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(04/20/12 1:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Free health screenings and preventative care tips will be offered to the Latino community at the fifth annual Health and Wellness Festival from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul Catholic Center. The Latino Health Fair is sponsored by Bienestar Latino Outreach, a program within Positive Link that provides education about and services for HIV/AIDS for the Latino Community. The fair is also sponsored by El Centro Comunal Latino, a grassroots organization that provides information about various resources for Spanish-speaking people. The health fair will start after regular Spanish mass at St. Paul’s. “Other than health screenings, we will have information about community resources so the community will be more aware about the services that they can use that are available to them,” said Ely Medina, health coordinator at El Centro. The fair will offer hearing and speech-language screenings, blood pressure pre-diabetes screenings, HIV testing, information about immunizations and nutrition, a cooking demonstration and a Zumba workout. “The Latino population actually has a higher rate in terms of diabetes and high cholesterol,” Medina said.“We also need to get tested for HIV, and we need that information because we are the second group at high risk for HIV. So we put out those facts, and then we motivate them to get to know their health.” Heydi Correa-Encarnacion, health educator with Bienestar, said the fair will also offer information about Alzheimer’s disease, strokes, cancer and Hoosier Healthwise, a health care program for low-income families, pregnant women and children. She also said this is the first year interpreters for Spanish speakers will be available at the festival. “I think it’ll be really beneficial and helpful for the people getting the services and the people coming to the fair,” she said. Elizabeth Lopez, a bilingual domestic violence advocate for Middle Way House, will hand out white bandanas for attendees as part of the Bandana Project, which raises awareness about sexual harassment and assault for migrant farm workers and in workplace environments. Last year, health fair attendees decorated the bandanas, which were hung at the Latino Cultural Center and the Monroe County Public Library. This year, the bandanas will be hung at El Norteno Restaurant in downtown Bloomington.“Migrant workers aren’t the only ones who face sexual harassment and sexual assault,” Lopez said. “It can happen in any environment, and it’s something that happens to both men and women.”
(04/19/12 1:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Thirteen years ago, Bloomington City Clerk Regina Moore saw firsthand how local firefighters respond to a fire.Although it was just a drill, seeing how firefighters work is one of the ways attendees of the Citizens’ Academy learn about Bloomington.For the 13th year, the city is offering free classes through the Citizens’ Academy.The classes, which will occur from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays from Aug. 16 to Oct. 11, also provide insight on how police, utilities, parks and recreation and other departments are operated. Applications for this year’s 30-member academy are now available on bloomington.in.gov and are due July 16. “It’s non-pressured learning,” Moore said. “I don’t know that there is anyone who has gone to the class and hasn’t enjoyed it. It’s really comfortable and fun.” The academy was started in 1999, the year Moore joined, by the Housing and Neighborhood Development Department to help neighborhood boards get a glimpse of the operations of City Hall, which is located in the Showers Building, and to be more informed about its work within the neighborhood community. “But it has grown beyond that,” said Vickie Provine, the program manager for the Housing and Development Department. “It really has grown to where a lot of people who are going to run for office will take it so they get a better feel for how the city is structured and how it works.” Graduates of the program include Mayor Mark Kruzan, educators, social service workers, county commissioners, future commissioners and new Bloomington citizens who want to know more about local government.Provine said the academy does not cost the city very much because information for the classes is provided online and staff members from city departments donate their time for presentations and tours.Susan Sandberg, city council vice president, graduated from the academy in 2005.“What I most appreciated were the site visits,” she said in an email. “Seeing the operations at the water treatment plant was a first step in my education. City infrastructure is costly and complex, and knowing that in advance of my service on the Bloomington City Council was invaluable.”Nearby cities that have similar academies for citizens include Columbus, Ind., Greenfield, Ind., Noblesville, Ind., and Fort Wayne. “The great thing is that we keep having individuals who are just better-informed of how the city operates, to have that information to share with others or to even help others understand how they utilize city services,” Provine said.Moore said the classes made her appreciate what it takes to operate Bloomington and how police officers and firefighters do their job. “I think what it does is it really opens the eye to citizens and to exactly what government and services they’re paying for,” she said.
