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A couple months ago, the Speaker of the House in Minnesota was killed.
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She and her husband, another Minnesota lawmaker, was shot.
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And there was the assassination attempt on President Trump at a rally over the summer.
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We're just a really violent society, a very violent society.
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And we have to do something about that. Yeah, it's really disappointing that,
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I don't know, it just seems like there was a time when these things didn't happen.
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Or maybe they did and we just didn't know about it. I don't know.
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I mean, I think people have spoken their mind about things.
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Sure, over the years, I guess every now and then. Yeah.
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Somebody did get killed speaking their mind. But in America,
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that's what you're supposed to be able to do is speak your mind.
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And I just think, again, I think violence has become a pervasive theme of our
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society in a way that I don't remember it.
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It was even the way high school fights that people film and put online.
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When I was in high school, if there was a fight, whoever won at the end of it
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walked off. They didn't continue to hurt the person.
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Like that would have been considered the most loser thing you could do to continue
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to hit someone who was down. I'm kind of shocked that now, apparently,
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that's not the way. But I shouldn't be shocked. Things change.
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I don't know. I saw fights in high school constantly that were,
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person's already down. Why are you still bashing them? Yeah.
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To me, that is brutality. Just stop. Get up and walk away.
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Yeah. So I'm not really shocked that people do really violent things because
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people do really violent things every day all over the place.
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And we're kind of becoming more numb to it, I think. But I mean,
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that's a great segue into our first topic about the stabbing on the light rail system in Charlotte.
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I think we bring that up because it did happen in North Carolina and it has
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some state government implications.
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And local, which we have local government scenic members as well.
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But I guess on August 22nd, a man, and there's video of this and I did not watch
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it purposefully because it seems really brutal. I saw the aftermath,
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but I didn't see the actual incident.
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So a man stabbed a 23-year-old Irina, you can say it better. Zyrutska.
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Irina Zyrutska, who was a Ukrainian refugee who was living in Charlotte and working somewhere.
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At a pizza place. And she had their uniform on. That's what kind of got me.
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But yeah, just a nice, I mean, and that's been taken by both sides.
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And it's, I mean, one side has been particularly harping on,
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you know, what's coming out of it. I don't understand how we.
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Both sides of killing people's wrong. I mean, she is unfortunately not the first
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person to be killed on public transportation in America. She's probably not the 1,000th.
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I mean, May not have been the one that day.
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But she has gotten national attention and it's drawn attention to it.
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And it's drawn a lot of finger pointing.
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Sam and I were talking a little bit before this. There's so much finger pointing
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And it's a little confusing because the things we do know about this,
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you know, it was on a train car there in Charlotte, which is locally operated.
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But the security for that train apparently was privately outsourced.
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So when we talk about privatization and we talk about all the woes of that,
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I mean, I think it's worth noting here.
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This was not local employees that were asleep at the switch or something like that.
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This was privatized. And we know that the gentleman who was seen on tape stabbing
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her, he'd been in the system a number of times.
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He had more than a decade with 14 prior cases and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
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And the court talked about it. Yeah. And this isn't unusual.
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I mean, everybody thinks, wow, how did this guy get through?
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Because that's how our system is set up right now. And that's how the limitations
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are set up on that system. Yeah, the sentencing guidelines.
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I mean, you can't just willy-nilly decide what you're going to do with somebody.
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Magistrates and DAs are all given things to work with that they have to work
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within the framework of.
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We've closed a lot of prisons in North Carolina. That's what I was going to bring up.
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Are those limitations because of the limitations of the facilities we have and
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the investment in facilities?
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Well, I mean, we don't have room for— Yeah.
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But there's been a movement, excuse me, a movement that I believe is well-intentioned.
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To try to keep people out of prisons to the degree we can and either get them
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set on the right path if all they need is, you know, some counseling and then
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job training, things like that.
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That would be fine, but we're not, we don't seem to be getting that part done.
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But more importantly, where the mental health issues come into play,
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our members are telling us loud and clear.
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The ones who work in DHHS facilities will tell us, we've got some that are in
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mental health facilities that honestly should be in a prison.
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And we've got people who work in prisons who say, we've got some who should
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be in a mental health facility, and they become a huge victim in the prison system.
