Political Career: First elected to the Man. Leg. g.e. 2003. Party: P.C. Address: Leg. 227 Legislative Bldg., Office: 450 Broadway, Winnipeg, Man., R3C 0V8, (204)945-0258, Fax: (204)942-6613; Email: lrowat@leg.gov.mb.ca.
ROWAT, …
Dox Thrash: An African American Master Printmaker Rediscovered
by John Ittmann with essays by David PL Brigham, Cindy Medley-Buckner and Kymberly N. Pinder
University of Washington Press
January 2002
$50.00, ISBN 0-295-98159-8
In the final paragraphs of Modern Negro Art, artist-scholar James A. Porter ends his narrative of the achievements of early-20th century artists by focusing on Philadelphiabased printmaker Dox Thrash and the 11 achievement of this single contributor to the artistic printing processes in America." Citing Porter in his catalogue essay for Dox Thrash: An African American Master Printmaker Rediscovered, curator John Ittmann goes …
Dozens of workers have jeered Serbian President Boris Tadic during a protest in the capital.
Tadic attended the May Day rally at a central Belgrade square to express support for the workers' demands.
But several dozen workers angrily shouted at him and scuffled with his security officers. Dozens of others clapped in support of the president.
Thursday's …
Mark Cuban is game for a reality series.
He observed auditions held Saturday in Dallas for the ABC show TheBenefactor" in which he is giving away $1 million of his money.
And the ground rules are what exactly?
It's like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," Cuban told theDallas Morning News. When you walked into Willy's factory, you had noidea what the game was."
The audition attracted more than 500 persons hoping to live in aDallas house for …
JOHANNESBURG Riots swept South Africa today and police killed atleast three blacks after millions flocked to rallies across thenation to mourn assassinated leader Chris Hani.
Police wounded hundreds of blacks in Johannesburg's Sowetotownship and in Cape Town, the African National Congress and peacemonitors said.
Radio reports said ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party supportersfought a brief gunbattle in Alexandra township, near Johannesburg.There was no information on casualties.
Black youths rampaged through the centers of Cape Town, Durban,Pietermaritzburg and Port Elizabeth. They attacked police and lootedshops after breaking away from rallies addressed …
NEW YORK (AP) — Santonio Holmes is staying put, eager to keep catching passes from Mark Sanchez in big games for the next several seasons.
A person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the New York Jets have agreed to terms on a five-year deal with the flashy wide receiver, regarded as the top player at his position among this year's free agents.
Holmes was also considered the Jets' main priority once the free agency period started Tuesday after the NFL lockout ended after 4½ months Monday. And, New York went to work quickly on making sure it kept one of Sanchez's favorite targets.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity …
Workers at a Pier Import store just north of Paris released the CEO of the company's French operations and a former manager Tuesday whom they had held in hope of getting a better layoff deal.
The managers had arrived Monday to participate in a Works' Council meeting but were told they could not leave and would have to spend the night in the home decor retailer. In France, such meetings of management and workers are mandatory for enterprises with more than 50 people to discuss decisions such as layoffs.
The workers voted at a general assembly to release the managers, but they said their fight for more money would continue. They intend to strike and close …
How does this sound: The Tostitos Open at Cog Hill? Or maybe theHefty Classic?
Times change, and so might the name of the Western Open. For onemore year, it is the Motorola Western Open. But Motorola has decidednot to sponsor the event next year. And tournament officials havetold potential sponsors they are willing to drop the name "WesternOpen," which has survived since 1899.
"We've had conversations with several companies about dropping thename," tournament director Greg McLaughlin said Wednesday. "Somecompanies are adamant they would want the name dropped. Others areadamant they want it to stay, that it has equity in the tournament."It's certainly been discussed. …
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have signed guard Marc Dile and defensive back Trae Williams to their practice squad.
Both played college at South Florida, and both were released by Tampa Bay prior to the start of this season.
Dile is listed at 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds and joined the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent last year. …
The leader of al-Qaida's offshoot in North Africa says the group has killed a French engineer taken hostage in Niger in April.
In an audio message broadcast on Al-Jazeera Sunday, Abdelmalek Droukdel says the group …
The Ethical Dimension of Psychoanalysis: A Dialogue by W. W. Meissner Albany, NY: State University of Albany Press, 2003,371 pp.
This is a scholarly and extensive review of the interrelation between psychoanalytic and ethical theories. In the preface, the author sets out his intention "to explore and explicate some areas of interaction and common interest to psychoanalytic and ethical perspectives." He argues that psychoanalysis contains an ethical doctrine and that ethical issues "pervade the therapeutic process."
In the first chapter, "Freudian and Postfreudian Ethics," Meissner writes that Freud's use of the terms moral and immoral reflected his belief that the …
TOKYO (AP) — A key central bank survey offered a cautiously optimistic assessment of corporate Japan, where business confidence is improving even as the global economy's prospects darken.
In the Bank of Japan's quarterly "tankan" survey of business sentiment released Monday, the main index for big manufacturers climbed back into positive territory as a recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami took hold. The latest reading stood at 2, up from minus 9 three months ago.
The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are unfavorable, with 100 representing the best mood and minus 100 the worst.
The …
The emergency room doctor noted a pancreatic mass and told me that I had to stay.
I was in the hospital until Sunday, Sept. 19. However, the hospital listed this as "outpatient" instead of "inpatient." This mistake has caused a lot of problems with the insurance company not paying the doctors and everything else that I was charged for. The insurance did, however, pay the hospital bill.
The insurance company said that to take care of the doctors' charges, the hospital would have to resubmit the bill as inpatient. The hospital has refused. I have done everything the insurance company has asked.
I contacted the Illinois Department of Insurance, and they transferred the case to New York. No help there. My next resort is to file for bankruptcy, unless you can help me.
Rolanda Geter, Evanston
Dear Rolanda: First, the best news — you told us that the problem was not pancreatic cancer, as you had feared. So let's celebrate that.
As for the insurance snafu, The Fixer was happy to get this sorted out. We got your problem into the capable hands of Linda O'Dwyer, Saint Francis' director of marketing and PR. We figured she would know whom to ask.
The hospital folks reviewed your records and found that you were coded — correctly — as an "observation" patient during your stay. That's a category of outpatient care in which the patient is seen by doctors and nurses for a limited amount of time (such as to perform tests to determine whether they need to be admitted). Often that includes staying overnight. Based on that, Blue Cross Blue Shield paid the hospital's portion of the bill on Oct. 5.
The problem appears to have been with the way the physicians reported their claims. Saint Francis' people talked to their people, and they've all resubmitted their bills with the observation status listed. That should get the $1,313 in claims paid correctly and get you off the hook, apart from a $40 co-pay.
Scam avoidance, Part 1
Among the cases Team Fixer is working on right now is a suburban man who paid money upfront to a company that claimed it would solve his mortgage problems.
Sad to say, it's not looking good, though we haven't given up yet.
But the experience does make us want to warn readers once again to beware of these loan-modification scams. These phony financial advisers and "debt relief" consultants are the lowest of the low, preying on people who already have money troubles and putting their homes are further risk.
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department has a new awareness and enforcement campaign called "Know it. Avoid it. Report it," which you can find at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/housing/prevent_loan_scams.
Here are some red flags for mortgage modification scams:
† Did the person guarantee to help modify your mortgage, either by contacting you directly or through an advertisement or flier?
† Were you asked to pay a fee upfront, sign a contract, sign over the title to your property, redirect your mortgage payments or stop making loan payments?
To get legitimate advice about mortgage troubles or to report a scam, call HUD's trained counselors at (888) 995- 4673. They're available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Scam avoidance, Part 2
On Monday and Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Postal Inspection Service will host a free public workshop, " 'Congratulations, You're a Winner!' — Lottery, Prize and Sweepstakes Scams and the Role of Money-Transfer Services."
The workshop will feature law-enforcement, consumer-protection organizations, businesses and representatives from money-transfer services.
The FTC says lottery, prize and sweepstakes scams — which can include government imposter and fake check scams — generated the third-highest number of consumer complaints last year. Scams involving money-transfer services represented a staggering $144 million in consumer losses.
The free workshop is at the Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building, 77 W. Jackson, Room 331. You can find more info and pre-registration details at ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/money transfer/. Preregistration is not required, but it is encouraged.
Getting the runaround on a consumer problem? Tell it to The Fixer at suntimes.com/fixer, where you'll find a simple form to fill out. You'll also find a list of consumer contacts and tips. Because of the large volume of submissions, The Fixer can't personally reply to every problem. Letters are edited for length and clarity.
Fact Box: THE FIXER HAS SAVED YOU$1,126,765
If you want to see how the nation's foodmakers are weathering the recession, the proof is in the pudding.