(04/18/12 1:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Eleven portraits of Indiana foster kids are displayed at the entrance of Bloomington Meadows Hospital.The faces belong to only a few of the 300 foster children currently in Indiana who need a home. The pictures are part of the Indiana Heart Gallery, a traveling exhibit sponsored by the Department of Child Services which raises awareness for foster children. The first gallery originated in New Mexico, and there are now more than 120 in the nation. Professional photographers take the pictures. The Bloomington Meadows Hospital, a behavioral treatment center for children, adolescents and adults, started featuring the exhibit April 15, and it will be on display until April 27. Viewing hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. This is the third year the hospital has had the Gallery. “The Gallery certainly puts real faces on the sometimes abstract category of ‘foster’ kids,” DCS Communications Director Rich Allen said in an email.Allen said during the last fiscal year, 14 children were removed from the Indiana Heart Gallery and were put into “permanency” plans — an independent living arrangement or a pre-adoptive home. “The child welfare system has, for the most part, been regulated by confidentiality laws,” Allen said. “Showing pictures of kids who have been abused or neglected and are available for adoption, like the Heart Gallery does, is a relatively new, ground-breaking idea.” Hospitals are a popular setting for the exhibits to be displayed because people have spare time while they’re waiting to see a loved one or are taking a break from an extended stay in a family member’s room, he said. “Because we serve so many children through the services we provide, it is only natural that we would want to do all we can to help them find a home,” said Maranda Richardson, business development director for Bloomington Meadows Hospital. “We’ve had a lot of different foster parents that come through our doors,” Richardson said .Terry Comstock, who owns TEC Photography in Bloomington, took one of the portraits and has been on call to take Heart Gallery photos for no charge. “A lot of these children have had a really hard time,” he said. “It’s sad for them to be in a situation where they need a new home.”
(04/12/12 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>About 100 people gathered inside Garton Hall at Saint Marks United Methodist Church to listen to the five candidates for Indiana’s 9th Congressional District debate the issue of health care in the United States. The “Community Health Care Conversation” was sponsored by Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan and the League of Women Voters for Bloomington Monroe County.The candidates, who were asked to avoid campaign speeches and distributing campaign materials, included Democrats Jonathan George, Shelli Yoder, John Miller, John Tilford and Robert Winningham. “We believe that it’s time for the U.S. to create a modern health care system like the rest of the developed democracies and capitalists democracies in the world and create a national health program where everyone is included,” said Karen Stone, the coordinator for community education and outreach for HCHP. HCHP Director Rob Stone showed PowerPoint slides that compared the amount of money the U.S. spends on health care to how much other democratic countries spend. “That’s a really big problem for a number of reasons,” he said. “And that really sets us apart as a nation.” Audience members were given a chance to write questions on notecards that Rob gave each candidate to answer. “This is sort of us coming together when we all have a keen interest in taking care of each other, but then we’re speaking amongst the choir,” George said. “I don’t think it’s a contentious issue with any of us.”Winningham, who said his family once had a hard time paying medical bills, said, “There’s a certain unfairness that we’re dealing with as a family.” Yoder, associate director of professional development of the IU Kelley School of Business, said health care is a right and not a privilege and that health care and jobs go hand in hand. “You should get it as a human right,” Miller said. “That’s where I stand on that. I don’t really feel like government is serving us right at all, and I want to make sure that the congressman we elect in Southern Indiana is going to make a difference and change things in Washington.” Both Miller and Yoder said people need to fight together to bring change. But Tilford said Congress will not likely pass a single-payer plan.George said it takes a good leader to overcome failures and setbacks, and he will inspire confidence and winning. “That comes down to you, folks,” he said. “I don’t want people to talk away from this discouraged, thinking that we’re going to give up.” The last question Rob asked is why the candidates believe the Affordable Care Act is unpopular. “I kind of hope it gets overturned, which is probably heresy amongst Democrats,” Tilford said. Jonathan said the ACA has gotten slammed by people who don’t have invested interested in seeing the health care system changed. “Change is scary,” Winningham said. Yoder asked the audience members to close their eyes and say the word “mandate” to themselves and then to say “option.” “How different that feels,” she said. “You tell people what to do, they don’t want to do it. You give them the option, they like to do it.” Monroe County Commissioner Mark Stoop said he expected the candidates to insert political statements. “Overall, they focused on health care,” Stoop said. “I appreciated that they stuck to the message that single-payer is the way to go.”
