Getting SMART about preventing violence and solving crisis in Baltimore

As the supervisor of the violence prevention program at UMMS Shock Trauma, Brianna Rock sees the hardest side of life in our city. She joined Nestor at Faidley’s at Lexington Market as part of our A Cup Of Soup Or Bowl series to educate folks about addressing violence through a public health approach, which includes holistic support for victims, legal aid, and mental health services.

Brianna Rock, supervisor of the violence prevention programs at UMMS Shock Trauma, discussed her role in addressing violence through a public health approach, which includes holistic support for victims, legal aid, and mental health services. She highlighted that 18% of Shock Trauma’s annual admissions are violence-related. Rock emphasized the importance of community partnerships, including the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and the role of hospitals in providing comprehensive care. She also mentioned various fundraising events, such as the Shock Trauma Ball and Orioles game, to support their efforts.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Give the guest a candy-cane cash scratch-off at Fayette Lee’s as a giveaway for appearing on the show
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Arrange and host visitors from the Maryland Food Bank later in the week to educate listeners about food bank efforts and giveaways
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend and represent on the listed Super Bowl week community appearances (El Guapo Catonsville Tuesday; Koco’s Lauraville Wednesday; Essex Pizza John’s Thursday; Costas Timonium Friday) and distribute candy-cane cash scratch-offs at those events
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Provide a ride back to Shock Trauma for the guest if she needs a ride because of cold weather
• [ ] Hand out drinks at the finish line of the Shock Trauma run to support the event

Brianna Rock’s Introduction and Role at UMMS

• Nestor Aparicio introduces Brianna Rock, who is the supervisor of the violence prevention programs at Shock Trauma.
• Brianna Rock explains her background, mentioning she is originally from New Orleans and Florida.
• She describes her role in violence prevention, emphasizing the public health approach at Shock Trauma.
• Brianna highlights the comprehensive support provided to victims of violence, including legal help, mental health assistance, and community partnerships.

Violence Prevention Programs and Community Partnerships

• Brianna Rock discusses the importance of addressing violence not just after it occurs but also in preventing its perpetuation.
• She mentions the collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and other community partners.
• Programs like SMART and SMARTER are designed to help individuals involved in violence and prevent future incidents.
• Brianna has been in Baltimore for about a year, drawn by the city’s efforts in violence prevention.

Nestor Aparicio’s Background and Baltimore Positive

• Nestor Aparicio shares his background, mentioning his move to Baltimore and the inspiration behind Baltimore Positive.
• He recalls meeting Brandon Scott, now the city council president, during the riots following the death of Freddie Gray.
• Nestor discusses the high murder rates in Baltimore before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• He highlights the approach of Mayor Scott, emphasizing the importance of talking to young people and addressing the root causes of violence.

Public Health Approach and Community Impact

• Brianna Rock explains the public health approach to violence prevention, which focuses on long-term outcomes and community engagement.
• She emphasizes the importance of including the population and organizations on the ground in the violence prevention efforts.
• The hospital-based violence intervention system involves hospitals like Shock Trauma, Hopkins, MedStar, Sinai, and others.
• Brianna discusses the cyclical nature of violence and the need for comprehensive support to prevent future incidents.

Challenges and Successes in Violence Prevention

• Nestor Aparicio and Brianna Rock discuss the challenges of addressing violence, including the need for trust in the legal and police systems.
• Brianna highlights the importance of addressing the social determinants of health, such as poverty and access to healthcare.
• She mentions the role of hospitals in providing support to victims of violence, including legal advice and housing assistance.
• Nestor shares personal experiences, including his wife’s battle with leukemia and the importance of compassion in healthcare.

Personal Stories and Trauma

• Nestor Aparicio shares his wife’s experience with leukemia and the support they received from hospital staff.
• Brianna Rock discusses the trauma experienced by victims of violence and the importance of a trauma-informed approach.
• She emphasizes the need for holistic support, including mental health services and assistance with daily living.
• Nestor and Brianna discuss the long-term impact of trauma and the importance of addressing it comprehensively.

