It’s no surprise that “Socialite Sandie” was organizing a crew to go to the Science and Soul Wellness opening at Mahogany Bay Village this past weekend – she is a healthy soulful and big worthy cause supporter. I wanted to accept her invitation to join her and the girls but I knew I really just needed to rest (doing challenging food re-balancing) and keep preparing for a busy Monday. So my day ended up with work followed by selfie Netflix and chill time and more work. I picked a winner “Easy” and shared with a few friends via messenger. Instantly I reeled in a simultaneous binge watcher Lara Goldman of 12 Belize. She caught up fast as I paused a few times to do some planning of the new club which I will detail below. In regards to solo or otherwise Netflix and chill time, my pick a great binge watch and has lots of check marks – “Easy” is a unique comedy-drama written, edited, directed, and produced by Joe Swanberg. It currently has eight half-hour episodes. The show’s interesting story line takes you on a funny and enlightening journey through the lives of oddly interwoven groups of friends in Chicago putting together the “pieces” of a lifelong metaphorical mosaic puzzle on love, sex, and culture in a highly technology-based world.

It is also no surprise that when we were talking about her write up the “brownie queen Sandie” pulled one out of her bag that she scored at the event for her son Logan. One of the perks of being a “son of a socialite” on Ambergris Caye 😀 Onto the fabulous fun party and what Sandie had to say about it.

A Soulful Centering Party – Contributing Author, Sandie Betz-Eisenberg

On Saturday, May 6th, Science & Soul Wellness, the newest addition to the Mahogany Bay Village family of businesses, hosted a fantastic Grand Opening party at the Great House pool. The proceeds from the event benefited SHINE, the organization founded by former Miss San Pedro, Michelle Nunez, and directed by Britney Travis, which works to empower the young women and youth of San Pedro. The silent auction had an array of prizes such as gift certificates from Paradice Cream (which yours truly won!), CG Esthetic Salon services, and lots more. There were dance presentations directed by Zuzana, a fashion show with gorgeous local models, demonstrations of aerial and stand up paddleboard (SUP) yoga by Yoga instructor, Kerryann, healthy nibbles and drinks provided by The Hive (a new, healthy choice restaurant opening soon in MBV), poolside massage, and live reggae music.

We stayed to take the tour of the beautiful new studio, with the lovely proprietor, Ms. Paulette, and it is amazing ~ as soon as you enter the reception area, a feeling of peaceful zen warmth envelopes you and makes you feel at right at home. The angel artwork by Katrina Ancona adds to the tranquil feeling. There are private massage rooms and a huge Yoga/Pilates/fitness studio, with stunning hardwood floors, aerial scarves, a ballet barre, and a fully mirrored wall. Paulette has seen to all of the smallest details and will have drapes to cover the mirrors for her Yoga classes. As the event drew to a close, we shared a champagne toast with the staff, owners, and patrons over a stunning sunset, wishing them all of the best and wonderful success with their awesome new venture! Click through to San Pedro Scoop and see a great pictures – one of mother nature’s blue pink and purple painted sky that day.

Another Healthy new Business Joins the Family – Britney Travis, Marketing Director, Mahogany Bay Village.

“Science & Soul celebrated a fantastic opening party at Mahogany Bay Village’s Bay Club over the weekend. The turnout was excellent, we are so thrilled to have one of the best yoga and Ayurveda centers in Belize right here at Mahogany Bay Village. For our friends & neighbors on Ambergris Caye, 6-month memberships are available now through the end of the week for $444BZD, unlimited yoga classes including aerial yoga and SUP at the MBV Beach Club!”

Want more info on Mahogany Bay? Click through to their about page on facebook or their Coastal Living lifestyle trips page. You can also click and read traveler reviews on the great onsite coffee shop.

Mahogany Bay Village Party Pictures

Thanks to helpful MBV staff for quickly and easily accommodating me with a few pictures and Sandie and Mary for your great Groupsie contributions.

A New Club on Ambergris Caye

The San Pedro Blood Team has recently started a new O Neg Club from a recent need and has expanded our rare blood types list to include one on call donor in Belmopan. We are putting an ongoing request out country wide for healthy people with O Negative blood type to please step forward. We would like to fill in every district with people who have O- so that we can all help strategically cover needs asap should they arise for persons with this rare type.

Membership definitely has its privileges. Saving a life can is the greatest reward you can give or get.

O Neg Club’s First Dance With Emergency Preparation

Due to availability, Sandie and I were the blood team crew that came to the Director General’s aid Friday afternoon at her request.

Every time we do a sudden collection, we learn so much. This time around, as we were instantly catapulted into action. It was not lost on us that Belize Blood Services was about to close for the weekend and the 4 donors we had were just all a plane ride away. Even if we could convince Belize Blood Services to wait, there was not enough time for the group to donate and get home the same day.