(04/10/12 3:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Monroe County ranked in the top 18 percent of all Indiana counties in terms of overall health, according to a recent annual report released by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The county was number 17 of the 92 Indiana counties ranked in the annual report, which has been published since 2010 in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving health and health care in the United States. The health outcomes used to assess each county included morbidity and mortality, which measures people’s health and how long they will live. More than 3,000 counties in the U.S. are ranked annually by health outcomes, as well as health factors — behaviors, availability and quality of care, environment and socioeconomic demographics.“These issues are not for local health departments and the medical community only,” said Gregory Larkin, health commissioner for the Indiana State Department of Health. “Many factors influence our health, like our levels of education and income, our access to healthy nutritious foods and our access to smoke-free air to breathe.” The amount of adults who smoke in Monroe County dropped slightly from 21 percent in 2011 to 20 percent this year. Since May 2011, the Monroe County Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Coalition has worked to prevent and reduce tobacco use in Monroe County. The coalition offers several tobacco cessation classes throughout the county at places such as IU Health Bloomington Hospital, the Volunteers in Medicine clinic and the IU Health Center. This year’s report also shows that 17 percent of adults in Monroe County are uninsured. This is compared to 25 percent in the 2011 report. Carol Weiss-Kennedy, director of the community health program at IU Health Bloomington Hospital, said the hospital has three key programs to improve community health, including access to care. “We developed a program called Individual Solutions, and they have staff that screen people who need health care or need health insurance,” she said. “They screen them for what programs are available, so it might be Healthy Indiana Plan or one of the Medicare programs which those people might be eligible for. That’s been one IU Health program that I think really contributed to the rankings.” In the last couple of years, the Individual Solutions department has expanded, Weiss-Kennedy said. The percentage of Monroe County women who received mammograms was 70 percent in this year’s report, which rose from 60 percent in last year’s ranking.Jon Mills, the director of marketing and communications for Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana performed more than 14,000 breast exams that led to thousands of referrals.Jo Hargesheimer, social work coordinator for the Volunteers in Medicine, said the clinic, which opened in April 2007, offers both mammograms and diabetic screenings. The annual report shows 84 percent of Monroe County adults received diabetic screenings. “This report is an annual check-up of the health of our counties,” Larkin said. “It is a tool to help us create a healthier Indiana.”
(04/05/12 4:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>More than five children die every day in the United States as a result of child abuse. But in 2011, 399 abused and neglected children were served by Monroe County Court Appointed Special Advocates, volunteers who are appointed by judges to represent child victims of physical and sexual abuse and neglect. The National CASA Association is a network of 955 programs in the U.S., including Monroe County CASA, which was launched in 1983 and funded by grants and in-kind contributions from the City of Bloomington and legal and child advocate organizations. After an interview and application process, volunteers are trained for 35 hours during a five-week period and are educated about the functions of the legal system as well as the social dysfunctions of abuse. Once a case, which is reported to the Indiana Department of Child Services, is taken by a judge, the CASA program is notified, and a volunteer is given a child’s case. CASA volunteers also gather information about the child’s situations and may talk to parents, family members, friends, teachers, doctors and others who know the child. Through investigation and data collection, such as written records or reports, the advocates will then report to the court and make recommendations for the child’s future. “What they do is speak in the best interest of the child,” said Kristin Bishay, director of Monroe County CASA and former volunteer. “There’s a big difference between that and speaking for the child.” For cases that involve parental termination with the child, CASA will often appoint an attorney to give them legal protection. Those cases, Bishay said, tend to be contentious. Former Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Viola Taliaferro, who was a judge in juvenile court before retiring in 2004, said attorneys for the CASA volunteers also provide legal protection for the child. Taliaferro said because they provide information to the court, CASA volunteers don’t require legal training. “If the child says to the attorney, ‘I don’t want to go home, no matter what my mom or dad will say,’ the attorney may feel differently,” Taliaferro said. “That would not be a question of best interest.” By law, children who are victims of abuse or neglect are required to have a CASA, or a Guardian Ad Litem, which is another volunteer role that entails the same duties of a CASA. Les Wadzinski, who has been a CASA volunteer for a year and works as a adjunct professor for the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, has been working on a single case since he was first appointed by the judge. “It’s a long, slow process,” he said. “The bureaucracy sort of slows things up. It gets in the way sometimes. It’s a double-edged sword.” The Child Abuse Hotline, operated by the Indiana Child Abuse Services, was created in 2010 for people to report suspected cases of child abuse. The allegations must meet the statutory definitions of child abuse and neglect, and the report must contain enough information to identify the child’s whereabouts. DCS can’t legally make an assessment of the report if a particular incident doesn’t warrant an investigation.Wadzinski, who devotes about 20 hours a month as a CASA volunteer, said advocates should be prepared to be patient and to face difficult situations. “But also you know that you’re making a difference in some kid’s life, and you’re getting them to go down the right path,” he said.