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But there is no question that this mental health crisis in our country,
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and therefore in our state, is completely out of control.
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And I just don't think we've had the resources to keep up with it.
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Yeah. So if we don't send people to prison and they're mentally ill,
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something will happen eventually.
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Yeah. Yeah. Especially something like schizophrenia that is not,
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if it's not properly handled with medication or therapies and anything like
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this obviously can happen. And that's also an access issue.
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Yeah. Is it's not easy to access.
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And when you say things like this, you just seem like people are quick to point
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out that you're just like, you know, standing up for the accused or you're, you know, you're not.
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I mean, I think it's standing up for society to say, look.
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We can say we're going to be tough on crime. We can tell people you do something
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and we're going to throw you under the prison.
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But that doesn't mean anything to someone who's not in their right mind.
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You could have had an armed guard on that car.
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And I'm doubtful, based on how wacky that whole thing was on video,
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how awful and how instantaneous he seemed to flip a switch.
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I don't think that would have changed anything. It seemed like,
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and court documents apparently show it, that he was ill.
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And that doesn't mean he didn't do it. It doesn't dissolve him of all responsibility.
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However, there is still a responsibility to get the help that he needs.
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Yeah. And it's not even about him at this point. No.
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He can't. Like keeping folks like him. Yeah. You could tell him,
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hey, if you do this, we're going to put you in prison for life or we're going
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to give you the death penalty.
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Do you think that probably would have changed the outcome? No.
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No. I don't think that somebody who would do something like that,
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especially in the way that it happened, There was no exchange between them.
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Nothing made him angry or anything like that. He just literally.
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She sat down in front of him. Yeah.
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And so it doesn't make the loss of her life any less tragic.
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Yeah. In fact, it makes it more tragic. Yeah.
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Because I think we just have to. It makes me think about our members,
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though, that work in the system.
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Because they tell us this stuff all the time.
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That the system is set up right now in a way that so many people are not going
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to get the help they need and they're out there and eventually they will either
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become a victim or victimize somebody.
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Yeah, and it says that if convicted, he faces a life in prison or death.
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I think that Trump had put out something calling for death for him.
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Yeah, but I mean, so that stops the next... That doesn't stop the next...
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That schizophrenic person from... Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Well, I do know.
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What our members keep telling us, we have to have a better infrastructure for
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mental health. And that is so expensive.
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Yeah. But people can't get it on their own.
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You were telling us a little bit about you had an experience with the One Voice
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group that you and some folks who had visited from Norway or something.
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Tell us a little bit about that. Well, in Norway, you know, of course,
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it's a small country compared to America.
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But they put so many resources into their prison system.
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And it's like a two staff to one prisoner ratio because their whole goal is
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when you leave there, you will not be back, that you will be productive to society.
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And it's really kind of amazing what they do.
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We can't wrap our heads around it because our system is so different.
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But they have an incredibly low recidivism rate.
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And these guys from Norway were really fascinating to talk to.
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And they said, no, it's going to be harder for y'all in your society.
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But mental health was something they were very big on.
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If somebody comes into their prison system and they've got mental health issues, they're all over it.
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Because, again, they want to make sure they cannot, number one,
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not have to house that person forever, but not put their citizens at risk when that person walks out.
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It's really impressive. And I don't know how you do it on as large a scale as we are.
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Yeah, that raises an interesting question, though. like if you put more into
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staffing, would you eventually have less prisoners? They believe it pays off. Yeah. Yeah.
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They even provide, I mean, they go so far as to provide housing to people when they first get out.
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So that that's not an extra thing, you know, that's,
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another hurdle that makes it less likely they succeed and become productive in society.
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I always like to hear of legislators or politicians that think outside the box on things like that.
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And that would be an interesting thing for someone to think about.
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Just how can we approach this differently because it's obviously not working now. Yeah.
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You know. It's almost in my head I'm comparing it more as their true goal there is rehabilitation.
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While sometimes here it It feels more like, no, you just need to be punished
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for what you did. Or locked up for life. Yeah.
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Well, and you can have both. Yeah. Yeah.
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But I think the problem, talking about people, defendants who are mentally ill,
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the punishment aspect is not going to be the stick that it is with most folks. Yeah, that's true.
