# Mayor's Task Force to End Homelessness - July 8, 2026 > Auto-transcribed civic record · Task Force · July 8, 2026 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/6825 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/6825?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2026-07-08 - **Body**: Task Force - **Last revised**: July 19, 2026 - **Length**: 12,861 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude Sonnet. Speaker labels and verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Lexington City Council met on July 6, 2026, in Lexington, Kentucky, under the presiding of Mayor Linda Gorton. The meeting included four agenda items, all of which were informational in nature. No votes were taken during this meeting, and no public comments were heard. The council received presentations on the city's 4th of July events, a special message from Public Safety, the Tech Internship Pilot Program, and information about upcoming meetings and events. ## Attendance The following individuals were present at the Task Force meeting on July 8, 2026: * Mayor Linda Gorton * James Brown * Dave Zbigniew No members were absent or late. ## Recap of the city's 4th of July events [timestamp: 0:28:18] Tyler Rowlett presented an overview of Lexington's 4th of July celebrations, which commemorated America's 250th birthday. The city's festivities extended beyond Independence Day itself, with events beginning on July 1. The celebration included three main events: - Ice Cream Social - Patriotic Concert - Fireworks display This agenda item was presented for informational purposes, providing the Task Force with details about the city's holiday programming and community engagement activities during the July 4th weekend. ## Special message from Public Safety The Lexington Department of Public Safety presented a message to the Task Force at approximately 30 minutes and 27 seconds into the meeting [timestamp: 30:27]. The presentation focused on celebrating America's 250th birthday while emphasizing the importance of community unity and service. The message was informational in nature, with no formal debate or concerns raised during the agenda item. This presentation served as an informational update rather than a decision-making item, allowing the Department of Public Safety to share its perspective on civic commemoration and community engagement with Task Force members. ## Tech Internship Pilot Program Mayor Linda Gorton presented a new tech internship pilot program designed to expand employment opportunities within the local technology sector [timestamp: 32:06]. **Presentation Overview** The program was introduced as an informational item to the Task Force, with Mayor Gorton leading the discussion alongside council members. The initiative aims to create pathways for individuals to gain experience and skills in technology-related fields while addressing workforce development needs in the community. **Outcome** The agenda item was presented for informational purposes, with no formal action or vote recorded at this time. ## Upcoming Meetings and Events [timestamp: 36:34] Charlie Lanter presented the schedule for upcoming city meetings and community events for the week of July 6. This agenda item was presented as informational in nature, with no debate or concerns raised during the discussion. --- ## Full transcript Yeah! One, two, three, four, five, six! While she lays sleeping I stay out late at night and play my songs And sometimes other nights can be so long And it's good when I finally make it home All alone While she lays dreaming I try to get undressed without the light And quietly she says, how was your night? And I come to her and say, it was all right And I hold her tight And she believes in me I'll never know just what she sees in me I told her someday if she was my girl I could change the world With my little songs I was wrong She has faith in me And so I go on trying faithfully And who knows maybe on some special night If my song is right I will find a way Find a way While she lays waiting I stumble to the kitchen for a bite Then I see my old guitar in the night Just waiting for me like a secret friend And there's no end While she lays crying I fumble with a melody or two Then I'm torn between the things that I should do Then she says to wait for us when I am through God, her love is true And she believes in me I'll never know just what she sees in me I told her someday if she was my girl I could change the world With my little songs I was wrong But she has faith in me And so I go on trying faithfully And who knows maybe on some special night If my song is right I will find a way While she lays While she waits For me Dude looks like a lady Dude looks like a lady Dude looks like a lady Music Cruising to a bar on the shore A picture grace the grand bounty door She had long lost her love in her fight Baby maybe you're wrong but you know it's alright Music Backstage we're having the time Of our lives until somebody said Forgive me if I seem out of line And should we have got a gun? You've got to throw me away Dude looks like a lady Dude looks like a lady Dude looks like a lady Dude looks like a lady Never judge a book by it's cover On who you're gonna love by your number Said love would be wise to the love in disguise She has the body of a Venus on her face Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Let me take a peek dear Do me, do me, do me all night Turn me on the cheek dear Do me, do me, do me, do me Music Ooh, what a funky lady Don't you like it, like it, like it, like it Ooh, he was a lady Yeah, ooh, what a funky girl Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Nah, nah, dude looks like a lady Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady Dude, dude, dude, dude looks like a lady Born down in a dead man's town The first kicker took us when I hit the ground Ended up like a dog that's been beat too much Till you spent half your life just to cover him up now Born in the USA I was Born in the USA I was Born in the USA Born in the USA Now got in a little hometown jam So they pulled a rifle in my hands Sent me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man Born in the USA I was Born in the USA I was Born in the USA I was Born in the USA Come back home to the refineries How a man said, son, if it was up to me Went down to see my VA man He said, son, don't you understand now Come on, baby No, no No, no, no I had a brother, I can't stop Fightin' all night with his car But still there, he's all gone He had a woman, he lived in Saigon I got a picture of a man in a hotel Down in the shadow of the Panic Sanctuary Out by the gas fires of the fire breeze I'm sitting here, it's burnin' down the road Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go Born in the USA I was Born in the USA now Born in the USA I'm a long gone daddy in the USA now Born in the USA Born in the USA Born in the USA I'm a cool rockin' daddy in the USA now Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go Nowhere to run Nowhere to run Nowhere to run Nowhere to run When you're bleeding, feeling small When tears are in your eyes I'll dry them all I'm on your side Oh, when times get rough And friends just can't be found Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down When you're down and out When you're on the street When evening falls so hard I'll come for you I'll take your part Oh, when darkness comes And pain is all around Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down Sail on, silver girl Sail on by Your time has come To shine All your dreams along their way See how they shine Oh, if you need a friend I'm standing right behind Like a bridge over troubled water I will ease your mind Like a bridge over troubled water I will ease your mind I will ease your mind guitar solo beating piano & guitar play do-do-do-do do-do-do-do-do-do The first time I saw you Oh, you looked so fine And I had a feeling One day you'd be mine Honey, you came along And captured my heart Now my love is somewhere Lost in your kiss When I'm all alone It's you that I miss Girl, a love like yours Is hard to resist Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Penny lover, my love's on fire Penny lover, you're my one desire Tell me baby, could this be true That I could need someone like I need you Night's warm and tender Lying next to you Girl, I surrender What more can I do I spent all my life In search of your love Now there's one more thing I'd like to say Don't you ever take Your sweet love away Hell, I'll do anything Just please stay Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh I don't understand it Oh, what's come over me But I'm not gonna worry No, not anymore Cause when a man's in love He's only got one story That's why my love is somewhere Lost in yours When I'm lost and alone It's you that I