(04/03/12 2:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Working together for hunger relief.” Those were the words spread across a truck, which was dubbed Wally, parked in front of the Bloomington Walmart this weekend. As part of the Feeding America charity, Walmart and Hoosier Hills Food Bank partnered for a two-day food drive in which volunteers handed out lists of grocery items for customers to donate. Food donations were then stored in Wally and taken back to Hoosier Hills. The food drive raised 4,267 pounds worth of food. Jake Bruner, office and development manager of Hoosier Hills, said the goal was to collect 2,000 pounds. Hoosier Hills Executive Director Julio Alonso said there has been a higher demand for food donations and that they have not lasted as long as they used to. “We’ve had to do more to supplement so that we’ve got more food on hand to distribute,” he said. In the last six years, Hoosier Hills has bought food from retailers for a discounted price through Feeding America, a national network of food vendors and charities. This is one of the ways Hoosier Hills has gathered food, Bruner said. “Also, one of our concerns was that we weren’t going to have enough volunteers for this food drive,” Bruner said. However, Alonso said the event was successful and that they were pleased with the outcome. “I think we’ve got a pretty generous and active community here, and we rely heavily on volunteers because we’ve got a pretty small staff to do what we do,” Alonso said. Bruce Murray, who works at Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County as a volunteer recruiter for AmeriCorps, a federal program that offers charitable services, went with a friend on Friday to volunteer at the food drive. He said he heard about the event through the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network. “One of the requirements of that is to spend one afternoon per month helping one nonprofit,” Murray said. Alonso said Hoosier Hills and Walmart will probably work together again next year.
(03/30/12 2:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>’Tis the season to make Bloomington a better place to live. That’s why the Housing and Neighborhood Development for the City of Bloomington is sponsoring its 12th “Blooming Neighborhoods” Awards Celebration for local neighborhoods that have demonstrated efforts to form neighborhood communities through programs or projects. The awards have three categories: the Mayor’s Excellence Award, the City Council Neighborhood Enhancement Award and the HAND Team of the Year Award. In the past, neighborhoods received honorable mentions. Each award winner receives $100 that goes toward the program and project within the association. Applications are due April 16, and the celebration will start at 10 a.m. June 2 at the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market, where neighborhood associations can set up tables to share information with others. “What we really want to do is recognize the great work our neighborhoods do in Bloomington,” said Vickie Provine, the program manager for HAND. “The city of Bloomington is such a wonderful place to live, and a lot of people are working hard to make the quality of life in the neighborhoods.” Last year, Blue Ridge Neighborhood Association won the Mayor’s Excellence Award for designing a website that offers information for neighborhood events and a password-protected directory, which replaced the directory that was distributed once a year. The website continues to get nearly 50 hits a month, which was a high frequency for a neighborhood of about 200 houses, said Ben Motz, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences who spearheaded the start-up for the website. Motz said applicants should demonstrate that their project has a positive effect. “In other words, include some measure of (or some way to measure) the project’s success,” he said in an email. “The city is more impressed with applications that include program evaluation measures than those where the applicant is merely speculating that the project will work.” Last year, Crescent Bend Neighborhood Association won the City Council Neighborhood Enhancement Award, which is given for projects that have promoted sustainability or improved the neighborhood’s appearance. Carrie Winkel, chair for the Neighborhood Watch Committee, said the association applied at the behest of Provine but also because the association had “overcome some major hurdles and had actively sought to enhance our neighborhood, not just in appearance.” Two artisans from the neighborhood helped build a neighborhood welcome sign. The neighborhood also had a clean-up day last year and picked up road trash from West 17th to North Monroe streets and North Crescent Road to West Vernal Pike. “I believe that we were awarded for our continued efforts to improve our neighborhood by acquiring our unique sign, instigating a neighborhood watch, by trying to keep up with unsightly street trash and by always keeping safety a top priority,” Winkel said. Near West Side Neighborhood Association won for reforming the association by electing new members and for planting trees and adding public gardening, said Veda Stanfield, who was the association’s president when they won the award. Provine said the celebration at the Farmers’ Market is a good way for neighborhoods to share ideas about community projects. “The main thing we’re wanting to do is help share information from those people who are doing all the work to make it happen,” she said.
