|
Sections of this
page: Make plans to attend
Auxiliary’s bazaar KUMC Auxiliary Bazaar is famous for many things, but its apple pies take top honors. Auxiliary members have been hard at work making and freezing away the mouth-watering pies, which seem to disappear soon after the bazaar begins. So the Auxiliary is issuing a timely warning: get to the bazaar early to load up on delicious pies, muffins, cookies, nut breads, cakes and other treats. There also will be tasty delectibles, such as nuts and snack items from the “Mountain Lady” as well as a new hot, hot salsa concocted by the hospital’s own volunteer director, Susan Mong. Come try it out, if you dare. The bazaar is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22 in the Hospital Main Lobby. And don’t forget the annual Auxiliary luncheon, held during the bazaar on Wednesday, Oct. 22. The Auxiliary will have two seatings: at 11 a.m. and again at noon. Tickets are $5 and can be bought at either the gift shop or at the door.
This year’s menu has an Italian theme and comprises Chicken Milanese with fettucini, green salad, focaccia bread, and Italian creme cake.
Special this year is the Jayhawk apron
KUMC tops its goal for United Way campaign With some pledge cards still expected to be returned, KUMC has exceeded its United Way goal for contributions. The medical center had hoped to raise $140,000 campuswide. By mid-week, last week, donations had exceeded $145,000. Though final figures have not yet been reported, it is expected the medical center also will top its stated goal of 25 percent employee participation. “I’m delighted,” said Executive Vice Chancellor Don Hagen, MD. “This confirms what many here have long known, that KU Medical Center employees are a very caring group.” The campaign began Sept. 15 with a kick-off concert by jazz legend Milt Abel and his capable trio, which also included drummer Jurgen Velga and organist Paul Smith, as befit this year's theme: “Get Jazzed About Giving.” Something, apparently, a large number of KUMC employees took to heart. At the launch, Hagen noted that KUMC “is sitting in a neighborhood that has special needs, a neighborhood that's looking to us for our help.” The United Way’s goal for the greater Kansas City area is $34.5 million for the campaign, which officially winds up the middle of next month. Smoking-Cessation Classes Violence in the Work Place Intercultural Fall Film Series International Lecture Kirmayer’s “Finding
Fitness” Multimedia Education Group Chiefs Tailgate Party Open Enrollment Kirmayer Early Bird Classes Refractive Surgery Seminar History & Philosophy of Medicine
Lecture Bookstore Drawing Credit Union Lucky Numbers To all our Jewish friends, let me say, L’shanah tova! I hope you had a healthy and sweet new year as you celebrated and reflected during Rosh Hashanah. We all can join our Jewish friends by reflecting on progress this year and ways we can make the year better. Truly, we’ve done great things, but we can’t rest on a laurels; we have much more to do. If we’re going to be successful, we need everyone pulling in the same direction to make all of KU great. We’ll have to carefully plan our strategies to make KU truly a national force and a regional powerhouse. Chancellor Hemenway’s Initiative 2001 will help us identify and build on our strengths. Working as a unified, multi-campus university serving Kansans and the world by building premier learning communities is a challenge worthy of our expertise. We can do this! But we can only do it together. Our efforts to Rebuild the Rainbow nicely support this planning initiative. Two weeks ago, I took the 71 suggestions you sent me to our Community Partnership Planning Committee. You identified additional parking, landscaping projects, campus enhancements, community awareness, improvement and image ideas, public safety, transportation and housing opportunities. I like the way you think. Some of your suggestions were passed on to our staff for immediate attention. Others will require more thought and work. Christmas in October is coming, and it we will have a huge number of people working on this great project again. This really means a lot to the people in our community. I look forward to being with you then. For those of you on our Wichita campus, please send your suggestions for community partnerships to Dr. Meek and Initiative 2001 by replying to Dr. Hemenway’s e-mail message. KU needs everyone’s ideas. October is really a busy month, we have commitments every day, this is a great place to be in the Fall. Media Log Sept. 15 Sept. 16 Sarah Chadwick, University Daily Kansan reporter, interviewed Jane Murray, MD, chair of family medicine, for a story about the three-year, $790,000 family medicine department development grant. A photographer from the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle photographed John Goodwin, MD, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics. The photograph will run with an article on making preparations for the coming cold and flu season. Sept. 18 Sept. 19 Sept. 22 Sept. 23 Gene Smith, Topeka Capital-Journal, called to find out if anyone at KUMC was researching or intending to research Thalidomide. The story is in connection with anticipated FDA approval of the drug for use in some patients. No research with Thalidomide is underway at KUMC, but the reporter was given information about cancer trials with Thalidomide at Georgetown University and the National Institutes of Health. Sept. 24 Sept. 25 Matt Gowen, Lawrence Journal-World reporter, called to confirm some information on the university-wide enrollment figures. A breakdown of the figures was obtained from Institutional Research and Planning and faxed to the reporter. Meryl Lin McKean, WDAF TV-4, called to see if KUMC was doing vargas nerve implant procedures as a treatment for epilepsy. Ivan Osorio, MD, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, said we are doing the procedures and a future interview will be set up with a patient who will undergo the procedure. Sept. 26 Fawn Germer, a reporter with the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, posted a query on the ProfNet service seeking persons who could discuss teen pregnancy from a public health perspective. Jane Murray, MD, chair of Family Medicine, agreed to share the request with others who are involved with the $790,000 Community Partnership for Service Education and Research, awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through Title VI.