miss With a love like yours It's hard to resist Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh I wanna see this guy Penny lover, don't you walk on by Don't you walk on by Penny lover, don't you make me cry Don't you make me cry, baby Penny lover, don't you walk on by Don't you walk on by Penny lover, don't you make me cry Oh, penny baby Penny lover, don't you walk on by Don't you walk on by I remember the first time I saw you, baby Penny lover, don't you make me cry You had that look in your eye You had that look in your eye, yeah Oh, penny Penny lover Ooh, oh, penny baby Moonlight on canvas Midnight and wine Two shadows start To softly combine A picture, their pain Is one of the heart And to those who have seen it It's a true work of art Oh, the red strobe Passions ungave Thundering moments Of tenderness rage Oh, the red strobe Tempered and strong Burning the night like the dawn Steam on the window Salt in the kiss Two hearts have never Pounded like this Inspired by a vision That they can't command Erasing the border With each brush of a hand Oh, the red strobe Passions ungave Thundering moments Of tenderness rage Oh, the red strobe Tempered and strong Burning the night like the dawn Oh, the blues will be blue And the jealousy's green But when love picks its shade It demands to be seen Oh, the red strobe Passions ungave Thundering moments Of tenderness rage Passions ungave Thundering moments Of tenderness rage Oh, the red strobe Fearlessly drawn Burning the night like the dawn Oh, the red strobe Passions ungave Thundering moments Of tenderness rage Oh, the red strobe Fearlessly drawn Burning the night like the dawn Steam on the window Salt in the kiss Two hearts have never Been like me bass, drums, & guitar play rock bass, drums, & guitar play rock bass, drums, & guitar play rock So the story goes Owner of a lonely heart Owner of a lonely heart Owner of a broken heart Owner of a lonely heart Say you don't wanna chance it You've been hurt so before Watch it now Eagle in the sky I'll be dancing all alone You lose yourself Know not the pain you see There's no real reason to be lonely bass, drums, & guitar play rock Hi everyone, I'm Haley and welcome to this episode of Lexington Now for the week of July 6, 2026. On today's episode we'll be covering a recap of the city's 4th of July events, a special message from Public Safety, and a new technology partnership program. We also have Charlie Lancher, the Commissioner for Housing Advocacy and Community Development, giving us this week's upcoming meetings and events. Stay tuned, we'll be right back. music Welcome back. As America celebrated its 250th birthday of being a country, the city of Lexington celebrated with a variety of special events. LexTV producer Tyler Rowlett has all the details. America celebrated its 250th birthday this past week and Lexington celebrated that major milestone with events that started on July 1. Last Wednesday, we kicked off our festivities with the Ice Cream Social at Tandy Park, where Mayor Gorton cut a 250th birthday cake for America. After that, it was a short walk down to the Kentucky Theater, where a packed house showed up to cheer on Team USA to a World Cup victory at our watch party. Friday was the annual Patriotic Concert at Gratz Park, where a sea of chairs filled the lawn to hear Lexington Philharmonic play patriotic songs all evening on the eve of America's 250th birthday. Then, on July 4, we had events downtown all day. We started the morning bright and early with the 50th running of the Bluegrass 10,000. Several community members were recognized for participating in all 50 runnings of the race, a very impressive feat. Following the race, several community members read the Declaration of Independence on the steps of the historic courthouse to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its signing. After the Bluegrass 10,000 course was cleared, we saw the annual 4th of July Parade, where organizations from the community walked, rode, and some even drove amazing classic cars down Main Street. LexTV was there to livestream the parade, so if you couldn't make it downtown for it, you could always head to our Facebook page and check out our broadcast of the entire event. And what would the 4th of July be without our annual fireworks celebration? The night ended with an amazing fireworks display over downtown, a fitting wrap-up to a packed week full of celebrations. Don't forget to keep up with all the events going on in Lexington. You can always follow LexTV on Facebook, Instagram, or on lexingtonky.gov. In downtown, I'm Tyler Rowlett. Happy 250th birthday, America. Thanks, Tyler. We also want to highlight a special message from the City's Department of Public Safety. Cities and states across our great nation are celebrating America's 250th birthday, uniting and commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the ideals that continue to guide us today. Here in Lexington, we celebrate this historic milestone as a community, and our community has been a part of America's story since the founding of our country. And as a part of this community, the Lexington Department of Public Safety is proud of its long history of service to this great city throughout the years. America represents strength. We celebrate our good times. We face our challenging times. But through it all, we stand united. This is our community. This is our America. And we are the people. Our public safety family has been and always will be there when you need us. As Lexington honors America's 250th birthday, our community stands together in freedom, unity, and the enduring spirit that has shaped our nation. From Lexington's Public Safety team, happy birthday, America. ♪♪♪ Mayor Linda Gorton joined Councilmembers James Brown and Dave Zbigniew to introduce a new tech internship pilot program. This is a partnership focused on increasing employment opportunities in the local technology sector. We were there for the announcement. We're here to announce our new tech internship pilot program. Our goal is to grow tech employment by establishing new connections among our employers, educational institutions, students, and workers. We want to retain talent right here in Lexington and meet the demands of our growing technology sector. Selected employers will be eligible for partial reimbursement of wages for up to two tech-based intern positions. Eligible students must be enrolled full-time at a partnering university or college and must be within two years of finishing their degrees. The city anticipates funding 30 to 40 internships. Consultants helped us design this pilot program and to ensure that the internships benefit the employers and the students alike. The consultants gathered input for this program from our tech employers, industry groups, higher education, and local government. The program is flexible to accommodate both true technology internships, for example, in software, hardware, or digital services, and tech-enabled internships, including those that use technology to enhance or optimize operations, services, or products. Over the past several months, the Office of Economic Development has worked with our chief information officer, local businesses, schools, and community partners to create a program that connects students and job seekers with opportunities in Lexington, growing our technology sector. This initiative is about building connections and strengthening partnerships, helping students gain real-world experience, and helping our employers find talented people and preparing our community for the jobs of today and tomorrow. Lexington is a vibrant, growing city with outstanding educational institutions and a high quality of life. But too often, especially in the tech sector, our students believe they need to leave Lexington to build their careers. To better understand this challenge, we partnered with Techonomy Partners to take a close look at our tech ecosystem. Their findings were clear. While we lead the state in tech-dependent roles, we lag the national average, and we need intentional strategies to grow and develop talent here in Lexington. When I owned my own IT company, internships were essential. They helped us cultivate talent, strengthen our culture, and identify future leaders. Over 25 years later, some of these interns are leaders in my company today. That's the long-term impact that meaningful opportunities like this can create. This pilot gives our city that same opportunity. It's an investment in students, employers, and Lexington's economic future and helps assure that the next generation of tech talent sees Lexington not only as a great place to go to school, but as a great place to work and live. Thank you. I am so excited about this program and what it will mean for our students, the tech sector, and our