(03/28/12 2:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jean Capler, a licensed social worker and gay-rights activist, is passionate about her work. That might be why the National Association of Social Workers named Capler the Indiana Chapter’s Region 6 Social Worker of the Year. In honor of Professional Social Work Month, the award recognizes social workers who have demonstrated leadership in south-central Indiana. Capler specializes in helping members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, as well as people with brain traumas. She began working as a clinical social worker in 2000 at IU Health Bloomington Hospital Psychiatric and Counseling Services. While a social worker and psychotherapist at Hamilton Center in Spencer, Ind., she started her own private practice. Capler is also an associate professor in the School of Social Work. She earned her bachelor’s degree in zoology and her master’s degree in biology at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill. While attending IU part-time to pursue her master’s degree in social work, she worked as a full-time employee consultant at Stone Belt, a nonprofit that provides services for people with disabilities. “That was a really great background for a social work degree because it gave me a chance to work with a variety of populations — family, employers and really peeking into different people’s lives,” Capler said. Her biology degree also comes in handy when dealing with brain-traumatized patients, she said. But students and colleagues know her best for her advocacy in the GLBT community. In May 2011, she co-founded FairTalk, a grassroots group in Bloomington that fights for equal rights for GLBT citizens. When House joint resolution 6 passed last year, beginning the process to amend the state constitution to recognize only marriages between one man and one woman, Capler and FairTalk Vice President Kristi McCann began to organize the group. Capler and McCann have known each other nearly eight years, and recently, Capler has helped McCann kick-start a social service agency, which has not yet been established.“She has such a passion for what she does,” McCann said. “She has given me advice for my own life and has such a calming way of seeing things. She’s so matter-of-fact and down-to-earth.” Senior Dustin Nisley, a social work major, said he took a social work class taught by Capler a year ago. Nisley is also a social work intern for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services, where Capler supervises one of the counselors. Nisley said Capler was apt at helping students as best as she could. “She was just very open with students,” he said. “She has helped me tremendously, not necessarily through personal contact but just being a role model. She was willing to tell us about her sexuality and that was really hopeful for me.” Capler said people from the GLBT community are still treated as second-class citizens even though they pay their taxes like everybody else. “One of the things I love about social work is that we’re very clear about our values and ethics,” Capler said. “And one of our values in the profession is social justice and working to achieve social justice in the world, and valuing each person as an individual.” Working with the GLBT community is Capler’s way of achieving social justice, she said. Recently, Capler has become involved locally in protests about Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed in February by a neighborhood watchman in Florida.Moving forward, Capler plans to continue working for gay rights and also wants to focus more on her private practice.“The work that I do I love,” she said. “The work with FairTalk is a passion of mine. I love teaching. So I may be very busy, but I love everything I’m doing.”
(03/27/12 1:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Women may no longer need annual pap smears. New guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent advisory panel for clinical services, and the American Cancer Society, along with two other medical societies, recommend that healthy women ages 21 to 29 only need cervical cancer screenings every three years. It is the first update for screenings since 2003. In 2009, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended annual pap tests for women younger than 21.Women who have had the HPV vaccine, Gardasil or Cervarix, still should have pap smears every three years, according to the recommendations, because not all types of cervical cancers are prevented by the vaccines. The guidelines also recommend that women ages 30 to 65 have cervical cancer screenings along with HPV testing every five years instead of a screening every three years. This is the first time “co-testing” has been recommended for women.Right now, private insurance plans and Medicare pay for annual pap smears. But Jyll Hopkins, women’s health nurse practitioner at Southern Indiana Physicians for Women in Bloomington, said insurance companies will probably begin covering what is now recommended. “It’s going to get to the point where they’ll say, ‘Why did you give a pap to this patient, it’s an unnecessary screening,’” Hopkins said. Unnecessary screenings and pap smears for women, especially those younger than 21, can lead to more harms than benefits. Although there is little evidence for why cervical cancer screenings can be harmful, Hopkins said, any procedure comes with risks.Surgical procedures which can sometimes follow pap screenings that do not appear to be normal can harm a woman’s child-bearing abilities, Hopkins said. She said women should still be screened.A recent study published in the Milbank Quarterly, a journal that publishes research and policy review, found that the rate of cervical cancer rates were the same in the United States as in the Netherlands even though women in the U.S. had four times as many pap smears. Junior Lauryn Roberts, 21, said she had been given multiple reasons by clinics for being denied a pap smear. “I was told I couldn’t have one because I hadn’t been sexually active long enough and, the second time, because I wasn’t 21,” she said. “Either way, I wanted to be reassured there was nothing wrong, and they weren’t able to give me that.” Hopkins said the new recommendations might be hard to follow for older patients. “It’s just a habit that women have always been told that they need a pap every year so it’s just a challenge,” she said. “That’s what they’ve been doing for quite a few years.”