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Because, I mean, I'm not a psychiatrist, but I would imagine if you're in the
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throes of a serious mental illness, you're not capable of slowing down and saying,
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all right, let me really think this through. What are the consequences?
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How much do I hate the consequences if I do this thing? I just don't think that's reality.
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It's just too much sadness going on right now. There is so much sadness.
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And I mean, a lot of this is very fixable, though.
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And so my words of encouragement are no different than they were on something like DMV.
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Talk to your employees, to the General Assembly, to the governor, to everybody.
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Talk to your folks who work in DHHS, in mental health.
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Talk to your folks who work in the prison system, and especially talk to your
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folks somewhere like Central Regional Hospital, where they're dealing with folks who...
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Committed serious crimes but are struggling with a mental illness.
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I wonder about that. I wonder how much input providers and evaluators get from
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staff members who deal with people every day.
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I mean, I've had family members who go to, like, nursing homes,
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and the people you want to talk to are the people who are dealing with your
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loved one every day, you know, not just the person who put them in there.
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So I wonder if that happens now.
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If families talk? Or if the evaluators or the providers talk to the nurses and
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things at these facilities on a regular basis about what's going on with them.
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Yeah. I don't know. I just know that there's a lot.
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I mean, there's not one of us that walks around that doesn't see somebody that
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is clearly mentally struggling with mental illness out in public.
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I'd say, what, once a week at least? Yeah.
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Yeah. That's a lot. You can just walk in downtown Raleigh. Right.
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That's all you've got to do. Or, I mean, people that you don't even expect, maybe.
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You never know. So, I don't know. But again, there are people who do know.
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And the people who come closest to knowing are the people who work either
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with people who've committed in the criminal justice system or in the mental
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health system or especially the people who work in the facilities where it's
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somebody who's both been in the criminal justice system and is suffering from
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mental illness. They can tell you a lot.
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So again, my plea to every elected official, talk to your employees.
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Not the folks in charge of those agencies because they've got a zillion things
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going on. They're not providing that direct care. Talk to the people who provide that direct care.
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And you might make some very different decisions day to day.
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I know that it has been mind-blowing to me to talk to them.
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I had no clue because we would have no clue what's going on behind the walls of these places. Yeah.
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And we had on our last Gen Z episode that we did, we had a guest,
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Ramona Williams, who is a probation and parole officer.
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And one of the things that she asked of elected officials, if you guys listened
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to that episode, experience what they do for a week.
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Go on ride along. Come to the office with them. I'm too chicken.
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Well, for us, yeah. But the elected
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officials want to understand what's going on. No, I agree. I agree.
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We need to see what's going on. Well, we don't ride along with them because
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I think their people would have legal issues with that. But,
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you know, we go to prisons.
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We do things so that we can represent our members who are in these positions.
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But I got to tell you, going to a prison now feels really different than it did even 10 years ago.
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It's a much more vulnerable feeling. And that's in a visitor situation where
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we're very protected compared to folks who work there.
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I don't think I've been to a
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prison since I've worked here. I've been to a prison, but it wasn't good.
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Sam, I mean, I think every elected official should go to a prison.
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And I think, you know, like you said, right along with probation parole would
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probably be, gosh, it would be eye-opening in ways. Yes.
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I need to do that. I need to go spend the day with Wendell. Speaking of Wendell,
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we'll transit. Look at that transition. That was pretty good.
21:51
Pretty smooth. Yeah. So and speaking of our convention, we did elect new officers
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for 2025 slash 2027. So that's a two year term.
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Our president is for those beginning in October 1st.
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Our president will be Wendell Powell, who has been a frequent guest on our podcast.
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He was the first vice president and District 41 member.
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Very involved with Scenic for a long, long time. And we're excited to have him
22:18
come aboard as the president.
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And we're excited to see where he takes us.
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First Vice President Emily Jones, who was the second VP before.
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She's been a podcast guest several times as well, I think. Stacey Crabtree moves
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up from treasurer to second vice president.
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She's also been on the podcast. And they are both District 41, correct?
22:40
Yeah. Yeah. And our general treasurer will be Timothy Morgan from the—where is that?