community. Thank you, Mary. When we come back, we'll have LexTV's live upcoming meeting coverage, the weekend's events, and the Adoptable Pets of the Week. ♪ Hey, everyone. I'm Charlie Lanter, Commissioner of Housing Advocacy and Community Development, and you're watching LexTV. Welcome back. Charlie Lanter, the city's Commissioner for Housing Advocacy and Community Development, shares all the meetings we'll be covering this week. ♪ Hi, there. I'm Charlie Lanter from the Office of Housing Advocacy and Community Development. Here's our current live meeting schedule this week, July 6, for LexTV. Remember, you can watch all our live meeting coverage on LexTV Channel 185 and always online at lexnky.gov. On Tuesday, July 7, in the morning, watch the Public Art Commission at 9.30, and on Wednesday morning, July 8 at 9, watch the Police and Fire Pension Board meeting. Following that same afternoon at 1.30, watch our live coverage of the Homelessness Prevention and Intervention Board meeting, and then on Thursday afternoon, July 9, watch the Planning Commission Subdivision Items meeting at 1.30. That's our current live meeting schedule for LexTV for the week of July 6. Watch all our live meeting coverage on LexTV Channel 185 or always online at lextvky.gov and click the LexTV tab at the top. I'm Charlie Lanter, and we'll see you next time. Charlie also shares the events you can attend this weekend. Hi, there. I'm Charlie Lanter from the Office of Housing Advocacy and Community Development. Here are some upcoming events this weekend in Lexington and Fayette County for the weekend starting July 10. Please note, events that require registration may sell out or fill up in advance. Be sure to confirm by visiting lexingtonky.gov slash calendar. On Friday, July 10, bird enthusiasts are invited to join us at Raven Run Nature Sanctuary for a bird walk at 9 a.m. Attendees will enjoy a guided 1.5 to 2-mile hike to observe and learn about the park's avian inhabitants. This program is geared towards adults and children aged 10 and up. Registration is not required, but certainly encouraged. Summer Playground Days will be popping up at Dogwood Park at 10 a.m. and Whitney Young Park at 2 p.m. Park staff will bring games and engaging activities for kids of all ages and abilities to enjoy. And lastly, on Friday, head to Moon Dance Apotheater for Summer Nights in Suburbia at 6 p.m. Here you can grab dinner from the food and drink trucks and kick back with friends and enjoy live music from 64 West. On Saturday, July 11, the city is hosting a free trash disposal day at the Bluegrass Regional Transfer Station. From 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., Fayette County residents can bring one car or pickup truckload of non-hazardous waste, including mattresses, small indoor furniture, box springs, tires, and bagged household waste. More details can be found online. Junior Naturalists will be held at Kelly's Landing at 9 a.m. Children in kindergarten through fifth grade will partake in a morning of fun, interactive activities learning about Kentucky River's ecosystem. All attendees must be accompanied by an adult, and registration is required. At 10 a.m., bring the little ones to Story Walk at McConnell Springs Park. This fun, self-guided reading experience will feature laminated pages from a children's book posted along the trail for you and your family to explore at your own pace. Then, at 11.30 a.m., enjoy a laid-back morning of live music, food trucks, and fresh air in the heart of downtown with Brunch with the Arts at Phoenix Park. And lastly, view the night sky at Raven Run Sanctuary with the Bluegrass Astronomer Club. Our stargazing event will meet at 9 p.m. and is weather-dependent, so be sure to call the park that day for updates. I'm Charlie Lanter, and that's just some of the things going on this weekend in Lexington and Fayette County. You may need to pre-register for some of these, so for more information, be sure to visit lexingtonky.gov and click the calendar tab at the top. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you again next week. Thanks, Charlie. One other event you can attend is Thursday Night Live, this week at 5 p.m., downtown at Tandy Park. The band this week will be Vanguard. And now, as always, LexTV producer Randy Rosbaum brings us the Pets of the Week that you can adopt from the Lexington Humane Society. Hey everyone, welcome to this week's Lexington Fayette County Adoptable Pets from LexTV and the Lexington Humane Society. We've got Orbit, female, black and white in color, approximate age, 4 months old, looks like a Labrador mix, does well in apartments and also does well with children. We've got Adorable Perry, a male, black and white in color, approximate age, 3 years old, looks like an American Pit Bull mix, mature sizes, large, does well with children, does well in apartments. And lastly, we've got Rolly Polly, blue and white in color, a male, approximate age, 3 years old, looks like a Pit Bull mix, does well in apartments and also does well with children. Thanks for watching these adorable and handsome pets, available at LexingtonHumaneSociety.org from LexTV and the Lexington Humane Society. Thanks, Randy. That's all for this week's episode of Lexington Now, but you can always catch up with us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. You can also check out all the latest traffic information on X at LexRex and catch our live traffic cams at LexingtonKY.gov. I'm Haley, and from all of us here at LexTV, thanks for watching Lexington Now. We'll see you next week. Hey everybody, you're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching Lexington Now on LexTV. You're watching LexTV. But somehow we missed out On the pot of gold But we'll try best that we can To carry on A gathering of angels appeared above my head They sang to me this song of hope And this is what they said, they said Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me, lads Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away, come sail away I thought that they were angels Up to my surprise We climbed aboard that spaceship We headed for the skies Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sailing away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away, come sail away Come sail away with me Come sail away with me Why am I losing sleep over you? Why am I losing sleep over you? Reliving precious moments we knew So many days have gone by Still I'm so lonely And I guess there's just no getting over you There's nothing I can do But spend all of my time Out of my mind Over you Within the prison walls of my mind There's still a part of you left behind And though it hurts I'll get by Without your love in the end I guess there's just no getting over you There's nothing I can do But spend all of my time Out of my mind Over you And I guess there's just no getting over you There's nothing I can do But spend all of my time Out of my mind Over you And I guess there's just no getting over you There's nothing I can do But spend all of my time Out of my mind Over you And I guess there's just no getting over you There's nothing I can do But spend all of my time Out of my mind To the song we're playing on the radio Let's sway While color lights up your face Let's sway Sway through the crowd to an empty space If you say run, I'll run with you If you say hide, you'll hide If I lost my love for you Would break my heart in two If you said fall into my arms Tremble like a flower Let's dance Let's dance Feel the grace you fall Let's dance Feel tonight is all Let's sway You could look into my eyes Let's sway Under the moonlight, there's serious moonlight And if you say run, I'll run with you And if you say hide, we'll hide If I lost my love for you Would break my heart in two If you said fall into my arms And tremble like a flower Let's dance But on your pictures and dance the blood Let's sway Under the moonlight, there's serious moonlight Let's sway Let's sway music only Hey, where did we go Days when the rains came Down in the hollow Playing a new game Laughin' and a runnin', hey, hey Skippin' and a jumpin' In the misty morning fog with All our hearts a-thumpin' And you, my brown-eyed girl You, my brown-eyed girl You, my brown-eyed girl You, my brown-eyed girl You, my brown-eyed girl For season three. I love it, season three. Who would have thought when we first started this, right? But we've had a great time with it and we appreciate everybody. We appreciate the chief and all the chief staff for supporting the project. We appreciate all the people that have been on the project with us, all the different interviews that we've done and LexTV. I know we mentioned them at the end of season two, but LexTV does a phenomenal job. What a team they have and what a team when they work with us. And we want to