(03/26/12 12:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Tammie Lawrence, an employee at Cook Medical, woke up one day and couldn’t speak clearly. It was the first time she had experienced the problem, and it continued for a few days. In 2009, doctors first diagnosed her with a stroke. But a spinal tap — a procedure that extracts fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord — found that she had multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that disrupts the communication within the brain and between the body and the brain. That same year, Lawrence helped start a support group in Bloomington for people whose lives have been affected by MS. On Saturday morning, the group sponsored an MS Walk in honor of March, which is both National MS Education and Awareness Month and Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Participants paid a minimum $10 fee and could walk one mile or three miles starting from the main Ivy Tech Community College campus. The event raised $2,906, and the money will go to the National MS Society. About 8,000 people in Indiana alone are diagnosed with MS, according to the society.“It’s just a day-to-day not knowing how you’re going to wake up, or not being able to see or wake up not being able to walk,” Lawrence said. “It’s all those unknown things that really affect the people mentally who have MS.” The severity of MS varies from person to person. Right now, Lawrence takes a daily injection called Copaxone, which costs her and her husband more than $30,000 a year. Mark Frederick, who attended the walk but does not go to the support group meetings because he lives in Bloomfield, Ind., works full-time at the Crane Division for the U.S. Navy. Although Frederick can walk occasionally and drive, on Saturday he was in a wheelchair. Frederick was diagnosed with MS three years ago. “I started twisting my ankles a lot and falling, and would be standing up and just all a sudden you’d be falling,” he said. “You’d think lightning had struck you.” The most common symptoms for MS include numbness, loss of balance, blurred vision and weakness in one or more limbs. John Kehrberg, 57, said MS has caused him to speak more slowly, a less common symptom of the disease. “I couldn’t even feed myself,” said Kehrberg, who was diagnosed in 1984 when he lived in Chicago. Two years later, he quit his job as a civil engineer and moved to Bloomington, where he lives by himself. “One thing is that I don’t look like I have MS,” he said. “But as I walk around, I get worse as I get tired. If I park at the handicapped spot, people look at me funny. I look fine.” Linda Brinson, who walked on Saturday for her younger sister, who was diagnosed nearly 20 years ago, said people couldn’t tell that her sister had MS. “People didn’t get it,” she said. Brinson said she tries to get involved in any event that raises awareness of MS. “It’s emotional but positive, too,” Brinson said. “It’s nice seeing people work, and I’d love for her to be here.” Lawrence said she hopes the MS Walk will become an annual event in Bloomington. “It really is an unknown disease that affects not only the person who has it but the families,” she said. “So it changes lives, not just mine, but it changes everyone’s that gets affected by it.”
(03/23/12 2:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indiana school corporations will be able to negotiate with private alternative schools to teach students who have not been successful in a traditional classroom setting. SB 283, authored by Rep. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, will allow private schools to pay state-supported tuition in exchange for the opportunity to teach troubled students. “Many of them have been in jail. Many of them have been on drugs and alcohol,” Kruse said. “They’re thieves, they commit crimes, they hang out on the streets, they’re delinquents, and they cause a lot of trouble.” The bill also requires the Indiana Department of Education to waive accreditation standards for private alternative schools that offer services for students who have dropped out of high school, have been expelled or were not successful in the school corporation.Kruse said students who receive education through an alternative program would earn a normal high-school diploma, and the scores they receive for ISTEP, the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress, would not be counted against the public school corporation. “It’s a special mission, a special cause, and I think it takes the right kind of person to want to do this and the right kind of teachers to want to deal with these kinds of kids, too,” Kruse said. Currently, there are no private alternative programs in Bloomington. The Monroe County Community School Corporation, which operates Bloomington High School North and Bloomington High School South, has a public dropout prevention program called Bloomington Graduation School. “I don’t predict that we could have a need to use this option, but it’s nice to have other options to consider,” said Janice Bergeson, the director of Secondary Education at MCCSC.Waiving accreditations standards for non-public alternative programs would render minimal costs for IDOE. Chuck Mayfield, a fiscal analyst for the Legislative Services Agency in Indiana, said the funding per student could cost almost $8,200 and depends on what part of the state the program is located and how many students are enrolled. “We support efforts that help kids who have dropped out of school make it back to a classroom setting,” IDOE Press Secretary Alex Damron said. “This bill aids that process."