Community Engagement and Fundraising

• Brianna Rock talks about the various ways the community can support violence prevention efforts, including fundraisers and events.
• She mentions the Shock Trauma Ball, Orioles game, and run as ways to raise funds for the program.
• Nestor Aparicio highlights the importance of community involvement and the positive impact of these events.
• Brianna encourages people to get involved and support the efforts to prevent violence and help victims.

Final Thoughts and Gratitude

• Nestor Aparicio expresses gratitude to Brianna Rock for her work and the positive impact she is having in the community.
• Brianna shares her commitment to helping people and the importance of her role in violence prevention.
• Nestor mentions the various community partners and organizations that are involved in the efforts to make Baltimore a safer place.
• The conversation concludes with a focus on the importance of community support and collaboration in addressing violence and supporting victims.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

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Violence prevention, UMMS Shock Trauma, public health approach, community partners, mental health, legal assistance, trauma-informed care, social determinants, Baltimore positive, Mayor Scott, hospital-based violence intervention, medical legal partnership, housing support, fundraisers, Maryland Food Bank.

SPEAKERS

Brianna Rock, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, A, F, 1570 to Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively here in the epicenter of crab cake, crab cake Korea. We’re here at fate Lee’s Lexington market. We’re in the new market. I am smelling trinacri Over here. I got Lumbini in the back, but I got that crab cake aroma. I’ve already had a crab cake with, don’t sleep on a cucumber salad down here. Whatever you do, make sure you get those big fat Western fries, steak fries that come here. And make sure you get a candy cane cash scratch off from the Maryland lottery. Brianna is about to get one here for being our guest as well. We’ve had the folks from leftover love stop by. We’ve had the folks from LT, YC, stop by. Love, drive leftover love. And now I bring Brianna rock in. She is with the SMART program. She’s a supervisor of the violence prevention programs at shock trauma, which is a block and a half away. She came in, she was frozen. She was like, oh, and I’m like, You look like you walk. I mean, you like, look like you came in a sleeping bag. Yeah, you know, basically, yes, but I almost parked my car at you. I mean, you’re literally two blocks away, box away. You work here every day of your life. Yes, so you’ve been to families before. Yes, uh huh. All right, make sure I get you crab cake before it gets all over. I will. So last week I get this shout out, and I said, I’m doing a cup of Super Bowl all week. I want community stories, charity stories, people doing good things in a community. And you showed up. So what does that? How did this happen? And what do you do here to prevent violence, and whatever you’re doing, and I’ll tell the mayor this, we’re doing a pretty good job. We’re getting better here in Baltimore. Are we not?

Brianna Rock  01:38

Yes, we are. We are. Where are where are you from? Originally from here. I’m from New Orleans and Florida. All right, so you have been imported to help us. I’m imported. Yes, they’ve exported you, or we’ve imported you.

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Nestor Aparicio  01:50

What? What does the violence prevention program? What does that consist of? And what brought you to Baltimore and to Maryland?

Brianna Rock  01:57

So I actually came to Baltimore specifically because of what the city was doing around violence prevention. I have always been a huge violence prevention advocate, and saw the programming that was at shock trauma and was just blown away, because the programming at shock trauma, we are doing a public health approach to violence prevention programming. And so what does that even mean? That means we are not only trying to address violence after it has already happened, supporting the individual holistically, so not just wound care, but also getting legal help, getting assistance with mental health, if that’s something they’re interested in, and then connecting them to our community partners. So we work with the Mayor’s Office of neighborhood safety and engagement, Roca roar and a lot of other amazing community partners that really help us do our work successfully. And then additionally, we have programming like smart and smarter, which is our prevention programming for individuals who may already be involved in some type of violence, and we’re working to prevent the perpetuation of future violence. How long have you been here in Baltimore? I am about to make a year in Baltimore. You’re really new to this. I’m pretty new All right,

