среда, 12 сентября 2012 г.

Retirement pinch for nuns, monks // Orders lacking young members to support old - Chicago Sun-Times

NAZARETH, Mich. For 53 years, Sister Alice Trese labored in theLord's vineyard as a college registrar and social worker for theSisters of St. Joseph.

Now 89, Sister Alice spends her days in the order's retirementhome, a wing on the convent she entered as a young woman in 1929.

'I can't get used to the idea I can't do what I used to do,'said Sister Alice, who worked as a receptionist and in the order'slaundry even after retiring seven years ago. 'I can't get used to theidea of failing health.'

Now, Sister Alice and her retired friends attend mass every day,say their rosaries, and root for the Detroit Tigers just like theyhave since their younger days.

These frail women of God are part of an aging breed of RomanCatholic nuns and monks moving into retirement while fewer and feweryoung women and men are entering convents and monasteries to supportthem.

The result is a fiscal nightmare that has left an estimated $3billion deficit in retirement budgets across the country, said SisterMary Oliver Hudon.

She is director of a retirement project of the NationalConference of Catholic Bishops, Conference of Major Superiors of Menand the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Nearly 36 percent of the estimated 122,000 nuns and monks in theUnited States are over age 70 and less than 1 percent are under 30,she said.

'The base that can support the older religious (nuns and monks)has just been eroded away,' she said.

Few orders stashed money away for retirement, in part becausenuns worked for low wages and because they preferred to spend themoney building hospitals or adding services, Sister Mary Oliver said.

'They made that choice on the assumption that when people wereno longer active, they died,' she said. 'It sounds terrible, but Idon't think anybody foresaw the social changes' that led to longerlife-spans and far fewer people entering religious life.

Diocesan priests, who aren't members of religious orders,weren't included in the retirement project, she said. Their pensionsare funded by all the churches in the diocese for which they worked,rather than a single order.

The Sisters of St. Joseph mirror the national picture, with 220of their 455 members retired, said Sister Betty Veenhuis, presidentof the congregation.

The order, founded 100 years ago by nuns from New York who camewest to staff Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, once had 950 membersworking in hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages and Catholic schoolsacross southern Michigan.

Thirty years ago, Sister Betty said, as many as 50 young womenwould have been preparing to enter the convent, which comprises thespot on the map called Nazareth.

Now it has only 18 women under 40 and just one woman - in her40s - preparing for admission, she said. At the other end of thespectrum, 13 are over 90.

Sister Betty said mergers with other orders could bolster thesisters' ranks in the future, as could discussions with a group ofabout 100 lay people in the Kalamazoo area who want to be affiliatedin some way with the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Like many orders, the Sisters of St. Joseph joined SocialSecurity in 1971 when the law was changed to permit nuns and monks tomake back payments and enter the system.

Sister Emily Simons, treasurer of the order, said SocialSecurity provides just $2,000 of the $10,000 annual cost of caringfor a retired member. The rest comes from the earnings of youngersisters, who take vows of poverty and turn their earnings over to theorder.

But Sister Betty said that isn't enough and this year the orderwill need to tap the interest on a retirement fund that it has beenpaying into since 1971.

Sister Emily said the congregation's assets, including itsmembers' earnings, Social Security, retirement fund and the proceedsfrom selling all its property except the motherhouse, would be 45percent short of the amount needed to care for the current membersuntil their death.

The sisters know of the looming financial crisis and try to cutcorners, Sister Betty said.

'I don't think they at all fear that we're going to run out ofmoney and that they're going to be on the street,' she said.

'It simply calls us to good stewardship and good planning andgood use of our resources over the next five or 10 years.'

Despite the growing problem, said Sister Mary Oliver, mostorders still can pay their bills.

'There is not a sister or brother I know of who is starving ornot getting medical care,' she said. 'The crunch is going to come infive to 10 years.'

In December, Michigan Catholics contributed more than $1.45million to a new fund set up to bail out religious orders, saidSister Monica Kostelmy of the Michigan Catholic Conference.

Final figures aren't in, but Sister Mary Oliver expects morethan $20 million will be collected nationwide in the first of 10annual appeals.

The funds will go first to desperate orders, such as one with 17of its 18 members over 70, and then be divided among the others'retirement funds, she said.

Sister Betty said the Sisters of St. Joseph will stick together,rather than going back to their families or elsewhere for care intheir twilight years.

Birth control pills give rise to mass tort - Lawyers USA

The newest form of combined oral contraceptives has given birthto a mass tort.

Several lawsuits have been filed in federal court against BayerCorp. over Yaz/Yasmin birth control pills, alleging that a newingredient in this 'fourth generation' contraceptive presentsdangerous risks that the company failed to warn about.

The plaintiffs claim injuries that include deep vein thrombosis,gallbladder damage, kidney stones, heart attacks, pulmonaryembolisms and strokes.

The lawsuits also allege fraudulent concealment of safetyinformation.

Hundreds more suits are expected to be filed in the near future,with lawyers around the country looking into these cases.

'We've filed four cases this week, and we will file more thisweek and every week as we go forward. There are a substantial numberof cases,' said Janet Abaray, a managing shareholder of Burg SimpsonEldredge Hersh in Cincinnati, Ohio and co-lead counsel for the Ortho-Evra (contraceptive patch) litigation.

Daniel Gallucci, an attorney with RodaNast, P.C. in Lancaster,Pa., who filed one of the first lawsuits, said that he isinvestigating hundreds of cases.

Joseph Weinstein, an attorney with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey inCleveland who represents Bayer Corp., declined comment for thisarticle. Bayer Corp. did not return a call seeking comment.

'Fourth generation'

Yaz, which was approved by the FDA in 2006, and Yasmin, which wasapproved in 2001, are fourth generation combination oralcontraceptives that combine estrogen and progestin to preventpregnancy.

What makes both drugs 'fourth generation' and different from anyother birth control pills is the progestin component, calleddrospirenone.

Plaintiffs' attorneys allege that drospirenone, a diuretic,causes an increase in potassium which can lead to 'hyperkalemia' orunsafe levels of potassium that disrupt heart rhythms and slow theflow of blood. This can lead to blood clotting.

'No other birth control uses a diuretic as an active ingredient,'said Gallucci, who noted that the number of adverse events reportedto the FDA appears disproportionately higher for Yaz and Yasmin thanfor other birth control pills.

Between 2004 and 2008, over 50 deaths of Yaz and Yasmin userswere reported to the FDA, according to the suit filed by Ohioplaintiff Anne Marie Eakins, who used Yaz for four months in 2007and suffered multiple bilateral pulmonary emboli.

Another common injury in these cases is gallbladder damage, saidDavid Zoll of Zoll, Kranz & Borgess in Toledo, Ohio, who authors theYaz, Yasmin and You blog.

'The diuretic causes you to lose water and so you develop sludgeor bile that wipes out the gallbladder,' he said.

Gallucci said some of his clients are women who were not of child-bearing age and suffered gallbladder removal or sudden death aftertaking the pills for acne.

According to the British Medical Journal, the Dutch College ofGeneral Practitioners recommends that its members prescribe older,second generation birth control pills instead of Yaz/Yasmin becauseof 40 cases of venous thrombosis, including the death of a 17 year-old.

Abaray contends that after first generation birth control pillswere found to cause health risks because of the levels of theestrogen component ethinyl estradiol, the second generation pillsdropped the level of hormones and the risks went way down.

'We're sort of going in a circle,' she said. 'Now that thepatents ran out, they have started patenting 'new and improved'progestins by monkeying with the levels again, and we're seeingincreased risks of blood clots.'

FDA warnings

The makers of Yaz and Yasmin have been warned about theirmarketing.

In 2003, the FDA warned Berlex Laboratories, which has since beenpurchased by Bayer, about TV ads which used the tagline: 'Ask aboutYasmin and the difference a little chemistry can make.'

The FDA said that the ads overstated the safety of the drug andfailed to communicate that increased potassium is a risk, incontrast to the bolded warnings in the package insert.

In 2008, the FDA warned Bayer about TV ads that claimed Yaz waseffective for treating acne and premenstrual syndrome (PMS), asopposed to the more severe disorder premenstrual dysphoric disorder(PMDD), for which Yaz is approved.

In those ads, women sing 'We're not gonna take it' while kickingand pushing away words such as 'IRRITABILITY,' 'MOODINESS,''BLOATING' and 'FEELING ANXIOUS.'

The company has released new ads designed to clear up the FDA'sconcerns.

But Zoll said that the cases are not limited to those occurringbefore the new round of ads.

'Even with the new ads, the warnings are still grosslyinadequate,' he claimed.

Happenings - Between the Lines

Outings

The Kalamazoo Alliance for Equality presents a unique discussion event open to the public titled 'Policy to Practice: Why Diversity and Inclusion are Good for Business in Kalamazoo.'

As one of Michigan's top-five metropolitan areas, serving as the hub of southwestern Michigan's financial, educational, health and scientific services, Kalamazoo's local businesses are placed in an optimal position. This discussion will show how proper hiring practices, internal employee welfare, community outreach and effective diversity policies, can help these businesses flourish.

The evenings keynote speaker is Eric Peterson, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at Society for Human Resource Management. Joining Eric will be Brad Gorman, a Communication and Engagement Specialist; James L. Liggins, a litigator, and Carrie Hoch-Mortlock, Executive Director of Human Resources at Greenleaf Hospitality.

Policy to Practice begins 6 p.m. Sept. 15 at Borgess Medical Center-Lawrence Education Center, 1521 Gull Road in Kalamazoo. For more information, go to kalamazooalliance.org.

Music & More

Canadian musician Ember Swift's last album, 'Lentie,' delivered an entirely unique sound filled with organic acoustics and electronic rhythms that can only be identified as 'folktronica. ' Swift's music is the manifestation of both her Canadian roots and her affinity and background in Chinese culture and music. 'Lentie' features both Mandarin Chinese and English lyrics, and uses Chinese instruments such as the guzheng in addition to Western instruments.

This year, Swift presents her newest material on a North American tour, stopping by Ann Arbor's The Ark on Sept. 15. 'The show includes a lot of stories and language discussion - as well as lots of music, of course,' says Swift. 'This project is even more of a 'cultural bridge' between my home in the West and my adopted home in the east of Beijing, China.'

Ember Swift performs at 8 p.m. Sept. 15 at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., in Ann Arbor. For more information, visit theark.org.

Theater

The musical 'Follies' opens the 89th season of Village Players on Sept. 16. The popular community theater, which likes to call itself 'Birmingham's best live theater, ' is an appropriate venue for this Stephen Sondheim classic.

'Follies' is all about theater. It takes place at the 1971 reunion of performers of the great Follies shows of the past. The occasion is the closing and demolition of the theater where they performed. Musical theater is used as a metaphor for life. Follies were the shows, but they were also are the foolish undertakings of life. Youthful performers of the past are 'reunited' with the people they have become.

Performers are at 8 p.m. Sept. 16, 17, 23, 24, 30 and Oct. 1, with 2 p.m. matinees on Sept. 25 and Oct. 2 at the Village Players Playhouse, 34660 Woodward, Birmingham (two blocks south of Maple). Tickets are $19. Call 248-644-2075 for tickets or more information.