(03/20/12 1:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Children’s Therapy Center at IU Health-Bloomington Hospital has a new way of rehabilitating patients with spinal cord injuries.The center was recently awarded a $6,800 Quality of Life grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aids in curing spinal injuries.The award was one of 76 grants that added up to almost $450,000 for more than 100 organizations nationwide. The Quality of Life grants are awarded twice every year to nonprofit organizations and projects dedicated to improving the lives of people who live with paralysis or other spinal cord injuries.The grant for the Children’s Therapy Center has helped fund a 30-foot Solo-Step System. The system can be portable or mounted to the ceiling on a track, which is attached to a lanyard and allows the therapist to try to improve the patient’s gait long-term. The full amount of the grant was spent on the Solo-Step System, said Pam Felts, manager at the Children’s Therapy Center. Patients have already begun using the new equipment, she said. “I saw a kiddo run for the first time after a traumatic brain injury from a car accident,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. It was like he was free.” There are no additional fees for patients at the center to use the system, Felts said. Jameson Russell, a chiropractor at the Bloomington Chiropractic Center, said a concern for practitioners during rehabilitation is the safety and stability of patients. “Most patients have poor balance and coordination to begin with, which means the doctor must give a majority of their attention to making sure the patient doesn’t have any preventable accidents,” Russell said in an email.The Solo-Step System allows the doctor more freedom to focus on the exercises and treatment, Russell said.The Children’s Therapy Center takes patients from birth to age 21 who need speech and occupational therapy.
(03/19/12 2:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The number of Indiana high school students passing Advanced Placement exams increased in the 2010-11 school year, according to data released by the Indiana Department of Education earlier this month.Overall, 61 percent of high schools’ AP exam pass rates increased. Since 2008, the number of high school graduates passing AP exams has increased more than 40 percent, and the number of students taking AP exams increased more than 60 percent, according to the Indiana Department of Education.Students who receive a score of 3, 4 or 5 out of 5 on AP exams receive college credit in Indiana. Indiana ranks second in the nation for its increase in graduates passing AP tests.The school with the most success on AP tests was Signature School in Evansville, where 90 percent of graduates passed the exams.“We provide the expectations and the support on a state level, but it also comes down to the local level and teachers doing a good job in the classroom and the administrators providing that support for AP classes,” said Joseph Cortes-Gurule, press secretary for the Indiana Department of Education.The number of Bloomington High School South students taking AP exams has doubled in the last five years. Almost 70 percent of students taking exams received a passing score three years ago. That number has dropped as more students have started to take more rigorous course work, said Joe Doyle, one of the school’s assistant principals. The high school offers 10 AP exams, Doyle said. The school also offers dual-credit courses, which count for both college and high school credit. “We have a college-going culture here,” Doyle said. “Students are encouraged to think about college, and they are surrounded by peers attending IU, so they realize that college is attainable.” Sean Faalzada, an IU freshman studying finance and marketing, said that when he attended Bloomington High School North, teachers and staff members encouraged students to take AP tests. “I also remember that the course curriculum was more focused on ‘teaching for the test’ rather than making sure the material was well-taught,” he said in an email. Faalzada did not receive college credit for AP classes but many of his friends did, he said.“In my opinion, the school did too much to prepare for the tests and not enough to help the students develop the skills necessary to succeed in real life,” he said. Doyle said the faculty agree that there are a variety of reasons students should have access to AP course work. “We reassured our teachers that a drop in the percentage of students who pass each AP exam is less important than having more students have access to the curriculum,” he said.