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Where is he from? He's District 10. Yeah, I know, but it's out near Charlotte,
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right? Salisbury area. Salisbury area, yeah.
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And President Kurt Montgomery, who will be president until September 30th,
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will stay on as immediate past president, and he will still serve on the executive board.
23:00
He did a great job running the convention on one leg this year.
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I felt so bad for him having to get back up and down those steps.
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He hurt his knee really badly and had to have serious surgery on it.
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And it was recovering from that, but having to stand at the podium for three days.
23:17
Just an aside, it's always funny to see that first board meeting after the convention
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when the president changes and the relief on the outlawed president's face.
23:27
It's a really stressful position. Yeah. It's a volunteer position.
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So for two years, everything that can happen in a mammoth organization—,
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That represents people who are members and the ones who are not.
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So hundreds of thousands of people are affected by this person's actions. And it's all volunteer.
23:45
So, yeah, at the end of two years, they look very relieved to transition to
23:50
past president. All smiles when they're ready for that transition.
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But I think, you know, for President Montgomery, I think he knows good things happened.
23:58
That state employees and retirees were represented very well during his tenure.
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And he can rest easy in that. But he's not going to be able to truly rest because
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past president doesn't rest around.
24:09
I know. They have two more years of this. So, yeah.
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In that meeting, he was sitting off to the side there just kind of chilling. Yeah.
24:18
He was happy to be in his spot. So we're excited to get these new officers on board.
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And, yeah, we've got some new cool stuff coming down the pike pretty early in the new fiscal year.
24:29
We're expecting to have a new website. And I know that will bring very much
24:33
joy to our members. who are very tired of our nine-year-old website.
24:39
Yeah, they do not like the website. I do not blame them. It's like pieced together
24:43
with bubble gum and duct tape.
24:46
Yeah, we've not been giving a very good user experience there.
24:49
But it's going to be awesome.
24:51
Yeah, it's going to be awesome. And I will say, you had a really good suggestion
24:55
that I'll unveil as we get closer.
24:57
Oh, Lord. But it'll be cool. Stay tuned.
25:01
But yeah, we got a lot more cool things down the way. We may be doing a western
25:05
visit with the podcast here.
25:08
Not maybe. We will be. Oh, okay. We'll be. Yeah, we're heading west with the podcast.
25:13
I'm just going to need a scenic vehicle for that. Henry won't make it up there.
25:17
Henry, that's what you call your car.
25:19
So we're heading out to Culloway for a few days, I think. Woo-hoo! In a few weeks.
25:25
Yeah, and the golf tournament for the— The UNC system?
25:29
Yeah, the staff— Oh, that's it. The golf tournament is happening at the end
25:32
of the month. Maybe we should do it then, then. Yeah.
25:34
Okay, well, we'll move on to—I just wanted to touch on a few things,
25:38
questions that I saw on Facebook.
25:41
From convention time, people would kind of comment on others—not crazy,
25:45
but other things, not convention-related. and we were just weren't able to get to them.
25:50
So I just wanted to maybe go over a few of the common questions that I saw on
25:56
those posts at convention.
25:58
The first one, obviously, is just an update on raises and bonuses.
26:02
There are none. Really? Yeah. There are none and there's no movement that we see towards any.
26:07
Yeah. We are not going to stop pushing for that.
26:10
We know your costs have gone up a lot on everything since last year.
26:15
We know you deserve a raise. you know, because we can't control the budget,
26:20
all we can do is try to make the case to the folks who do control the budget. Yeah.
26:26
And the governor did speak a little bit about raises for state employees at the convention.
26:32
I think that's what prompted a lot of these questions. But then the even bigger
26:36
question or the more asked question on our convention posts were about retiree colas.
26:43
Yeah. If retirees get anything, it's not going to be a true cola.
26:48
When they say cola, sometimes they'll say a bonus cola or a cola bonus. There's no such thing.
26:53
You either get a cost of living increase or you get a bonus or you get nothing.
26:58
If anything happens for retirees, it would be a bonus because the legislature
27:03
has said they will not commit recurring money to retirees because in their mind to do that,
27:09
they multiply it times 10 because that's how long the general fund would have
27:14
to pay that money on average for somebody.