OUTINGS

Wednesday, Sept. 7

Ladies Who Lunch, 11:30 a.m. Ladies meet at Nina's Cafe for food and conversation. Contact Angie to make a reservation. The Resource Center, 1710 W. Main St., Kalamazoo. Kglrc.org

Friday, Sept. 9

MI Response to Hate, 7:30 a.m. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Michigan led the nation in 201 0 with the highest number of anti-government extremist groups at 50. This conference will provide a structured opportunity for Michigan to develop community-based response systems and address the needs of our communities and victims of bias motivated incidents. Registration is free. The Michigan Alliance Against Hate Crimes and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, 55 S. Harrison Ave., East Lansing. 517-432-4000. Miaahc.com

Artist Opening Reception for The Face Of Detroit, 6 p.m. Metro Times photographer Bruce Giffin has been shooting photos in the city of Detroit for almost 30 years. He's garnered attention in recent years for his Face of Detroit portrait project. The artist states one-third of the subjects are homeless, but that it's not important to know which are. Affirmations, 290 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale. 248-398-7105 224. Goaffirmations.org

Older Lesbians Organizing, 7 p.m. Provides older Lesbians with the chance to meet like minded women in their common struggles, to share mutual interests and to play and work together. Meets the 2nd Friday of every month. Older Lesbians Organizing, 31 9 Braun Court, Ann Arbor. 734-678-2478. jasmithers@sbcglobal.net

Womyn's Film Night, 7 p.m. FilmSappho. Recently married Sappho can't imagine a more perfect union than the passionate relationship she shares with her sensitive husband. That is, until they spend the summer on the Greek island of Lesbos. Affirmations, 290 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale. 248-398-7105. Goaffirmations.org

Saturday, Sept. 10

Until Love is Equal: All You Can Eat Pancakes, 8 a.m. Fundraiser for Until Love is Equal's efforts to create a nondiscriminate Holland, Michigan. Tickets: $5. Until Love is Equal, 3851 Alpine Ave., Comstock Park. Untilloveisequal.com

'Circle.. .Home' Book Release, 12 p.m. Melissa Dey Hasbrook releases Circle.. .Home, a collection of poetry rooted in mid-Michigan. Circle. ..Home is a collaboration with Women's Center of Greater Lansing, and supported in part by a grant form the Arts Council of Greater Lansing. Women's Center of Greater Lansing, 2019 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. 517-897-5833. Deyofthephoenix.com

Sunday, Sept. 11

PFLAG Detroit Meeting, 2 p.m. Support groups, social gathering, community announcements, program presentations, guest speakers, and dinner. Every 2nd Sunday of the month. PFLAG, 3333 Coolidge Hwy, Troy. 248-656-2875. Pflagdetroit.org

GOAL Book Club, 4 p.m. September's choice: 'Middlesex' by Jeffrey Eugenides. GOAL, 515 S Washington, Royal Oak. 248-515-2551. Getoutandlive.me

Rainbow Book Club, 4:30 p.m. Book club dedicated to reading and discussing classic and contemporary lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer literature. Meeting since before 1998, every second Sunday of the month. Rainbow Book Club, 319 Braun Court, Ann Arbor. 734-678-2478. Catherine.herne@gmail.com

HARC provided HIV/AIDS testing, 5 p.m. HARC provides anonymous and free HIV counseling, testing and referral services through its outreach at the Jim Toy Community Center. HARC, 31 9 Braun Court, Ann Arbor. 734 6782478. Hivaidsresource.org/hiv-testing

Monday, Sept. 12

LGBT Adoptive Parent Support Group, 7 p.m. Meet with other LGBT families and be supported in your adoption process or adoptive parenting. Hands Across The Water Adoption and Social Services Agency, 2890 Carpenter Road, Suite 600, Ann Arbor. 734-477-0135. Hatw.org

Tuesday, Sept. 13

Dress for Success, 12 p.m. Designed for jobseekers who would like to brush up on their interviewing skills and those interested in learning how to update their work wardrobe on a budget. Karen Gutman, an employment specialist from the Jewish Vocational Service, will be on hand to provide tips on resume writing, networking and job search skills. Attendees will receive 20% off all clothing and accessory purchases on the day of the event. Limitations may apply. National Council of Jewish Women Greater Detroit Section, 3297 W. 12 Mile Road, Berkley. 248-548-6664. Ncjwgds.org

LanSINGout Gay Men's Chorus, 6:30 p.m. LanSINGout Gay Men's Chorus invites all people with male-sounding voices to join with us at our open enrollment rehearsals. Lansing First Presbyterian Church, 510W. Ottawa St., Lansing. 517490-1746. Lansingout.org

Transgender Life Support, 7 p.m. Support group for transgendered people and allies. Transgender Life Support, 290 W. 9 Mile Road, Ferndale. 248-398-7105. Goaffirmations.org

Wednesday, Sept. 14

LGBT In the Park, 5:30 p.m. Ongoing LGBT social group featuring discussions and meet and greets with new people during the week. Discussion: Ways of coping with the stress of the season. LGBT in the Park, 620 W. Woodward Heights, Hazel Park. 248-460-3251. Jffryoliver� yahoo.com

Sistrum Orientation, 6 p.m. Sistrum's 26th season begins with an orientation. New members and returning members may RSVP to info@sistrum.org. Sistrum Lansing Women's Chorus, 215 N. Capitol Ave., Lansing. Sistrum.org

TransCend, 6:30 p.m. Open to persons 18 and older. Younger are welcome with parent or guardian permission. Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center, 629 Pioneer Street, Kalamazoo. 269-349-4234. Kglrc.org

Thursday, Sept. 15

Policy to Practice, 6 p.m. Discussing diversity and inclusion as effective strategies for businesses in Kalamazoo. Keynote speaker Eric Peterson. Borgess Lawrence Education Center, 1521 Gull Road, Kalamazoo. 810-650-6274. Kglrc.org

Polyamory Network, 7:30 p.m. Open and inclusive community of people living polyamorously, people interested in polyamory and people of, friendly to and curious about polyamory. Welcomes diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity. Polyamory Network, 319 Braun Court, Ann Arbor. 734 6782478. Jimtoycenter.org

Friday, Sept. 16

Welcoming Reception, 11:30 a.m. President of Oakland University, Dr. Russi, will be speaking as well as Professor Larrabee of the LGBT Resource Group and Alexa Van Vliet of the Gay Straight Alliance. A welcome to LGBT and allied students of the fall semester. Free food will be provided. Oakland University's GSA, 2200 N. Squirrel Road, Rochester. 734-891 - 0501. gsaatoaklandu@gmail.com

Bisexual Peer Group, 7 p.m. Meets monthly on the third Friday. Discussion relating to bisexuality, pansexuality, omnisexuality. Allies are encouraged and welcomed to attend. Building is handicapped accessible using ramp to rear entrance. Bisexual Peer Group, 31 9 Braun Ct., Ann Arbor. 734-678-2478. Biprideannarbor@gmail.com

Womyn's Film Night, 7 p.m. Film-The Hunger. Miriam, a centuries-old vampire, preys on urban club goers with her vampire lover John. Affirmations, 290 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale. 248-398-7105. Goaffirmations.org

Saturday, Sept. 17

Transgender Health Fair, 1 p.m. 2nd annual Transgender Health Fair. Transgender Michigan and Affirmations, 290 W. 9 Mile Road, Ferndale. 248-3987105.Goaffirmations.org

Sunday, Sept. 18

PFLAG Ann Arbor Meeting, 1 a.m. 3rd Sunday of every month. Support group and monthly speaker at each meeting. PFLAG Ann Arbor, 306 N. Division St., Ann Arbor. Pflagaa.org

AIDS Walk Detroit 2011, 8 a.m. Annual AIDSWaIk. Corporate Sponsors for this event are Comerica Bank, DirectRX, 5/3 Bank, Ford Motor Company, Genisys Credit Union, Gilmour-Jirgens Fund, MGM Grand Detroit, Raymond James, Tibotec Therapeutics, Volkswagon of America, and ZMC Pharmacy. More information online. AIDS Walk Detroit 2011, Royal Oak Farmer's Market, Royal Oak. Aidswalkdetroit.org

PFLAG Tri-Cities Meeting, 2 p.m. Every 3rd Sunday of the month. Support groups including monthly speakers. PFLAG Tri-Cities, 2525 Hemmeter, Saginaw. 989-941 -1 458. pflag@pflag-mbs.org

MUSIC & MORE

CLASSICAL

Fox Theatre 'Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra' World's most popular classical artist who is renowned for his energetic and festive live concerts. Tickets: $49-139. Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19. 313-471-6611. Olympiaentertainment.com

COMEDY

Andiamo Celebrity Showroom Joan Rivers American comethenne, television personality and actress, Joan Rivers. Call for ticket information. Andiamo Celebrity Showroom, 7096 E. 14 Mile Road, Warren. 8 p.m. Sept. 17. 586-268-3200. Joanrivers.com

Meadowbrook Music Festival Stephen Wright Tickets: $27.50 reserved, $17.50 general. Meadow Brook Music Festival, 2200 N. Squirrel Rd., Rochester. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17. 1-800-745-3000. Palacenet.com

The Ark Willy Porter Tickets: $17.50. Hill Auditorium, 31 6 S. Main, Ann Arbor. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 1 8. 734-761 -1 800. Theark.org

The Ark 'Joy Kills Sorrow' Tickets: $1 2.50. Hill Auditorium, 31 6 S. Main, Ann Arbor. 8 p.m. Sept. 1 9. 734-761 -1 800. Theark.org

CONCERTS

Ferndale Public Library 'The Blueflowers and Woodman' Library's 'First Stop Friday' series offering a unique, non-bar venue. This month's performance: The Blueflowers and Woodman Ferndale Public Library, 222 E. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale. 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9. 248-547-6008.