Nestor Aparicio  03:09

so there was a young man named Brandon Scott, who I met about seven years ago, who just become city council president. I lived on the 23rd floor at Harbor court, and when the Freddie Gray, when the riots and the unrest happened, I saw the fireballs in the sky on East Baltimore from my roof, and it really inspired me to do Baltimore positive. There’s a reason I’m not just sticking to sports around here, and I’m not at the Super Bowl this week doing what I do, but I’ll call him mayor Scott then, but he was sitting, he was just Brandon, then at the old location of favies, I met him. He It was literally the first week I was the first show he did where he said, I’m going to run for mayor. And he sat and talked to me about and then the murders were outrageous at the time it was we were about to go into covid. We weren’t even in covid. It was a summer before covid, literally. And it was actually the spring before covid. Jack Young was running the city because Kathy pub was in prison or in bancos for healthy alley and all these awful things were happening. But the most awful thing that was happening is people get murdered on the street every day here, and it was outrageous, and it was going on, and then covid accelerated. It, as everyone told me it would, like, did there, you know, there’d be less police, less account, less everything that there would be a problem. And Brandon said to me, we’re gonna have a different approach. And here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna sit and I I don’t laugh at anybody, but I did sort of like, I said, Hold on. You’re gonna sit down and talk to these people. Like, how’s that gonna What were you gonna do? What you’re gonna you’re gonna, like, say, now you better be good, or we’re really gonna arrest you this time. And I’m like, how’s that gonna work? Like, but I didn’t grow up with a gun. I didn’t grow up with violence. I didn’t grow I grew up with. Parents. I mean, I had all of these. I had challenges, but certainly didn’t have what I’ve seen other young people in this community, the challenges that they had that I can’t even get my arms around, needing a gun to protect myself, or feeling that way at 12 years old, or whatever that would be, and what troubles lie on the streets of Baltimore that I didn’t get myself into, but friends of mine did. I went to school with kids that are dead in jail, like all of that Dundalk in the 70s, but I saw how pervasive it was, and I never watched the wire. And David Simon knows that, but you come at it differently because you’re from the outside and saying, I went to school for this, I know we can help people. And when I try to explain to people why the murders are down, even I bring Britt mayor Scott here and explain it, it does not make sense outside of the beltway that we need to sit and talk to these young people. Yeah, but it makes all sense in the world that’s, you know, reasoning with people, even if they’re unreasonable. Now, I got a lot of Trump people in my world, they’re unreasonable, you know? So, I mean, it’s you’re trying to present information to help them, and I know that that’s at the heart of what you do. Now, why is it working? Broke all these names you’re talking about, these are all things I’ve been talking about for a decade here, right? Why is it working all of a sudden, from somebody

Brianna Rock  06:17

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from the outside, so from the outside coming in, like I said, That’s exactly why I came to Baltimore, as Baltimore is doing the work in a way that makes sense. So I went to school for public health, and we always talk about the public health approach, but it’s hard to fund the public health approach because prevention has longer term outcomes. You don’t really see it really quickly. So the cost benefit of what funders are spending their money on isn’t always pervasively present. Where’s the scoreboard? Right? Exactly, exactly. How many people did we affect today? So that’s not numbers

Nestor Aparicio  06:48

are good now, right? Now, right? We got numbers show them. Don’t be and these people dismissing it like, come on. Yeah, come on. Now.

Brianna Rock  06:56

On top of that, making sure you were talking to the community that is impacted. So whether that’s individuals that are impacted as families, that have been victimized, as individuals that have been victimized, or as individuals that might be perpetuating the issue as well, by talking to those individuals, we see exactly what is needed to happen, because you’re including the population and and what you’re doing. And so that’s exactly what Mayor Scott’s approach has been, including not only the population, but the people on the ground and the organizations on the ground that have been doing the work. And then when you add hospitals on top of that, we have a very vast hospital based violence intervention system. So there’s shock trauma, Hopkins, MedStar, Sinai and a few others that are all have hospital based violence intervention programs. And so what happens is, when somebody is injured, we meet them at the bedside and see exactly what they need and what supports we can give so that hopefully they are not either a future victim of violence or aren’t going to perpetuate violence, because we unfortunately know that violence is cyclical,

Nestor Aparicio  08:04

because the minute they get out of that bed, they want to go back and seek an engine correct

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Brianna Rock  08:07

exactly them, their family. And it can also just be the fact that violence is cyclical in terms of if you’ve been injured, once your risk increase for being injured again.