thank you, the viewers out there, everybody that's watching the show, all the comments that we get, the people that come up to us and say they watch it. We appreciate that. If you have any ideas on some of the episodes in the future that you'd like to see or things you want to learn more about, reach out to us and let us know because this is about you and your Lex PD and you learning about our agency and how we work together. And I would love that. And so this season, we're kind of going to focus on public safety partnerships. So we're going to start off this season with E911. Yeah, and when we talk about partnerships, we're very blessed in Lexington with all the different partnerships we have, both within the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government and then also just in the community itself, all the folks and all the partnerships that we have. Very, very important to make it all work together. We're going to highlight some of the things and specialized units and so forth over the next few episodes and over the next season. But yeah, that partnership, and the one we're starting with today, that's where, you know, I remember when we did the patrol episode, I said it all begins here. Well, it actually almost always begins there because it begins when you call 911 and the folks that you're going to be talking to and how they're going to dispatch that, whether it's a police call, a fire call. So I'm excited about talking with our enhanced 911 center today on your Lex PD. So let's go talk to them. Hey. Hey, and it's Bajiniko, and we are back, and we are here with some of the people that work at E911. So we are going to talk to the director, Ms. Janelle Patton. How are you doing today? I am doing fabulous today, thank you for asking. So glad to have you here with us today, talking with us. I'm glad to be here today. So you are the director of E911. Can you tell us how you came to be in that position? Yes. It's been a long road. I started in 1999, the year before the world was supposed to end. And I started as a police dispatcher. I took a promotion to supervisor. I enjoyed that position as well, and I became a PSAP manager. And then, ultimately, I became the director in 2021. Nice. Well, congratulations on your promotion. Thank you. So what does, I know I say E911, what does the E stand for? E stands for enhanced. And what enhanced means, it's, you're able to get location information. So when a call comes in, of course, you're going to get a phone number. Enhanced, it actually shows the latitude and longitude in case the caller has difficulty providing that location information. It's also integrated now with GIS mapping systems, which makes locating people a lot easier. And we were, I think Lexington was one of the first E911s in the state, is that right? It was. Okay. It was. And that's, that's very significant because you don't get calls all the time where people don't really know where they are, particularly if they're not from Lexington, if they're on the interstate, things like that. So that helps maybe save somebody's life. It does. It does. And now with AI technology and just all of the cutting edge technology, we're able to do a whole lot. A whole lot. Well, when you look in this room, you haven't been around as long as I have, but you do remember the old 911 center. And so things have changed a lot. I think everything at one point from the police side was contained at police headquarters downtown and the fire department was over at station one, I believe at one point. So when did all that change and has it made a big difference? It all changed in 2015. Fire department dispatchers actually came to police headquarters and we all started dispatching out of that location. In 2016 we moved to this brand new facility and it definitely has made things better. Having everyone in the same room when an incident occurs, it's vital to communication. And this building is unique in that it has everyone that is really providing a customer service response in the event of an emergency. We're all here together. So it definitely has made a difference. And it's obviously state of the art. For anybody out there that maybe is thinking about being a telecommunicator, being a call taker dispatcher, what kind of training goes into that? And you've got a lot of personnel. How many personnel do you have? I have 81 personnel. And so I'm sure there's a lot of training involved. There is. There is a state mandatory training that you have to be a certified telecommunicator in the state of Kentucky. And that right now is four weeks of training at Department of Criminal Justice Training Center. That teaches you the basics of being a telecommunicator. There are a few cities in the state that split the duties up. Lexington is one of those. We have call takers and we have dispatchers. Of course, call takers are talking to the citizens and dispatchers are talking to responders. And that is strictly due to volume. So some of the smaller agencies, they do it. One person dispatches in, does the call taking as well. But we are hiring right now. So if you like a fast paced environment, you want a steady career, you want to provide a service to citizens and responders, it's a great career. It's a great career. Awesome. So when should people call 9-1-1 and when should they not? I know it seems like, yeah, you call 9-1-1 for emergencies. In life or death emergencies. And also times when something is going on criminally. Something is going on where harm can be done to an individual. You know, we always say, you know, if you see something, say something. If you feel like you need to call 9-1-1, definitely call. If it's not an emergency, if it's for a report, if it's for some type of instruction or a question, there's other means that can be used like the administrative number. Not emergency numbers. I've heard we would have people call, they're stuck in traffic, and they would call 9-1-1 and say, why am I stuck in traffic? That is not a reason to call 9-1-1. That is true. So that was a good question as to why, right? But if you, and I always tell people when I'm at neighborhood meetings and so forth, if you have to stop and think, should I call the non-emergency or 9-1-1, just go ahead and call 9-1-1. If it's close enough that you really don't know if it's an emergency, it may be. So now we are here, because you had mentioned call takers. So we are here with Michelle Haynes. Thank you for joining us today. You're welcome. And so you are a call taker, correct? Yes. So can you tell us how you came into your position? Okay, so I started in 2009. I had a friend that was in dispatch and was like, you need to come work with me. So I came and listened with her, and it was a lot different and a lot of a different variety that I didn't get by the job. Well, you know, when people call 9-1-1 many, many times, it's the worst day of their life. Something tragic has happened. Something significant is going on. They're not always in the frame of mind that they live in. So you as a call taker, I'm sure you've experienced some unbelievable things that you've had to deal with over the phone, talk people through, encourage them, support them until first responders could get there. So what would you say about your job? I mean, obviously it has to be stressful. It is stressful. Sometimes you laugh with the callers. You know, they'll call me like, I don't know who else to ask. And it'll be like the weirdest, smallest thing, or it's something simple, like I helped a guy get home that was in a motorized wheelchair and lost his way. He literally just needed to keep going straight. And I just stayed on the phone with him, and I got a compliment from it, because he was very thankful. So sometimes people call in, and they're freaked out, and they're young, and they just had their first accident, and you know, you just calm them down. So not every call is going to be highly, highly stressed or terrible. I had a really terrible one just about 20 minutes ago. But you know, it balances out, and sometimes they're thankful, and it makes you appreciate, you know, hey, I got to help somebody today, or my life has a purpose. My job has a purpose. Well, I know on patrol, we appreciate it. So how do you all prioritize, and I guess the calls that you do get, because some people call, and they think, oh, I've talked to the dispatcher, and it's like, you did not talk to a dispatcher. You talked to a call taker. They don't understand the difference, and a lot of my friends think I work in dispatch, you know, because they don't understand the call taker and, you know, and dispatching. So when people call 911, they expect a response right away. Whether it's 911 or administrative, we are the same people. So even though you don't have an emergency, or you do have an