27:16
And so the retirement system was set up to pay for any cost of living adjustments
27:20
from the gains in the system, the interest you make off of your investments.
27:25
It's not done that for years, you know. And there's people that say,
27:28
oh, it's because Dale Falwell didn't make the right investments or Janet Cowell
27:33
didn't make the right investments or Richard Moore didn't make the right investments.
27:36
Look, we don't even know what we're paying in fees to Wall Street.
27:39
We do know for other public pension systems, which we'd be doing pretty much
27:43
the same thing, as some of them have gotten their information,
27:46
they know they're way overpaying in fees.
27:48
So it doesn't matter how much you make if they take it back in fees.
27:51
But also we know the General Assembly didn't put anything into this system one
27:57
year, and then they put practically nothing for a few years,
28:00
and then it just kind of inched its way back up to where it is now,
28:03
where they're paying more than the employee.
28:05
But you can't, just like interest compounds in your account to go up.
28:10
You fall off the turf. Yeah, you compound your losses when you don't invest
28:14
in it, and the General Assembly did not. Not this General Assembly. Yeah.
28:18
But one, two decades ago, really mistreated it, and you don't bounce back from that.
28:23
And I will say that the retirees know that, and they're being very vocal about it, and rightfully so.
28:31
I think it would probably behoove an aspiring politician to find a solution
28:39
or at least think outside the box.
28:44
You're going to have to do something. Yeah. Because the actives have been watching
28:47
this. Retirees have not gotten a real raise since 2017.
28:51
And somebody listening who's not a public employee might think,
28:55
why the heck would we give a retiree a raise?
28:59
I can see where you'd ask that question because you don't get a raise being a retiree other places.
29:05
Government pays less, much less than the private sector.
29:09
And the deal that's made there, the implicit deal with the employees is you'll
29:13
have really good health care and you'll have retirement benefits.
29:17
And those retirement benefits will move. You know, you won't get the same check
29:22
for your whole retirement.
29:23
It'll move up, and that'll make it worth the opportunity cost of having taken
29:28
this seriously lower paycheck every month for your whole career. Yeah.
29:33
And for years and years and decades and decades, that promise was kept,
29:37
and the health plan was pretty amazing compared to other health plans,
29:41
and the retirement system paid COLA's.
29:44
That has stopped. And again, for the last eight years, retirees have not seen
29:49
an increase in their check.
29:50
They have seen the health plan get worse for the user, more out-of-pocket costs for the user.
29:56
So they feel completely betrayed. But the bigger problem is people still in
30:00
the workplace are watching this.
30:02
And if I'm between year 11 and year 15, I have to make that decision.
30:07
Do I stick with this, trying to get to the 30?
30:09
Or is it not worth it? I need to go and make that extra money now.
30:14
Because I don't feel like anybody's going to keep a promise to me because they're
30:18
not keeping it to the people right now.
30:20
And it's also some people who are sitting there, they get in there and they're
30:23
saying, well, am I going to stay here if they're treating them like that? Yeah.
30:27
I'm not, well, I'm going to stay and take less money to get nothing when I retire.
30:33
Yeah, I was talking to Don Vaughn the other day and I said, look,
30:36
this is the canary in the coal mine. This is what the retirees are.
30:39
The employees are looking at them and they're deciding, is this worth it? Mm-hmm.
30:44
So unless we either come up with money for these retirees, if you don't do that,
30:49
you're going to have to come up with money for employees or you're going to
30:52
only get the bottom of the barrel employees moving forward to agree to take state work.
30:57
Then you've got citizens hopping mad because they get junk for service. Yeah.
31:02
Another question that came up that I thought was a little different than the
31:06
whole raises and bonus question is, what are the chances of possibly getting
31:11
extra bonus leave this year as we have in years past five days of leave?
31:17
So traditionally, what employees have wanted is leave that could bank.
31:21
They could bank. Yes, thank you. I couldn't find that word.
31:24
The General Assembly doesn't like to do that because there's a liability on the books.
31:28
However, we're so short on employees that a lot of folks don't even get to take the leave they have.
31:36
So bonus leave does them literally no good. They just watch it expire because
31:41
their facilities are so overburdened.