Kraft Foods Inc., the largest U.S. food maker, will no longer sell Handi-Snacks pudding to retail customers. At the same time, it's pushing new flavors of its more lucrative Jell-O pudding.
Food companies from Sara Lee Food Corp. to H.J. Heinz Co. are trimming their offerings to focus marketing dollars on their higher-margin, best-selling brands and retain consumers, who are trading down in the recession.
Those top brands are more likely to hold their own, and getting rid of lesser-performing brands helps companies showcase top products as retailers cut inventory. Heinz aims to remove two items for each one it introduces. Sara Lee hopes to cut its offerings 8 percent this fiscal year.
It's all shaping up to mean fewer choices for consumers.
But will they mind?
Probably not, analysts say, noting that if these products had a big following companies would keep them around.
American grocery shelves could stand some trimming, said Mark Gottfredson, head of the global Performance Improvement practice at consulting firm Bain & Company. Much as the housing and technology industries experienced growth bubbles, grocery store shelves have been bursting with products in the past 10 years, he said. They're straining with about 50 percent more products than 10 years ago, including new formulas, flavors and sizes of existing lines, he said.
The trend of cutting SKUs _ or stock-keeping units, the unique identity each product carries _ has caught on the past three or four years. It accelerated last year, Gottfredson said, as companies homed in on their most profitable brands.
Some companies are just selling lines: J.M. Smucker Co. now owns the former Procter & Gamble Co. brands of Folgers coffee, Jif peanut butter and Crisco shortening.
But Heinz, maker of sauces and its namesake ketchup, considers product cuts a key strategy to trim costs and improve performance, said Scott O'Hara, executive vice president for Europe, who oversees the company's global supply chain. The Pittsburgh-based company hopes to cut between 15 percent and 20 percent of its SKUs within three years, on top of a 50 percent cut from 2002 to 2006.
Excess sizes, types and flavors of products increase the cost of everything from marketing and production to sales, O'Hara said. And, during the recession, it's particularly important to conserve cash.
"The more we can simplify, while clearly meeting our customers' needs, the better off we are and the more cost we can drive out of business," he said.
Cutting products was key to snack maker Lance Inc.'s turnaround plan, said CEO David Singer. About three years ago, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company doubled its offerings by buying a fellow snack maker with about 400 products. But it now offers about 350 in all, and Singer said the strategy has paid off. Lance's fiscal 2008 sales were $852.5 million, up nearly 12 percent from the previous year.
"That helped us become less complex," he said. "That's one of the things in the turnaround you do, is you try to get your business to be a lot less complex."
It's not easy to choose which products to cut, said Gottfredson, who advises companies making these decisions. It can take a year if heavy consumer research is involved.
"You have to be very thoughtful. You've got to be really good at the customer research," he said. "If you do it well, it will drive your sales."
Most profit for many companies is concentrated in a small number of brands anyway. It's not uncommon, he said, for 20 percent of a company's products to account for 80 percent of its profitability.
Now vanishing are items that companies already have pulled away from as they limit precious marketing dollars, said Christopher Shanahan, a research analyst with Frost & Sullivan.
"There's not going to be a lot of support for a lot of the product line extensions in the last five years that are not really doing that well," he said.
Sometimes, cuts spur customers to rally, as Hydrox fans did online after Kellogg Co. discontinued the cookies in 2003; the company brought them back temporarily last year. But when MillerCoors announced last fall that it won't make the clear alcoholic drink Zima anymore, citing weakness in the "malternative" segment, there was no backlash.
The phase-out of Handi-Snacks puddings and Kool-Aid gels _ a gelatin product modeled after Kool-Aid drink mix _ started in December after domestic revenue from the two lines had fallen by a third since 2005, according to company spokeswoman Renee Zahery. Both lines will be available on a smaller scale in Canada and in foodservice outlets in the U.S.
The lines Kraft is cutting are not "major businesses," CEO Irene Rosenfeld said recently.
"We're going to put our efforts behind Jell-O," she said. "Although you take a temporary hit in volume, you'll see the profitability of a number of franchises."
Indeed, when products are removed, sales volume drops. Kraft, the Northfield, Illinois-based maker of Velveeta and Oreo cookies, said this month that sales unit volume fell 5.2 percent for the three months ending in December as consumers reacted to price increases and retailers cut inventory. Within that, eliminating product lines hurt volume by 1.5 percent.
Freddie Ljungberg won't be able to rejoin the Seattle Sounders FC for about 10 weeks.
The star midfielder had surgery to repair a slightly torn labrum and have a small amount of bone shaved where his hip meets the femur. The surgery was performed by Dr. Marc Philippon of the Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colorado.
Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer said as Ljungberg increased his training, he started having hamstring problems that have hampered him the past two years.
Seattle, the newest Major League Soccer team, will begin training camp on Jan. 21. Ljungberg is expected to be ready in late February or early March. The Sounders play their first game March 19 against the New York Red Bulls.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Jon Diebler had career highs of 30 pointsand 10 3-pointers Tuesday night and No. 1 Ohio State routed PennState 82-61 to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten title.
Diebler went 5 of 6 from behind the arc in the first half as theBuckeyes (28-2, 15-2) built a 15-point lead. The senior's 10 3s seta school record and tied the conference record.
Senior Talor Battle scored 18 points in his final regular-seasonhome game for Penn State (15-13, 8-9).
Ohio State shot 55 percent overall, including 60 percent (18 of30) in the second half.
No. 6 Purdue 75, Illinois 67 - JaJuan Johnson scored 23 pointsand E'Twaun Moore added 18 to lead Purdue.
It was a fitting display for the two seniors in their final homegame. They came off the court to a standing ovation with 3.6 secondsleft.
D.J. Byrd added a career-high 16 points and Ryne Smith had acareer-high nine rebounds for the Boilermakers (25-5, 14-3).
Demetri McCamey scored 18 points and Mike Davis added 12 pointsand 10 rebounds for Illinois (18-12, 8-9).
No. 14 Florida 78, Alabama 51 - Chandler Parsons scored a season-high 19 points and Vernon Macklin also had 19 for Florida.
The Gators clinched at least a share of the SoutheasternConference regular season title and can claim their fifth out rightwith a win at No. 21 Vanderbilt on Saturday. Florida (23-6, 12-3)also would win the league if Georgia beats Alabama earlier Saturday.
The Crimson Tide (19-10, 11-4) needed a road win to improve theirchances of making the NCAA tournament. Now, the Tide probably needto win the SEC tournament to earn the league's automatic bid.
No. 20 Kentucky 68, No. 21 Vanderbilt 66 - Brandon Knight scored17 points and Terrence Jones added 15 points and nine rebounds forKentucky (21-8, 9-6 Southeastern Conference), which remainedunbeaten at Rupp Arena under Coach John Calipari.
Festus Ezeli led Vanderbilt (21-8, 9-6) with 22 points butfumbled away a chance at a game-tying shot just before the finalbuzzer. John Jenkins scored 13 of his 16 points in the second halffor Vanderbilt, which rallied from a 15-point deficit to take thelead with 4:25 to play.
Nebraska 69, No. 22 Missouri 58 - Lance Jeter scored 16 pointsand Nebraska used a 17-2 second-half run to pull away.
It was the last regular-season Big 12 home game for Nebraska (19-10, 7-8), which moves to the Big Ten next season.
The Tigers (22-8, 8-7) dropped to 1-7 in Big 12 road games andhad a dent put in their hopes to finish in the top four in theconference and earn a bye in the first round of next week's leaguetournament.
The Huskers won for the first time in five regular-seasonmeetings with Missouri and denied Coach Mike Anderson his 200thcareer win.
Jorge Brian Diaz had 14 points, Toney McCray 13 and Brandon Ubel11 for the Huskers.
Marcus Denmon had 16 of his 19 points in the second half andMichael Dixon finished with 13 for Missouri.
Practising medicine in Canada has become increasingly bureaucratic, confrontational and stressful. The Canadian Orthopaedic Association must take a far more proactive role in the development of orthopedic surgeons as professionals and in the political environment in which they practise.
Living in a "knowledge-rich workplace" orthopedic surgeons must support continuous professional development and provide leadership and incentive to maintain competence in their profession.
The "baby boomers" are coming. Their numbers will have a profound effect on the practice of orthopedic surgery, not 20 or 30 years from now but within the next 10 years. Therefore it is imperative that orthopedic surgeons assess and accept the impact that the "boomers" will have on surgeons, hospital beds and operating-room time.
Orthopedic surgeons and the Canadian Orthopaedic Association are challenged by a new role as vendors of information in a new "information age" economy, whose fundamental sources of wealth are knowledge and communication.