emergency, we're going to prioritize how we need it. So yes, if you're in a car wreck, and you're on the shoulder, and you're out of traffic, it's going to be a lower priority. The higher priority calls are going to be if you're in traffic, you could easily get hit. Sometimes we're like, we've been doing high priority for welfare checks on individuals because it's been so cold. So they're worried about the homeless that have been out in the elements for longer than they've done. So the higher priorities are like if suspects are somewhere, like if a crime just happened and the suspect still might be around, or a domestic violence situation where the person that they were arguing with might be around, they'll put them in danger. So those are high priorities. So other than just prioritizing it, then you have to make the decision whether it goes to a fire dispatcher or a police dispatcher. Is that right? Correct. And sometimes we have the capability to put them both on a call. Okay. Which, I guess, like an accident with injuries, or... An accident with injuries will definitely send fire department and police. I had a call several years ago that the young girl had an accident, and she was hyperventilating on me. And it was a non-injury accident, but I ended up sending an ambulance because I couldn't get her calmed down, just to make sure she was checked out and okay. So sometimes, you know, we just, we add to the call because, you know, you've got police going and then all of a sudden they say something, and there's blood on their face, or that they might have an injury and might need to get checked out. So we just send the fire department too. So when you call 9-1-1 and you hear, 9-1-1, what's your emergency, that's you. Yes. But what do you want to hear? What are the questions that are very, very important? I think it's the location of where you're at or where your emergency is. Okay. That's number one, right? Yes. Because if we don't know where to go... We have wonderful maps that can almost pinpoint exactly where you are. But if you're in an apartment, I can't tell what apartment you're in. So the big thing is a lot of people don't know their apartment numbers. So you know, I have to have them look at the door or look at their mail. So it's a good idea to just know your address. And depending on the capabilities of the phone, if it's an older phone and not the best service, I might can get close, but I don't think it's where they're exactly at. So it's a good idea to always know your address, always know your surroundings. We get a lot of people say, I'm not from here, but if you can tell me like what business you're around or what you see around you, I can pinpoint usually where you are. I grew up here. So I'm very familiar with the streets and we have this wonderful thing called Google Maps that we can pull up. Okay. I think you're at the Speedway and something else. So I can pull up the map and make sure I'm correct in my head or somebody that's not from here that works here can figure it out. So you don't necessarily need another address, but you just need to tell me what you see. Because I don't see what you see. So you tell me what you see and we can figure out where you're at. I'd like to interject just for a second because Michelle, she does a great job. And a lot of times callers, they don't understand why we're asking the questions. You know, they just don't want to say, just get me somebody out here now. Well, we're asking those questions. Number one, to keep the callers safe and to keep the responders safe and keep them apprised. We are dispatching when we get the location. We have the capability to keep adding to the call. So responders are actually on the way. We just want a picture of the scene so we can relay that to the responders. So you're typing information in and the dispatcher's already getting it and talking to either the police officer or the firefighter before you get off the phone. So it's not one of those things that we're not going to tell anybody until we get off the phone. Right. Right. Sometimes they're still on the phone. I've arrived on calls and they still have the call taker on like, oh, it's Officer Rawlings. I'm here. And they're like, OK, I'm going to let you go. And I'm like, oh, that's nice to stay on the phone with them because they may be freaking out for whatever reason. We keep them calm or situation changes. You know, when we first get the call dispatched, the person's in the house and now they're down the street. And so the officers need to know that. And everybody thinks because we ask questions, yes, we're not coming, but it's because we are coming and we might get to you faster. The more questions you ask, the better location we can get, the quicker you can get response. All right. Well, very good information. Lexington is blessed to have the 9-1-1 system, the enhanced 9-1-1 system that we have and the folks that work here. You know, I've been around for a long time. There's still a few voices that I remember from back in the day on the radio and understanding the importance of what you all do for both the callers and both for the first responders as well. So we appreciate everything you do as far as coordinating and being the director of the enhanced 9-1-1 and everything you do as far as being a call taker. So thank you all very much for joining us today. Thank you. And we are back. And we just talked to the E9-1-1 director and the call taker. So now we are going to talk to Jessica Carreras with dispatch. So can you tell us how you became a dispatcher? I started as a call taker for about six months, then got promoted to a telecommunicator senior police dispatch. And I've now been doing that for about three years, been here about three and a half. You like it? Love it. It's interesting. You never know what you're going to get from day to day. Yeah. Well, you know, we talked to the call taker and the call taker is the one obviously dealing with the person that is having the emergency and the stress that's involved with that. But you're our lifeline as far as making sure that the officer knows where to go and making sure that the officer is safe and maybe gets backup or whatever they need. So what are some of the things that you have dealt with that are some of the stressors in your job that can make for a difficult day? My biggest thing is responder safety. I want to make sure everyone goes home at the end of the day, regardless of how I feel, what I'm going through. You know, leave it at the door. Biggest thing for me is location. You know, I don't really mind what you're doing, who you're out with. Just let me know where you are. Because if you yell for help, if you start chasing someone, shots fired, because I've had those calls before, those will just pump the adrenaline, make your heart stop. And you really just want to get there and get people to them as quick as possible. And as a patrolman, that's what I train my recruits, or probationary officers, is like location, location, location, location, because whatever the last location you gave is where they're going to send help. And you may be five blocks from there. So if that car is not stopping, give every block that, oh, we're turning here, we're turning here, oh, we're in this parking lot now, and they'll update your location. So location is very important for us as well. Yes. If I have to, we're going to hold the traffic until we get someone to you if we can't find out where you are. That's been a trend today, because we talked about the importance of who's calling, making sure that you give us location, but it's also the first responders, obviously, knowing our location as well. Yes. So we talked a little bit about the training involved in this. So you went to, is it, you go to Richmond for a period of time? DLCJT for four weeks. They certify you and train you on how to handle stress, high priority calls, radio etiquette, just stuff like that. And we're lucky here in Lexington. Again, we talked about it being an enhanced 911, so that helped. There's a lot more to learn here, I'm sure, from a telecommunicator side as well. Yes. A lot of information coming at you. So we are here with Paul Hamilton with Fire Dispatch. Thank you for joining us. Can you tell us how you came to be in your position? I came down and started working as a fire dispatcher, and I've been here for 10 years. So we talked a little bit about what a police dispatcher does and the type of communications they deal with as far as working with the officers. So tell us a little bit about the fire department and what goes on with that after the call comes in to 911. I think they parallel quite a bit because we work hand in hand with the police dispatchers, but the big difference is every call for service that we get, we're going to dispatch on