Fox Theatre Alison Krauss and Union Station Tickets: $29.50-49.50. Featuring Jerry Douglas for the 'Paper Airplanes Summer Tour 201 1 .' Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8. 31 3-471 -6611. Olympiaentertainment.com

Joe Louis Arena 'Chris Brown F.A.M.E. Tour' North American Tour with Kelly Rowland, T-Pain andTyga. Tickets: $39.75-85.75. Joe Louis Arena, 19 Steve Yzerman Drive, Detroit. 7 p.m. Sept. 18. 313-396-7000. Olympiaentertainment.com

Kerrytown Concert House Howard Fishman New Orleans jazz, Brooklyn soul, open-hearted country, blues and gospel music through a completely original, experimental aesthetic, to create a sound entirely its out. Tickets: $30-10. Kerrytown Concert House, 41 5 N Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor. Sept. 9 - Sept. 9. 734-769-2999. Kerrytownconcerthouse.com

Saugatuck Center for the Arts Janis Ian, Grammy winning, iconic singer/songwriter Janis lan's one-night only performance in West Michigan. Tickets: $35. Saugatuck Center for the Performing Arts, 400 Culver St., Saugatuck. 7 p.m. Sept. 8. 269-8572399. Sc4a.org

The Ark John McCutcheon Tickets: $20. The Ark, 31 6 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 8 p.m. Sept. 1 0. 734-761 -1 800. Theark.org

The Ark Caroline Herring Tickets: $15. The Ark, 31 6 S. Main, Ann Arbor. 8 p.m. Sept. 14. 734-761-1800.Theark.org

The Ark Bernard Allison Tickets: $20. The Ark, 31 6 S. Main, Ann Arbor. 8 p.m. Sept. 13.734-761-1800.Theark.org

The Ark Ember Swift, Canadian independent artist with both western and eastern (Chinese) influences. Tickets: $15. The Ark, 31 6 S. Main, Ann Arbor. 8 p.m. Sept. 1 5. 734-761 -1 800. Theark.org

The Ark 'Maria Muldaur & Her Red Hot Bluesiana Band' Tickets: $20. The Ark, 31 6 S. Main, Ann Arbor. 8 p.m. Sept. 20. 734-761-1800.Theark.org

The Ark 'Ben Sollee' Tickets: $1 5. The Ark, 31 6 S. Main, Ann Arbor. 8 p.m. Sept. 14.734-761-1800.Theark.org

University Musical Society Emerson String Quartet' Formed in the bicentennial year of the United States, the Emerson String Quartet took its name from the great American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. The group made its Ann Arbor debut in 1 989, and in 1 4 appearances since has performed with the integrity, energy, and commitment that it has demonstrated throughout more than 30 years of extensive touring and recording. Tickets: $52-24. Burton Memorial Tower, 881 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor. 4 p.m. Sept. 18. 734-764-2538. Ums.org

University Musical Society 'An Evening with Ahmad Jamal' Living legend of Jazz, a pivotal influence on Miles Davis and countless others. Tickets: $46-10. Burton Memorial Tower, 881 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor. 8 p.m. Sept. 17. 734-7642538. Ums.org

FILM & VIDEO

Detroit Film Theatre 'Viva Rival' Tickets: $7.50, $6.50 for DIA members, seniors and students. Detroit Film Theatre, 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit. Sept. 9 - Sept. 9. 313-833-7900.Dia.org

Detroit Film Theatre 'DF 101: The Killer' Tickets: $7.50, $6.50 for DIA members, seniors and students. Detroit Film Theatre, 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit. 4 p.m. Sept. 10. 313-833-7900. Dia.org

Detroit Film Theatre 'Fire House Detroit' Tickets: $7.50, $6.50 for DIA members, seniors and students. Detroit Film Theatre, 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit. 7 p.m. Sept. 11.313-833-7900.Dia.org

Detroit Film Theatre 'The Interrupters' Tickets: $7.50, $6.50 for DIA members, seniors and students. Detroit Film Theatre, 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit. Sept. 16 - Sept. 18. 313-833-7900. Dia.org

Detroit Film Theatre 'DFT 1 01 : Mexican Cinema: Fernandez & Figueroa' Tickets: $7.50, $6.50 for DIA members, seniors and students. Detroit Film Theatre, 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit. 2 p.m. Sept. 17. 313-833-7900.Dia.org

Michigan Theater 'Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain' From the visionary writer and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Am�lie helped give the filmmaker the global recognition justly deserved after working with his artistic partner Marc Caro on such cinematic achievements as Delicatessen and The City of the Lost Children. Tickets: $9. Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor. Sept. 4 - Sept. 6. 667-TIME. Michtheater.org

State Theater 'Reservoir Dogs' Midnight viewing: In 1992, Reservoir Dogs transformed Quentin Tarantino practically overnight from an obscure, unproduced screenwriter and part-time actor to the most influential new filmmaker of the 1 990s. Tickets: $9. Ann Arbor State Theater, 223 S. State St., Ann Arbor. 11:55 a.m. Sept. 10. 734-761 -8667. Michtheater.org

University of Michigan Museum of Art 'Romanian Film Festival: Crossing Dates' Third annual Romanian Film Festival kicks off with 'Crossing Dates.' Both chance and intention play a part in these encounters, and the consequences can remain like footprints on the paths of our lives. Crossing Dates mixes three separate stories that take place over two days. The characters' paths intersect, and they affect each other unintentionally. Helmut Stern Auditorium, 525 S. State St., Ann Arbor. 3:30 p.m. Sept. 17. 734-763-4186. Umma.umich.edu

University of Michigan Museum of Art 'Romanian Film Festival: Wedding in Bessarabia' Third annual Romanian Film Festival continues with 'Wedding in Bessarabia.' A train takes two newlyweds hoping to find an easier way to make a living and a conductor from Bucharest and his wife, a pianist from the hard life of Romania to the woman's homeland of Moldova, where the wedding will be held. The wedding not only reunites her with her family but also allows the couple the chance to receive presents and money that they desperately need to start their new life together. Helmut Stern Auditorium, 525 S. State St., Ann Arbor. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17. 734-763-4186. Umma.umich.edu

OTHER

Fashion's Night Out 'Birmingham Fashion's Night Out' Celebration of the global shopping and fashion event 'Fashion's Night Out.' Special events and sales offered in participating stores downtown. For a list of participating stores goto enjoybirmingham.com. Downtown Birmingham, Various Venues, Birmingham. 6 p.m. Sept. 8. Enjoybirmingham.com

Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter 'Bully Splash Bash' Celebrating the Bully breed of dog. Supports the 'Recycl-A-Bullz' advocacy program. Currey's Family Pet Care, 6261 Hannan Road, Romulus. 1 1 a.m. Sept. 18. Dearbornanimals.org

Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter 'No-Beast Feast' Discovering vegetarian entrees and desserts with take-home recipes. Raising funds for the Dearborn Animal Shelter. Tickets: $45 in advance, $50 at the door. Park Place Banquet Hall, 23400 Park St., Dearborn. 6 p.m. Sept. 16. 313-943-2697. Dearbornanimals.org

Greenfield Village '61 st Old Car Festival' Among 700 vehicles to be displayed at the 61 st Annual Old Car Festival, the historically accurate replica of the 1770 Fardier de Cugnot, a steam powered wheel cart considered to be the first self-propelled vehicle ever made. Along with the Cugnot, the festival will celebrate the 1 00th anniversary of the first lndy 500 race. Greenfield Village, 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn. Sept. 1 0 - Sept. 11. 313982-6001.Thehenryford.org

The Abrahams 'Abraham's Open House for Hope's Heroes' Raising awareness for animal welfare and raising funds for Hope's Heroes, a Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter program that provides care to animals with special needs. Tickets: $50 donation appreciated. Home of Councilman Robert A., 510 Crescent Dr., Dearborn. 4 p.m. Sept. 10. Dearbornanimals.org

Warren/Conner Development Coalition 'Eastside Farmers Market' Fresh produce, healthy foods, and unique artisan items. Everything locally made and sold directly by the growers and producers. Accepts cash, Bridge Card, Double Up Food Bucks, WIC, Project Fresh, credit, and debit. Weekly music and entertainment. Mack Alter Square, 14820 Mack Ave., Detroit. June 11 -Oct. 1.313-571-8200 X.1 11 7. Facebook.com/eastsidefarmersmarket

THEATER

CIVIC/COMMUNITY THEATER

All Shook Up $1 8-$22. Kalamazoo Civic Theatre at Civic Auditorium, 329 S. Park St., Kalamazoo. Sep. 16-0ct. 2. 269-3431313. kazoocivic.com

An Inspector Calls A staged reading. Free; donations accepted. Great Escape Stage Company at Franke Center for the Arts, 21 4 E. Mansion St., Marshall. Sep. 10-11. 269-781 -0001. frankecenterforthearts.org

Annie $20. Riverwalk Theatre, 228 Museum Dr., Lansing. Sep. 8-Sep. 18. 517-482-5700. riverwalktheatre.com

Avenue Q $22. Ann Arbor Civic Theatre at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 91 1 N. University, Ann Arbor. Sep. 1 5-1 8. 971 - 2228. a2ct.org

Entertaining Mr. Sloane $1 5. Korda Artistic Productions at The KordaZone Theatre, 2520 Seminole St., Windsor. Sep. 16-24. 519-562-3394. kordazone.com

Follies $1 9. Village Players, 34660 Woodward Ave., Birmingham. Sep. 16-0ct. 2. 248-644-2075. birminghamvillageplayers.com

Meet Me in St. Louis $25, $18 in advance. Stagecrafters at Baldwin Theatre, 415 S. Lafayette, Royal Oak. Sep. 16-0ct. 9. 248-541-8027. stagecrafters.org

The Music Man $18. Spotlight Players at The Village Theater at Cherry Hill, 50400 Cherry Hill Rd., Canton. Sep. 16-Sep. 25. 734-394-5300.spotlightplayersmi.org

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY THEATER

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee $15. Eastern Michigan University Theatre at Sponberg Theatre in the Quirk Dramatic Arts Bldg., East Circle Dr. & Best Hall, Ypsilanti. Sep. 9-1 1 . 734487-2282. emich.edu/emutheatre

PROFESSIONAL

Beehive: The 60s Musical Sensation Happenstance Productions at Andiamo Novi Theatre, 42705 Grand River Ave., Novi. Sep. 8-0ct. 9. 248-348-4448. andiamonovitheatre.com

Come Fly Away $39-89. Fisher Theatre, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit. Sep. 13-25. 31 3-872-1 000. broadwayindetroit.com

Daddy Long Legs $34.50-44.50. The Gem Theatre, 333 Madison Ave, Detroit. Sep. 14-Nov. 20. 313-963-9800. gemtheatre.com

Freud's Last Session $39.50-$44.50. Century Theatre, 333 Madison St., Detroit. Sep. 7-Nov. 20. 313-963-9800. gemtheatre.com

Fridays and Saturdays at Go Comedy! Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale. 248-327-0575. gocomedy.net

Heroes $18-$24. Stormfield Theatre, 201 Morgan Lane, Lansing. Through Sep. 18. 517-372-0945. stormfieldtheatre.org

Love Song $14 opening night; $16 all others. Broadway Onstage, 21517 Kelly Rd., Eastpointe. Sep. 9-0ct. 8. 586-7716333. broadwayonstage.com

Love Song $25. Planet Ant Theatre, 2357 Canrff, Hamtramck. Sep. 15-0ct. 8. 313365-4948. planetant.com

Oh, Hell! By donation. The Abreact Performance Space, 1301 W. Lafayette #1 1 3, Detroit. Sep. 9-0ct. 1. 31 3-4541542.theabreact.com

Opera at The Acorn $25. The Acorn Theater, 107 Generations Dr., Three Oaks. 8 p.m. Sep. 17. 269-756-3879. acorntheater.com

Rosmersholm $1 5-1 8, or pay what you can. Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company at 1 51 5 Broadway, 1 51 5 Broadway, Detroit. Sep. 16-0ct. 8. 313-708-4269. magentagiraffe.org

Southern Baptist Sissies Contains nudity and adult situations. $1 0-$20. Who Wants Cake? at The Ringwald, 22742 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Sep. 9-26. 248-545-5545. whowantscaketheatre.com

Sundays at Go Comedy! $7 for the night. Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale. 248-327-0575. gocomedy.net