Nestor Aparicio  08:18

Brianna rock is here. She’s educating me. She is the supervisor of the violence prevention programs at UMR Adams, Cali Shock Trauma Center. That’s a lot to read here, but she’s over University of Maryland medical center. She’s two blocks where we are faith these right now. So these numbers. And you know mayor Scott, when he was City Council President, Scott city or said, these are beefs, man, these are beefs. These are, these are people who I’m gonna get even with you, and you looked at my girl, or you said something, or you did this to me, or you stole that from me, or you didn’t pay me for this. Or it’s a beef it’s, it’s, literally, these were not people coming out, shooting tourists, parking their car, lexing the market, walking in to get a crap cake. That’s not what was really going on, that carjackings, all of these kinds of things that we see that’s also part and parcel of all of this and under 18 year old crimes very stigmatized on the outside. And what Ivan Bates and Ivan Bates needs to come on to I’ve been chasing him around. Thank you for reminding me every time I see him, you come, we’re gonna get it. But the law people coming back from prisons into this city and trying to acclimate where nobody wants to hire them, nobody wants to give them a chance. Oh, the only life they know, falling back into that these were all of this recidivism issues that a decade ago I talked about when you were a younger gal, before you were New Orleans, in Florida, before you arrived here. There’s been a long history of all of this. You come at a time where, like, it feels like it really is on the upswing. What is your understanding of how it’s gotten better? Yeah, programs like yours,

Brianna Rock  09:56

so it’s gotten better because we are recognizing that like while you. Said there were beefs and all of those things. One of the things we’re seeing now is violence. Unfortunately, anybody can be affected, right? So yes, there are beefs and things going on in the streets, but there’s also individuals, like at schools who are getting bullied and feel the need to have guns to protect themselves. There’s domestic situations. There’s all of these different varying types of violence, and a lot of it stems from the social determinants of health, so poverty, the ability to access health care, a lot of these other things, education, education, exactly. So when you’re able to again, incorporate all of the different systems that have a play in those things, you’re able to make an impact. And obviously there’s still work to do, as mayor Scott always says, one person shot is too many, and so there’s still definitely work to do, but positive movement is being made because now we are incorporating all of the systems that impact people. People are impacted, usually by multiple systems at one time, whether it’s courts, hospitals, whatever the exhausting

Nestor Aparicio  11:03

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for the victim, perpetrator all the way around. The legal system is very, very onerous. It is time understanding money just and seeking some level of justice, right? And that’s really what the violence is, is I’m going to get justice on my own. I’m going to come back and get even

Brianna Rock  11:25

right, because I don’t trust the systems a lot of the time,

Nestor Aparicio  11:27

fair enough, well, and that’s another issue getting into my people in Venezuelans and immigration and ice and just the fear that I can’t trust back to trust. I can’t trust the police, I can’t trust the system. I’m going to take it into my own hands, right? And that’s really where these murders happen. I mean literally, they were people taking out justice or seeking vengeance in some way. How is that tempered a little bit by what you’re doing at this point coming into this what are you seeing when you talk to people here, and hopefully you’re seeing less of these cases because we’re having less of it.

Brianna Rock  12:04

I hope, yeah, we are having less of it. I would say at shock trauma, our numbers are 18% of all of our annual admissions are violence related. So that’s still a little too high for my liking.

