Newsmakers, March 26, 2015

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• Eva Schloss: A Holocaust Survivor’s Story

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  A workshop at La Crosse’s Viterbo University this week is bringing educators and Holocaust survivors together. This is the 10th anniversary of Teaching the Holocaust workshop.

  Eva Schloss and Anne Frank were neighbors in Amsterdam. Like the Franks, Schloss and her family went into hiding from the Nazis and were eventually caught. As a teenager, she was sent to Auschwitz and survived.

  After the war, Eva’s mother, Elfriede Geiringer, married Anne’s father, Otto Frank.

  Schloss is among the long list of survivors to be a keynote speaker at the Teaching the Holocaust workshop.

  “It’s very important to learn history, what had happened, and what mistakes the western world had made,” Schloss said.

  Workshop coordinator Darryle Clott says teaching the Holocaust in schools should include more than just the facts.

  “We can show our students what happens when people don’t accept other people’s differences and the importance of not being bystander, because the Holocaust never could have happened without the bystanders,” she said.

  Clott says teachers should incorporate more memoirs and personal stories in their lessons.

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• The Campaign to Change Direction

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  La Crosse is one of the first communities to participate in a new, national campaign that promotes mental wellbeing.

  The National Institute of Mental Health says 1 in 5 adults lives with a mental disorder. Recognizing this, dozens of La Crosse businesses have pledged to participate in the Campaign to Change Direction. They’ll be educating workers on how to recognize when a friend or coworker may be in need.

  Teresa Pulvermacher is the director of operations and programming at La Crosse’s Riverside Corporate Wellness. She said the effort could help eliminate the stigma of mental illness and create a healthier community.

  “Each of us has the capacity to recognize suffering in one another. It encourages us to call upon our strength and compassion, to talk to one another when we recognize that there’s something wrong,” said Pulvermacher.

  One La Crosse business is spearheading the effort. While more employers have added workplace benefits like gyms and health clinics, Don Weber — the founder and CEO of La Crosse-based Logistics Health Incorporated — has hired behavioral health specialists to work with employees that are stressed or depressed.

  The company was recognized nationally for these efforts, and now, LHI is a founding member for the national Campaign to Change Direction.

  “A lot of times people go to work, that’s all they get out of it is the paycheck,” said Weber. “They’re not going to be there very long. They’re not as productive. They’re not as healthy, physically and mentally. We want people that are loyal — they’re going to stay here. And we make this investment … because we care about who they are, the whole person.”

  The Campaign to Change Direction will also strive to better coordinate local mental health services.