Thankfully, the woman was able to wait until Monday. That is a huge “what if ?” As BRCSP does our blood advocacy work to help strengthen the system, one of our many goals is to have a few good answers to blood-related “What if” questions so that we can always have a plan B and C.

We mobilized our O Negs from our rare donor list. Sandie and I both felt grateful we had people to call and something important to say beyond a time and place.

It was important for them, and everyone living in Belize to recognize the following information:

I am sure most of you kno someone who has needed blood in Belize. In case you are not familiar, currently the required number of replacement units needed by a patient, be it for a planned surgery or an emergency, is the responsibility of the patient to provide. In general cases, the blood does not have to be a match. In the case of the rare O negative, it is a completely different situation – replacement units have to match your type. Easier said that done in a country like Belize with a largely unknown small amount of rare blood types and the fact that blood has a limited shelf life of only 35 days.

Donate From the Heart

There is a whole component to blood that people rarely think about. The peace and security during a hard time that a blood donation brings are invaluable, especially when the need is for a rare blood type. The Blood team understands and witnesses the challenges people face during a time of need. It is often very difficult for the patient and their families causing stress, worry, and feelings of uncertainty.

In preparation for the emergency blood drive, it was important for our Rare Donors Club to consider that the elderly woman they were about to help in regards to the policy above. Suddenly she had 4 of 6 much-needed pints of her rare blood type coming. That is a huge deal.

Really stop and think about it for a moment- what if you were the one in a Belize City hospital on a Friday afternoon and needed 6 pints of rare blood, with Belize Blood Services about to close for the weekend and as far as you knew there was little to no supply on hand. How would you feel?

Now imagine how relieved and grateful you and your family would be if 4 strangers came forward as fast as they could to donate a pint and help you be well. Your stress level would go down and you would be able to find some peace of mind that your body can heal. As the time drew closer your body would start feeling excited and grateful because it knew you were about to get what it needed to survive.

Be the Type of Blood you Would Want

Another area that the blood team feels strongly about is the quality of health. As the O Negs got scheduled it was important to remind them of their duty as donors.

Especially in light of it being Sunday Funday. It was important for everyone to pause and consider the kind of blood they would all want should they be in the other person’s place (hopefully never) – Healthy, Strong and Clean.

Easy homework to think RED 24 – 48 hours before donating.

1. Rest well
2. Eat a healthy iron-rich meal before hand.
3. Drink lots of healthy liquids (water is best).

Help Fill the Bank

Remember, Belize is a small and precious jewel, it easily could be someone you know in need of life-saving liquid gold.

In accordance with our mission statement, “Changing History through Saving Lives and Helping Communities”, Belize Red Cross – San Pedro is working hard to help improve emergency response and ultimately save lives. BRCSP strongly advocates building our country’s capacity through Blood Drives and Countrywide Training. This also includes a Club 25 youth group, teaching them the importance of living a healthy lifestyle in all respects to be a future donor and providing them tools to work with.

We need your help to grow this effort strong. If you would like to get involved in any aspect of donation and collection, please email blooddrive.brcsp@gmail.com or info.brcsp@gmail.com with the subject line Blood Advocate.

World Red Cross Day

Worldwide people just celebrated May 8th throughout 190 countries – Happy World Red Cross Day from Belize 🙂

This year’s theme was “Everywhere for Everyone” which was fitting to the blood team in spite of what you will read below. Sometimes when you are doing volunteer work, especially in a developing country you are faced with the concept of dropping everything and being there when someone needs help.

You also have to remember to be grateful when some emergencies turn into dry runs which turned out to be the case this time.

The emergency rare blood drive was canceled late Sunday night – over the weekend, mainland Belize residents mobilized, and rare blood was found.

This allowed me to switch gears from “being everywhere for everyone” to a much needed me time and a hot disco shower wit spa time and was I thankful we had good running water that day.

Luckily no one was inconvenienced by the last minute cancellation, everyone felt as we did – happy the woman got her O Negative pints sooner than later.

Planning is never a waste, and we definitely got a lot out of this experience. It brought Lily Bowman, the Director General of the Belize Red Cross and the San Pedro blood drive team together to streamline our process. We all got to see what we are capable of in what time constraints and identified areas where we need more answers and structure regarding future emergency blood needs.

Thanks, Nurse Doreen Belize Blood Services, Dr. Owen Vellos of Dr. Otto Rodriguez Poly Clinic and Dr. Giovanni Solorzano for your speed and flexibility in emergency planning, we could not do it without you. You definitely qualify as people who are “Everywhere for Everyone” and we love that you are there for us and make it easy.