The Extraordinary Ordinary $27-$29. Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley, Kalamazoo. Sep. 16-0ct. 9. 269-3432727. farmersalleytheatre.com

The Judy Show $1 5. The Acorn Theater, 107 Generations Dr., Three Oaks. 8 p.m. Sep. 15. 269-756-3879. acorntheater.com

The Light in the Piazza $28. The Encore Musical Theatre, 3126 Broad St., Dexter. Sep. 8-0ct. 2. 734-268-6200. theencoretheatre.org

The Mystery of Irma Vep $28-$30. Tipping Point Theatre, 361 E. Cady St., Northville. Through Oct. 9. 248-347-0003. tippingpointtheatre.com

The Outsiders A staged reading, with an afterglow. $20 adult, $15 seniors, $15 children. Flint Youth Theatre, 1220 E. Kearsley St., Flint. 6 p.m. Sep. 1 1 . 810237-1 530. flintyouththeatre.org

The Whipping Man A co-production with Plowshares Theatre Company. Previews Sept. 7, 8 & 1 0. $36-$43. The Jewish Ensemble Theatre at Aaron DeRoy Theatre at the Jewish Community Center, 6600 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield. Sep. 7-0ct. 2. 248-788-2900. jettheatre.org

Thursdays at Go Comedy! $1 5. Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale. Through Aug. 25. 248-3270575. gocomedy.net

Wednesdays at Go Comedy! Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale. 248-327-0575. gocomedy.net

YOUNG AUDIENCES

Sleeping Beauty $10 adult, $5 child. PuppetART, Detroit Puppet Theater, 25 E. Grand River, Detroit. Saturdays through Sep. 24. 313-961-7777. puppetart.org

AUDITIONS

KALAMAZOO CIVIC THEATRE - auditions for 'White Christmas' (Sept. 17-18) and 'A New Brain' (Sept. 18-19) and 'A Salute to the Red, White and Blue' (Senior Class Reader's Theatre, Sept. 18-19), 269-343-2280.

ART 'N' AROUND

The Rust Belt Market 'A Pinch of Spice and More' Rust Belt Market for vintage, design, and art. Woodward Ave. & 9 Mile Rd., North West Corner, Ferndale. June 25 -Nov. 20. 246-622-1621. Apinchofspiceandmore.com

Cass Cafe '6 Degrees' Exhibit of paintings by Detroit-based artist Craig Paul Nowak. The show features a range of works in a variety of media, and features large-scale portraits drawn from the artists' circle of family and colleagues. Cass Cafe, 4620 Cass Ave., Detroit. Aug. 27 - Oct. 29. 31 3-831 - 1400. Casscafe.com

Cranbrook Art Museum 'Saarinem House and Garden' rare integration of art, architecture, design and nature's total work of art. Designed in the late 1920s, Saarinen House served as the home and studio of the Finnish-American designer Eliel Saarinen and Loja Saarinen from 1930 through 1950. Cranbrook Art Museum, 39221 Woodward Ave, Bloomfield Hills. May 2 - Sept. 30. 877462-7262. Cranbrookart.edu

Detroit Institute of Arts 'It's A Zoo In Here' Countless creatures of many species fill the galleries in this exhibition of more than 150 prints and drawings drawn entirely from the museum's holdings and designed with fun in mind for everyone. Detroit Institute of Arts, 2100 Woodward, Detroit. April 1 - Sept. 25. 313-833-7900.Dia.org

Farmington Downtown Development Authority 'Farmington Farmers & Artisans Market' Each Saturday. Fresh Michigan produce, baked goods, locally produced honey, handcrafted soaps and emollients, fine art and jewelry, photography and a variety of unique, artisan-made products. Walter E. Sundquist Pavilion, 33113 Grand River Ave., Farmington. May 28 - Oct. 29. 248-473-7276. Downtownfarmington. org/Downtown-Events/Whats-Happening/ Farmers-Artisans-Market

Lawrence Street Gallery 'Sherry Adams Foster' Luminescent new work of LSG Gallery member Sherry Adams Foster. Lawrence Street Gallery, 22620 Woodward Ave. Suite A, Ferndale. Aug. 31 - Oct. 1. 248-544-0394. Lawrencestreetgallery.com

MOCAD 'barely there' Group exhibition featuring James Lee Byars, Luis Camnitzer, Jason Dodge, Pable Helguera, Christoph Keller, Lee Loazno, Rivane and Sergio, Neuenschwander, Wilfredo Prieto, Pascale Marthine Tayou and Adolf WoIfIi. Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, 4454 Woodward Ave., Detroit. May 27 - Dec. 30. 313-832-6622. Mocadetroit.org

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit 'Stephanie Nava: Considering a Plot (Dig for Victory)' A work in progress, developed by French artist Stephanie Nava. Its installation at MOCAD marks the artist's first solo exhibition in the United States. The installation is based on the specifications and history of English allotments, or subsistence gardens.

Started in London in 2005 as part of the Institute Francais Villa Medicis Hors les murs residency program. Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, 4454 Woodward Ave, Detroit. Sept. 16 - Dec. 30. 313-8326622. Mocadetroit.org

Pittmann-Puckett Art Gallery 'The Face of Detroit' Metro Times photographer Bruce Giffin photographs of Detroit. A third of all subjects are homeless, though Giffin argues it is unimportant to know which they are. Affirmations, 290 W. 9 Mile Road, Ferndale. Sept. 1 - Sept. 30. 248-3987105.Goafflrmations.org

The Gallery Project 'Subjective World/ Umvelt' Umvelt or subjective world is a foundational concept in the study of animal behavior. It challenges people to think about animals as they might experience the world through their own senses and respond to it with their own bodies, according to their own priorities. The Gallery Project, 215 S. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor. Sept. 21 - Oct. 30. 734-997701 2. Thegalleryproject.com

University of Michigan Museum of Art 'Mike Kelley: Day is Done' UMMA inaugurates its New Media Gallery this fall with Mike Kelley's 'Day is Done.' University Of Michigan Museum Of Art, 525 South State Street, Ann Arbor. Aug. 27 - Dec. 31. 734-763-4186. Umma. umich.edu

University of Michigan Museum of Art 'Amalia Pica' London-based Argentinian artist's investigations into perception, time, and memory, as well as a desire to explore how particular gestures read in different cultural contexts, pursued across a diverse body of work in sculpture, photography, film, and installation, as well as temporary interventions on buildings, monuments, and objects. University of Michigan Museum of Art, 525 South State Street, Ann Arbor. May 28 - Sept. 18. 734-763-4186.

FORUM ADDRESSES ETHICS OF MEDICAL RESEARCH - US Fed News Service, Including US State News

KALAMAZOO, Mich., Oct. 27 -- Western Michigan University issued the following press release:

Three medical professionals and one ethicist will tackle thorny ethical issues revolving around a famous case in which cells with unusual properties were removed from a Baltimore woman without her knowledge.

Speakers will reflect on the issues of ethics, medical care and medical research illuminated in the new book 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' by Rebecca Skloot. The public forum, titled 'The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks: Medical Research Ethics Then and Now,' is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3, in Room 204 of the Bernhard Center at Western Michigan University and is part of the WMU Center for the Study of Ethics in Society's fall season.

FORUM SPEAKERS ARE:

* Dr. Shirley Bach, WMU professor emeritus of philosophy and Ethics Center associate director

* Dr. Stephen Jefferson, who practices pulmonary medicine at Borgess Medical Center

* Neil Johnson, vice president of Patient Care Services at Bronson Methodist Hospital

* Dr. Perry Westerman, associate professor of psychiatry and medical doctor with the Michigan State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies

Henrietta Lacks was a poor, black woman and mother of five in Baltimore, who became the unwitting donor of a seemingly immortal line of cells taken from a cancerous tumor. In 1951, Lacks sought treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital and was diagnosed with cervical cancer. But prior to receiving treatment, cells were removed from her tumor without her knowledge or consent.

Lacks died later that year at age 30, but her cells, unlike those of other donors, could be kept alive and grow in the laboratory. As a result, the cells could be used to conduct many experiments and represented an enormous boon to medical and biological research, a sort of Holy Grail of mid-century biological research. They became known as the HeLa cells (after Lacks' initials) and provided the building blocks for numerous breakthroughs and may have helped discover the cure for polio. Yet Lack's family continued to live in poverty and poor health and only learned of what had happened two decades later. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com

In Memoriam: Mary Jo Martin - American Journal of Electroneurodiagnostic Technology

I first met Mary Jo Martin, R. EEG T. at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona in 1969. I was taking my ABRET oral exam and had gone in the bathroom to deal with my rising nausea only to find this tall, somewhat imposing woman leafing through a stack of EEGs laid out on the sink and exclaiming to herself that 'this simply couldn't be happening.' When I expressed interest, she told me her record review tracings had been taken, and these meaningless, anonymous records had been left in their place. As I took the top one from her, I noticed writing on the underside, turned the record over and said, 'Well, this one belongs to a Mary Jo Martin.' She let out this big laugh and said, 'That's me! Oh, you found my records. Aren't you wonderful!' It wasn't until much later when I chaired the ASET Training and Education Committee and she kept sending me tips like 'always keep your page numbers in the upper right hand comer' that I finally realized that she was dyslexic and this was just one of the many ways she had learned to deal with it except on those rare occasions when her nerves got the best of her.

I could not make even an educated guess as to how often I have heard that laugh since that day at Barrow's, and I am sure that each of us who counted Mary Jo as a friend, or even knew her casually, remembers her wonderful sense of humor and positive attitude. And, she did make us feel wonderful. The stories she told were legend, always true, and often at her own expense. The hardships of life had to be overcome, the problems solved. Her infectious laugh had a way of lightening the mood and bringing people together.

As a young mother with two daughters, she was determined to become self-sufficient and braved a winter and the rugged EEG technology training program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. This excellent training and her organizational skills provided the background needed to establish several outstanding neurophysiology laboratories. Education was a priority for Mary Jo and she was very proud of the fact that all of the technologists who trained and worked with her at Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan; The Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia; and Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York became registered EEG technologists.

Mary Jo was President of ASET immediately after the organization voted against unionization and was a very stabilizing influence at a time when emotions were still running high. She was a progressive leader; our professional growth took several giant steps forward during her administration with the hiring of our first Executive Secretary and the expansion of the Training and Education Committee to offer a bigger variety of courses and to develop teaching aids. She was an active Board Member of ABRET, again pressing for the innovation of hiring a professional testing agency to improve the written examination process. She was a member of The Joint Review Committee on Accreditation in EEG Technology, spending many hours reviewing applications and making site visits.

In her personal life Mary Jo was an avid reader, a very talented painter, and did beautiful smocking and other types of fine hand sewing. She was active in her church and sang in the choir. She was very proud of the accomplishments of her daughters and enjoyed visits and phone calls with their families.

Mary Jo was an excellent ambassador and representative to the larger allied health community at a time when EEG technology was striving to gain recognition and acceptance. She set a standard of performance at work that allowed her technologists to meet registry standards and was instrumental in seeing that EEG technologists nationwide began to have access to the tools needed to prepare for their registration exams.

