
2 minute read
Administration
Drugs, Alcohol and COVID-Crisis Counseling
By: Melanie Martin
When you think about a recovering addict or alcoholic, what type of person comes to mind?
We have thoughts of the stereotypical “druggie,” who may look homeless, malnourished and acts crazy.
But you will be surprised to know that drug addiction and alcoholism affects all ages, regardless of economic status, ethnicity or lifestyle.
Drug and alcohol use have increased exponentially during the pandemic. The problem is so prevalent that some refer to this crisis as a pandemic in and of itself.
Recently, KHON 2 aired a two-part documentary series called, “A Pandemic in a Pandemic.”
The documentary described how dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many of our residents to resort to drugs and alcohol to cope with the anxiety, stress, depression and isolation brought on or exacerbated by the pandemic.
Suicides have skyrocketed, and the sad truth is that people of all ages are taking their own lives.
Just the other day, an alleged murder-suicide was reported at The Plaza retirement home in Waikiki.
A 92-year old man and 86-year old woman were found dead in the parking garage apparently from gunshot wounds.
Could their deaths have been prevented if they got help to cope with whatever they were dealing with? A lot of us don’t want to talk about drugs, alcohol or related mental health issues because of the existing stigma attached to it.
Some believe that someone with a mental health issue can merely “shake it off.”
Truth is mental health should be treated like any other disease. If someone has cancer, would we tell that person to “shake off” that cancer?
Of course not.
It is awesome that the tide is changing, and prominent people such as actors and professional athletes are speaking up via mental health campaigns about eliminating the stigma.
If you or anyone in your household are feeling stressed or anxious, there is help.
Hawaii CARES launched a new COVID Crisis Counseling Program called Ku Makani.
In addition to crisis counseling, they also have virtual group sessions on various topics such as yoga, cooking, health and wellness, and much more.
They can be reached on O’ahu at (808) 8323100 or neighbor islands can call Toll-Free (800) 753-6879.
Administration
Phishing: How to Avoid Being a Victim
Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (“spoofed”) message designed to trick a human victim into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious software on the victim’s infrastructure like ransomware.
Phishing attacks have become increasingly sophisticated and often transparently mirror the site being targeted, allowing the attacker to observe everything while the victim is navigating the site, and transverse any additional security boundaries with the victim.
As of 2020, phishing is by far the most common attack performed by cybercriminals, with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center recording over twice as many incidents of phishing than any other type of computer crime.
The proper way to report any type of phishing attempts is to select “Report Phish” at the top of outlook and then delete the email.

By: Darren Cantrill
In the browser, highlight the email you suspect is a phishing email, select the “3 dots” (ellipses), select “Report Phish” option. Delete email.
Note: This information also exists in the Knowledge Base LINK.