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Nestor Aparicio  12:16

One in five hospital admissions is something that was trauma

Brianna Rock  12:21

violence, somebody hurts them right here, right now. Hurt someone, yes, exactly. And so still too big of a number for my liking. But again, we’re incorporating all of those systems. So at shock trauma, we also have a medical legal partnership where if an individual needs brief legal advice, an attorney there’s a lot of things that people don’t realize that are the results of being a victim of violent trauma or a victim of a crime, so for being violated, exactly. But another example is housing. We know that Baltimore doesn’t necessarily have the most handy, accessible housing or the most you know, like a lot of the times, people after their injury might be on a second floor and can’t get up to their apartment, but might have landlords that don’t want to break the lease right, because they’re going to lose out of money, having an attorney that is able to advocate for that individual as a survivor of Violence has been super helpful, because we’ve been able to not only get them out of that lease in a way that is not permanently on their record, because you talked about all of the things when you give me real life,

Nestor Aparicio  13:33

of course, you get attacked during the hospital. You get out and you can’t pay your bills, yeah, and you’ve

Brianna Rock  13:38

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been out of order. Yeah, you’ve been out of work now you’re victimized by systems and corporations and all of the things, and so as systems, what are we doing to help?

Nestor Aparicio  13:48

I want to give you a hug for helping people like that’s a noble thing. Is that something I’ve never really thought about, that part of it, you know?

Brianna Rock  13:54

Yeah, there’s a lot of different aspects, food, of course, housing, having to relocate if you were the victim and it was intended for you to be. Unfortunately, not here anymore. There’s people that need to move after their victimization. So when they’re just trying to kill you, come back. Yeah, finish the job. So when they’re discharging from the hospital, where do they go? And that’s why the person that hurt them is in prison, one would hope, but not always.

Nestor Aparicio  14:21

Well, that’s that would be a goal if somebody came in and hurt me right now, like to think they’re going to jail? Yeah, I like Ivan Bates, you know, I’d say that to him, yeah. But all that being said, then what happens to his wife? What happens this family? I mean, the unintended consequences Once the eggs are back, it’s and when it’s violence, and when it happens quickly, even if it’s a car wreck, these things that I had a root canal last week, trust me, set me back a couple of days, right? I didn’t plan on it, yeah, just started chewing and hurt, I mean literally, but the next couple of days, from anything to have, we always come wrap around services, right? Like and for people other way. Brianna rocks here. She. Is here on behalf of our friends at umms, they’re right around the corner. I got to get this up. Supervisor, violence prevention programs. LC, SWC, what is all the MPH What is all that miles per hour? Big deal, Brianna,

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Brianna Rock  15:15

it is not miles per hour. That is Masters of Public Health and licensed certified social worker clinical, all

Nestor Aparicio  15:22

right, yeah, if I get any problem, I want to have you, because you’re so nice and that would trust you. They teach you how to be nice.

Brianna Rock  15:30

They can’t teach you everything, but they taught me some.

Nestor Aparicio  15:34

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Well, I would think that on a daily basis, you find people at the worst part, at the worst lows, yeah, so you, you’re like, a priest. I mean, you’re like, literally, you, you’re trying to, how can I help you? Literally, that’s, that’s your job, right?

Brianna Rock  15:47

And it’s doing things in a trauma informed way. That is a buzz word. But what I mean by that is, like, when somebody is coming at you and yelling in your face because they have been traumatized and victimized, yell back, I don’t take it personal passion exactly, people. Nobody wants to come to the hospital. Let’s be honest, nobody wants to come see me at my job by being a person in the bed that I’m going

Nestor Aparicio  16:10

I am GBMC sponsored, so my thanks to GBMC. I had a colonoscopy in November. Okay? I had the doc on, Dr oscari saved my life. I had a cancerous pub, yeah, right, just back in November. I didn’t know until surgery was over or the procedure was over. You drink the thing, you know, right? Things happen like all that, right? I’m 57 I had never had one until November, and, you know, I went that day, and I’ve had a finger cut off when I was three. So I have, you know, I have some weird like, even in my root canal, I’m a awful patient. My wife would you know, my wife’s been through everything, been hella back. She’s a good patient. She doesn’t dread going and getting needles, she doesn’t dread going to the dock. She didn’t like it, right? But she’s not like, I would say fearful, but certainly I’m not fearful. I don’t think they’re gonna kill me. I just know it’s gonna hurt, and it involves this psychological thing from the time probably I had my finger cut off when I was three. Poor doctor is scary that morning when I went in. First off, I’m pooping myself. I’m sick as a dog. I haven’t eaten anything. I’m brutal. I probably did not have good bedside manner at all. I know I didn’t Yeah, because my wife told me when I got home and I’m having Dr is scary on this month, just to apologize to him for being such a jerk at the hospital. But I like there is a point where, like, you almost can’t help yourself when you get shot up there, needling, yeah, you’re throwing up, you’re sick, you’re you know, it’s not, it’s not pretty No, I think dealing in medicine in any way, but I think there’s a compassion part of that that everyone in the medical space has to have. And as bad of a patient as I am, I’m certainly not the worst, right, but I can’t imagine being shot, having something happen, being there under a circumstance that you would feel angry just being there, right? And then you come in and say, I want to help you. Yeah, you seen the worst of the mean, yeah. You’re all those initials you got back there, yeah.

