With Zachari Cahn
Dr. Zachari Cahn holds a Masters degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, the top rated accredited Chinese Medical School in the US and Doctorates from the Pacific College of Health & Sciences . With over 6 years of training and 20 years practicing researched based natural compounds, acupuncture, herbs, nutrition, massage, western clinical diagnosis and pharmacology (drug/herb interaction), he is among the premiere provider of alternative healthcare in Asheville.
Here is the GoFundMe that Zachari is running- https://gofund.me/d2872a55
PLEASE support it. People are in need.
Here are some other folks working to help in the area-
https://wck.org/search/tag/north-carolina
Listen to the episode on Spotify here or on your favorite podcast platform and check out the Urban Monk Academy here.
Podcast transcript:
We’ll come back to the urban monk podcast. Dr. Pedram Shojai here with a special, important podcast. Good friend of mine, Dr. Zachari Khan lives in Asheville, North Carolina, hurricane Helene just came through pummeled. I mean, these guys really got hit by this thing. Uh, a community that was not expecting anything like this. Was not prepared.
So I need you to hear what it’s like, not being prepared for something that ends up really changing your stars. It’s taken about a week for him to get enough. Uh, you know, a way to get power. Um, and signal to be able to do this show with me. So please take a minute. Listen to how our fellow Americans are living right now. Uh, appreciate what you got and also step up and step in and be the neighbors that we need to be. For the people in me, it could be us next.
Here’s the podcast.
My dear friend, uh, first and foremost, um, I’m happy to see that you’re safe and that your family’s safe. I know that a lot of people didn’t share the same outcome, so I’m really, really sad about what’s happened to your town. So I’m glad you’re safe. Thank you. Thank you. So for my audience, uh, those listening or watching, um, tell us from the top where you live and what the heck happened in the last couple of weeks so that we can find some context on this.
Yeah, thanks. Um, thanks for having me on and thank you to the folks who are listening, um, and who are wanting to help. There’s a lot of people want to help and don’t know how to. So I appreciate you creating a form for that. Um, so Friday, late September, uh, we knew the storm was coming up and, you know, there were storm warnings, but the truth is we live in the mountains in Western North Carolina.
I live in Asheville, North Carolina here. Um, and nobody was prepared. Nobody had any sense of what, what this entailed, the amount of rain and wind that we would be hit by, you know, by a hurricane. I mean, it’s, it’s never happened here before like this. There was a really bad flood in the early 20th century here, um, but this was worse than that by far.
Um, and so we all kind of hunkered down and, you know, nobody bought water. Nobody did anything. We just thought we’re going to get some wind and a little bit of, you know, and some rain and then get through it and clean up the mess. But, uh, you know, my, my home and my family were living up on top of a mountain.
We didn’t have any flooding and we had, you know, a whole house generator and a well. So at first we didn’t quite realize how bad it was and came out in the morning and there were trees. Big trees, grandfather trees everywhere and I started to get a sense of, okay, this was bad. I still hadn’t understand the scope of the flooding yet because there’s, there’s different parts of town and different parts of communities and different cities and towns that were hit by just a lot of downed trees and mudslides.
And then there are towns like Chimney Rock and Hot Springs and Marshall. Uh, that were devastated in chimney rock. There’s a picture on if you google chimney rock before and after Helene, it’s not like it was flooded and then the floods receded. The town’s gone. It’s gone. There’s isn’t a town there anymore.
Um, in any place that is on the river. Swannanoa River or, uh, or any one of the rivers that are here, any house that’s within a hundred feet and without elevation is gone. So, you know, we have six personal friends that lost their homes. There were also tornadoes here, which is. Doesn’t happen during the storm.
Um, so we have six personal friends that lost their homes. One friend, a tornado took the roof off their entire home. I lost a dear friend, Lynn McFarland, a beautiful, beautiful man who personified a full belly laugh and a love of music. And just a sweet, sweet guy, um, stayed in his home to try to keep stuff safe and, uh, ended up having to go to the roof with his dog.