within 90 seconds. The same concerns, you know, getting the information as to where we're going, if there are any responder safety issues, are there any firearms on scene, are there any knives, are there any biohazards there, if you have gas situations. So most of the times in those priority calls, we'll have police going as well. So both Jessica and my job now becomes taking care of both sides of the equation. We have to communicate with her to make sure police officers are safe. She has to communicate with us to make sure our responders are safe. Well, a lot of people, I'm not sure everybody understands that in Lexington, fire services are both the fire department and EC, emergency care units, which are ambulances. So you're dealing with both of those. Yeah, and one unique thing about Lexington, and I believe all of our engines have paramedics on it, and I think it's one of five cities in the United States that have paramedics on their engines. So if there's a critical situation like a chest pain, we're going to send an EC. We have 13 ECs spread throughout the county. We have 24 first responders that we can send. So geographically, we can get a first responder in an engine or a ladder that are quicker that has a paramedic on it to start rendering care before we get on scene. Now Lexington, like I said, is unique in that we're one of four or five, I think, cities in the United States that does that. We get a lot of questions about that. Why are they sending a fire truck? Well, it's because we're helping people before we can get an ambulance there, and the quicker we can get assistance, the quicker medical care can start, obviously the better outcome we're going to have. And we talked a little bit about the stressors of the job, and the fire department, and as both of you all said, we go to a lot of the same calls, whether it's collisions with injuries or various things, we go to a lot of the same types of calls, but what are some of the stressors that you deal with as far as dispatching from the fire side? It's similar to Jessica. We want to know where you are. We are unique in that we have GPS, so we can see where their truck is at all times. We can zoom to them on the map. But sometimes when they go into buildings, my great stressor is silence. When I'm calling out on the radio, and I don't get a response back, sometimes they're in these big UK hospitals, sometimes the radio's not going to work inside. Sometimes there's a lot going on at the scene, and I'll say, Jessica, hey, holler at your officers, have them check to make sure my responders are safe. She'll do the same thing. Hey, I can't reach them on the radio, ask your responders if they see the officer and if he's okay. So in that regard, we have to really make sure we mesh what we do and communicate with whoever the dispatcher is that's on, has that sector that's on scene with our responders. Well, you know, I would like to say that we are a team, and the entire public safety community in Lexington is a team, and we all work together. We all have functions, and we appreciate, and the community appreciates what you all do as far as taking those calls all the way from the call taker into getting officers, getting the fire department on scene, making sure that the folks there are safe, making sure that we're safe. And so we appreciate everything you all do, and we want to thank you for joining us today. Thanks for having us. Badger, it was so good talking to the folks at E911. I learned a lot, even being on patrol, how the setup is down here and everything. Yeah, and again, we're very fortunate in Lexington to have that enhanced 911 and having the people behind the phone calls, people behind the mics talking to us, just great, great team down here at communications. So the folks out there in Lexington are very fortunate, and we're very fortunate too as first responders. And how important location is. Absolutely. Absolutely. Don't forget that. So Badger, what are we going to talk about next month? Well, the whole public safety team is a lot of different functions, a lot of different people, but the whole police team involves a lot of different people too. And you think about sworn uniformed officers and detectives and all when you think about the police department, but we have a whole lot of folks that are behind the scenes that do amazing work and so much for the police department. So next month, we're going to be talking about some of our civilian personnel and some of the different functions they have. It may surprise a lot of folks, things that they do to help us and help the actual folks out in Lexington too, from that perspective, as opposed to just seeing the uniform. And then from there, we got all kinds of different episodes. But I think that's so important to focus on those folks because they play a very, very key role. Yes, they do. Join us next month for another episode of Your Lex PD. Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom. Well, who am I to keep you down? We're sure to write that you should play the way you feel it. But listen carefully to the sound of the loneliness and the heartbeat that you made in the stillness of remembering what you had and what you lost, and what you had and what you lost. Oh, thunder only happens when it's raining. Players only love you when they're playing. Say when they won't come and they won't go. When the rain washes you clean, you'll know. You'll know. Welcome to Yoga 101. I am Danica here with the Lexington Senior Center, and I'm going to teach a chair yoga class with a little bit of standing, but we've got options all the way throughout. So before we get started, go ahead and find a sturdy chair. So not a recliner, not a rocking chair. Find a nice, sturdy chair, maybe something, maybe your dining room chair. And beyond that, you may find it useful today if you have a yoga strap. That's cool. But we could also use a belt, a dish towel, hand towel. And beyond that, if you're perhaps a bit shorter, maybe you grab some yoga blocks or a couple of dictionaries that are about the same height and put them just underneath your feet to bring your knees up a little higher if you feel like you've got to reach the floor. So a couple items that may be of help for your practice today. Take the time to grab that and then meet me in a seat. Whenever I get started, I like to just kind of root around. Notice how I'm feeling, how my shoulder's feeling, how my hip's feeling. Ask your neck and your back, how's it feeling? Did we sleep okay? And if not, that's okay. Just know to be ginger with those areas of the body as we proceed. So to arrive right here, let's take three big breaths. Big inhale, open the chest, fill up the belly. Big exhale, sigh of relief. All you got to do is follow along. You can almost turn your brain off, kind of. Two more breaths just like that. Big breath in. Big breath out. Relax the shoulders, relax the jaw. One more lovely breath just like that. And we'll go right into a nice, easy warm-up. Starting right here in the neck, let's just slowly shake our head now. Side to side, not necessarily pushing too much, just working with the range of motion that we currently have. And keeping in mind that if I suggest any movements that you don't like or your body doesn't like, you can say no. You can take a little break, just take a sip of water and catch me on the next movement. Bring your head to the center and slowly shake your head. Yes. So I'm going to tuck my chin down, but I'm really not going to lift my chin too high. I might put too much stress on the back of the neck. Dropping the chin. Lifting gently. Saying yes to this yoga class because you already have. Saying yes to any movements that feel good today. Good. One more little neck stretch. Drop the chin. We're just going to let the head rock side to side so it looks something like this. Just left to right while keeping the chin low. And when you're satisfied, bring the head right back up to where we started. Moving into the shoulders. If we're really tight today, start off with just some easy shrugs. But if we have a little flexibility, maybe it feels nice to go ahead and move backwards here. Drawing big circles behind us. Maybe we can move with the breath. Inhale to lift the shoulders. Exhale, pull them behind you and drop. Inhale to lift. Exhale to pull back. Inhale to lift. Exhale to pull. So just kind of working out all of the tightness. Maybe your shoulders are a little noisy. Mine usually are. As long as it's not hurting, that's all right. And of course, if we have, say, one good side and one less good side, work with one at a time. Nothing wrong with that. Good. Once you're satisfied, we'll take a few the opposite direction. So still shoulder circles. We're just going forward. I'll even send my elbows wide, and that's going