31:43
They just can't take time away. So the General Assembly would have to be willing
31:47
to commit to let them bank it.
31:48
But in that case, people might think that there's value in that. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
31:53
Yeah, is there, I was trying to think when I wrote this question down,
31:57
is there any, beyond that, beyond the liability part, is there any financial
32:01
impact of making, of giving five days leave?
32:04
Well, I mean, yeah, because it also, it's a liability on the,
32:08
it's just a liability on the books.
32:09
Because remember, anything over a certain number of hours that you have,
32:14
leave-wise, that you earn, converts, has to convert over to sick leave.
32:19
You know, you're already losing leave.
32:21
When you've been a state employee long enough, you lose a good amount of leave
32:24
at the end of the year because it converts to sick leave.
32:27
And if you leave employment, you get paid for a tiny fraction of that sick leave. Yeah.
32:33
Okay. And then the last question I saw was just any progress on the Aetna-Duke
32:38
contract that we can discuss?
32:42
Yeah, Aetna says that they're plugging away at this and the state health plan
32:46
says they're plugging away at this. I noticed that the chairman of Duke Health is stepping down.
32:52
I have no idea if that will change the negotiations at all.
32:56
It says it still ends in October from what I understand.
33:01
Yeah, so they've got to come to an agreement soon, but this stuff can be put together very quickly.
33:07
Yeah. And that's part that people do need to realize. I don't think it should
33:10
make anybody less nervous.
33:12
It's certainly not a good feeling if your physicians are there to think,
33:16
you know, am I going to be able to go to them? But like I said,
33:19
the CEO of Duke Health is stepping down.
33:22
So sometimes when people step down and other people step in,
33:26
you know, if there are things on the table being negotiated,
33:28
sometimes you can see more movement in those things.
33:32
But I think the state health plan is trying to stay ahead of this so that they
33:37
have alternatives for folks.
33:39
Okay. Just a few news topics that I saw before we get to the Gen Z moment.
33:44
But the Josh Stein praised efforts of the DMV to fill positions this week, 64 positions filled.
33:54
Let's hope they stay. Yeah. Well, that's true.
33:58
That's the problem is that people get in there and it's a very tough job. Yeah.
34:03
And so they have been fairly quickly deciding that money for that kind of headache
34:09
and even physical risk wasn't worth it. Yeah.
34:13
Let's hope they stay. And then just wanted to mention the passing of Mark Hamrick,
34:18
an employee at the Division of Marine Fisheries after an incident yesterday or Wednesday, I guess.
34:26
He was taking water samples in the, I think it's called Turnagin Bay.
34:32
I don't know that. In sea level, North Carolina. I've never heard of that either.
34:35
But very sad situation from one of our colleagues here at Scenic who had worked
34:40
with marine fisheries. He remembered Mark as a very committed employee and fisherman.
34:47
You know, we don't think about how many jobs are dangerous, but if you're on
34:50
the water, I don't care what your job is, if you're on the water, it's dangerous.
34:56
I feel like I need to revert back to what I used to do whenever my mom would
35:00
come home with horror stories from the hospital. I would cover my ears and just
35:03
go, la, la, la, la, la, happy birthday to someone in this world.
35:06
It's been sad. It's been a sad week. Very.
35:09
Yeah, but our thoughts are with his family. And I guess that'll,
35:13
I guess let's move to a happier topic. Maybe.
35:15
I don't know. Not a happier topic. What you got for us this week on Gen Z moment?
35:20
But since we've been talking in this episode a lot about mental health,
35:23
let's talk a little bit about some research on Gen Z mental health and the workplace impact.
35:29
So 46% of Gen Zs have been diagnosed with a mental health condition, formally diagnosed.
35:36
37% suspect that they have an undiagnosed mental health condition.
35:40
The top three mental health conditions diagnosed are anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
35:46
Yeah. Of those people, 34% are taking prescription medication for their mental
35:51
health, and 19% are self-medicating with things that are not prescribed.
35:56
Yeah, that's even worse.
35:58
So the top negative impacts on Gen Z's mental health are social media comparison,
36:05
essentially comparing lives on social media.
36:08
22% say it's their uncertain future slash career instability.
36:13
And 11% is poor economy.