Brianna Rock  18:11

So my staff are the frontline staff. They are the ones that are going in the room and exactly what you said, they are going into our true which stands for our trauma resuscitation unit, as soon as somebody is brought in via helicopter by the ambulance, they wait for them to be medically stable, and then they go see them to see what resources support guidance with all of these systems that they need. But sometimes they’re not always met with the nicest response, right? Because I’m sorry if I just got injured overnight, and I came in and it’s morning, and I’ve had nurses and social workers and doctors and all of the people coming to my bed, and then you have someone

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Nestor Aparicio  18:49

that’s my wife, was diagnosed 12 years ago next month, with leukemia, yeah. So she checked herself into Hopkins. We sat there in the overnight she googled that. She said, I think I have leukemia. I’m like, don’t talk like that. Like, that’s like, No, we’re not. The next day we came in, the doctor came in at five o’clock, shut the door and said, You have leukemia. You have the worst kind of leukemia that I’ve seen. I can’t even identify it, and we’re there and like, yeah, what do we do? Google it. They put a handbook on the you know, like, where do you go at that moment, mentally, spiritually. I mean, I’ve been in that room and I mean, I remember calling the doctor the Grim Reaper, and he said, Please don’t say that to me. And I thought to myself, that wasn’t nice, yeah. But like every time you come in here, the news gets worse, right? You know, my wife might die. I’m freaked out exactly. So dealing with me was a handful 12 years ago as the caregiver who was not going to die in the back, but worried about the person I love the most in the world dying. So like my wife, spent 155 nights in Hopkins, two bone marrow transplants. I had charge nurses. I had them bring her bullion when she was neutropenic and couldn’t put food in, and they brought her a 10. Tablet and boiling water, and call that a meal? Yeah? I went down to the Chinese place and got her some proper chicken broth. Yeah, you know what I mean. So, like, I bitched about the food and how awful it was and how it made her sick. Like, advocacy inside the hospital. I was the prick that you had to deal with who was edged out of his mind watching his wife die. So, I mean, I know now we’re here, I Yeah, and she didn’t get shot. She had different kind of trauma, but she might as well got shot. Yeah, she could do about it. She was, she was glued there. She couldn’t leave. We called it the hotel. Yeah, she spent 44 days in the hospital. The first day she checked in, didn’t even have the bag. Get to say goodbye to the cat, right? And then they send her home and say, Go on with your work. We’re going and it’s not my wife use mental counseling, yeah, for years after her trauma,

Brianna Rock  20:44

it’s not that simple, because think about the exact moment you’re told what’s going on, and usually like, then sometimes you are staying inpatient, but sometimes you’re told to leave, like, the hospital is done with you. Your wound is technically healed, your cancer science go exactly but that is what at shock trauma, we’re really working to do, is like, address the individual holistically, because we know, especially with victims of violence, but any victim of trauma, right? There’s all of these other repercussions that come along with it, medical PTSD, PTSD, in general, other mental health diagnoses, and even if it’s not to the point where it’s a mental health diagnoses, there’s just the the transition back into quote, unquote, normal life. And how do you handle that? And what does that look like now? Because unfortunately, life is not normal anymore. Now you have this information or this diagnosis that you never had before, and you have to move forward with that. And so how can my team be a support for those individuals when they’re having to move forward?