And Mary Jo was a wonderful friend. Not just to me, but to many others in our EEG community who have had the opportunity to build great relationships as a result of the work we do that promotes and benefits our profession. Mary Jo recognized the far reaching importance and value of ASET, and our Society played a large role in her life. Mary Jo's friends and the technologists she influenced during her long career still have the opportunity to further the growth and stature of our profession. Nothing would please her more.

[Author Affiliation]

Sandra L. Clenney, R. EEG T.

LAWRENCE HAILED AS TOUGH, DIRECT WITH INTEGRITY EX-GOP LAWMAKER FROM PUEBLO IS FOCUSED ON RESULTS.(City Desk/Local) - Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)

Byline: Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News

Staff writer John Sanko contributed to this report.

Joyce Lawrence is an accomplished former state legislator with a straight-talking style and a backbone to go with it.

Lawrence, who will help lead an investigation into the University of Colorado's football program, brings a legacy of civic involvement and a keen interest in educational issues to her role in the fledgling panel.

The 63-year-old from Pueblo will make up the Republican side of the co-chair role. Her counterpart, Peggy Lamm, is a Democrat.

Lawrence offers another critical component: no ties to CU and little knowledge of football. She did watch the Super Bowl, she said, but only for the slew of witty commercials.

Lawrence served eight years in the state House of Representatives and, before that, three years on the Pueblo City Council. She has also served on numerous civic boards and committees.

'She's a woman of integrity,' said Judy Weaver of Pueblo, a member of the Colorado Commission of Higher Education and longtime Lawrence associate. 'She's a person focused on results and is very committed to this community as well as the best interests of Colorado.'

While serving in the legislature, Lawrence's colleagues praised her work ethic when the Rocky Mountain News in 2000 asked lawmakers to grade themselves on their effectiveness. Lawrence was ranked 13th out of 65 lawmakers.

She also showed backbone, once publicly scolding a lawmaker - then-Rep. Mark Paschall, who is now the Jefferson County treasurer - in her own party after he killed an immunization-related bill using what many said were unfair tactics.

Paschall's maneuver was 'sick and sleazy,' Lawrence said at the time. During a heated House GOP caucus meeting called in the aftermath of the bill's demise, Lawrence stunned those gathered, saying, 'I can tell you there are a couple of people in here I wouldn't trust with my dog.'

Among several successful legislative efforts, Lawrence led the charge to change the mission of the University of Southern Colorado, making it a regional university with more master's degree programs. The change included renaming the school Colorado State University-Pueblo.

She ran unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat in 2002. Since then, she has served on several committees in Pueblo, including assisting pharmaceutical research at the Colorado Mental Health Institute.

'I think Joyce will be a fair and honest person to do the investigation and I applaud the selection,' said House Speaker Lola Spradley, R-Beulah, a colleague and friend of Lawrence.

INFOBOX

Joyce R. Lawrence

* Age: 63

* Hometown: Pueblo

* Political affiliation: Republican

* Education: Nursing degree, Borgess School of Nursing; bachelor of science degree in nursing, University of Michigan; M.B.A., University of Phoenix

* Legislative history: Four two-year terms in the state House of Representatives, 1994-2001

* Work history: Office manager, The Lawrence Center; director of physician services, St. Mary-Corwin Hospital in Pueblo

* Other: Served on Pueblo City Council, 1992-1994; Healthy Pueblo 2000 steering committee; pharmaceutical research committee for Colorado Mental Health Institute; Rotary member; numerous additional civic and business committees

* Family: Married, two sons

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Visensia Summit for Patient Safety Brings Together Healthcare Leaders. - Blood Weekly

OBS Medical hosted its first-ever Visensia(R) Summit on September 8. It welcomed key leaders in patient safety to its hometown of Indianapolis. Nurses, physicians and administrators that use and/or support Visensia had the opportunity to meet and learn from each other's experiences while actively participating in its exciting growth (see also OBS Medical).

Formerly known as BioSign, Visensia fuses up to five vital signs - heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, oxygen saturation and blood pressure - into a numerical index, the Visensia Index. This Index is an indication of a patient's wellness and enables significant improvement in clinical outcome and optimization of hospital resource utilization.

The day began with a welcome by CEO Frank Cheng and was followed by Clarian Health CEO & President Daniel F. Evans, Jr. who spoke about patient safety challenges and opportunities. The keynote speaker was Dr. Michael R. Pinsky, professor and vice chairman of Academic Affairs in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). He presented on 'Rapid Response Systems and the Use of Electronic Integrated Monitoring' and shared findings from a large UPMC study and peer-reviewed paper published in Archives of Internal Medicine - 'Defining the Incidence of Cardiorespiratory Instability in Patients in Step-down Units Using an Electronic Integrated Monitoring System'. Involving 1,000 patients (18,248 hours of continuous monitoring in Phase I), the study became the largest ever continuous monitoring study for cardiorespiratory variables in non-ICU patients. This new evidence strongly supports Visensia's ability to detect clinical instability early and thereby avert a clinical crisis.

The nurses' round table was hosted by Lisbeth Vortuba, RN, MSN of St. Mary's Health Care, Marilyn Hravnak, RN, PhD and Leslie Edwards, BSN, CMSRN both from UPMC. The discussion focused on workflow and implementation. Additional user feedback, best practices and anecdotes were also shared. OBS Medical provided insight into future research and development, feature expansions, and implementation opportunities.

Summit attendees were from Clarian Health, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Saint Mary's Health Care, Saint Joseph Mercy Oakland, Parkview Health, Bloomington Hospital, Community Health Network, Allegheny General Hospital, Saint Joseph's, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Borgess Health.

Keywords: OBS Medical, Blood Pressure, Critical Care, Wellness.

Inspections at Michigan Mammogram Facilities Turn Up Violations at 60 Sites. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Patricia Anstett, Detroit Free Press Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jun. 17--Sixty Michigan mammogram facilities had violations in the past 15 months, according to the third annual Free Press analysis of disciplinary records compiled by the Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services.

Most of the problems were minor and corrected within two months, sometimes the same day or week. Minor problems include the failure of staff to complete continuing medical education classes and not performing daily ...uality checks on machines.

But, in a rare action, the state told Northland Radiology to stop performing mammograms at its site at 15521 W. Seven Mile in Detroit because its X ray pictures were so poor.

Northland Radiology stopped performing mammograms at the facility because it was only performing about five mammograms a week, said Anita Craig, mammographer coordinator.

The state inspections are usually announced ahead of time.

Most Michigan mammography facilities have had no violations since 2000.

Many of the 60 facilities also had previous violations dating to 2000. All are in compliance except Northland Radiology's Southfield facility, which hopes to be in compliance soon.

Here are others: Oakland County Northland Radiology, 20905 Greenfield, Southfield Providence Hospital, 16001 W. Nine Mile, Southfield Birmingham Technology, 511 Pierce, Birmingham Drs. James C. MacKenzie and John R. Joseph, 1777 Axtell, Troy Advance Radiological Center PC, 23077 Greenfield, Suite 487, Southfield Wayne County Bon Secours Cottage Diagnostic Center, 21400 Eleven Mile, St. Clair Shores Henry Ford Hospital, 2799 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit DMC Health Centers, 10201 E.

Jefferson, Detroit Universal Imaging, 8560 Silvery Lane, Suite 100, Dearborn Heights Midwest Health Center, 5050 Schaefer, Dearborn Macomb County St. John North Shores Hospital, 26755 Ballard, Harrison Twp. Bi-County Community Hospital, 13355 E. Ten Mile, Warren Romeo Plank Diagnostic Center, 46591 Romeo Plank, Suite 135, Macomb Out-state St. Joseph Mercy Livingston Hospital, 620 Byron Road, Howell McLaren Women's Imaging, 1314 S. Linden, Flint Gratiot Community Hospital, 300 Warwick, Alma Iron County Community Hospitals Inc., 1400 W. Ice Lake Road, Iron River Oaklawn Hospital, 200 N. Madison, Marshall Ontonagon Memorial Hospital, 601 S. Seventh, Ontonagon Marlette Community Hospital, 2770 Main, Marlette St. Mary's Spectrum Health Mobile Mammography Service, Grand Rapids Borgess Medical Center, 1521 Gull Road, Kalamazoo

To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com

Shared medical appointments offer chronic care forums - Managed Healthcare Executive

Specialists fit in more care management time

THE NEED TO improve the accessibility and efficiency of healthcare has more providers adopting the emerging shared medical appointment (SMA) model.

While primarily thought of as an efficiency measure, there is mounting evidence that group visits also can improve the quality of patient care, particularly for those with chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma, and, by doing so, lower healthcare costs.

A shared medical appointment is a physicianto-patient visit in the presence of other patients who benefit by hearing about the experiences of similar patients. During a typical 90-minute SMA, patients discuss their concerns in a forum and listen to strangers share their health concerns. Virtually everything-diagnoses, prescriptions, medical histories, treatment - is discussed in the group setting. An SMA is not a support group or psychiatry session, though it often does incorporate patient education. In addition to the physician and patients, SMAs usually are attended by one or more nurses or other clinical staff, who might act as facilitators.

'We are able to see two to three times more patients,' says Zeev Neuwirth, MD, chief of clinical effectiveness & innovation at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a division of Atrius Healthcare, with 700 physicians in Greater Boston. 'It is a higher-cost activity, but you are able to see more patients.'

A backlog of patients and a phone ringing off the hook are among the reasons Holly Thacker, MD, director for the Center of Specialized Women's Health at the Cleveland Clinic, held her first SMA in July 2002. To reduce the appointment backlog, she scheduled several patients in a conference room and found it allowed her to educate everyone at the same time and address more common concerns.

Dr. Thacker says her first available individual appointment is typically eight months out, but she can see a patient within the week with an SMA.

'I can see a whole afternoon of patients in 90 minutes,' she says. 'IfI can do four hours of work in two hours time, then I can do other things, like writing and research activities.'

Dr. Thacker is likely on the leading edge of the trend.

In a survey by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), 8.4% of practices reported using SMAs in 2008, up from 5.7% percent in 2005. Among the institutions using group visits are: Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers at Santa Clara and San Jose, California; Borgess- Promed in Kalamazoo, Michigan; Sutter Medical Foundation in Sacramento, California; Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas; University of Virginia Health System; WellSpan Health in York, Pennsylvania, and the Cleveland Clinic.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report on healthcare access in July 2009 cited SMAs as one way to ease the shortage of primary care physicians.

REIMBURSEMENT DOESN'T CHANGE

SMA visits are billed the same way as typical patient visits, based on the level of care delivered, and are documented in the patient's chart according to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) criteria.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has not published official payment or coding rules for group visits for Medicare, says Cindy Hughes, billing and compliance specialist for the AAFP.

'Reimbursement is based on evaluation and management services provided to the individual patient - provided there is documentation to support it,' says Hughes, adding that payers reimburse SMAs at the same level as an individual office visit.

That's been the experience for Edward Noffsinger. The former director of clinical access improvement at Palo Alto Medical Foundation for the Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers has spread the mission of SMAs worldwide, helping implement group visits for more than 400 physicians and practices.