KUMC receives EPA
health-study grant KU Medical Center has been awarded $650,000 by the U.S. Environmental Protec-tion Agency (EPA) to study possible health effects of four commercial hazardous waste incinerators operating in and around the southeast Kansas communities of Chanute, Coffeyville, Fredonia, and Independence. The two and one-half year study is a collaborative effort among researchers from the medical center’s Center for Environmental and Occupational Health and Department of Preventive Medicine, and the University of Kansas (KU) Department of Civil & En-vironmental Engineering. Under the leadership of Dr. H. William Barkman, the study's principal investigator and director of the Center for Environmental and Occupational Health, investigators will conduct ambient air sampling in the study communities, evaluate the respiratory health of community residents, and investigate cancer incidence and mortality rates in the study communities and counties. These activities also will be carried out in a town located upwind from the study area that will serve as the study’s control community. The study, which started Sept. 1, responds to health concerns expressed by community residents during hazardous waste permitting activities the EPA conducted in 1995 and 1996. With four commercial hazardous waste combustors, three cement kilns and an incinerator located within a 25-mile radius, the area has the highest concentration of commercial hazardous waste burners in the country, according to EPA reports. The hazardous waste burners in the area are operated by Ash Grove Cement Company at Chanute, Ap-tus/Laidlaw at Coffeyville, Lafarge Corpora-tion at Fredonia, and Heartland Cement Company at Independence.
During the study’s first year, researchers will concentrate on performing preliminary reviews of existing environmental and health data, and holding public information meetings to encourage community participation in the study’s final design. Community involvement will be essential to the study’s success. Drs. Dennis Lane and Glen Marotz of KU’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engi-neering will lead the study's environmental sampling and analysis team. Their first task will be to review existing air sampling data and identify the locations, number, and types of air samples to be collected and analyzed during the study's second year. Dr. Barkman will direct the study’s respiratory health component. During the first year of the study, a review of existing hospital data on emergency room visits for acute respiratory illness will be conducted and a preliminary respiratory health survey of randomly selected residents in the study and control communities will be carried out. This preliminary survey will be used to help select a sample group of approximately 50 volunteers from each study community and the control community to participate in a respiratory health evaluation that will include a brief physical, medical history, and pulmonary function testing. The volunteers will undergo the respiratory health evaluation once at the end of the study's first year and again at the end of the second year. Dr. John Neuberger of the Department of Preventive Medicine will lead the cancer study, which builds upon an earlier epidemiological study of pediatric cancers in the area performed by Dr. Stephen Pickard of the Kansas Department of Health and Environ-ment. The cancer incidence and mortality rates of the study and control counties will be examined in relation to environmental data on residents’ exposure to toxic agents. Internal KUMC investigation uncovers alleged embezzlement Following an internal University of Kansas Medical Center audit and criminal investigation, KUMC Police on Thursday, Sept. 11, turned over to the Wyandotte County District Attorney evidence of a pattern of alleged embezzlement from KU Hospital’s Outpa-tient Pharmacy. The district attorney subsequently issued arrest warrants for two former pharmacy em-ployees who worked as clerks in the department. According to University Police Director Rick Johnson said the internal investigation began July 2, when a pharmacy administrator reported an apparent discrepancy be-tween pharmacy receipts and deposits. Johnson assigned a University Police de-tective and internal auditor to investigate. Their efforts revealed an apparent pattern of financial misappropriation. Believed missing is less than $50,000. Arraigned Oct. 7 in Wyandotte County Dis-trict Court on one count each of felony theft were Berta D. Nicholson, Kansas City, Kan., and Pamela G. McMickle, Kansas City.