La pratique de la medecine au Canada est une occupation de plus en plus marquee par la bureaucratie, la confrontation et le stress. L'Association canadienne d'orthopedie doit jouer un role plus dynamique dans la formation de chirurgiens orthopediques autant a titre de specialistes que d'intervenants dans le milieu politique ou ils pratiquent.
Vivant dans un milieu de travail axe sur la connaissance, les chirurgiens orthopediques doivent appuyer le perfectionnement professionnel continu tout en faisant preuve de leadership et de persuasion pour preserver la competence dans leur profession.
Les <<baby boomers>> sont a nos portes. Leur nombre aura de profondes repercussions sur la pratique de la chirurgie orthopedique, non pas d'ici 20 ou 30 ans, mais dans les 10 prochaines annees. II est donc imperatif que les chirurgiens orthopediques evaluent et acceptent l'impact que les <<boomers>> auront sur les chirurgiens, les lits d'hopital et le pourcentage d'heures en salle d'operation.
Les chirurgiens orthopediques et l'Association canadienne d'orthopedie font maintenant face aux defis que pose leur nouveau role de fournisseurs d'information dans la nouvelle economie de l'ere de l'information, ou la connaissance et la communication representent les grandes richesses.
I am honoured to address you as president of the Canadian Orthopaedic Association (COA). It is a source of personal satisfaction and pride that I am a second-generation Petrie to enjoy the honor of this office. I share this distinction with 2 friends and colleagues, John Huckle, elected president in 1986, whose father, R Graham Huckle, held the office in 1951 and W.R "Bob" Harris, president in 1976, whose father, R.I. Harris, held the office in 1949.
My father, J. Gordon Petrie, was president of the Association in 1959. Addressing the membership of the Association at that time, he had a sense that he and his colleagues had reached a major milestone in the practice of medicine and in the delivery of health care in Canada. He underlined the significance of this milestone to medical practice by the title he gave his speech, the quote from Tennyson, "The old order changeth, yielding place to new."
Deux progres remarquables sont survenus en medecine au cours de ma vie, avait-il dit a l'epoque: l'introduction de l'antibiotherapie et l'institution des soins hospitaliers gratuits dans la plupart des provinces.
En 1959, on fit comprendre a Gordon Petrie et a ses collegues qu'ils se trouvaient au seuil d'une sensationnelle nouvelle ere de soins <<gratuits>>. Ebahi par le cout propose des nouveaux services <<gratuits>>, il fut emerveille par la promesse que l'on construirait un plus grand nombre d'hopitaux <que seraient decharges de leur deficit annuel et de leurs soucis financiers>.
"During my life time," he said, "there have been 2 outstanding developments in medicine, the introduction of antibiotic therapy and the commencement of free hospital care in most provinces."
In 1959, Gordon Petrie and his colleagues were given to understand that they stood at the threshold of an unbelievable new age of "free" health care. He was astounded by the proposed cost of the new "free" service. He marvelled at the promise of more hospitals to be built and "that hospitals would be freed from annual deficits and financial worries." He asked, "Who knows what changes will take place in free hospital care." I think we know!
FREE HOSPITAL CARE
We now know that the "free" medicare system has evolved at a major cost whose burden now rests on the backs of patients and physicians who are caught in the system at the close of this century.
We know that practising medicine in Canada is becoming increasingly bureaucratic, confrontational and stressful. Doctors are angry, frustrated, fearful and confused about the future of medicine in Canada and their own future in medicine.
While Gordon Petrie and his colleagues were marvelling at the prospects of new hospitals and hospital boards free of deficits, we are traumatized by the flood of hospital closures and mergers, the closing of wards and operating rooms. In the background of these closures and cutbacks there is the larger trauma of the dissolution of hospital-specific boards and their replacement by mega boards with fewer and fewer physician members.
There is a tense and mistrustful relationship between government, ministry officials and our professional organizations. There is a totally unwarranted "scapegoating" of physicians by government, the general public and the media; the insinuation that physicians are performing unnecessary medical procedures and that we are, in no small way, responsible for the health care system's anemia.
There has been an explosion of complaints by patients to the courts as well as to provincial colleges of physicians and surgeons. There has been a sevenfold increase related to Canadian orthopedic surgeons over the last 5 years. We are increasingly forced to practise in a defensive mode. We are fearful of doing or saying something inappropriate, of bearing the strain of false allegation and accusation. More and more physicians are being sued in Canada and this dictates, to some degree, not only a defensive, but also an expensive style of medical practice. And if all this is not bad enough, overt expressions of anger and violence are increasing at an alarming rate in our emergency departments. Doctors are being assaulted and some have even been killed.
NEW STRESSES ON YOUNG PHYSICIANS
It is the additional stresses on our young physicians, residents and medical students that I find particularly dreadful. The new 2 year pre-licensure requirement means that medical students have to make a life decision by the end of their third year of medicine, choosing a specialty residency for an average of 5 years or family medicine for 2 years. We have all struggled through the lean financial years of post-secondary and postgraduate education. Many of you listening to me today are still paying for those years in several senses.
"Regionalization" forces new physicians, with no regard for their personal and family circumstances, into underserved areas. Physicians who have been in general practice or locums and want to pursue a specialty are forced to leave Canada to get further training and then forced to return in order to obtain a visa to study in the United States. And at the end of the day some are unable to get a visa at all.
Provinces are closing their borders to doctors trained elsewhere. In some communities, the perception of this outside threat to the medical establishment is so great that the very tradition of mentoring and nurturing young doctors as well as the intergenerational collegiality has been all but lost. The opportunities for foreign medical graduates coming into Canada are disappearing. They are seen as a threat to our own graduates. Bigotry and racism have surfaced, putting us in serious danger of losing our medical expertise, academic tutelage, collegiality and cultural richness that we have benefited from in the past and that we continue to need.
The recent death at my university of a young student faced with making his career decision was particularly disturbing to me. When I hear that there have been 2 resident suicides in a midwestern medical school and 2 others in Quebec, I think we must ask ourselves some deep and disturbing questions about the way we educate our students and the pressures we put on them.
Nonmedical spouses and partners of medical students and physicians have much to say about us, as well as about the way we educate our students. They are shocked at the gruelling nature of our residencies. They also find the way we treat each other, the way one branch of medicine disparages another, to be as unbelievable as it is indefensible.
It may be that we need to scold our students from time to time, that medical training requires toughness. Maybe we need to be as mean and competitive as the next person and profession. But couldn't we also more readily and easily teach our young physicians some of the very lessons many of us had to learn the hard way? Is there any possible justification for a medical school of hard knocks?
Our students need support from all of us, from deans, department heads, program directors and clinical supervisors. Medical schools, training programs and those responsible for continuing medical education should teach professionalism in a formal and structured way. When we consider the many forces pressuring us as professionals, as healers and as simple human beings, we should not be surprised that 15% of us are clinically depressed and a similar number suffer from substance abuse. Studies show that residents are prone to depression. Anywhere from one quarter to one third of residents suffer symptoms of clinical depression at some point in their training, many with suicidal ideation. The families and the marriages of many physicians are full of alarming symptoms these days. We only have to listen to our spouses, our partners, our kids, our parents and colleagues to get a sense of this. When doctors become ill or "get in trouble," many of their spouses and children feel excluded from their care. Ignoring spouse and children is indefensible and even dangerous if there is a need to communicate crucial information.
I have invited Dr. Michael F. Myers, a noted psychiatrist from Vancouver, to address a breakfast lecture at this annual meeting in St. John's next year under the title "Doctor's Marriages: a Look at the Problems and Their Solutions." This initiative will be a beginning to a more human and even nurturing role that I see within the mandate of the COA as well as this annual meeting.
Let's begin to take better care of our students, our colleagues, ourselves.
HIP HIP HOORAY
Andre Beaupre, Cecil Rorabeck, Barry Baker and I met at Andre's home in Quebec City on the long August weekend in 1990. At the end of a weekend of fair golf, superb hospitality and intense discussion, Andre led us to a point where we, the Executive Committee of the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation (COF), were prepared to take what could only be considered a very big risk. We put up the entire financial resources of the Foundation as collateral and seed money for Hip Hip Hooray.
It turned out that together we were the 3 plus 1 wise men. We correctly read the times and the mood of the surgeon members of the COF and the COA. We correctly read the mood of our patients and health care partners.