'Billing and compliance officers tell me the only thing different between my model for the group visit and an individual office visit is that it is happening in a group room rather than an exam room. But that is irrelevant in terms of CPT coding because what counts is the level of care delivered and documented,' he says. 'It doesn't matter if happens in a group room, an exam room, or the 'doc in the box' at your local Costco.'

Physicians are delivering the same care, if not more care, Noffsinger says. Although it is a group setting, it offers similar care value.

Time spent counseling is an exception, he says. He recommends physicians not bill for counseling time to avoid double-dipping.

SMAs have the potential for billing abuse, says Patrick Hurd, a healthcare attorney in Norfolk, Virginia.

'I caution providers not to 'game the system' by up-coding or billing at a level that neither the length of the office visits nor the nature of the services provided support,' he says.

He has spoken with CMS, and officials are concerned that doctors will be tempted to file fraudulent claims. Providing SMA service once with 10 patients could not be billed and additional 10 times for counseling.

'We just consider that overhead expense of the program,' he says.

In April 2009, Michigan insurer PriorityHealth added a separate reimbursement category for SMAs as part of its initiative to support primary care providers in becoming patient-centered medical homes.

The insurer sees SMAs as one way to increase the productivity and efficiency of the healthcare team and improve patient access. Additionally, PriorityHealth reimburses SMAs as a way to encourage quality through education and care management.

SMAs do save insurers money, says Kimberly Moreland, vice president at Rising Medical Solutions, a healthcare consulting firm in Chicago.

'Based on the requirements for an office visit code and the required time it takes for each component, it is very unlikely an SMA visit could ever qualify for even a mid-level visit,' she says. 'If the provider can see more patients, the medical community saves money due to the lower level of coding used for an SMA. This could be a win-win option for some medical treatments,' she says.

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

Though the initial appeal of SMAs was attributed largely to their potential to allow more patients to receive care in timely manner, studies continue to suggest they can deliver improved outcomes and lower costs.

A study of Hispanic patients with diabetes at a Dallas clinic found that those who attended SMAs were more successful in adhering to American Diabetes Assn. guidelines than those who had traditional visits.

A 2006 review of research on SMAs, published in the Journal ofthe American Board of Family Medicine, concluded 'there is sufficient data to support the effectiveness of group visits in improving patient and physician satisfaction, quality of care, quality of life, and in decreasing emergency department and speciahst visits.'

The improvement in outcomes has been attributed to patients having more time with their physicians as well as the group pressure on members to follow care directives.

PROTOCOLS FOR PRIVACY

Any practice offering group visits must ensure federal and local privacy rules are followed, however. Patients should always have the choice to opt out of group visits.

The AAFP recommends patients sign a confidentiality form and HIPAA disclosure form prior to the SMA.

At the Cleveland Clinic, SMA patients sign a waiver before the appointment, agreeing not to disclose other patients' personal information. Patients are referred to only by first names during the visit. HIPAA does not prevent patients from voluntarily discussing their personal health information with each other.

'HIPAA really doesn't apply to other patients, and there isn't a private right of action, 'says John Meyers, an attorney specializing in healthcare law in Beverly Hills, Calif.

'The challenge and liability lies within how the provider can ensure patients from the group remain compliant to their signed confidentiality agreement, and what recourse, if any, do they have should they become aware of a non-compliant patient,' says Moreland, of Rising Medical Solutions. 'That is a legal argument with possible exposure.'

Hurd cautions that healthcare providers should create protocols for protecting personal information in shared appointments, because that is the sole right of the patient.

Meyers says the best way to ensure HIPAA regulations are met is through consent and acknowledgement by the patient prior to the SMA, rather than a confidentiality agreement, which could be hard to enforce.

SMAs are not a good fit for all provider types, however. If group visits are not set up and run correctly, costs can increase.

Beginner mistakes often result in failure of the entire SMA program, says Noffsinger. One ofthe most common problems is starting an SMA with a smaller, homogenous patient population. He recommends SMAs incorporate a diverse group of patients to achieve critical mass.

'If only 15% of a panel is diabetic, physicians are going to have a hard time filling their groups,' according to Noffsinger.

Maintaining high patient volume is key to sustaining the program.

SMAs with fewer patients are less efficient and can be more costly than routine care, according to Dr. Thacker. She overbooks her appointments to account for no-shows in order to keep her SMA patient volume high.

'To eliminate billing/reimbursements concerns, SMAs would need to help reduce medical costs, not increase them,' says Moreland.

The AAFP believes small practices and physicians who don't practice full time are not good candidates for the SMA model.

But SMAs are an effective way to mitigate the shortage of primary care physicians, Noffsinger says.

'If you triple your productivity, physicians are doing 4.5 hours of work in 1.5 hours,' he says. 'That is a net gain of three hours of physician time.'

IT'S LIKE GAINING A DOCTOR

For every 12 scheduled SMAs, the result can be up to 36 hours of physician time saved. Essentially, the equivalent of a full-time physician is created from efficient use of current physicians' time without an increase in overhead expenses, Noffsinger says.

'The only thing the doctor is left to do is what the doctor can uniquely do, which is what they went to medical school for,' he says. 'They don't have to do the charting, they don't have to ferret out the reason for the visit. They just deliver high-quality, high-value medical care to each and every person in that room.'

SMAs can go beyond primary care. The opportunity for patients to learn from each other's experiences is one reason Neuwirth has spearheaded the launch of SMAs for Vanguard across a wide range of medical specialties, including pediatrics, dermatology, neurology and cardiology.

'If you add up the number of hours a day it takes for a primary care physician to practice medicine [according to best practices], it takes 18 hours a day. And it is just not doable,' says Neuwirth. 'We have some physicians that you cannot get a general appointment with for several months - at least you couldn't until they started offering shared medical appointments.'

With 18 SMAs a year, the savings could be more than $6 million within seven years, says Noffsinger.

'The physician is able to see three times as many patients in a 90-minute period because they are delegating non-medical tasks.'

[Sidebar]

MHE EXECUTIVE VIEW

* CMS has not published official rules for SMAs.

* Payers reimburse SMAs at the level of a typical office visit.

* Studies suggest the group settings save money.

[Sidebar]

MHE EXECUTIVE VIEW

* Patient privacy can be reasonably well maintained in shared appointments.

* Offer consent forms or confidentiality agreements.

* High volume is key to sustaining the model.

* Small practices are not suited for SMAs.

[Author Affiliation]

вторник, 11 сентября 2012 г.

MICHIGAN INFANT MORTALITY AT ALL-TIME LOW - US Fed News Service, Including US State News

Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, D-Mich., issued the following press release:

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that infant mortality rates - especially among the state's African American population - are now the lowest in Michigan history thanks to a concerted effort on the part of state and local entities to combat the problem. While the decrease in the overall infant death rate - 7.4 deaths per 1,000 births in 2006, down from 7.9 in 2005 is impressive, the drop in African American live births was staggering - from 17.9 in 2005 to 14.8 in 2006, Granholm said. 'Our continued investments in health care are making a critical difference in the lives of our most vulnerable citizens,' Granholm said. 'If we continue to make these investments, we can ensure that this progress is sustainable.' In July 2005, Granholm unveiled a blueprint to prevent unintended pregnancies, which included Talk Early, Talk Often - a program designed to offer parents a resource for talking with their middle school-age children about abstinence and sexuality issues, and Plan First, an initiative designed to increase access to family planning services. Today, more than 30,000 women are enrolled in Plan First. Further, Granholm has continued to promote the state's effort to promote safe sleep, encouraging partnerships between state agencies who are responsible for putting important safe sleep information into the hands of young families and the Nurse Family Partnership, which is primarily responsible 'All of these activities in concert at both the state and local levels are directly responsible for the significant drop in infant mortality rates from 2006,' said Janet Olszewski, director of the Michigan Department of Community Health. 'We are proud of the work we have done together to begin to curb the rates, but we need to redouble our investments to make further reductions reality.' Olszewski said continued investment in state programs that save the lives of infants is vital to ensuring that Michigan's number remains on a downward trend. Since 2003, the governor has worked tirelessly to fund infant mortality reduction coalitions in Berrien, Genesee, Ingham, Kalamazoo, Kent, Macomb, Oakland, Saginaw, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties, and in the city of Detroit that collaborate on educating residents about preventing infant mortality. These coalitions developed case management projects to improve birth outcomes for women who have experienced a fetal death, a low birth weight infant, or a premature infant. Additionally, the state's Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) - a program initiated by Granholm in 2004 in which nurses visit low-income women in their homes during their first pregnancies through the first two years of their children's lives - has been critical to the rate reduction. Today, the NFP is available in Benton Harbor, Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Pontiac. According to national Medicaid research, it is estimated that each public dollar spent to provide family planning services saves an estimated $3 that would otherwise be spent in Medicaid costs for pregnancy-related care and medical care for newborns. 'Unintended pregnancy and infant mortality are issues that affect public health, our economy, and our society,' said Dr. Gregory Holzman, Michigan's chief medical executive. 'We must convince health care providers, members of the Legislature, and the general public that investment in state and local programs that reduce our state's infant mortality rate are absolutely necessary for our continued shared success.' Holzman said the infant mortality statistics will officially be unveiled at a Mapping the Future public health conference sponsored by Michigan State University and the Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies in Kalamazoo on Monday. 'These results clearly indicate that even in the midst of difficult budget times, programs initiated by our state and local communities in support of pregnant women are working,' said Dr. Arthur James, chief of Borgess Medical Center and associate professor at Michigan State University. 'However, even with this substantial improvement, black babies in Michigan died at more than 2.7 times the rate of white babies during the first year of life in 2006. We've made progress, but we still have a lot of work to do.'Contact: James McCurtis, 517/241-2112.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS KEEP UP FIGHT TO STOP GOVERNMENT ENCROACHMENT ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. - States News Service

WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by the office of Ohio Rep. John Boehner:

House Republicans are keeping pressure on the Obama administration to reverse its unconstitutional mandate that 'would force some Americans to violate their religious beliefs' - the most egregious government encroachment on Americans' First Amendment rights in 220 years, Congressman Boehner said yesterday. Here's more from CNS News:

''I think it's important for us to win this issue,' Boehner said at a Capitol press briefing. 'The government, our government, for 220 years has respected the religious views of the American people. And for all of this time there's been an exception for those churches and other groups to protect the religious beliefs that they believe in.' 'And that's being violated here,' he said.

'The House Speaker also said it is 'an important part of my job' to stand up for the Constitution. 'I believe that standing up for the Constitution, standing up for people's protection under the law and under the Constitution to practice their faith as they like, this is an important part of my job,' he said. 'I'm trying to find a way, frankly, to get a bipartisan agreement to solve this problem.''

Speaking at a Heritage Foundation forum titled 'Women Speak Out: Obamacare Tramples Religious Liberty' held earlier this week, Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY) explained how the ObamaCare mandate is just the latest consequence of the government takeover of healthcare and further indication of the disastrous implications it will have for Americans' Constitutionally-enshrined liberties:

'The very essence of the health care law-the very essence of it-is that the government will tell you what your health care is going to be. So it is absolutely a logical sequence that we now have the government stepping in and saying, 'Okay, we're going to pick your conscience issues.''* This rule is nothing more than a continuation of what we've seen. It is just the government way overstepping its bounds.'* You have the rights. You shouldn't be going to them for permission.'* We need to get government back to its proper role.'