Rebuilding the Rainbow An ongoing collaborative effort between the city of Kansas City, Kan., the Rosedale Development Association, KUMC and the KU School of Architecture’s Urban Design Studio has taken a long stride forward. The group, known officially as the Community Partnership Planning Committee, at its most recent meeting began studying dollar figures to move the effort from discussion to deed. Fund-raising is due to begin shortly. The group has identified a tentative schedule that covers a 21-month period through spring 1999, during which members plan to accomplish a series of interlocking goals. They are Organization and Fund-raising; Project Initiation; Project Packaging; Urban Design Framework; and Community-based Architecture. Though subject to change, the initiative has been assigned an initial budget of just less than $72,000, a figure that does not include the anticipated donation of hundreds of thousands of dollars in time, energy and overhead. The partners are looking at a broad range of initiatives designed to enhance the quality of life in the Rosedale community, from housing needs to continuing education, from citizen involvement to enhanced safety. KUMC's participation stems from a desire not only to heal area residents, but the overall community as well. The medical center was represented at the partnership’s latest meeting, Oct. 1, by Executive Vice Chancellor Don Hagen, MD, and Vice Chancellor for Administration Roger Lambson, PhD; Dean John Gaunt and Assistant Dean Michael Swann were among those representing the School of Architecture. A number of healthcare-related services and departments enjoy weeks throughout the year devoted to recognizing their valuable contributions. Space demands in Topics do not allow us to list descriptions of these departments, accounts of activities and informational booths associated with such special weeks. We are happy, however, to list the name of the departments or services and the week they are being honored and provide either a phone number for more information or a web address. On the current schedule
For Sale For Sale: Car battery, side-post, $10. 831-1877. For Sale: Metal office desk, 25-inch by 60-inch, two left-side drawers, one middle drawer, light gray sides with wood-grain top, very nice, $75. (913) 962-0986 after 6 p.m. For Sale: Paula Varsalona bridesmaid dresses; ivory-colored, full-length, sizes 10 and 12, $100 each; Bill Levkoff bridesmaid dresses; navy blue, tea length, two dresses size 8, $75 each; all dresses have been dry-cleaned and are in excellent condition. 248-8850. For Sale: Two Chiefs tickets vs. Oakland Raiders, noon Dec. 7, Section 322. 422-1831. For Sale: New, still in box, warranty Garmin GPS-45XL, global positioning unit, location, direction, speed. 20 routes, 250 waypoints, 768-point autotrack, trackback, moving map, serial port, paid $290, sell $240. 592-3352 after 6 p.m. For Sale: Solid Maple dining table with six matching chairs, includes two leaves and table pad, very good condition, asking $350. 551-5413. For Sale: Sealy twin mattress and foundation, $70. 432-7155. For Sale: 25-inch color TV. 888-7864. For Sale: Solid maple full-size four-poster bed, mattress, box springs, canopy, matching maple dresser with mirror, good condition, $250. 333-7744 evenings. Automotive For Sale: 1986 Chevy Nova, four-door, automatic, AC, 80,000 miles, runs good, $1,500 or best offer. 931-4551. For Sale: 1984 Pontiac Fiero, red, four-cylinder, four-speed, AM/FM stereo, AC, sunroof, new timing chain, great shape. (913) 367-4340. For Sale: 1992 Mazda MX3, V6, red, AC, fully loaded, excellent condition, 69,000 miles, cruise control, $10,450. 444-9366. Free Wanted Wanted: Franklin planner. 537-5755. Announcements Study Subjects Wanted: Persons with rheumatoid arthritis between the ages of 40 and 70 are needed. Study does not involve any changes in medications. Some subjects will participate in exercises in a class or at home, all will participate in four assessments and will receive a stipend for each. Contact Peggy at ext. 1648. Study Subjects Wanted: Study participants needed for female hormone replacement therapy trial. If you are post-menopausal and between ages 40 and 55, call Joana Johnson at ext. 6254. Leave name, date and phone number. Study Subjects Wanted: Study participants for hormone-replacement therapy trial. If you're between ages 45 and 55, call Joanna Johnson at ext. 6254. Study Subjects Wanted: Persons wanted between ages 20 and 34 to participate in study of memory, problem-solving and related activities. Participants must have completed at least one year of college, university or trade school, speak English as a first language, be in good health and have not previously participated in this study. Subjects will participate in a single 90-minute session and will be paid a $10 stipend and travel and parking, if applicable. Call Sean McKenna, ext. 5698. Study Subjects Wanted: The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at KUMC is conducting a research study on an investigational medication for Pre-menstrual Syndrome. Females who suffer from such premenstrual symptoms as mood swings, irritability, or other discomfort, who are at least 24 years of age, who are medically stable and who have not taken birth control pills (or used Norplant) in the past six months may be eligible. Records are kept confidential. For more information, call Teresa at ext. 6499 or Jodi at ext. 1314. Topics is the employee publication of the University of Kansas Medical Center. It is published weekly by the office of University Relations. The deadline for submitting news briefs for consideration is noon on the Wednesday before they are to appear. For longer articles or features, contact the editor in advance. Send story ideas to the editor, Tom Bassing, B711 KU Hospital, e-mail: tbassing@kumc.edu or call ext. 7284 Ad policy: Send or bring your ad to Topics, University Relations, B711 KU Hospital, or fax to ext. 5244, or e-mail to tbassing by noon Wednesday of the week before it is to run. Ads run free of charge for employees, students and volunteers. For-sale ads are limited to three items. All ads must include the advertiser’s name and work extension (or medical student box number) for verification. Only home phone numbers - no pager numbers or KUMC extensions - will be published. No ads for commercial services or pets for sale will be accepted. Ads will not be taken by telephone. Only one phone number per ad. Ads may be a held a week if space is limited. Prepared by Printing Service Imaging |
Donald Hagen,
EVC