As one of the founding fathers of Hip Hip Hooray, I must point to its amazing success. In this its seventh year in 1998 it has raised over $1.5 million in 55 sites between St. John's and Victoria. It has attracted 10 000 walkers and another 15 000 patient donors. Hip Hip Hooray has raised close to $8 million in total and will reach a $2 million milestone in the centennial year of 2000. The impact of Hip Hip Hooray goes far beyond the money it has raised. Many of us have become successful and even addicted fund-raisers since 1992. We have put ourselves in new roles and have been very successful in them. Its success has fuelled the renewal of the COF and that was to be expected. Far more than this, however, Hip Hip Hooray has brought about the renewal of the COA itself. I believe that Hip Hip Hooray has led to many of us recovering our nerve and even pride and surely that is "cause for celebration." In the midst of one of the most chaotic eras in health care, Hip Hip Hooray has contributed to our visibility and has provided excellent public relations for orthopedics in our communities.
I have discussed Hip Hip Hooray at length because it is about risk and the entrepreneurial spirit. Andre Beaupre has subsequently carried his risk-taking, his vision as a leader to the role and administration of the COA. I salute him and the presidents who have followed him, Dr. Robert Martin and Dr. Jim Waddell. It is time to take new risks by expanding the resources and the role of the COA as well as the role of this annual meeting. It is time for the COA to take a far more proactive role in our development as professionals and in the political environment in which we practise.
In an excellent article in Prehospital and Disaster Medicine Marvin L. Birnbaum asks, "Why is medicine in trouble? Where are our leaders?"1 His point is that medicine, physicians to be specific, has abdicated leadership to "management," to the managers everywhere throughout the system. He wonders if this abdication is a result of our training that failed to include the skills so necessary to sustain the independence of our craft. "Perhaps," he says, "we have been too busy to think about such things. Perhaps, we have not concentrated on developing leadership skills and have not produced capable leaders."
We have excellent professional leadership within the surgeon members of the COA and we must continue to create an Association that fosters the development of leadership and encourages and supports vision. We are getting our professional feet wet by lobbying for the Canadian Joint Replacement Registry at Health Canada in Ottawa. My experience is that we can do this lobbying comfortably and effectively. There is no doubt in my mind that only in a more proactive leadership role will the COA command the respect and the support of Canadian orthopedic surgeons in every province.
"A physician today, armed with antibiotics, magnetic resonance imagers, and micro-surgical techniques, brings far more knowledge to his work than his pre-World War II predecessors, whose principal tools were boiling water and a kindly manner."1
We live in a knowledge-rich workplace. The entire knowledge base of professions changes within decades rather than generations, and the commitment to continuing learning must be recognized as an integral part of the social contract that underpins professional status.
In this connection I must quote from an address by Sir William Osler in 1897.
No class of men needs friction so much as physicians; no class gets less . . . ten years of successful work tend to make a man touchy, dogmatic, intolerant of correction, and abominably selfcentered. To this mental attitude the medical society is the best corrective, and a man misses a good part of his education who does not get knocked about a bit by his colleagues in discussions and criticisms.
If he was with us today, Osler wouldn't talk about us needing friction, but he would be leading the push for continuous professional development. He would be the first to defend the principle that certification is an ongoing demand and commitment and that the quality of care provided by specialists depends on the quality of continuing education.
We are active participants in the task force set up by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to explore the development of a program of maintenance of certification or fellowship. Dr. William Johnston, the first vice president of the COA, and Dr. David Pichora will continue to represent us in these meetings at the College. We will do everything in our collective power to support continuous professional development and to provide leadership and incentive to the maintenance of competence in our profession.
L'ACO releve avec bonne volonte le defi du perfectionnement professionel permanent. Personnellement, je suis fermement engage a poursuivre mes discussions avec le College royal et a le soutenir. Je ne puis mieux prouver cet engagement qu'en demandant au Dr William Johnston, premier vicepresident de I'ACO, et au Dr David Pichora, de nous representer et de faire tout en leur pouvoir et en notre pouvoir collectif pour faire de ce programme une realite immediate plutot qu'un objectif futur auquel nous nous interessons pour la forme.
The "baby boomers" are coming. I especially want us to "gird up our loins" for their passage into their senior years. They are not only a huge market but also a most strident lobby. Through the sheer weight of their numbers, of their demographics, they have got what they wanted at each phase of their passage and they will continue to get what they want in their senior years.
"Demographics is two thirds of everything."2 Let's look at the numbers. The baby boomers began turning 50 in 1997. There are some 10 million of them, one third of the present Canadian population. Seniors accounted for 10% of the population in 1981. This number rose to 12% in 1991. Seniors will constitute 23% of the population in 2031. These demographics will begin to have a profound affect on our practice not 20 or 30 years from now but within the next 10 years. The cost of health care soars when patients reach their 60s. The baby-boom generation is on the brink of entering that period of life when reliance on hospitals begins to rise. David Foot remarked that the boomers will place an unprecedented demand on hospitals at a time when provinces are closing hospitals.3 He also found it ironic that seniors traditionally move out of urban areas when they retire to smaller communities, the very communities whose hospitals are being closed.2
The numbers are really frightening. I don't think, as things now stand, that the resources will be there. I am referring to the surgeons, the hospital beds, the operating-room time, the prostheses and all the other resources whose absence has created unacceptable waiting lists at this present preboom period of supposed calm.
Federal politicians began some time ago to assess the impact of these demographics on the Canada Pension Plan. We must do the same immediately for health care.
We are very close to securing the necessary funding from Health Canada for the establishment and maintenance of a Canadian joint registry. Bob Bourne, Jim Waddell, Cecil Rorabeck and I have met with ministry staff and have provided information and briefings to the minister himself in this regard. I want to thank my 3 colleagues for their extensive efforts devoted to this venture. I also want to acknowledge the contribution of $125 000 start-up funds provided to the registry initiative by the COA. We will use the register for its original purposes, to improve patient care and to support research. I wish to see us take a further step, however, and to use the registry and its information in a new role for us as vendors of information.
Growing up around us is a new information-age economy, whose fundamental sources of wealth are knowledge and communication. "Knowledge," said Thomas A. Stewart "has become the primary ingredient of what we make, do, buy, and sell. As a result, managing it - finding and growing intellectual capital, storing it, selling it, sharing it - has become the most important economic task of individuals, businesses and nations."3 In this regard, orthopedic surgeons should be no different from successful businessmen. As professionals we own an extensive body of knowledge. The knowledge that defines us as a profession has been inherited from those who went before us and who taught us. A great deal has been created by our own practice and experience. We are not restricted to a role of passive custodians or stewards of this knowledge.
It's a challenge we should not easily dismiss or ignore. "Markets are pitiless," says Stewart. "They reward whatever creates value and ignore or punish whatever does not. It's nothing personal. The Invisible Hand is unseeing as well as unseen: It simply moves, and moves on, neither knowing nor caring whether it has delivered a pat on the back or a blow to the jaw."3
To survive and compete and prosper in this information age with its information highways we need to forge stronger partnerships with the COF, with the Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society, with the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine and others in the orthopedic network. We must look to new partnerships with the universities to whom we entrust our accumulated knowledge, intelligence and science.
SEARCHING FOR DAYLIGHT
It may be unorthodox, but I am going to conclude this speech by identifying its title, "Searching for daylight." I have talked about anxiety, stress and despair and the dark night of our medical practice. I really believe that we have come through the Dark Ages in our own generation as surgeons. I feel optimistic about our future as physicians, as healers and professionals. I am optimistic about the role and the future of our Association.
I began with the address to this meeting some 40 years ago by Gordon Petrie. Forty years from now I expect the daughter of a present surgeon member to address this meeting as president of the COA. The Association she addresses will be an effective and respected voice informing and lobbying the federal government as well as providing support in the lobbying of provincial ministries of health. It will support surgeons in their roles as healers and professionals through a wide range of continuous professional development programs placed within this annual meeting and during the months between these meetings.
Thank you for the honour you have bestowed on me. I have a vision of what this organization should be and can be. I share it with many of you, most of you probably. People who know me will know that I will be a hands-on president, that I will work aggressively for the goals and objectives that I have proposed to you today.
In his book Optimism - the Biology of Hope, Lionel Tiger argues that a healthy human being tends to err on the side of optimism in estimating his or her chances of success and that, paradoxically, renders the desired outcome more likely.4 The more commitment and spirit there is invested in an enterprise, the better its prospects for achievement. It's a matter of "nothing ventured, nothing gained." It is not as if inaction is a safe policy. As Henry David Thoreau puts it, "a man sits as many risks as he runs."
I want to assure you that I accept this office with a high degree of enthusiasm and energy but, most importantly, with the highest degree of optimism for our future.
[Reference]
References
[Reference]
1. Birnbaum ML. Where have all our leaders gone? Prehosp Disaster Med 1996;11(1):1.
[Reference]
2. Foot D. Boom, bust, and echo. Toronto: Macfarlane, Walters & Ross; 1996. 3. Stewart TA. Intellectual capital. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing; 1997.