Nestor Aparicio  21:47

My wife had two bone marrow transplants. She’s genetically, completely not the same person genetically, so therefore she’s not the same person. Nobody ever prepared her for that, for that, right?

Brianna Rock  21:59

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Literally, what might healing look like down the line? Like, yeah, maybe they’ll tell you, like, five days from now. But what about a couple months from now, a couple years from now, when it snows? Does do her bones hurt? Like things like that? There’s all of these different things that we need to think about and in terms of treating the whole person,

Nestor Aparicio  22:18

all right? Well, she’s here to UN traumatize me. Brianna rocks here. She’s with Maryland Medical Systems right across the street. She’s at shock trauma, as they say, and the helicopters come in and they go out. And I live downtown. I saw them all the time saving lives there. She’s with the violence prevention program. She’s a supervisor over there on behalf of smart and the smart team. I feel smarter good.

Brianna Rock  22:40

It stands for it. Stands for saving Maryland’s at risk.

Nestor Aparicio  22:43

Teens, hold on, saving Maryland’s at risk. Teens, t e n, s teams, all right, yep, we’re doing okay, right? We’re getting better. We’re getting better because we imported you from New Orleans. Yeah. Where were you during the storm?

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Brianna Rock  22:55

Katrina, I was actually not there, so I was in Florida at that point. Okay, I

Nestor Aparicio  22:59

was in New Orleans the day before, wow, the Ravens played a preseason game at the dome, yeah, on a Thursday night, and we were supposed to spend the whole weekend, because it’s New Orleans, right? Do you know go to emeralds? You know hurricanes? I don’t like hurricanes, but, but I would get a big burger at the portico. So we’re New Orleans, and it was 130 degrees, and you could sweat just looking out the window, and the Ravens played this preseason awful game with nobody in the dome. There’s 8000 people in the dome, and my wife was dressed in like floss. She had nothing on, and she’s in the dome, and she’s frozen at halftime, and it’s a freaking preseason game. So we left the dome. She’s like, now I want to go. It’s too cold. Now I gotta leave. I’m like, All right, it’s halftime of a preseason game. We’ll leave. So we left. We walked down on to to Bourbon. We walked down the street, whatever that side street is, magazine, whatever it is where Acme Oyster House is. We went in and we ordered fried shrimp, same ones. I’m gonna get it cost us on Friday. And we looked up on a TV, and a 10 O’Clock News comes on. You’ll speak to this because in New Orleans there’s 11 o’clock news. Yeah, it’s a 10 O’Clock News. And I remember the Steelers were playing to the Redskins in a preseason game was on, and the preseason game went away. And channel 10, or whatever it was in New Orleans, and news comes on and like, we’re in there drinking beer on a Friday night. Friday nights. Friday night, Thursday night. Friday was Friday night. This was Friday night. I looked up and it’s like, get out. Like the news was like, leave. Leave. Was 10 O’Clock News. And I said to my wife, I’m like, they’re saying we should leave. There was no hurricane coming when we left right and we got on a plane and flew down, or on Thursday we didn’t, there was no hurricane that’s out there’s a bomb tornado that, yeah, right. And Friday night, I walked out onto Bourbon Street, literally my phone, and I called Southwest Airlines, and the woman says, Would you like to leave on the. On the 9am or the 3pm and I’m like, give me the 9am we changed our flight, and at six in the morning, we woke up the JW Maradona canal, and the newspapers were piled up. Yeah, at 5am and we got it, we got a cab, got in the cab, got to the airport and left. Yeah, and when we landed in Baltimore, the city was in chaos. Yeah, we left within four hours of being trapped, yeah, and my wife’s diabetic, and there were no cars and the windows were all blown. Like, it really unbelievable serendipity that we weren’t there. But like, yeah, for you to not be there, and everyone that you love to be there that, yeah, you talk about trauma. Whoo, that’s a lot. There was, there was no trauma like New Orleans trauma, right? Oh, six, right? That’s real trauma for a city, right? Exactly. I thought maybe that affected you to want to do this kind of work 20 years later. It is, you feel young to me, that was 20 years ago, yeah, a long time ago. Katrina, right? It is, you’re a young lady then, so, I mean, yeah, did you go back to participate in any of the trauma there, to help it? I see you as someone that probably was moved by that part of your life to do what you do.