36:17
Yeah, I guess I graduated college right about the time of the last recession,
36:24
and so the job market was terrible.
36:26
No, Maggie, it was 2003, so the job market was terrible.
36:29
I graduated law school in a recession.
36:32
Yeah, and I remember that anxiety. But then it didn't last like this.
36:36
This is a different world for young people. I don't know if I was tough enough
36:40
to make it through what they've got. I do have something that's a little more positive.
36:44
So Gen Z's, despite a lot of us being diagnosed with mental health conditions,
36:51
we are finding much more successful ways to manage mental health struggles.
36:56
And over 54% report having mostly
37:00
good mental health days, even with diagnoses and. Well, that's good.
37:05
Well, yeah, y'all say things like boundaries, something we were almost taught
37:12
that having something like that was a bad thing.
37:15
Yeah. Which is backwards. And I wonder if that influences the statistics you
37:20
were just talking about.
37:21
Like, is it really that it's growing or is it that it's just more diagnosed?
37:26
I bet it is. Yeah, all the challenges.
37:27
It's not even just boundaries when it comes to, like, work-life balance boundaries.
37:33
Just boundaries. But just boundaries in general.
37:36
And I feel like some Gen Zs, I'm very lenient with my boundaries.
37:40
I need to work on that because I am a people pleaser at heart and struggle with saying no to people.
37:47
Even when it's something that pushes my boundaries.
37:49
But it's also just personal boundaries of even telling your friends,
37:53
no, we are not having a conversation about that because it's a boundary.
37:59
Or telling your boss, please don't ignore my questions and please answer all
38:02
of them. Yeah, I'm pretty bad about even doing that.
38:06
She asked, like, we got into it at the convention. I was like,
38:09
what are y'all even talking about? We had a personal struggle here.
38:12
Hey, I've started sending shorter messages now.
38:16
What I'm seeing here is growth. No, I mean, she was right. But anyway.
38:20
I send too long of messages.
38:22
I'll just send like a paragraph being like, here's all the information that
38:26
I need to know. He'll answer half of it.
38:30
You know, my ADHD tune's out. It's just like too long, didn't read.
38:34
T-L-D-R. So I'm like, okay, I need to send shorter messages then.
38:38
So I started doing that since we got back from convention. I was like,
38:41
all right, clearly need shorter messages.
38:43
She's learning to deal with a, what am I, a millennial Gen X or something?
38:47
You're a millennial. You're a millennial. And I'm learning to deal with these crazy Gen Zers.
38:53
But some of the most helpful ways to improve mental health according to these,
38:57
besides 42% of people in my generation already go into therapy,
39:01
I'm one of those, woo-hoo, is 24% say that the most helpful way to improve mental health is therapy.
39:08
19% say more time with family and friends. And 22% is also changing your lifestyle factors.
39:16
Diet, the amount of exercise you get, the amount of sleep you get.
39:20
I really think that's a big part of it, actually.
39:23
I mean, not for everyone, but some people, including myself.
39:27
That, you know, if I took better care of myself, I would be in a better mental state.
39:31
One last little fun thing with this is the most used unconventional methods.
39:37
Oh, no. That are not therapy, changing diet, exercise and stuff.
39:42
But they seem to help people. What? 37% say that they like to manifest. Okay. What is that?
39:50
Believing good things are coming to you and basically speaking into the universe what you want.
39:56
Okay. 36% of people listen to wellness influencer advice.
40:02
I believe that I'll get a Corvette. I believe that I'll get it.
40:06
35% of people use shopping for comfort.
40:10
I do that. It's not the most healthy thing. No, because then it creates financial issues. Yeah.
40:15
Which are even more stressful. But I do recognize when I am doing it for essentially
40:21
a dopamine hit of, like, I just need to buy something.
40:25
Probably what I did when I bought four variations of Taylor Swift's vinyl.
40:30
And you don't even have a record player, do you? I do have a record player. Oh, you do? Okay.
40:35
And then 24% of people like to create vision boards. Okay.
40:39
Which I also do that. My wallpapers on my computer, on my phone screen,
40:44
all of them are vision boards of things that I want to happen to me within that
40:49
year or within that time frame.
40:51
And you said this month was what? This month is Suicide Prevention Month.