[Reference]
4. Tigre L. Optimism -- the biology of hope. New York: Kodansha International; 1995.
[Author Affiliation]
From the Division of Orthopedics, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, NS
Presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Orthopaedic Association, Ottawa, Ont., June 23, 1998.
Accepted for publication Mar, 22 1999.
Correspondence to: Dr. David Petrie, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax Infirmary Hospital, Ste, 4855, 1796 Summer St., Halifax
BANKS
Harris Bank named Wallace Harris Jr., district executive, south district. He was with Irwin Union Bank in Indianapolis.
Charter One named Steve Tripp and Ed Currie mortgage loan officers. They were with Woodfield Planning Corp.
DIRECTORS
ChildServ named Deborah Fisher to its board of trustees. She is pastor at Grace United Methodist Church.
The Chicago Association of Realtors elected Michael Cello to its board of directors. He is vice president of UGL Equis.
FINANCIAL
GMAC Mortgage named Brad Walbrun loan officer. He was senior loan officer with Ace Mortgage.
Velocity Financial Group named Daniel J. Krajewski national sales manager.
LEGAL
Duane Morris named David Kaufman and Brian Kerwin partners.
Wildman Harrold named Angela M. Hubbell and Alan Kennard partners.
Ungaretti & Harris named Roger H. Stein, Richard C. Himelhoch and Peter M. Klobuchar partners and Stanton B. Miller, Susan Meyer and Bryan P. Sugar counsel.
Barnes & Thornburg named Greg L. Berenstein partner. He was with ReedSmith.
REAL ESTATE
RBC Wealth Management named Dan Tolbert senior vice president-financial consultant. He was with Bear Stearns.
Hitchcock Design Group promoted Erin Fiegel, Jon Bohlander and Bob Ijams to senior associate, and Andrea Briney and Becky Froeter-Mathis to associate.
Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates named Jonathan Bahr civil engineer.
OTHER
Harpo Productions named Eric Logan executive vice president. He was with XM Satellite Radio.
Land O'Frost promoted David V. Eekeren to president and Chuck Niementowski to chief operating officer.
The Jewish Vocational Service named Gail L. Gruen executive director.
Galleria Retail Technology Solutions named Mary V. Scheltema vice president of global marketing. She was with RedPrairie.
A. Epstein and Sons named Alex Weiner vice president, business development. He was with Centrum Properties.
Comcast promoted David Williams to vice president of sales and marketing for the greater Chicago region.
Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries named Joan Worthem director of development and external relations.
Center for Contextual Change named Ali Buckman and Tim O'Donohue therapists.
A Brazilian government laboratory said Monday it will begin producing child-sized doses of a drug commonly used to treat Chagas disease, which kills thousands of people each year across the Americas.
The Pharmaceutical Laboratory of Pernambuco said the doses which eliminate the need to cut up adult-sized tablets into as many as 12 pieces would be available at cost to patients across the American hemisphere by 2009.
Chagas is a disease caused by a blood parasite that infects more than 16 million people across the Americas, according to the World Health Organization. Estimates of the yearly death toll range from 13,000 to 50,000 _ all in the Western Hemisphere.
"About 5 percent of children infected die while receiving the treatment, which is very aggressive. The pediatric dose looks to reduce this death rate," said Flavio Gulherme Pontes, a spokesman for the Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative, or DNDi, which helped develop the new treatment.
Pontes said it was unclear exactly how many children die of Chagas each year.
The new dosages became possible after Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Roche transferred the rights and technology for benznidazole to the Brazilian government last year, making the Pernambuco lab the drug's sole manufacturer in world.
DNDi, an independent nonprofit dedicated to developing new and improved treatments for neglected diseases like malaria and leishmaniasis, helped engineer the transfer of technology and the idea for the pediatric dosage, Pontes said.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.--Even when he wins, he loses. As Bob Davieleft the field Saturday night, having failed in the art of properlytaking a knee and needlessly causing a chaotic finish, he was peltedby verbal abuse from swarms of Notre Dame fans. So vicious were theinsults, he looked up and stared at his seething critics.
If this was his famous final scene, it was fitting.
"You [stink], Davie!"
"Loser! Loser!"
"Go to [heck], you jerk!"
It is a place he knows well, lonely and cold. A half-hour later,Davie already looked the part of a past-tense coach, buried undertalk of his expected firing and possible replacements ranging fromJon Gruden (great idea) to Bob Stoops (good idea) to George O'Leary(who?). Never mind the 24-18 victory over lackluster Purdue. This isno time for a compassion crusade. Anybody who cares about Notre Damewill view it as too little, too late, and demand a coaching change assoon as Monday.
Winning one for the Lame Duck just doesn't carry the same charm aswinning one for the Gipper, much as some Fighting Irish playersrallied behind him and cursed out the media afterward. Face it. Newsorganizations are being told Davie is gone. High school recruits,many in Chicago, are being told Davie is gone. A banner behind theIrish bench--"NOW TAKING COACHING APPLICATIONS"--suggested Davie isgone. Maybe the only guy who doesn't think Davie should be gone isDavie.
"We're the same team and the same coaches as a year ago," he saidas another 5-6 season was recorded, his second losing record at aschool that has suffered only three others in 37 years. "If that'snot good enough, that's not good enough. I'm proud of this Notre Dameteam. You can be as sarcastic and cynical as you want to be, but I amproud. This is my favorite team."
Fighting to the end, Davie refuses to acknowledge the obvious:During his ragged tenure, Notre Dame has tumbled from a regal nicheinto a sluggish coma. What stuns me is his attitude. Not only isDavie flat-out daring his superiors to dump him, talking like a manwho has awakened the echoes and prompted weekly high-fives betweenTouchdown Jesus and the Leprechaun, he is challenging theuniversity's "integrity and honesty." To hear Davie, it is the NDadministration that should be questioned in any dismissal scenario.Rather incredibly, his statements position his bosses to be the badguys for giving him a five-year extension last year, then changingtheir mind.
Earth to Bob: It's their football program, their prerogative.
On reports of his impending departure, Davie said: "Keep in mindthis is Notre Dame. I came here eight years ago. And a year agoDecember, I decided to make a long-term commitment. I believe inNotre Dame and its integrity and honesty. It might happen somewhereelse, but not here."
Don't tell Davie he has flopped. Don't tell him he has fritteredaway a mother lode of tradition and glory and failed to achieve what50 other programs have this year: a bowl bid. He is forcing theadministration to pull the trigger, an untidy but necessary manueverto resuscitate the program. Everything Lou Holtz restored theprevious 11 years, Davie ripped apart in five. He can't developtalent. He can't run an offense. He can't motivate young men. Hecan't think on his feet. He can't manage a game clock. He can'tmuster confidence among exasperated alums and boosters. Simply put,the Domers appointed a coach who wasn't ready.
The biggest fallacy out there claims Notre Dame is doomed to afair-to-middling existence, that scholarship limits and unimpressedprep stars have eroded the usual built-in advantages. What bunk. Theprogram remains the biggest sleeping giant in American sports, easilyfixed by a high-credibility coach with the energy and brass to take adynamic plunge into the job. With the right approach, any kid couldbe sold on the prestige, the perks, an NBC-TV package unlike any inthe college game. "There are no gurus," Davie argued. "I don't knowif anybody is going to come in here and just have the fans jumping upand down each and every week. I don't know if that guy exists. If hedid exist, his name was Knute or one of those statues outside myoffice."
The man is in a dream world. Notre Dame believes, rightfully so,that it still can field excellent teams with quality students. Asavior is out there, if only athletic director Kevin White and Rev.Edward Malloy, the school president, can pinpoint him. Make nomistake: Malloy still desires a preeminent program. But he also wasamong those who approved the Davie hiring. Coupled with the GerryFaust Error, two of ND's last three hires have been busts. Thisappointment has to be spot-on, the most important in school history.
Gruden, the white-hot coach of the Oakland Raiders, would stir thepassions. He is the unquestioned people's choice, and by allindications, the interest is mutual. One of his Raiders assistants,native Chicagoan Bill Callahan, recently called former Irishassistant Joe Moore--yes, he of the messy age-discrimination suitagainst ND that muddied Davie--and grilled him about the job. "Hesaid Gruden would be very interested," Moore told the South BendTribune. "But there's the issue of timing."
Like San Francisco 49ers coach Steve Mariucci, another fine idea,Gruden will be busy with a playoff team for several weeks. Can NotreDame wait that long and risk hurting a recruiting class? Isn'tRaiders coach Al Davis the last guy to let Gruden out of a contractwith a year left? As time passes, will a college coach have to bepursued?
Oklahoma's Stoops is young and dynamic with a national title inhis holster. He can be bought out for $2 million, an easy check towrite when you're Notre Dame and the DeBartolo family--from Stoops'hometown of Youngstown, Ohio--is a major university influence.O'Leary is the coach at Georgia Tech, not the high-sizzle candidatewe have in mind.
Whoever's next will inherit goofiness. Oddly, Davie didn't havequarterback Carlyle Holiday take a knee in the final minute, choosingto have him do a dance of sorts and cause confused officials to puttime back on the clock. Next thing you knew, Purdue was lofting aHail Mary that, mercifully, landed in Irish arms. "At the end of agame, we have something called 'Milk the clock,' " Davie said."Instead of taking a knee, the quarterback milks the clock."
And risks a fumble.
Surely, his replacement will know better.
London's High Court on March 17 exempted a Catholic adoption charity from laws that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in the provision of public services.
The court said Leeds-based Catholic Care can refuse to consider gay couples as parents.
The charity had threatened to stop placing children if it had to abide by antidiscrimination laws.
Leading gay rights group Stonewall denounced the decision, which ordered the Charities Commission to reconsider Catholic Care's request for an exemption in light of the court ruling.
"It's unthinkable that anyone engaged in delivering any kind of public or publicly funded service should be given license to pick and choose service users on the basis of individual prejudice," said Stonewall spokesman Jonathan Finney. "It's clearly in the best interests of children in care to encourage as wide a pool of potential adopters as possible."
According to the court, Catholic Care argued that it is prevented from behaving legally by Roman Catholic teaching that "the Holy Family of Nazareth" is the only correct "model for family life."
"My parents were fist fighting, again. There was bloodeverywhere.
"I just wanted out. I went into the bathroom. My mom had thismedicine cabinet that was like stuffed with all kinds of pills. So Ipopped a lot of pills and I just went to sleep.
"It didn't work."
Lisa, now 15, was 9 when she first attempted suicide. Herparents went through a "nasty divorce" when she was 11, and Lisamoved from Florida to Maryland. At 12, Lisa tried to slash herwrists, but it hurt too much and she stopped. She started drinkingalcohol that year, and began using narcotics at 14.
Last year she was diagnosed with major depression and drugdependency. She began treatment, which failed. She started another,longer, program. It worked.
"Now I'm clean, I'm happy," said Lisa, who asked that her namebe changed. "I have good friends and a good support group. I'mdoing alright."
Lisa is now in counseling and regularly takes medication tohelp counter her depression. She is among as many as 2.5 percent ofall American children with depressive illness. The disease,characterized by symptoms such as prolonged sadness, unexplainedcrying spells, significant changes in appetite and sleep patterns,irritability, worry and social withdrawal, affects both sexes equallyuntil adolescence, when the incidence doubles for girls, according tothe National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md.
Although it's virtually impossible to determine the cause of thegender discrepancy in depressive illness, many mental health expertsbelieve the disease stems from multiple causes that often work inconcert.
Socialization differences are often cited as a chief cause ofdepression, particularly in girls. "It starts early. Many girls areencouraged to play with dolls and help take care of other kids in thefamily, and later, on the playground," said Dr. Nancy Molitor,assistant professor at Northwestern University and clinicalpsychologist at Evanston Hospital. "Girls are taught to be nice, toplacate, and to deal with conflict by stamping it out," she said.
Boys are socialized to be individuals, to speak up, raise theirhands more in class, Molitor said. "They `put themselves out there'as autonomous individuals," she said, whereas girls tend to applylessons learned early on, and retreat into the world of themselves,away from individual expression and questioning.
Girls become more concerned about fitting in and backing downin the face of conflict. "They learn to stifle their ambitions andtalents in hopes of conforming," Molitor said. Gradually, many girlsbegin to question their talent and worth. "It chips away at selfesteem," she said.
Biological and genetic factors may also contribute todepression, according to recent research. Studies have shown thatsome families appear predisposed to the illness, though it's notclear whether the effect is biological, environmental or both.
Hormones also seem to play a role in the illness. Estrogen andprogesterone levels drop in the last week of the menstrual cycle,noted Linda Holt, an obstetrician; gynecologist at Evanston Hospitaland assistant professor at Northwestern University Medical School.Although no research has yet pinpointed a precise link, mooddisorders, suicide attempts and psychotic breakdowns in females tendto peak in that same span, Holt said.
"Male hormones, (present in both sexes, but at lower levels infemales), tend to turn frustration into anger and `acting out'behavior, which tends to be a release for most individuals," Holtsaid.
Culture may also set up conditions for depression in youngAmerican girls, especially white girls, according to a recent studyby the American Association of University Women. The study found asignificant drop in self-esteem in girls ages 11 to 13. "You get nosuch drop in boys," said Judy Jordan, associate professor ofpsychology at Harvard University Medical School and a director oftraining at the Stone Center for women's research at WellesleyCollege, Wellesley, Mass.
Compared to white girls, self-esteem in black girls droppedless, Jordan said. "In the African-American subculture, there may bemore esteeming of the mother and more valuing of mother and mother'srole," she said. "Also, the mother may hold more power in thosefamilies than in the average white family," she said. Black girlsmight then infer, " `If mom can be an authentic, strong person, thenso can I,' " Jordan said.
Fortunately, societal influences and adolescent stress can bemitigated, particularly by a warm, nurturing relationship between agirl and her mother. In fact, a four-year study reported inNovember, 1994, by the National Institute of Mental Health found thatgirls were measurably buffered against depression if their mothersshowed them warmth, listened carefully and made a real effort to talkand socialize with them.
Mental health experts also highly recommend exercise to combatdepression. In general, people with depression tend to have lowbrain levels of serotonin, a substance that helps control mood."Activities that help raise serotonin levels will help counteractdepression," Holt said. "One of those activities is exercise. Ithink of it as being nature's Prozac," she said.
Physical activity also takes some aggressive impulses and turnsthem outward instead of inward, Holt said. Whether competitive ormore individually focused, "spports can put a healthy twist onaggression," she said.
A Group of Aberdeen rhythmic gymnasts cleaned up at a nationaltournament.
The girls, who are based at the Beacon centre in Bucksburn, pickedup 10 medals at the Scottish Championships which were held in WestLothian earlier this month.
Sisters Shannon and Carly Pickard both tasted glory in theirdisciplines.
Amy Barbour and Amy Stewart were also among the prize girls andboth are going for further success this weekend. The pair have jettedoff to Bulgaria to compete in an international competition. Theoverall winners were:
Under-10 Intermediate: Carly Pickard.
Under-12 Intermediate: Shannon Pickard.
Under-13 Intermediate: Rebecca Bee.
Under-12 Overall: Amy Stewart.
Intermediate winners: Skye Arnott (silver), Gemma Lightbourne(silver), Emma Murray (silver).
Overall winners: Amy Barbour (silver), Magalie Mackay (silver).
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In the tin-shack maze of a Kenyan slum, business can't be conducted indoors, and school classes are often held outdoors.
Now a Kenyan group is hoping 2-liter bottles filled with water, a hole in the roof and sunlight will brighten the indoors.
The soda bottle-as-lightbulb was first discovered in Brazil. Today thousands of people who can't afford electricity have converted to the water bottle lightpoint.
When the bottle is hung through a hole in the roof and filled with water and bleach, it refracts sunlight.
In Kenya, a youth group in the Korogocho slums is struggling to meet demands for the water bulb after installing the first 100 for free in April.
The slum's tin shack houses — which rent for $10 a month — typically do not have windows.
Earlier this month a 23-year-old African-American woman walkedinto the office of the Y-Me office in downtown Chicago. She wascrying. She was on her way to the hospital for a mastectomy andchemotherapy. She needed to pick up a breast form prosthesis and awig.
Minutes later, laughter flooded the hallways as this same woman'ssorrow diminished, remembers Martha Haley, 41, a breast cancersurvivor who heads the Y-Me prosthesis and wig department.
What Haley told her: ``You get hot flashes when you go throughchemotherapy. My doctor really didn't get into the severity of hotflashes.'' After her third chemo session, Haley's girlfriend wasdriving her home. They were at a stoplight when Haley felt a rushthroughout her body. ``It was like a furnace,'' she says. ``I whippedoff my wig and started fanning myself. The guy in the car next to ussaw this bald-headed woman panting and fanning with her wig. Thewoman couldn't believe she was laughing the day of her surgery.''
Haley is a special person. In a disease of red lights, she seesonly the green.
Haley, among other brave breast cancer survivors, is featured inthe documentary ``A
Celebration of Life: Rising Above Breast Cancer,'' which repeats
at 6 p.m. Sunday on WYCC-Channel 20.