At an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing yesterday, committee chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) also pressed the Obama administration on its fine-on-faith mandate. From the Energy and Commerce Committee:

'Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) highlighted a CRS memo that outlines possible penalties for religious employers that fail to comply with the HHS' mandate to cover drugs or services that violate their religious or moral convictions. 'In my state there's a hospital, Borgess Hospital, it is a part of the Ascension Hospital, and they employ 31,000 people. According to this CRS memo, Ascension is likely to be subject to fines over $1 billion.' Upton questioned how HHS would accommodate self-insured employers, such as Borgess Hospital, that the White House's 'accommodation' fails to protect. Secretary Sebelius provided no details regarding how these employers' conscience would be protected. Burgess responded, 'it bothers me that there will be a fine for faith.''

Abuse, murder in troubled Toledo: Notre Dame sister joins ranks of those accusing priest of sexual abuse; another cleric faces trial for 1980 killing of Mercy nun.(NATION) - National Catholic Reporter

Like Catholics everywhere, the faithful in Toledo, Ohio, have become somewhat inured to persistent media reports about priests sexually abusing children. But a Nov. 9 story in Toledo's daffy newspaper, The Blade, raised a few eyebrows. The headline read 'Nun 'called' to support reforms of abuse laws: Sister said she was assaulted by priest.'

Ann-Marie Borgess, 42, a longtime Sister of Notre Dame, voluntarily entered the spotlight with the claim that she was repeatedly abused as a girl by Chet Warren, a former priest of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. Borgess said she's now coming forward to support a bill pending in the Ohio legislature that would dramatically expand the statute of limitations for civil suits related to sexual abuse. The legislation, Senate Bill 17, would lengthen filing limitations from two to 20 years after the alleged victim turns 18 and it would establish a controversial 'look back' period of one year that would allow suits to be filed on abuse claims as old as 35 years. The bill received recent support from Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit (NCR, Jan. 20).

The latter provision has drawn intense objections from the Catholic Conference of Ohio, overseen by the state's bishops, which claims the look back period is unconstitutional and could encourage frivolous lawsuits that threaten the church's welfare.

In speaking up, Borgess is at odds with Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair. While it may be unusual for a nun from a conservative order to publicly buck her bishop on such a contentious issue, Borgess does so with the support of her provincial superior, Sr. Anne Mary Molyet. The superior effects diplomacy in saying her 'position is that I support Sr. Ann-Marie Borgess' decision to speak out.' She said neither she nor the community wishes to take a public position on the bill. By her own admission, Molyet faces a thorny political problem, so it is striking that she supports Borgess at all. That support comes with her endorsement of Borgess as 'a very courageous, wonderful religious woman' who is 'deeply prayerful and discerning.' Molyet said, 'It was the needs of children that brought [the Sisters of Notre Dame] into being.... [There's] a prophetic role to stand with the suffering, especially children.'

Hornet's nest

If the sisters' defiance seems unusual even in the context of the larger abuse scandal, it's hardly the most sensational turn in the events that have traumatized this midsize diocese over the last few years. Toledo has been a hornet's nest shaken by a vigorous daily newspaper and an active chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP. The city is, in fact, the birthplace of Barbara Blaine, SNAP's founder, who was abused as a girl in a local parish. A 2004 Oscar-nominated documentary was made about a Toledo abuse survivor. Reports of cooperation between the diocese and police to hush information about clerical abuse have surfaced. Most disturbing, perhaps, is the possibility of a ring of ritualistic abusers within the diocese. In one case, at least, it's clear the diocese initially withheld evidence in the investigation of a priest who will soon go to trial for the alleged murder of a nun.

The man accused of murder is Fr. Gerald Robinson, a diocesan priest who is scheduled to stand trial in April for the 1980 murder of the 71-year-old Catholic nun. Mercy Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl was strangled to death, stabbed up to 32 times and covered with an altar cloth in what many believe to be a Satanic/ritualistic killing. The murder took place in a Catholic hospital chapel on Holy Saturday 1980.

At the time, Robinson, the chaplain, was a prime suspect who took two lie detector tests and performed poorly on one. The cold case was reopened in December 2003 after events of byzantine complexity that eventually resulted in Robinson's arrest and indictment in spring 2004.

Then there's the story of Toledo firefighter Tony Comes, whose anguish is detailed in the 2005 Oscar-nominated documentary 'Twist of Faith.' The film takes a heartbreaking look at how Comes, now in his 30s, tries to cope with the abuse he suffered at the hands of former priest Dennis Gray in high school. On the verge of losing his marriage, health and sanity, Comes reluctantly entered into a $55,000 settlement with the diocese. One of the movie's most poignant scenes is when Comes returns to his new home only to discover that Gray, his former abuser, is living just four houses away. Comes takes his young daughter into his lap and tells her, with tears streaming down his face, what happened to him. Then he tells her never to go near Gray--even if she's bleeding badly and he claims to want to help her.

Comes said the movie touches people because the tragedy is universal: 'You could take me out of that movie and plug in just about any clerical abuse victim.'

There was always someone

According to retired Toledo police detective John Connors, Gray's abuse was known to the diocese in the 1980s. In addition to his work with the police department, Connors volunteered many years investigating clerical abuse for the diocese. Around 1986, he said he received a call from Fr. John 'Archie' Thomas, who was then superintendent of Catholic schools. Thomas was concerned that Gray was raping boys from Central Catholic High School and wanted to know what to do. Connors told Thomas to keep Gray away from kids. That was it--no report was ever filed.

According to a July 31 investigation by The Blade, this kind of cooperation between the diocese and law enforcement was the norm for many decades. 'I can tell you that there was always somebody [the diocese] could go to in the police department,' retired detective John Connors said. 'And I can tell you that, at one time, I was that man.' To date, 10 alleged Gray victims have settled lawsuits with the diocese. Even so, Auxiliary Bishop Robert Donnelly gave Gray a positive recommendation before he left the priesthood to work as a probation officer, a youth camp counselor and until a 2002 news expose, dean of students at a Toledo high school. Gray was never criminally charged. Donnelly remains auxiliary bishop.

There are three people arguably most responsible for uncovering Toledo's extraordinary abuse scandals. All three identify the others as having done the most for change. They are Barbara Blaine and Claudia Vercellotti, both of SNAP, and reporter Michael Sallah, formerly of The Blade. Blaine is the founder and president of SNAP. The role the group has played in the clerical abuse crisis is well known. What's less known about Blaine is that she was raised in Toledo, where her activism was prompted. Starting just before the 8th grade, Blaine says, she was abused by Chet Warren, the same priest implicated by Borgess and several others. Blaine first confronted Warren's religious order with her allegations 21 years ago in 1985; Warren was finally removed from ministry in 1992. Her intimate knowledge of the diocese continues to make her an effective advocate for change, but Blaine has often been at odds with the Toledo church. Shortly after the clerical scandals swept the nation in 2002, the former director of communications for the diocese, Fr. Thomas Quinn, now deceased, reportedly told a Blade writer he wanted to 'plant bombs' around Blaine at a speaking engagement. The diocese apologized for Quinn's remark shortly after that.

Claudia Vercellotti is Toledo's volunteer co-coordinator for SNAP. She helped start the Toledo chapter, the first in Ohio. Vercellotti has a background in criminal justice, social work and sociological research. She studied law until her involvement with SNAP overwhelmed her other interests. These pursuits strengthened her for SNAP, Vercellotti said, but she also claims '[SNAP] is the toughest advocacy I've ever done.' In early September, Vercellotti's advocacy got that much tougher when her apartment building burned down, destroying her personal belongings and all the records she kept for SNAP. According to Toledo fife officials, the severity of the blaze made its cause indeterminate.

Along with reporters Mitch Weiss and Joe Mahr, Sallah authored an expose about a rogue combat unit in Vietnam that earned The Blade the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism. Just prior to his work on the Vietnam story, however, Sallah was the driving force behind The Blade's comprehensive series about the Toledo diocese that appeared in December 2002. The series, called 'Shame, Sin, Secrets,' was a six-month undertaking responsible for exposing dozens of perpetrators and the diocese's decades-old pattern of covering the crimes. Early this year Sallah led two more large investigations involving the diocese. The first piece, cowritten with Weiss, was prompted by the Gerald Robinson saga. It explored questions about Satanic/ritualistic happenings within the diocese's religious community. The second piece, published in July, detailed how the diocese colluded with local law enforcement to whitewash sex abuse stretching back five decades. Sallah edited the series, written by his partners Weiss and Mahr. 'Without Mike Sallah,' said SNAP's Vercellotti, 'the diocese would still be saying 'There's no systemic problem here in Toledo.''

For several reasons, the Toledo diocese strikes some as troubled. This goes back to the negative exposure it's earned through repeated missteps, high profile legal cases like Robinson's and what some see as a longtime aversion to transparency.

Bizarre letter surfaces

Diocesan officials are saying little about clerical sexual abuse these days and next to nothing regarding the Robinson affair. The diocese repeatedly cites the judge's gag order as a reason for the silence. Still, victim advocates like Vercellotti think the diocese's motivation to keep quiet might have a lot to do with the criticism it has received regarding its handling of Robinson's case. 'They did everything they could to keep Robinson from coming under scrutiny,' said Vercellotti.

According to the case's lead prosecutor, Dean Mandros, the murder of Pahl was reopened by the cold case squad when they came into possession of a bizarre letter wherein a woman alleges graphic acts of Satanic/ritualistic abuse and murder perpetrated by a number of Toledo priests. One of the names contained in the letter was Robinson. The alleged victim first presented the letter June 11, 2003, to the diocesan board that reviews sexual abuse claims. Contents of the letter have been printed in The Blade and elsewhere. The handwritten letter claimed the woman was abused for years as a child in horrific ways, sexually and otherwise, by a satanic cult.

This 'Jane Doe' letter also names former priest Chet Warren, Barbara Blaine's abuser. On behalf of Warren, the diocese and the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales have paid Blaine and others monetary settlements. Blaine said she can't recall any ritualistic abuse from Warren, but both she and Vercellotti claim to know at least five alleged victims of Warren who identify such abuse. In fact, said the SNAP leaders, some of the alleged victims identify similar patterns, places and abusers as detailed in the Jane Doe letter, even though the victims would have no way of knowing one another. 'With some of the things they talk about,' said Vercellotti, 'it's like they're reading each other's marl.' In a Feb. 20, 2005, story Sallah and Weiss wrote for The Blade, the writers say four women told Toledo police about being ritually abused by clerics. Only one woman, Teresa Bombrys, was identified in the article by name. Bombrys also alleges abuse at the hands of Warren, for which she received a legal settlement.

Jane Doe's letter was presented to the diocesan review board on June 11, 2003. Robert Cooley, a licensed psychologist and review board member, took the position that there was a legal obligation to turn over this new information to the local prosecutor. However, Cooley was rebuffed in letters dated June 12 and June 27 from Tom Pletz, a diocesan attorney. Later that summer, Cooley was fired from the review board. Fr. Michael Billian, diocesan chancellor, was quoted as saying Cooley was dismissed for confidentiality issues.