40:57
Okay. And for any listeners, there are definitely resources available to state
41:03
employees and retirees through the state health plan and beyond.
41:07
So we'll include some of those in our wording this week.
41:13
But yeah, good topic there. And I guess we'll just wrap up with the question of the week.
41:18
John Swaggy, weird question of the week.
41:19
Music.
41:25
So since today is 9-11 and I was going to ask a 9-11 themed question,
41:30
but I think I used it at the top of the episode.
41:33
I think our question will be, and given all the craziness going on right now,
41:38
what is the first national event or international event that you can remember
41:44
from your childhood or when you were first aware of something? I have two.
41:52
Obviously the challenger explosion i think i was like second grade we were watching
41:57
it on tv when it happened and that was amazing it was like that's awful yeah
42:00
we didn't know what happened though they turned the tv off really quick so but
42:04
i do remember just how i remember like how emotional everyone was,
42:09
And then I think the fall of the Berlin Wall, too, would be a big one.
42:13
I think that was 89, so I was like eight then. So those are my two.
42:17
I actually lived through turbulent times that I don't, you know,
42:22
like the fall of the Soviet Union and that whole time. It's just kind of etched
42:27
in my brain from childhood.
42:28
So what about you? Oh, because I'm so much older than you. The first thing I
42:33
remember was the bicentennial.
42:35
Oh. That was such a big thing. That's cool. Yeah. It was neat. Yeah.
42:40
What was that like? I've always wondered. Oh, you know, everything for a year
42:45
was wrapped around Bicentennial.
42:48
Any advertising for stuff, any, you know, at school we talked about it all the time.
42:54
Yeah. We had, you know, the Bicentennial quarter came out. That was a big,
42:58
big thing. So next year is the 250th.
43:01
So is that going to happen next year? Yeah. Well, there will be,
43:05
that's what I understand. And there's some kind of committee making plans and
43:09
stuff like that. I remember that quarter. I think it's going to be really challenging
43:12
for it to be anywhere near the same.
43:15
We just weren't, going back to what we talked about at the beginning.
43:19
Well, Watergate had just happened. Yeah. But we weren't divided.
43:24
Yeah, that's true. We just really, no, we weren't.
43:28
And everybody felt super patriotic.
43:32
Yeah. And patriotism didn't belong to any one group. Have you ever seen Dazed
43:37
and Confused, the movie? Uh-uh.
43:39
That's somber. It's all about that somber. Oh, wow. You need to go watch it. It's awesome.
43:45
But what about you? Go ahead. I was just going to say I was little,
43:49
so I wouldn't have had the same experiences.
43:52
When I was really little, I don't have a lot of memories from when I lived in
43:57
Tennessee, shockingly.
43:58
I have like friend memories, but not a lot of like significant things that happened kind of memories.
44:04
So the first big national news that I remember hearing, because I was also,
44:09
I was somewhat sheltered. I knew bad things happened in the world and I knew things would go wrong.
44:16
But my parents tried to keep us from having to see those really bad things.
44:22
Actually, this might be the first national event that I really remember.
44:25
It might be earlier than that. I was going to say Sandy Hook in 2012.
44:29
But it might actually be Michael Jackson passing away.
44:35
Because I remember walking into the living room and seeing my mom in tears.
44:39
Yeah, that was before. That was like 2008, I believe. Yeah.
44:43
Because I remember living in Tennessee for that. And I think that was the first
44:46
big thing that I remember because I just remember walking up to my mom and giving
44:49
her a hug because she was crying and I didn't know why.
44:52
That was, I remember that. I was sitting in the newsroom at the Sanford Herald
44:55
and it came across the AP wire and I was like, Michael Jackson died and nobody
45:00
believed me in the office.
45:02
But yeah, that was a big event. Big event for the country. Yeah.
45:07
So I think that might be the first thing that I actually remember.
45:10
Like I said, I don't remember a lot from when I lived in Tennessee.
45:13
I have, I don't know, blocked out a lot of memories of my childhood.
45:16
It wasn't bad. I had a lovely childhood, but blocked out a lot of memories of that.
45:22
All right, America or North Carolina. That was our episode. We'll see you next week.
45:28
Music.