And, um, neighbor saw his house as it was swelling, just tender. So. Feelings are coming. So big feels here just saw him and his dog and the house swept away and he was missing for a week and they were found. He was found with his dog, you know, deceased. Um, and you know, there’s, those stories are rampant through the community.
There are. I have no doubt that the death toll will be in the thousand over a thousand. Once this is all said and done, we have friends who pulled eight bodies out of the river today after the storm we have, I just heard right before this, uh, podcast here of an elderly couple, uh, just found finally a friend of mine’s, uh, friends who were just found.
So that’s what happened, you know, just had no idea. There were parts of Asheville that were just decimated. It’s like a bomb went off, Biltmore village, anywhere near the river, Done. And so at this point, three weeks out, there’s still no potable water for, for anybody who’s on city water. Um, we just got water and power back at the clinic here where I am.
So our business was out, you know, two weeks and any restaurant that survived COVID is now. You know, there’s just restaurants shutting down or, or just, they have no idea when they’ll be able to open tourists, you know, which is very popular here during the fall isn’t happening because of Blue Ridge Parkway is shut down and definitely this beautiful long road that runs through Georgia and Tennessee and, and North Carolina is shut down because parts of it were just decimated in mudslides.
So it is a once in a thousand year storm that nobody was prepared for. That took lives and homes and livelihoods and, and in the wake of that, the community response has been just gorgeous and beautiful and heartwarming. And there’s, you know, a few stories of people being terrible because some people are terrible, but all in all, it’s just been everyone helping everyone helping just stories.
I mean, I was in the bank this morning, hugging a guy who lost his husband. Um, that I didn’t know and another, uh, woman came over and, and was supporting two in a bank, like the, the level of when things get that real, the guards that we have and that we carry in life, the things that we think are important are just all the illusions of, of, you know, cultural narratives are destroyed with the floodwater and all that’s left is this being human.
And caring for one another. And so with that, me and everybody I know are, are just kicking ass and doing fundraisers and volunteering and supporting. I have three box trucks coming down from the mid Atlantic with the mankind project organization I work with. Um, another guy called this morning said I convinced my work to donate 5, 000.
I’m going to go to home Depot right now and buy 5, 000 of whatever you tell me to buy. And I said, chainsaws and generators. And propane tanks and propane stoves, you know, and blankets for winter. Um, and he’s doing that, renting a truck and bringing it down tomorrow. And we have three other trucks aside from that in the next four days coming down.
Started a fundraiser through the Mankind Project. We’ve raised 15, 000 bucks, which is a fraction of what we need for, uh, local Latino communities and African American communities were often, those marginalized groups are often overlooked in times of crisis like this. So, um, So we’re putting attention there and, and you’re helping right now by having me on and bringing more attention to this fundraiser which I’ll put a link for.
So that’s where we’re at. It’s been terrible and tragic and beautiful and human and stressful and, um, and there’s, there’s an interesting thing happen. I’ll just mention too, since we’re both doctors and we both focus on optimal health, you know, not just surviving but thriving. The process of grief and of doing the dance between self care and community care and learning how and when is enough to give and when it’s time to rest and take respite, it’s a beautiful and difficult thing.
And, um, someone who thought they were really good at that and is being pushed at all my edges with that right now, I can tell you I’m not as good at it as I thought. Um, Yeah, I’m human. I have work to do and I’m grateful for people like you who support me. Thank you. I mean, listen, this tragedy brings out the true us, right?
It’s the hormetic stressor that gets us to grow. Um, a lot of lessons here, obviously, um, you know, we’d start with preparedness. Like, well, what should you have had at your house? Right? Like, what are, what are the things that, you know, people who, live in an area. I mean, look, if you’re living on the beach in Tampa, you know, this happens every couple of years.
None of you all expected this, right? So what is the kind of go bag home survivor kit that you wish you had? I think that’s probably some important information. And if you haven’t thought that all the way through, you know, say that, um, And then I’m, I’m very curious about how potable water and gasoline are flowing because you know, it is, it’s getting colder, right?