Pletz's June 12 letter took the position that Cooley and the diocese didn't have a legal obligation to turn over the new allegations, in part because the woman's case file had been given to authorities in 2002. Pletz wrote, 'I can report that this person's diocesan rifle was reviewed by the Lucas County prosecutor's office last year. Its contents thus have already been reported to the proper legal authorities.' The lawyer also wrote that counselors--whether or not they are review board members--didn't have a legal responsibility to inform authorities about suspected child sexual abuse once the individual in question is older than 18. Jane Doe was beyond that age limit.

'Should have blazed a trail'

Pletz's letter said nothing about Jane Doe's murder allegations, a point that gets an angry reaction from Vercellotti: 'The diocese should have blazed a trail over to the prosecutor's office with that letter in hand on June 11 the second they got it. That letter went beyond new sex abuse allegations, beyond satanic abuse allegations--it contained murder allegations. I'd say that's something you should tell prosecutors.'

Assistant prosecutor John Weglian, chief of the special victims division, said he recalls some information from the woman's case being turned over (as Pletz's letter states) prior to June 11, 2003, but cannot recall precisely what it contained. Weglian is unequivocal, however, in stating he never saw the infamous Jane Doe letter until December 2003, when detective Steve Forrester from the police department's cold case squad approached him.

Forrester said he first received the letter on Dec. 3 from the Ohio attorney general's office and showed it to Weglian shortly thereafter. The letter piqued Forrester's interest in seeing the Robinson investigation reopened later that month. 'I knew Robinson was [the police's] prime suspect from 1980,' said Forrester.

The Ohio attorney general got the letter, said Vercellotti, because she took it to them with Jane Doe's permission in September. She did so, she said, because she believed it was clear the diocese intended to keep the explosive letter away from secular authorities after their attorney sent the two letters to Cooley. 'The letters they sent Cooley were meant to shut him up, plain and simple,' she said.

Retired detective John Connors was brought in to work on an internal investigation of Jane Doe's allegations for the diocese. Strangely, said Connors, it was at least a month after they got the letter--some time in July 2003--that he and another retired detective were asked to do the internal investigation. 'Even then,' said Connors, 'I thought that was a long time to wait.'

Pletz, the lawyer who advised the diocese on the Jane Doe letter, won't comment on his role in the affair. First, he claimed not to remember the woman's letter, despite the deluge of publicity surrounding the Robinson case. Pletz also cited the gag order in the Robinson trial and said he wouldn't comment even if he could recall the statement and his own subsequent advisory letters to the diocese. 'Whatever letters I wrote--if those are somehow public--I'm just going to let them speak for themselves,' said Pletz. The contents of the letters Pletz sent to the diocese showed up in news reports shortly after Robinson was arrested in April 2004.

At the time Jane Doe came forward with her letter in June 2003, the diocese was waiting for another bishop to be appointed in the wake of Bishop James R. Hoffman's death. Leonard Blair wouldn't be appointed to the role until December 2003, so the hierarchy consisted of Chancellor Fr. Michael Billian and Auxiliary Bishop Robert Donnelly. The chancellor is normally responsible for the day-to-day operations and, of the hierarchy, only Billian was 'carbon copied' on Pletz's letters. Billian did not return phone calls requesting comments for this article. Spokeswoman Sally Oberski said the diocese would not speak about the Robinson affair, so NCR was unable to ask about Donnelly's role in the matter.

Earlier, in August 2002, Hoffman signed a legal agreement with the Lucas County prosecutor's office that dictated how the diocese would deal with allegations of sexual abuse. Julia Bates, Lucas County prosecutor, claims the diocese had a legal obligation to turn over Jane Doe's letter in light of the special agreement it had with her office. 'That letter, I think, falls within the purview of the agreement and they should have forwarded that letter to this office,' said Bates.

There are also questions about how the diocese behaved after December 2003 when Lucas county prosecutors finally got the Jane Doe letter and reopened the Robinson investigation. Authorities asked the diocese to voluntarily turn over the records it had on Gerald Robinson but received only three pages. 'When we asked them if that was it,' said Detective Forrester, 'they told us yes.' Then, on Sept. 15, 2004, authorities returned with a warrant, and the diocese gave them more than 100 documents bearing Robinson's name. Another warrant was executed two days later, but Forrester said he can't discuss the documents seized in that search.

'Could refute good image'

Robinson's trial, scheduled for mid-April, almost two years after his arrest, promises to be a media circus. He has entered a not guilty plea. One of his attorneys, Alan Konop, declined to comment on the case, citing the gag order.

Speculation about the trial increased in November when Borgess, the nun who recently came forward to support the victim protection legislation, was identified on a list of potential witnesses for the prosecution. On Nov. 10, The Blade carried this headline: 'Prosecutor might quiz nun in priest's trial: Sister could be called to refute good image.' Neither the prosecutor's office, Robinson's attorneys, nor Borgess would comment to NCR about her potential role in the trial. No comment about this matter was cited by The Blade, either, but the prospect of Borgess testifying against Robinson adds another element of intrigue to the already sensational proceeding. The Blade has reported that Warren is on the prosecution's list of possible witnesses.

It was reported Jan. 7 that Blair had named a new chancellor to replace Billian. The significance of this isn't clear, but Oberski claimed the personnel change has nothing to do with Billian's role in the Robinson case. She said she couldn't comment on the case and cited the gag order after being told that Lucas county prosecutors say no one from the diocese ever gave them the Jane Doe letter prior to reopening the murder case. According to a diocesan news release, Billian will retain his administrative functions as episcopal vicar and moderator of the curia.

Meanwhile, Borgess is standing with Tony Comes, Claudia Vercellotti and Barbara Blaine in their effort to see Senate Bill 17 passed into law. Blair now presides over the diocese with Donnelly. Blair and Ohio's other bishops oppose SB 17, based primarily on the controversial provision that would open discovery for abuse claims up to 35 years old.

This comes as no surprise to Blaine. 'Aiding discovery of abuse is not something for which the Toledo diocese, or the church as a whole, deserves much praise,' she said.

Contracts Update.(contracts that health care information technology companies have signed with provider and payer organizations)(The University of Chicago Hospitals) - Health Data Management

The Contracts Update Department features announcements of recent contracts that health care information technology companies have signed with provider and payer organizations. Please send contract announcement news releases via e-mail to Senior Editor Beckie Kelly at rebecca.kelly-schuerenbergthomsonmedia.com.

Abbott Laboratories

Web-based data management system

Premier Inc., San Diego

Agfa

Picture archiving and communication system and computed radiography system

Adventist Health System, Winter Park, Fla.

Amicas Inc.

Picture archiving and communications system

The University of Chicago Hospitals

Bsquare

I.T. services

University of Washington Medicine, Seattle

Concuity Inc.

Revenue cycle management system

Swedish Medical Center, Seattle

Datawatch Corp.

Enterprise reporting system

Good Shepherd Health System, Longview, Texas

Eastman Kodak Co.

Picture archiving and communication system

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Md.

Eclipsys Corp.

Clinical information system

Calgary Health Region, Alberta, Canada

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York

Electronic Data Systems

I.T. management and operations

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Inc., Boston

Ensure Technologies

Security software

Community Health Partners, Lorain, Ohio

Sumner Regional Medical Center, Gallatin, Tenn.

Gold Standard Multimedia

PDA-based drug information software

Florida's Agency for Health Care

Administration, Jacksonville

ibex Healthdata Systems

Emergency department information system

Mount Clemens (Mich.) General Hospital

Info-X

Claims management system

Physician Practice Services, Northvale, N.J.

InstantDX LLC

Electronic prescription software

Lifespan, Providence, R.I.

Interactive Payer Network

Electronic data interchange connectivity and clearinghouse services

Compensation Programs of Ohio, Austintown

Enterprise Group Planning Inc., Cleveland

Kryptiq Corp.

Secure messaging application

Austin (Texas) Diagnostic Clinic

LanVision Systems Inc.

Web-based electronic medical records system

Pattie A. Clay Regional Medical Center, Richmond, Ky.

MC Strategies

Web-based management training services

MedAssets HSCA, St. Louis

Med3000 and Misys Healthcare Systems

Practice management, electronic medical records and data warehouse applications

Miller Orthopaedic Clinic, Charlotte, N.C.

Med-Data Management Inc.

Charge management and reporting system

Catholic Health Initiatives, Denver

Mediware Information Systems Inc.

Computerized physician order entry system

Jewish Hospital, Louisville, Ky.

MercuryMD

Mobile software

Carolinas HealthCare System, Research

Triangle Park, N.C.

Misys Healthcare Systems

Integrated practice management and electronic medical records systems

Advanced Women's Health Center, Spring Hill, Fla.

DeFuentes & Real, M.D., PA, Kissimmee, Fla.

Issaquah (Wash.) Medical Group

Low Country Health Care System, Fairfax, S.C.

Rivers Edge Family Medicine, Charlottesville, Va.

Marcos J. Valdez M.D., PA, McAllen, Texas

Wythe Medical Associates, Wytheville, Va.

Radiology and mammography information systems

Barton HealthCare System, South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Netsmart Technologies Inc.

Practice management and electronic medical records software

The Nevada Division of Children and Family Services, Las Vegas

Opus Healthcare Solutions Inc.

Web-based clinical documentation system

Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center, Las Vegas

Pegasystems Inc.

Customer service software

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island, Providence

Plexis Healthcare Systems Inc.

Claims processing software

Arrowhead Administrators, San Bernadino, Calif.

Precyse Solutions

Web-based medical transcription services

Beebe Medical Center, Lewes, Del.

Premier Healthcare Informatics

Clinical benchmarking system

Henry Ford Health System, Detroit

ProxyMed Inc.

HIPAA-compliant transaction services

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Wellesley, Mass.

Redwood Software Inc.

Automated reports management software

Sentara Healthcare, Norfolk, Va.

RelayHealth Corp.

Web-based physician-patient communications service

Newton-Wellesley Primary Care, Newton, Mass.

Quality Care Solutions Inc.

Managed care application

Molina Healthcare Inc., Long Beach, Calif.

Sentillion Inc.

Single-sign-on application

Children's Hospital and Medical Center, Cincinnati

Valley Medical Center, Renton, Wash.

Siemens Medical Solutions

Medical imaging technologies and information systems

The University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor

Picture archiving and communication system and network storage technology

Wyoming Valley Health Care System, Kingston, Pa.

Symantec Corp.

Intrusion protection, firewall and anti-virus technologies

Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, Philadelphia

Tumbleweed

E-mail firewall and encryption application

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Durham

Ultra-Scan Corp.

Biometrics technology

Catholic Health System, Buffalo, N.Y.

Verilet Inc.

Web portal technology

Scott & White Health Plan, Temple, Texas

Visicu Inc.

Electronic intensive care unit technology

Borgess Medical Center, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Kaleida Health, Buffalo, N.Y.

Websense Inc.

Security software

Sharp HealthCare, San Diego

Zix Corp.

Secure e-mail services

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles