 Welcome to Longmont Voices and Vision, a project of Longmont Public Media. In the midst of the darkest period in our lives, when we're bombarded 24 hours a day with news of the coronavirus and the human and economic carnage it's causing in our society, we're challenged to cope with our fears and anxieties, we're remaining hopeful about what lies on the other side of this crisis. This project presents an opportunity for Longmont residents to share with others how they're adjusting to new realities of social distancing and the kind of future they hope to experience on the other side of the crisis. I'm Tim Waters, host of these conversations in a Longmont Public Media Volunteer. In this series I'll be asking Longmont residents, many of them your friends and neighbors, three questions. What are you doing to get through this crisis? Even though we cannot be together right now, how are we staying connected to friends and families? And what's the future you are hoping to see and experience on the other side of this crisis? I hope you'll stay with this series and enjoy listening to your friends and neighbors and learn from them how they're getting through and what they're looking forward to in a new reality on the other side. Christine Pacheco-Sims, thank you so much for your willingness to contribute to this Longmont Voices and Vision project. And I'm going to ask you just a second to talk about yourself, but before I do that, I also want to thank you for your contributions to the City of Longmont for what you do every day as a part of the Longmont team and the specific segments of our community that you serve. So thanks for that in the long run and thanks this morning for your contribution to this project. So tell us about you. Well, thank you for having me, Tim. I'm Christina Pacheco-Sims. I manage the Children, Youth and Families Division for the City of Longmont. I have worked with the City of Longmont for years and have worked in Boulder County since 1995. So have been a while. I enjoy working with children, youth and families and enjoy providing public service to the community. That's a passion that I have. You get a chance to do that every day and we appreciate it. You know, I'm going to ask you three questions. The first of the three questions is this. We're in a period of history that's unprecedented for me and I think for anybody alive today. I was reminded by one of your colleagues that it's not unprecedented in all of human history, but certainly none of us have ever experienced anything like what we're going through right now. And with all of the drama and the fear associated with it, share with us how are you getting through this? Well, you know, I've heard, you know, many people refer to what we're having to go through as social distancing. And I really prefer to call it, really it's about physical distancing. It isn't about that social isolation. It's really looking at how we connect differently with individuals. And it's about those daily phone calls. It's about utilizing the technology that we have. You know, I think that as, you know, the realm that I work in is social work. And oftentimes we don't lean on technology as much. And I think that we've done that more. And I think it has been very helpful to lean on that in, in this time. And that is a way that we have been able to connect, connect socially in that way. So you've already begun to answer part of the second question or you partly answered the second question and that is in this time of physical distancing and and under a stay at home order. How are you staying connected with your friends and family? Definitely through through phone calls through social media through texts through FaceTime. Definitely. I have leaned on that more. I think I'm from Southern Colorado. And I think that's where that's where my, my family is. And I talked to my mom once a day. She'll be 90 in September. And I'm one of the things that, so I come from a family, I'm the youngest of eight. And so with that, the, the plan that, that my family has for my mom because of her age and her risk category is that she has contact with one of my brothers. So my brother spends the day with her. And so he has spent every day with her for the last month and the rest of us call and talk with her. And so that's how I stay connected with her. But if I were fortunate enough to live, live close to her. What she does with my other siblings is they actually drive, drive around in the car and they'll drive up to my sister's house and just kind of talk to them from a, from a distance just so they can see each other. So I think that's a pretty unique way for families to families to connect. And I think that there are some families that are doing that. But for me, it's, it's mostly through technology and through telephone. But I think that's a pretty unique way. Yeah, well, we're all getting way more familiar and skilled at use of technologies like zoom and, and I've heard a lot from respondents about the use of the telephone way more than in past months or years. I don't particularly enjoy talking on the telephone after, after the workday is over but I find myself using it more and more. Yeah. Yeah, what was an outdated technology has become kind of central to our connections right now. Absolutely. The third question is, and there's assumption or a presumption behind the question, or that underlines the question that whatever was normal for us prior to the pandemic and stay at home orders and all that we've gone through. Whatever becomes normal on the other side of this whatever the new normal is, life's going to be different. So my question for you is what would you like to see what is your preferred future in the new normal and in that new normal what would you be willing or like to help create. You know, I was, I saw I read a quote the other day and I, because I knew we were going to we were going to have this interview. And the quote that I found, let me, nothing should go back to normal. Mama wasn't working. If we go back to the way things were will last we will have lost the lesson. Maybe rise up. And so I think what what this last month has forced us to do is to slow down. Is to really look at valuing those human connections and really take stock and what's important. And I think that we need to continue to stay focused on that, whether it's looking out for our members that are are less fortunate or less able. I think we need to continue to do that moving forward. We need to continue to reach out to those in our community that are less able less fortunate. Reach out to those in our families. And to those family members that that need us and do what we need to do to support them. That's what I hope that we don't lose sight of moving forward. That's very aspirational. Very well said Christina Pacheco Sims. Thank you so much for what you do every day. Thank you for your contribution again to this project. Take care of yourself. Stay safe and healthy and take care of your family. Thank you, Council Member waters. Take care. So thank you very much for your contribution. Everybody. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you, Joe Ratamaker. Deputy City Manager. Thank you. So much both for your contributions to the city and to the community. And now your contributions to this lawn munt. Voices of vision project. Each of these interviews, we've started by wanting to learn something about the some questions. I appreciate it, Tim. I appreciate you doing this work because I do think it's important for our community and for future generations to understand. So who is Gail? Well, he's a guy that's been at the city for about 37 years. I've been incredibly fortunate to be able to work my entire career in my hometown, which I don't think many people get that chance and that opportunity. And so that brings with it great enjoyment, great satisfaction, and also great responsibility. Because folks know not only you, but they know your parents and they know your kids. And so you're constantly, or I feel I'm constantly needing to be sure that I'm doing the best we can every day. So yeah, I've been in public service here for the city now for quite a while. And certainly going through this pandemic is a new one. I think we are up against a foe or a challenge like we've never seen. Certainly not what I have seen in my lifetime. And it's both an opportunity and it can be troubling. But honestly, I see us as a community. I always look good in things. I look for the good in people. I look for the good in what we can learn from the challenges that are put in front of us and to always stay focused that way. And frankly, also to realize all of the blessings that we each have. Because the way I look at it is I'm incredibly blessed. I'm healthy. I haven't caught it. Obviously, I know folks who have, but most with the exception of about two have survived. And so you're going to be blessed about that. We're going to get through it. We're going to learn a lot. At least I hope heck we learn a lot. And I think it is going to fundamentally change us as a community. And certainly how we do business, how we how we serve the city. How we serve the city, I think is fundamentally changing. And it's always odd when you're in the middle of the change. It's difficult sometimes to know what's happening in the immediate, let alone, what's going to be happening in the next six months, eight months, a year. So all I can say is it's a good time to be nimble. It's a time to be open to new ideas. It's trying to be frankly searching for new ways of doing things and not holding on too much to the past. So you've begun to answer actually the first two of these questions, but I'm going to ask them anyway. And that is for anybody alive today, we've never experienced the kind of physical separation and social isolation that we're experiencing right now. And you've begun to answer how you're getting yourself through this already, but what else should we hear about how Deir Atomaker is getting himself through this unprecedented moment in history? So, you know, we're all dealing with the pandemic on likely on our professional work, as well as with our families and with our friends. It's a challenge. I think it's a very human thing to want to be together. And I don't think that's going to get washed out of our time soon. I hope it doesn't. What it will mean, though, is before we can do that openly and freely. In other words, before we can be sitting down at Bronco's football game, around 70,000 other people, my guess is it could be weird. We might be sitting down there with a bunch of masks on and trying to yell through a mask. That's going to be hard. But my guess is we'll figure that out. But we're using it as my wife, Karen and I are both working from home. She, of course, has the much nicer office. I'm stuck out on the game table room and the family room, but we're actually finding it as a time where we're able to take long walks at night. We're not commuting into our offices every day. And so, in that way, again, very blessed and fortunate. All of our family, my children are all fine. They're all working from home. They're all being very creative on how they're doing it. We're having a lot of Zoom family meetings like this. And frankly, again, finding ways to connect with each other, which I think is a fundamental human thing. Professionally, we're having lots of fun. We have staff who are just at the beginning of their career. And I think, so if we think back, Tim, if you and I were in our mid-20s right now and just starting our career, wouldn't that be exciting? It would be like, wow, we are going to move away from the old days quickly now, I tell you. So we're doing stuff. So instead of us all standing around getting a cup of coffee in the break room, we have a 15 or 30-minute Zoom meeting where we all get together and talk and show our pets and, again, connect with each other's people. That connection is remote, but it doesn't have to be broken. And professionally, it's also key to, I think when you're a leader in this time, you absolutely have to pay attention to your staffs, their biggest fears, the challenges that they each are experiencing, whether it's at their home or office or at their work, and connecting with them. To me, this is a time where good leaders demonstrate that. They demonstrate it by listening, by paying attention. We've gone out and collected our folks. We were in the parks folks. We got them together in a parking lot. We can't get together in a building, but we can social distance in a parking lot and talk about how things are going, what they're up against, and still making that human connection. We're not hugging. I said, you know, we don't get to hug anybody anymore, and else you know them really, really well, then you can't. So, you know, I think it's challenging us all to think of things differently, to demonstrate our concern and care for each other differently. And I actually like it. I mean, I look at it and I go, yeah, that's sort of cool. You just don't know, though. You don't know. Everybody's very different, I guess, is the way I'd say going through this. And that's hard to appreciate, because I can also, I can see that, for some, this is potentially the worst time of their life, the arous time of their life. And boy, I'd be there too. If I had lost my job, or if I was sick, or if my loved ones were sick, I'd be thanking that too. Be scary. So, I think it's, I think it's just staying in touch with people and maintaining trust, maintaining our trust and confidence in each other. To the extent we can do that, and we'll get through it. That's how I'm managing it. You've touched maybe as much as you want to on how you stand connected with family and friends, but in this time of stay-at-home orders and in all of the requirements that we remain separated, anything else we should know from you about how you're staying connected to family and friends? I know you're part of a large family, and it's spread out in a lot of places, and what else should we know about the Radimaker family and how you're staying connected with family and friends? Well, we have the full range, as you can imagine. So, I have a cousin who is a Catholic priest, and he is having Mass every day at his parent's house, where he is taking care of his two parents, and that's a cool way to stay connected. I certainly didn't go to Mass every day before this, and to be honest, I'm not going every day now, but I am checking in occasionally. And so, we would not have stayed in touch that way had it not been for this pandemic. My sister lives on the same property that I do, and so we are connecting in ways, going on walks again, staying in touch with each other, calling each other. I have called my, you know, that good old telephone. It's a pretty good way to talk to people, and ways that I wouldn't have done before, because I would have said I'm too busy, I've got too much going on, and dock on it, I just can't carve out the time. I think it's, again, I'm always going to look for the positive that, so what's the downside? The downside is I can't go, I give my mother a hug. I can see her through the window, and that was our Easter this year. What are you doing, mom? Love you, and problem with mom is she can't see. She's got macular degeneration, so she can't. She can't see us. But we were able to talk. So it's not without emotion that's always going to be there. That is probably an Easter, though, I'm going to remember more than others. This will be a memorable Easter for all of us, for reasons we'd rather not remember, but it will be memorable. A lot of us celebrated Easter just the way you just described. I think we'll be talking about it with our kids and grandkids for a few decades. Well, you have to really feel for the class of 2020, whether you're high school senior or college senior, all the losses that go along. Yeah, that's my sister's son as a senior, and of course, baseball was his sport, and so not get a graduation, but he doesn't get to play his sport. And Matthew said it really well. He said, you know, what really comes to mind is I didn't know on that last day that that would be the last day that we're in class together. I told him, I said, you know what, Matthew, you're all still here. You will have an opportunity to get together. It may be in August or September, but you will find a time to do that, and it will be so important. And my guess is you'll all figure out a way to do it. So do that. But yeah, my third question, as you know, is based on this assumption that whatever life is like on the other side of the pandemic, it's going to be different than it was before we got into stay-at-home orders and all of that associated with or the reasons for it, that whatever was normal then, there's going to be a new normal, and the new normal will be different than what it was. So the question is, what's your preferred future? What would you like to see? And what are you willing to help work to create on the other side of this? A couple of things. So I'm going to, from my perspective, what this is demonstrating to us is the value of healthcare in our country and the world around us. I think what we're seeing is certainly those populations where healthcare is not as readily available, or their general health is not where it should otherwise be because of a lack of healthcare. So one thing I hope for, I hope we as a country can honestly get our act together and understand that healthcare is a basic human right. It is not something to be allocated, if you will, based on who can afford the best insurance or who couldn't afford the best doctors. I think we're witnessing that. I think we're all witnessing that right now. The question is, what do we do about it? We either make our peace with it and say, well, that's really unfortunate that that happened, or we say no, that's not acceptable. So I want to be part of changing that dialogue, be part of a movement to say that that isn't how we should go forward. That's one thing. The other thing I think we need to really double down in the country on is supportive higher education, support of basic research and development. What this country really used to be about back in the 50s and 60s when there was a huge and a phenomenal effort at basic research and that they understood that that was a federal, that was an obligation of all of us. It's not an obligation of the next big company to do because they can make the most money off. We need to really double down on basic research and, frankly, we need to get to a point where we shorten this time where we get vaccines to the market and we get them to the market in a way that's incredibly equitable and distributed rapidly. I don't think the coronavirus is going to be the last one that comes at us. I guess the other thing I would say is that when we're in the middle of a crisis like we are right now, which is sort of the short term midterm, like between now and the next 18 months, we can't lose sight of the longer term issues that are also huge challenges to this country. At the policy level, the virus coupled together with the economic downturn, it's going to make it all the more difficult to advance transitions to things like clean energy, to transition to a green bill of communities and change the way our communities are designed and built. It's going to be far more easy for people to push through ideas that, well, we can't change now. It's too expensive, or we can't do something now because. So I would like to be part of an effort that says, okay, we get that. We get that. And where does that path get us in five or 10 years? We need to not lose sight of the long term because we become so focused on the immediate. And that's going to be a challenge. I think it's going to be a challenge at all levels of government. So no, and the odd thing is, Tim, when it's like you and I and we're towards the end of our career, again, I'd love to be 25 because they are going to be part of a fundamental shift, not only in the economy, but I think in the society. And what it means now to be a good American, what does that mean? Does that mean following public health orders to this team, reaching out to help your neighbor in ways that maybe have never done. So that's my desired new future. For our children, our grandchildren, I've got two little granddaughters that are less than a year old who won't remember a darn thing about this situation. But I believe the world they're going to grow up in is going to be very different than what it would have otherwise been. And I can't predict how that's going to be, but what I do know is I think the basic, again, desires of humans to interact and to be together is not going to go away. That's what it means in mind to be human. We cannot dehumanize ourselves over this. We have to use the thing on our shoulders and figure out ways to balance this thing. And again, it's not going to be the last one. We will have more challenges. I think this is a bit of a wake-up call for us all, to really wonder are we investing our money, and are we coming forward with basic health care programs and policies that are equitable and blind to your income, or blind to your ethnicity? I don't think we're there yet. I think we're getting a whole new set of data that's to suggest to us more work to be done. So I want to be part of that. I want to be part of saying, I want to be part of that change. I don't want to be part of holding on to what used to be. Dale, one of these days, those two granddaughters of yours will have a chance to watch this interview. And they'll know what Grandpa Dale was thinking about, what was on his mind and in his heart at this point in history. So thanks for your willingness to share that. Thanks again for all your contributions to this community, and take care of yourself and all those family members you just included in this interview. Well, thank you, Tim, and thank you for doing this. And I can't wait to see the final product. All right. When we can get back out in our Passable Cross, I look forward to that opportunity. You bet. Thanks.