to take the stretch into the middle of the back there. Maybe still moving with our breath if we can. Good. And we'll let that rest. Take up a little bit of space. Sweep up the arms. Big stretch out. And as you reach overhead, just reach really high as if you were getting taller. We'll bring one arm down and reach straight up with the other. And then find a big side stretch. Maybe lift up and look towards the ceiling if you want a little extra, a little extra stretch there. Inhale to come back to your center. And all the way down, right into the other side. Right into the other side. Sweep up both arms again, reaching up nice and tall. This time, leaving the opposite arm up, bringing one arm down. Big side stretch. Maybe you're holding on to the chair for security here. Anything that keeps us safe and stable. Maybe a little twist upwards. And then inhale all the way back to your center. Next, we're going to do our first little twist of the day. And that's going to really focus in on our core. So our pelvic floor, our abdomen, our sides, and our back. So for a moment, as you inhale, get up a little taller, as if someone was pulling you from the crown of your head. As you exhale, draw the belly in. And that's just setting up all these muscles in a really stable way. Do that once more. Inhale, nice and tall. Exhale, draw in. Now we're going to twist, maybe taking the hands to the heart. Twisting to one direction. Inhale, come back to your center. Exhale, twist the other direction. Still using these strong muscles. One more each way. Inhale, center. Exhale, twist. Inhale, center. Exhale, twist. Come on back. Let the arms rest and place them down in your lap. Next, we're going to find a sitting cat-cow. It's a big move in yoga that's just so good for the spine. If it's new to you, that's all good. We'll walk through it. So we'll start with just a little cat-cow. We'll walk through it. So we'll start with just a nice, tall, neutral posture. And as we inhale, we're going to lift our chest towards the ceilings. Inhaling to lift our chest. Lift the chin a little. And as you exhale, I want you to start in the belly. Draw the belly back. Pull the belly button back to the spine. Round in the shoulders. And let the back of the neck stretch out. Use an inhale to come up to that first position. So this is the cow portion of cat-cow. And as you exhale, rounding in the back. Continue with that. I'm going to turn so you can see what I'm doing perhaps a bit better. Inhaling to open. So we find the arch in the back there. Exhale. Pull the belly back. Round in the back. Round in the upper back. Head hanks. Two more. One more. Good. Press back up to a good, tall posture. And we'll use that same thought, but just kind of change it. So let's bring the hands to the back of the neck. And we're going to find that same curvature, but just side to side. So nice, tall posture to begin. Even exhale to draw the belly. And that's going to keep our core nice and strong and stable. And perhaps as we exhale, we just bring one elbow down. Inhale, center. Exhale. Go the other way. Inhale, center. Exhale. Drop an elbow. Inhale, center. Exhale. Drop the other elbow. One more in each direction. Come all the way back up to that good, tall posture. Hands can come down to our sides once again. We'll get the hips a little warmed up. First fold of the day. So we'll just reach forward and then just bend from the hips. Do your best to keep a nice flat back when you do this. So just walking the hands down towards the feet. Maybe it touches the floor. Maybe not. Not important here. Lovely way to stretch out the back. It's also calming to the nervous system as we breathe. Our belly's pressing to our legs and our legs kind of press back, tricking the nervous system into being a bit more calm. Feel free to let your head hang here. You don't have to look up the way I am. Maybe you can just let your head hang. Maybe we just add a bit more here. Take one arm and just reach towards the opposite side of the body. Just across the body here. Maybe towards that foot. And then back to the center. Other arm. Reaching across the body towards that opposite foot. It's just a little extra stretch for the different sides of the back. One more each way. Bring the hands to the thighs. Use your strong arms to press yourself up. Back up to a nice tall posture. Let's get the blood flowing a little bit with some bigger movements. Inhale, reach up towards the sky. Exhale, fold all the way down again. We're just not going to hang out too long there. Inhale, all the way up. Exhale, fold all the way down. Exhale, fold all the way down. Inhale, up. Exhale to come down. Let's just do one more. Inhale, all the way up. Exhale, come on down. And then sweep up to return to our tall posture. Ah. Feel free to take a moment. If you have something to drink, take a little sip of water. Catch your breath. If you lost it, that's okay. We always can find it again. And then from there, we're going to give a little focus to our hands. So just for a moment, no matter how stiff or flexible the hands are feeling right now, just start by opening and closing the hands. You don't have to hold them high. They can stay right here in the lap. Just sensing how the hands are feeling today. Maybe we can create a little bit of independent movement by wiggling the thumb, wiggling the index finger, the middle, the ring finger, and the pinky finger. Might not be perfect circles all the way through, but really just trying to make that mind to muscle connection. It's a little challenge for the brain. Maybe move the hands about as if you were playing a piano. And then we'll work into the wrists here. So you can make a light fist and just move the wrist up and down. And side to side. Maybe we can do some circles in here. Great way to get the blood flowing. Also a good way to wake yourself up. I'll do this in the afternoons as opposed to having a little caffeine instead. And it'll just get my blood flowing, get my brain going. Good. Relax that. And we'll focus in on the next joint in the body, the elbow. So perhaps as if we're a big, strong weightlifter, let's just act as if we were holding weights in our hands and squeeze the arms up to the top. Stretching them out long and even taking them behind us a little. Squeezing the muscles in. You can really create a lot of strength here without any weight at all. If you want more work out of it, just squeeze the muscles more up here. And then relax the arms, even stretch back a little. I'll do three more of those. Squeezing at the top. Stretching at the bottom. Two more. Good. Relax the arms. And we're going to take one arm across the body and literally just give ourselves a little massage. So maybe start by just kind of poking around, see if the muscles feel kind of tight today. Maybe you can clamp down on that meaty part right by the neck. Just kind of squeeze around a little bit. Noticing if you can find any tight, tender spots. And when you're ready, switching to the other side. Taking the arm across the body, just kind of poking around. Maybe clamping down on that strong muscle next to the neck. Squeezing about. And just create a little warmth. Any and all of that is good. Good. Relax the arms just for a moment. Catch your breath. The arms are getting a little tired. We don't have too much more before we move on to another portion of the body. Let's bring the hands to the shoulders here. And just kind of let your fingertips touch. And our focus here is we're going to move our elbows in and out. So maybe starting with the elbows as close to the face as we can do. Inhale to open. Exhale to close. Inhale to open. Exhale to close. Inhale to open the arms. Exhale close. Inhale open. And close. I'm going to change directions, lifting the elbows up and down. Maybe inhale to lift. Exhale to lower. Inhale to lift the elbows, stretching these muscles right here. Even feeling it in our belly a little. Exhale to lower. Inhale to lift. Exhale to lower. These are a little tougher than the other ones. One more. Inhale high. Exhale lower. Those elbows all the way down. Maybe shake it out if you felt the need. And sometimes that's just kind of fun to create a little free movement. We're going to find some similar shapes. Stretch the arms out. This time making almost like a stop if you're trying to stop someone. Stop hands. And we're going to try the wrist one more time here by just dropping the hands down. Coming back up to stop hands. Taking the hands down and back up just a couple times there. And then we'll leave them back up to palms facing out. Inhale lift high. Exhale bring the arms down in front of your face. Inhale lift high. Exhale arms down. Inhale. Exhale to bring them down. Inhale to lift. Exhale to bring them down. And now out and in. Inhale to open. Squeezing the shoulder