People have asked “what have you been doing for the past three years since retiring?” True, Joel retired from public service after 29+ years at the University of California and County of Placer, California. But, as Neil Young sang, Joel says “I won’t retire, but I might retread”.
That retread is rekindling the decades-old partnership with Susan, in the form of SwiftEnvirons LLC, legacy to SwiftPlan from the 1990s. In rethinking the consulting work, we chose to work on select projects that would make the greatest human impact on the built environment. But what would that look like? We had some ideas, but no idea how it would look exactly.
We started with supporting some important ideas, such as the Teen Cancer America (TCA) work to support adolescents and young adults (AYA) in their quests to battle cancer. This was initiated by our personal experiences with friends and families fighting cancer, as well as Joel’s work with TCA at a Children’s Hospital. Image: from a virtual meeting with AYA survivors, friends and family, this was a true learning experience in hearing and analyzing this group’s needs and desires.
What happened next, after retirement, was a pleasant surprise.
Yes, the project was turned over to the next generation to complete. But along the way, in alignment with donations and support of TCA, we received a unique gift – a guitar signed by Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend. What an omen from our guitar heroes.
If you want to support TCA and Teenage Cancer Trust in the UK, it’s a simple as listening to the music. In this case, download Mark Knopfler’s phenomenal work at https://www.thewho.com/mark-knopflers-guitar-heroes-charity-single/
We have helped developers bring life sciences research and advanced manufacturing facilities to life.
From there, SwiftEnvirons continues our support of essential medical research, as facility management consultants for the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) – California’s stem cell agency. CIRM-funded scientists are working cures for diseases that pose the greatest threat to Americans. These include heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, among others. CIRM is also working on diseases that affect far fewer people but are no less deadly and which are largely untreatable, such as Huntington’s disease, sickle cell disease, autism, muscular dystrophy and Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) http://www.cirm.ca.gov
We also are working with infection prevention experts, engineers and architects in bringing ultraclean ventilation to the US market – Avidicare – who have reduced infections in healthcare environments in Europe for over a dozen years. The future of healthcare facilities can be safer and healthier for patients and healthcare workers.
So what’s next? Stay tuned…
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