Brianna Rock  26:11

Definitely, I was that’s actually why I went to school there as well. I went to Tulane University because I wanted to, again, help a community that that was really impacted by for the beneath, okay, that was second, second,

Nestor Aparicio  26:32

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friends, yeah, he said he went down for law school. I’m like, Nah, you went for the party. That’s true. Well, New Orleans is great. You’re, you’re original, you’re, you’re legit.

Brianna Rock  26:45

No, so I’m from Florida originally. I just from New Orleans. I just move around, okay, wherever the wind takes me, some reason. Well, I am. I was there for eight years. If you know anything about New Orleans, that’s home now. Eight years is a lifetime.

Nestor Aparicio  26:59

Exactly anybody that ever lives in New Orleans calls it home. Yeah, it is. I got a friend in Baltimore. It still thinks in New Orleans home. He was born here. Lives here now, but it’s like all New Orleans, Florida, Lee and all that. We got Mardi Gras coming up. Hey? Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of the greatest thing New Orleans ever did for Baltimore, which is winning our Super Bowl 13 years ago yesterday. Yeah, we, you

Brianna Rock  27:25

know, yeah, we look at the Kismet that’s happening right here.

8

Nestor Aparicio  27:29

We shut down Canal Street, man, we ripped it up down there 13 years ago. Brianna. Brianna rock is here. She’s with University of Maryland shock drama. She is helping people, and she’s helping educate us. What can people do to participate? You guys still have balls, and you have fundraisers. You do all sorts of

Brianna Rock  27:44

cool Yeah, so we do do fundraisers. We haven’t had a ball specifically for victims and survivors of violence, but they do have a shock trauma. There is a shock trauma ball, and there’s also a shock trauma Orioles game that people can help fun with. If if you are a runner, they do a run, which should be coming up soon. I think it actually just passed in February, so if you missed it this year, you can go next year, I’ll hand out drinks at the end. Yeah, they have, they have, oh, you’ll hand out drink. Oh yeah, that’s a drink. You’ll have some drinks too.

Nestor Aparicio  28:16

Oh, handsome man, okay, plead the pub.

Brianna Rock  28:21

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But actually, if you were there, you may have seen my director. He actually ran in pink scrubs to support shock trauma, all right. Well, I like that exactly.

Nestor Aparicio  28:31

Well, I appreciate all the lives you save and all the good stuff you’re doing over there. Thank you. Thanks for coming over on short notice. And I mean, I’ll drive you back over if you’re gonna freeze on the way.

Brianna Rock  28:39

Oh, that’s okay. I need to get my steps in. You look tough to me. Thank you. Last name is rock exactly. I have to keep to my namesake.

Nestor Aparicio  28:48

Rock music. Great name rocks. Great name rocks. Here she’s with shock drama over Maryland. I want to give thanks to our friends here at Fayette Lee’s, as well as leftover love Omar stopped by. We had a great, great visit with Dr Jamel Bronson from LT YC, and they’re doing a love drive. So I got love, love and even more love here, and a candy cane cash giveaways from our Maryland lottery partners. And we’re gonna be doing a couple Super Bowl all week long. On Tuesday, we’re gonna be at El Guapo and Catonsville, Wednesday, where Koco’s In lauraville. Thursday, back to Essex and pizza John’s. And then on Friday, I will be at Costas and Timonium come and receive free candy cane cash scratch offs. If you’ve got giveaways for the Maryland Food Bank, I will be around for that as well. We’re going to be educating folks about that later on. We’re gonna have some visitors from the Maryland Food Bank later on in the week, talking about feeding people and making the world a better place. It is a cup of soup or bowl. We’re back for more from fayley’s. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.