blades behind you. Exhale to close. Inhale to open. Exhale to close. Inhale to open the arms. Nice and wide. As wide as you can go. Exhale just bring them back in front of you. Let's do two more. Inhale open. Exhale close. Let the arms come down. Shake it out. And then we'll move on to another part of the body. Take a moment to look down at our awesome feet. They've gotten us everywhere thus far. I imagine they will continue to do so. So let's get a little gratitude and just kind of look down at our feet and create some movement. Hmm. Maybe just rocking back and forth on the feet. Really good way to get the arches of the feet going. Let me side to side. I'll stretch out the sides of the ankles. Maybe just taking a moment to open and close the toes. Kind of crunch them close. Stretch them out. Crunch them close. Stretch them out. All these are great ways for getting into all the joints that are located in the feet there. So just take a moment to do any of the things I just said. Or if you got another move that feels good, we're just getting the feet going here. Just taking a moment to get the feet working. Waking them up. And then once you feel nice and supple in your feet, just kind of let them sink right back into the floor here. Or into your shoes if you're wearing shoes. And I'm going to stretch out our ankles. So we're just going to stretch out our foot. Doesn't have to be too high off the ground, but if you really want a little extra challenge, sit up nice and tall and keep that foot high. But you don't have to. You can keep it low if you want. And just start by maybe pointing and flexing the foot. Pointing and flexing. Pointing like a ballerina. Pointing like a ballerina. Flexing like you're wearing a boot. Maybe from there we can draw some circles. One direction. Then the other. Also really good for blood flow. Go ahead and set that foot down. We'll do the exact same thing on the other side. So we're pointing the foot and flexing the foot. You decide how high that foot is off the ground. Point and flex. Point and flex. Just a couple more. Maybe move into those circles we did on the other side. Go both directions. Let's set that foot down. From here, go ahead and grab for your yoga strap, or your dish towel, or your belt. Whatever we're using. And doesn't have to be too specific, but this can just help us reach our part of our body. So from here, you may find you don't need it, and we can just hold the leg up. But if for whatever reason the arms don't feel long enough, we'll go for this strap. Bring it underneath one leg. Come up to that good posture. Exhale, draw the belly in. We're going to lift this foot off the ground. So with or without the strap, you may find, as I said, you may not need it. But it's nice to have and not need as opposed to the other way around. So we've got this knee in the air just a little bit, and we're just going to find some nice knee swings here. Just getting the knees warmed up. Getting the muscles around the knees warmed up. Just gently kicking the leg out. Drawing back in. Kicking the leg out. Drawing back in. We'll set that side down. Go right to the other side with or without our prop here. Lifting that knee high. Remembering to find our nice tall posture and stretch that leg out. Bring it back. Stretch that leg out. Bring it back. Stretch and draw in. Stretch and draw in. Let's do one more. And we'll set that side down. Keeping the prop nearby. Let's just stretch out one foot here. Doesn't matter which foot. And we want pretty much to go straight out. And from here, if we're using the strap, we're going to try and get that around the bottom of the foot. To some degree. You may find that your dish towel is not quite long enough for this. But of course, if we inhale nice and tall and reach forward, maybe it could work. And from here, just stretching, pulling that foot towards you. Maybe stretching that leg out all the way. Maybe there's a slight bend in the knee. Either way, whatever feels best in your body. And another option altogether is to set that aside and just reach towards your foot. So you can decide how you want to go about that. Remembering to take a couple of big, deep breaths. Inhale all the way up. Same thing other side. You decide if the prop was helpful or not. Sometimes they can get in the way if we're overusing them. But it is nice to have them around often. So maybe looping that foot, maybe just reaching towards that foot. We've got the leg stretched out, reaching our arms. And then folding from the hips. Big stretch behind the leg. And release the prop. Set it off to the side. Sit up all the way. And let's come back to a little more quicker movement. Let's get our blood flowing again a little faster. So from here, come back to that good, tall posture all the way up. And we're going to step each foot out and get the brain going by doing opposites. So following along, one step out to the side. Other side. Big step out. Step out. Big step out. Big step out. You decide how big these steps are. Your hips will decide that. If the hips are feeling tight, they're not going to want to go very wide. And that's all right. So maybe they're just little steps. But we're getting our hips warmed up, using them from a side-to-side motion, making them stronger. And maybe you've got a bit more energy and you were just clipping along. Maybe you're going twice the pace I am. And that's awesome if you want to do that. Or maybe we're moving right at this nice, steady pace. One side, then the other. One side, then the other. Two more each way. Good. Bring both feet back in. And this time, we're going to keep that movement going. This time, it's like we're taking a walk, but we're sitting right here. So pick up one leg, then the other. Maybe get the arms going. Maybe we can do opposite. So opposite arm, opposite leg. Sometimes my brain wants to do the same, though. So maybe you pretty quickly started doing this. And that's okay, too. Either are good. Either are helpful for the body. Just one might be a little more challenging. But for the brain. And by doing these opposite sides of the body, we are connecting the two sides of the brain and getting a little bit stronger in our coordination. Creating a sharper mind. That's going to be helpful for memory. And just having a bit more clarity. Good. Maybe pick up the pace with me for just a short little bit as we finish out. One and two and one and two and one and two and one and two. Relax. Set the feet back down. Catch your breath if you lost it. Take a sip of water. Take a moment if you need. When you're ready, just sit a little bit back in your chair. It's going to give us a bit more stability for our next move. And from here, we're going to come back to the idea of kicking, but we're going to alternate. So kick one leg out and then the other. Keeping our good posture. If you find that you're slouching, that's okay. Just mindfully come back. You know how to sit up tall. Exhale, draw the belly in. It's going to make it a little easier to sit up tall. So kicking out, alternating legs. Maybe if we can kick a little higher, we can reach below and do a little clap. So maybe clapping underneath the knee or just touching fingertips. Another good coordination move. Kick as high as you can and reach. Kick as high as you can and reach on each side. One more each way. You're doing great. Good. Let that relax just for a moment. Letting the legs take a little mini break. Coming back up to our good posture and maybe scooting away from the backs of our chair just a little. I'm going to find some big twists. So let's reach the arms up nice and high. And as we exhale, let's twist towards one direction, bringing one arm in front, one arm in back. Inhale, reach high. Inhale, reach high. Exhale, twist the other way, leading with the opposite arm. Inhale, reach up. Exhale to twist. Inhale, reach up. Exhale, twist. Inhale, high. Exhale, twist. Inhale, high. Exhale, twist. One more each way. Move with your breath. Come back to the center. And the hands come down. So we're going to find a couple of poses that are typically done standing, but we're going to do the sitting variation for this next little segment. So let's find mountain pose. And that is just a really intentional way of either standing or sitting, really focusing in on your posture and all the other muscles that we can accrue into it. So I'm going to start with my feet and really plant them into the floor underneath me. And actually, I'm going to create a little extra work in the legs by squeezing the knees together. Maybe my ankles match up and my calves match up or something close. Squeeze the thighs in. Inhale, back to that nice tall posture as tall as you stood before. Roll the shoulders back. Let's just bring the palms together. Pressing the fingertips together, pressing the palms.