Like the hurricanes, you think warm weather, this is, this is ugly. Yeah. Um, so I’ll answer the first question first, uh, you know, generators. So I’ve, I’ve never appreciated in my house as much as I did. Like we have a whole house generator and I, in the eight or nine years we’ve lived in this home, I would go and turn it on once a year for 15 minutes just to run it.
But I never really appreciated having a fridge when there’s no power, having a stove, having HVAC when it’s cold so it can heat or cool the house, um, and having a well. So for those people who didn’t have that, I think generators are gold in times of crisis, having some stored water, you know, the essentials, right?
The essentials, canned goods, a way to cook them. Um, you know, when we can’t eat as, you know, holistically and anti inflammatory, you know, keto and all the different types of diets that you and I teach all of our people, uh, and we’re in survival mode, having those survival foods, you know, nourishing, uh, long term sustainable foods and water, uh, are the things, you know, warmth, if it’s, if it’s winter.
Those important things, um, the potable water situation here is rough. You know, I’ve heard anywhere between 3 and 9 months. Uh, water just came back on. So, toilets are working right? And that’s huge because for a while there, we’re all. You know, fill in water, fill in 5 gallon things from the, from the creek from the creek, as they say here and, uh, and fill in the toilet so that we could do our business.
Um, and. Uh, gas. You know, gas is interesting. Gas is one of those. There’s no gas here for a week, but it’s one of those examples. There was all the water and all the gas we needed because everybody was helping. People were driving up from as far, you know, southeast as Charleston and, um, Georgia, and from as far north as Virginia and Pennsylvania even.
People were just like, what do you guys need? And at that point, we’re like, we need gas. And so they would come down. With literally 55 or 10 gallon things of gas and just give them out. I literally just, it was amazing to see every block here had distribution points of gasoline and water and food and hygiene and things that you wouldn’t think of because who would think of adult depends and adult diapers and women’s, you know, uh, menstrual stuff and, and just all the things that it takes to have some semblance of.
A functional normal life here as we know it. Um, people are thinking of it. We’re thinking of it and creating it and, and distributing it. There’s something that’s missing in this dialogue, which I want to highlight, which is when this kind of story comes up, the hype, the media, the people that profit from this, Um, really love the zombie apocalypse story and say run out and buy a machine gun because they’re coming.
Totally, totally. Thank you for bringing that up. I’ve been saying that all week. It totally contradicts that narrative of every movie we’ve ever seen when it hits the fan that people are going to be awful. And again, there’s a couple stories, but they’re really a couple. 99. 9 percent of the stories is people helping one another.
Totally contradicts that narrative. It’s been beautiful to behold. I want to highlight that, right? Like that’s who we are, people helping people and not this crazy shit where people are so worried about their neighbors stealing their lunch, right? They’re helping. I mean, some of the worst stuff has been more subtle nuance stuff.
The, the kind of the media is. You know, blowing it out of proportion. It isn’t that bad. I’ve seen that on social media and it totally is that bad. It still is that bad. Um, or there’s a thing going on around like a conspiracy that there’s a, a court mine that was given 90 million and that the storm was manufactured so that Elon Musk could sell more Starlink, you know, it’s, it’s just ridiculous.
Like people who put time into that, it just comes up for me. Like, look, you can put time into that. In that same five minutes it take to write that post, you could have created a fundraiser and go fund me. And so, you know, one of my favorite things is don’t tell me what you believe, show me what you do, and I’ll tell you what you believe.
And so we get an opportunity here to see what people believe by through what they do. And just saying that, you know, for all the stories I have. About myself and my community and all the places I can go when I see how My family and how I’ve shown up and how my community has shown up. We’re good people doing good work here We are good people doing good work based on what we’re doing, you know based on what we’re doing.
It’s just been beautiful It’s been beautiful. I love it. Okay, brother. Listen, um You are busy bailing water and helping people. So let’s cut to the chase. How can we help? Yeah. Um, the best way you can help, uh, you know, it depends on how you want to help, right? If, if you’re interested, like I am in helping marginalized communities, the best way you can help is donate to the fundraiser, which you’ll, you’ll put in the link.