Although white women are diagnosed with breast cancer more often,African-American women are dying at rates higher than any otherethnic group, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths for African-American women between 35 and 54. The hourlong ``Celebration ofLife'' documentary examines three reasons that lead to this outcome:fear, lack of access to health care, and racial and economic bias.The documentary is hosted by jazz singer Nancy Wilson.
Chicago's Haley is one of the most articulate voices in thedocumentary. She also has one of the most poignant stories. Hercancer returned last July after the documentary was completed.
A single mom, Haley was first diagnosed with cancer in 1996. Shelost her right breast and underwent six rounds of chemo. ``Last yearI had a mastectomy on the left breast,'' she says. ``I went throughchemotherapy a second time.'' Haley stops and smiles.
She says, ``And now my hair is growing back. A lot of women havethe fear of recurrence. I'm doing pretty good. When they see me stillgoing, they know life goes on. When you first see me, you see awoman. You don't see somebody who has lost both their breasts. That'sthe message I try to relay to people.''
Support is paramount among breast cancer survivors. More than 100survivors attended a ``Heroes and Friends'' reception recently atRichard J. Daley College. Representatives from Y-Me and Gilda's Clubwere in attendance.
``I was intrigued that all the women read the invite carefully andleft all the information they were supposed to leave,`` says JanetTreuhaft, who organized the event. ``Then I realized as breast cancersurvivors, these women had to pay attention to directions and followprocedures with their medical treatment.''
In the documentary, Haley talks about courage and drawing on thewill to see her daughter Alicia, now 17, get married. Haley also hastwo sons; Aaron, 21 and Andreaus, 19. They shaved their heads to showsolidarity during their mother's chemotherapy sessions. But Haley'smost daunting
task was to tell
Alicia the cancer returned.
``That was . . . that was . . .,'' Haley bows her head for thefirst time in an hourlong conversation. ``hard. I never thought itwould happen to me again. When I went through it the first time, itwas so hard for her. She was 12. When kids are older, they comparecancer with dying. They don't see living.
``Over four years they saw Mom's triumphs. She's very attatched tome. I feel so bad this happened to me because it put her in this riskfactor. If I had breast cancer after menopause, her history wouldn'tbe that strong. But when you're pre-menopause, it's strong.''
Haley's steadfast roots go back to her upbringing in the housingprojects. A Chicago native, Haley lived with her 11 siblings inCabrini-Green from the time she was 3 until she was 12.
``My mother was very strong. There was always food on the table.Every Friday we had church in the house. No matter what went onoutside, she wouldn't allow us to be involved. When we had prayer, mymother would always pick me to stand up and sing the Caravans' `WeAre Soldiers in the Army of the Lord.' I hated singing. I was theninth child. I had to stand up. When
I was first diagnosed, I realized my mother prepared me with
that song.''
``A Celebration of Life'' spans the country and interviews womenwho stood up to the challenge of breast cancer and took command oftheir health needs. The documentary spotlights Desi's Beauty Salon,2130 W. 95th St., where nurses circulate breast cancer literaturewhile their captive audience receives a Saturday morning wash 'n'set.
The awareness program was established three years ago in 103 Southand West Side beauty salons by the National Black LeadershipInitiative on Cancer, headquartered at the University of Illinois atChicago. ``The message was to take care of yourself and get checkedregularly,'' says Funmi Apantaku Onayemim, NBLCI regional director.``We saw in excess of 2,500 women. We figured we'd save some livesand we did. Beauty salon owners called back and said some of theirclients found lumps after going through our project.''
The women featured in the documentary share their experiences andemphasize awareness. ``To me, lack of knowledge is the biggest reasonblack women have the highest death rate (of breast cancer),'' Haleysays. ``Economics are part of it too, but they're opening doors forwomen who don't have insurance to get mammograms and even surgery. Alot of women don't believe this can happen to us.
``Myself, I thought breast cancer was something that happened to amiddle-aged white woman. Not a young black woman. I'd see pictures ofwhite women on (breast cancer) posters in doctor's offices. Thatwasn't me.''
Haley is in regular contact with other women in the fight againstbreast cancer. She waves her right wrist in the air. It is adornedwith a bracelet made of hundreds of tiny green, yellow, white andblack beads. The bracelet is a gift from a breast cancer survivor inNigeria. Through Haley, Y-Me donated a prosthesis to the survivor'ssister. The Nigerian woman was so happy when she received it in themail, she sent Haley the bracelet as a token of gratitude.
Another woman recently told Haley she was reluctant to undergochemotherapy, just as Haley was during her first round with breastcancer.
Haley says, ``The woman said, `Look at you, you did it (chemo) andit (cancer) came back. I said, `I did it. And I'm doing it again. IfI didn't do it the first time, I might not be here to see it happenthe second time.' You have to. You have to keep on going.''
The Chicago Department of Public Health offers free mammograms atthe following National Health Centers: West Town, 2418 W. Division;Englewood, 641 W. 63rd St., Roseland, 200 E. 115th St.; Uptown, 845N. Wilson and Lower West, 1713 S. Ashland. For information and clinichours, call (312) 747-9889.
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia's president has asked the leader of a center-left coalition that won the country's election to form the new government.
The coalition headed by Zoran Milanovic won 80 seats in the country's 151-seat parliament in the Dec. 4 vote, defeating the conservatives who had ruled virtually unchallenged for years.
The new parliament, which will meet for the first time next week, will need to approve Milanovic's Cabinet.
Milanovic said Wednesday "we must pull Croatia out of crisis and restore people's trust in the system."
The conservatives lost the election over declining living standards and high unemployment in the country that is set to join the EU in 2013.
The U.S. Army issued the following news release:
A local Girl Scout troop sent a little bit of home to Soldiers overseas.
On Nov. 5, Mike Corey mailed 10 cases of Girl Scout cookies to Soldiers stationed in Iraq. Corey is a lead information technology specialist in Information Management Directorate's Systems and Application Design Division.
The 14 girls of Troop 658 met once a week, after school, spending six hours writing messages on boxes of cookies that were purchased and donated by local businesses. Each case of cookies contains 12 boxes, totaling 120 boxes. Their greetings included messages such as "Best Wishes," "Thank You," "God Bless You and Keep You Safe" and "You're the Best."
To show their gratitude, the Soldiers sent the girls pictures of themselves holding the boxes of cookies. "They were so excited to see that the Soldiers received the cookies," says Corey. They also sent a flag that was flown on a vehicle during the war. The flag was presented by Nathan Thomas to the girls of Troop 658 on Dec. 26 in the lobby of Building 11. Thomas is an intern with the Command Group.
The girls and Corey mailed another shipment on Dec. 17. "This time they sent ten boxes filled with Christmas ornaments, cookies, candy, toys, toothpaste, mouthwash, foot powder and lotion, anything to remind them of home" says Beth Botke, leader of Troop 658. "The girls also made over 80 holiday cards to be distributed to the Soldiers." It took the girls four hours to prepare the packages and they shipped three more cases of cookies that day.
Botke and Corey both agree that it was important for the girls to participate in this opportunity. As a youth, Corey participated in similar opportunities during the Vietnam War. "When I saw what the girls were doing, I jumped at the chance to help," he said. Botke also has strong bonds with people in the service.
"The girls sort of adopted the Soldiers," says Corey. The recipients of the packages include Soldiers and deployed depot personnel. John Brooks was on the receiving end in Iraq when the first shipment arrived there. Brooks is the Southwest Asia Forward Repair Activity manager, Forward Operating Base Anaconda, Balad, Iraq. He thanked Troop 658 through an e-mail that was forwarded many times until it reached Corey. In the e-mail Brooks thanked the girls, expressing how proud and honored the troops were to receive the encouraging packages. This inspired the girls to continue the project.
"The girls don't plan on stopping," says Botke. "They want to send more after this next shipment."
GIRL SCOUTS SHIP COOKIES TO SWAThe U.S. Army issued the following news release:
A local Girl Scout troop sent a little bit of home to Soldiers overseas.
On Nov. 5, Mike Corey mailed 10 cases of Girl Scout cookies to Soldiers stationed in Iraq. Corey is a lead information technology specialist in Information Management Directorate's Systems and Application Design Division.
The 14 girls of Troop 658 met once a week, after school, spending six hours writing messages on boxes of cookies that were purchased and donated by local businesses. Each case of cookies contains 12 boxes, totaling 120 boxes. Their greetings included messages such as "Best Wishes," "Thank You," "God Bless You and Keep You Safe" and "You're the Best."
To show their gratitude, the Soldiers sent the girls pictures of themselves holding the boxes of cookies. "They were so excited to see that the Soldiers received the cookies," says Corey. They also sent a flag that was flown on a vehicle during the war. The flag was presented by Nathan Thomas to the girls of Troop 658 on Dec. 26 in the lobby of Building 11. Thomas is an intern with the Command Group.
The girls and Corey mailed another shipment on Dec. 17. "This time they sent ten boxes filled with Christmas ornaments, cookies, candy, toys, toothpaste, mouthwash, foot powder and lotion, anything to remind them of home" says Beth Botke, leader of Troop 658. "The girls also made over 80 holiday cards to be distributed to the Soldiers." It took the girls four hours to prepare the packages and they shipped three more cases of cookies that day.
Botke and Corey both agree that it was important for the girls to participate in this opportunity. As a youth, Corey participated in similar opportunities during the Vietnam War. "When I saw what the girls were doing, I jumped at the chance to help," he said. Botke also has strong bonds with people in the service.
"The girls sort of adopted the Soldiers," says Corey. The recipients of the packages include Soldiers and deployed depot personnel. John Brooks was on the receiving end in Iraq when the first shipment arrived there. Brooks is the Southwest Asia Forward Repair Activity manager, Forward Operating Base Anaconda, Balad, Iraq. He thanked Troop 658 through an e-mail that was forwarded many times until it reached Corey. In the e-mail Brooks thanked the girls, expressing how proud and honored the troops were to receive the encouraging packages. This inspired the girls to continue the project.
"The girls don't plan on stopping," says Botke. "They want to send more after this next shipment."
GIRL SCOUTS SHIP COOKIES TO SWAThe U.S. Army issued the following news release:
A local Girl Scout troop sent a little bit of home to Soldiers overseas.
On Nov. 5, Mike Corey mailed 10 cases of Girl Scout cookies to Soldiers stationed in Iraq. Corey is a lead information technology specialist in Information Management Directorate's Systems and Application Design Division.
The 14 girls of Troop 658 met once a week, after school, spending six hours writing messages on boxes of cookies that were purchased and donated by local businesses. Each case of cookies contains 12 boxes, totaling 120 boxes. Their greetings included messages such as "Best Wishes," "Thank You," "God Bless You and Keep You Safe" and "You're the Best."
To show their gratitude, the Soldiers sent the girls pictures of themselves holding the boxes of cookies. "They were so excited to see that the Soldiers received the cookies," says Corey. They also sent a flag that was flown on a vehicle during the war. The flag was presented by Nathan Thomas to the girls of Troop 658 on Dec. 26 in the lobby of Building 11. Thomas is an intern with the Command Group.
The girls and Corey mailed another shipment on Dec. 17. "This time they sent ten boxes filled with Christmas ornaments, cookies, candy, toys, toothpaste, mouthwash, foot powder and lotion, anything to remind them of home" says Beth Botke, leader of Troop 658. "The girls also made over 80 holiday cards to be distributed to the Soldiers." It took the girls four hours to prepare the packages and they shipped three more cases of cookies that day.
Botke and Corey both agree that it was important for the girls to participate in this opportunity. As a youth, Corey participated in similar opportunities during the Vietnam War. "When I saw what the girls were doing, I jumped at the chance to help," he said. Botke also has strong bonds with people in the service.
"The girls sort of adopted the Soldiers," says Corey. The recipients of the packages include Soldiers and deployed depot personnel. John Brooks was on the receiving end in Iraq when the first shipment arrived there. Brooks is the Southwest Asia Forward Repair Activity manager, Forward Operating Base Anaconda, Balad, Iraq. He thanked Troop 658 through an e-mail that was forwarded many times until it reached Corey. In the e-mail Brooks thanked the girls, expressing how proud and honored the troops were to receive the encouraging packages. This inspired the girls to continue the project.
"The girls don't plan on stopping," says Botke. "They want to send more after this next shipment."
GIRL SCOUTS SHIP COOKIES TO SWAThe U.S. Army issued the following news release:
A local Girl Scout troop sent a little bit of home to Soldiers overseas.
On Nov. 5, Mike Corey mailed 10 cases of Girl Scout cookies to Soldiers stationed in Iraq. Corey is a lead information technology specialist in Information Management Directorate's Systems and Application Design Division.
The 14 girls of Troop 658 met once a week, after school, spending six hours writing messages on boxes of cookies that were purchased and donated by local businesses. Each case of cookies contains 12 boxes, totaling 120 boxes. Their greetings included messages such as "Best Wishes," "Thank You," "God Bless You and Keep You Safe" and "You're the Best."
To show their gratitude, the Soldiers sent the girls pictures of themselves holding the boxes of cookies. "They were so excited to see that the Soldiers received the cookies," says Corey. They also sent a flag that was flown on a vehicle during the war. The flag was presented by Nathan Thomas to the girls of Troop 658 on Dec. 26 in the lobby of Building 11. Thomas is an intern with the Command Group.
The girls and Corey mailed another shipment on Dec. 17. "This time they sent ten boxes filled with Christmas ornaments, cookies, candy, toys, toothpaste, mouthwash, foot powder and lotion, anything to remind them of home" says Beth Botke, leader of Troop 658. "The girls also made over 80 holiday cards to be distributed to the Soldiers." It took the girls four hours to prepare the packages and they shipped three more cases of cookies that day.
Botke and Corey both agree that it was important for the girls to participate in this opportunity. As a youth, Corey participated in similar opportunities during the Vietnam War. "When I saw what the girls were doing, I jumped at the chance to help," he said. Botke also has strong bonds with people in the service.
"The girls sort of adopted the Soldiers," says Corey. The recipients of the packages include Soldiers and deployed depot personnel. John Brooks was on the receiving end in Iraq when the first shipment arrived there. Brooks is the Southwest Asia Forward Repair Activity manager, Forward Operating Base Anaconda, Balad, Iraq. He thanked Troop 658 through an e-mail that was forwarded many times until it reached Corey. In the e-mail Brooks thanked the girls, expressing how proud and honored the troops were to receive the encouraging packages. This inspired the girls to continue the project.
"The girls don't plan on stopping," says Botke. "They want to send more after this next shipment."
The scale of the recession in the 16 nations that use the euro appears to have eased in April, a closely-watched survey found Thursday, stoking hopes that growth may start to pick up by the end of the year.
The preliminary purchasing managers index _ an indicator of economic health _ for the euro zone's manufacturing sector rose to a six-month high of 36.7 in April from 33.9 in March. The equivalent index for the services sector jumped to 43.1 from 40.9.
The composite index, which combines the two, also rose to a six-month high of 40.5 in April from 38.3 in March.
Though the indicators suggest the euro zone remains mired in recession, they do …
SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea on Saturday sent a letter to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, inviting inspectors to the country to discuss procedures for shutting down its main nuclear reactor, state media reported.
The letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency noted "that a working-level delegation of the IAEA has been invited to visit (North Korea) as it is confirmed that the process of de-freezing the funds of (North Korea) at the Banco Delta Asia in Macau has reached its final phase," the North's Korean Central News Agency reported.
North Korea had refused to act on its February pledge to disarm until it got access to $25 million once frozen in a U.S.-blacklisted …
The Faculty Advisor's Award, sponsored by McGraw-Hill Ryerson, is presented on an annual basis to one faculty advisor from the Canadian Society for Chemical Technology who has demonstrated exceptional performance working with students to plan and implement Student Chapter activities.
This year's recipient is Aminmohamed Hirji, MCIC. Hirji has shown outstanding leadership for CSCT student membership at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) ever since his appointment by SAIT's energy department about three years ago. Prior to his appointment, no student membership existed at this institute despite the facts that there was high chemical technology student …
DSM has appointed Jan Paul de Vries business group director/DSM Elastomers, effective January 1, 2008. He is currently chief marketing officer and corporate v.p./communications. De Vries succeeds Bob Hartmayer, who has been named …
Byline: Richard Wexler Staff writer
When the state starts spending millions on public works, Mayor Thomas M. Whalen III says he wants to be sure Albany has "a piece of the action."
To which a spokesman for the state Department of Economic Development replied: "He does."
In a speech to the Albany Rotary Club at the Polish Community Center Thursday, Whalen said he was concerned that Albany seemed to be omitted from areas which would be aided under the "New, New York" public works program.
As Gov. Mario M. Cuomo discussed the program in his State of the State speech Wednesday, Whalen said he looked it up in the more detailed printed message …
India is expected to get its first female Roman Catholic saint on Sunday at a time when Christians have increasingly come under attack in the predominantly Hindu country.
Christian leaders hailed the move to canonize Sister Alphonsa, a nun from southern India, saying it would provide solace to Christians who have been victims of violent attacks by Hindu mobs in eastern and southern India in recent months.
"We can draw certain spiritual consolation from her canonization. This means we have one more saint in heaven who is from India and whom we can approach to intercede," said Dominic Emmanuel, a spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of …