Um, and that will go directly to, uh, displace Marginalized communities, uh, particularly people who’ve been displaced from their home who don’t have insurance, but you know, not solely to those folks, but primarily to those folks. Um, if you’re more interested in helping the communities like Marshall and Yancey County and, and hot hot springs and chimney rock places that have been decimated, there are so many organizations, um, and nano stead, uh, beloved Asheville dot org, um, are 2 of the big ones.
Uh, sent us. Central kitchen is the third one. Um, who are just cooking meals, just cooking meals. And, and, and so, you know, if you want to donate money or supplies or drive supplies here, if you’re in the Southeast anywhere, you can, uh, put my email in the link as well, or my phone number and people can get in touch with me directly and I can put them where they’re needed.
So people, but the best thing really right now is to send money because that way we can discern where and who it goes to. And, and we’re, you know, like you said, we’re doing triage right now. And so. Uh, I created, as of today, a board of oversight for the money that’s coming in because I didn’t want to be solely responsible for that.
I want to have full transparency, um, so that we have a group of people deciding where that goes and a ledger for where all that goes. And so we’re doing an ethical and responsible way, but we just want to help people who need it the most right now. And there are certain communities that are really decimated, but they’re getting a lot of help and there are other communities that aren’t getting any help.
And that’s who we’re focused on right now. Appreciate that. Yeah. So, uh, the auspices under which I wanted to introduce you to my community wasn’t this. Uh, Dr. Khan is an incredible functional medicine doctor who’s helping people in very different ways in his day job. But none of that matters right now.
And that’s the point. Yeah. None of that matters. What matters is pain and sufferings in front of us. And it’s in the form of something that needs to be dealt with, with gasoline and food and water and, you know, lifting roofs. You know, I will say as to your point. Our expertise right now actually is important and I’ve been talking with Apex and I’ve been talking with Nordic Naturals and I’m trying to get them to send down essential things for immune system and stress, right?
Send down the adrenocon, phosphatidylserine, send down vitamin D to help, you know, with nutrient absorption and immune system right now. Send me hundreds of bottles of those and I’ll give them away for free to communities who need them. So if you’re one of those people who see this and have access to Standard Process or Nordic Naturals or Apex Synergetics or, or any one of these.
companies that you see behind me here. Um, that’s needed too, because keeping us in health during times of crisis, you and I knowing the impact of stress chemistry and cortisol on blood sugar and sleep and inflammation, it’s important right now to be thinking long term about the impact of trauma on the immune system and on our overall health.
So our expertise is needed right now. It’s just, we’re in triage at the moment. Yeah. Do people need blankets? Like how cold is it getting? Yeah. It’s freezing tomorrow. It’s going to be under freezing. Yeah. We need blankets. We need propane heaters. We need propane grills. We need jackets, kids, kids, hats and gloves.
All those things. Yes. Yes. All right. So get me the links, please. I’ll put it in here. Uh, folks, I’m in a hurry up offense to stand this podcast up for obvious reasons. I couldn’t even get Zach to do a video because everything was down over there is the first time I could talk to the poor guy. So I want to get in a hurry up offense and get this.
So I’ll put the resources, um, you go to the urban monk. com slash podcast, look for this podcast. I’ll put it all there. Uh, cause as things change and things update, I’ll just update them in one spot. Um, and that way we can, uh, create signposts to the places that, you know, could be, you know, the most useful to the folks that are suffering.
Thank you. Perfect, man. I’m, so sorry. Um, but I am also happy that someone like you is standing in that community and standing, uh, for the community, um, you know, and this is, this is what we’re made of. This is our fabric. And so I really appreciate it. You and you know what you’re doing for the folks out there and the hundreds and thousands of other people that are standing locked arms with you and doing it.
So this is who we are. Um, but folks, anyone who’s listening to this, who’s not on the ground, let’s help. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, my friend.
So that’s it. I’m going to put links that, um, Zachariah shared with me, um, in the show notes. So if you go to the urban monk.com/podcast under this podcast, I’m going to probably links to the organizations that he likes. That are trustworthy folks trying to do the right thing. Please help. These are humans in need. Let’s help them now. Thank you.