(03/07/12 4:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After tornados devastated towns in southern Indiana last weekend, volunteers from the Monroe County chapter of the American Red Cross arrived to provide relief. On Tuesday, local philanthropists and citizens gathered for breakfast at the KRC Catering banquet hall. Some of those attendees and other volunteers were honored for the Annual Heroes Campaign. The campaign, which kicked off Red Cross Month, honors heroes who have raised $1,000 or more for the organization.The campaign is a national effort for each chapter to reach its target goal for fundraising. This year, the Bloomington chapter is attempting to raise $4,000. For every $100 a person donates, a hand-sewn stuffed puppy is given to a child living in a post-disaster environment. The Heroes Campaign also honors American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, who died in 1912, and other women in philanthropy. Linda Prall, owner of Kilroy’s, KRC Catering and Smokin’ Jack’s Rib Shack, is the chairperson for the Heroes fundraiser. This year is the sixth the Red Cross has promoted the campaign.Three volunteers at the event gave testimonies to more than 100 audience members about how the Red Cross has affected their lives.Jenny Tracy, who was raised in a military family and recently married a sergeant from the National Guard, said the American Red Cross and the military combine to provide disaster relief. “The American Red Cross makes a big difference,” Tracy said. “We are here to celebrate that today. Together, we’re all proud, we’re impactful, we’re committed, we’re supportive and damn right we’re scared. The one final, common thread is we’re all heroes.”Donna Peters gave a testimony of her trip to Henryville, Ind., with six Red Cross volunteers during the weekend. She said the destroyed land was “a lot like you see on TV, but it’s panoramic.” “But what you can’t see on TV is the look in people’s eyes,” she said. “Everyone wanted to talk, but they were in a state of shock.” Peters said it was hard to tell who was giving the supplies or who was taking them because people in the community were helping each other. “They have nothing,” she said. “It’s going to be a long time there until those people can rebuild, and I just don’t want us to forget.” Volunteer Tracy Young gave the final speech, which caused some members in the audience to cry. Young has been a volunteer with the disaster relief services at the American Red Cross for 12 years. She recounted her experiences as a disaster relief volunteer in St. Lucie County, Fla., where two hurricanes in 2004 hit the county within two weeks. During the weekend, Young also visited southern Indiana to provide supplies. “Sometimes all they need is a hug and someone to hear their stories and to listen what they’re going through,” she said.Young said she feels fortunate because disaster can affect anyone. “Who’s to say that won’t be me one of these days,” she said. “I’m comforted to know that if I am in their place, the Red Cross will be there for me.
(03/06/12 2:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>State Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, and Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, gave a legislative update to the public Saturday at the City Council Chambers in the Showers Building. About 20 Bloomington residents attended. It was the third and final legislative update coordinated by the League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County for the current Indiana Legislative Session. All of the bills that are going to be considered by Gov. Mitch Daniels have been approved by the House and Senate for the current session, which ends March 14. Simpson said the controversial right-to-work bill was divisive and bipartisan, and she said she didn’t know how it would affect the rest of the session. “People would actually put those bad feelings aside and get to work and do something that is really important for the people of Indiana,” Simpson said. The first bill that was signed by Daniels just before the Super Bowl will provide greater legal protection for victims of human trafficking who are younger than 16, but Simpson said more needs to be done to address domestic servitude. Other bills Simpson said would have the greatest public effect include HB 1376, which allows $6 million for the victims of the stage collapse at the State Fair last August. That same bill also allows $80 million to be appropriated for school corporations that charge parents for kindergarten tuition.Simpson also said a bill that will tighten regulations on the chemicals used in bath salts was an important part of the session, as well as the lifeline legislation and the statewide smoking ban, which Simpson sponsored. Amendments for bills that would regulate church day-care facilities and tweak the way public schools are funded were turned down, Simpson said. “I think we had an opportunity to do something really good for children this year,” she said. “Children were totally left out of this process.” Pierce said the biggest issue that the Indiana House Democratic Caucus contested last week was whether the Department of Child Services was doing an effective job. A hotline was created to receive calls for cases of child neglect and abuse, but Democratic legislators have questioned whether that measure is enough. Republican legislators agreed to a study committee to investigate reports of child abuse. “We at least made some progress there, very little,” Pierce said. “And I am hoping that maybe more can be done before we adjourn.” Audience members were given one minute to ask questions or make comments.Sue Wanzer, a member with the Board of Trustees for the Monroe County Community School Corporation, thanked the legislators and the Indiana General Assembly for their work to improve public education. “I feel like it’s an uphill battle,” Wanzer said. “It at times gets frustrating, but it’s very gratifying to have you two support us and help us figure out what we need to do.”
(02/28/12 3:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Flu cases have remained low in Indiana this season, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. Two weeks ago, sporadic activity of the flu hit 15 U.S. states, including Indiana. Kim Gines, director of health services for the Monroe County Community School Corporation, said health aides at local public schools have not reported anything out of the ordinary from previous years. Most schools have had symptoms of stomachaches, vomiting and sore throats, but no confirmed flu cases, she said. The policy for sick individuals at MCCSC schools states that students must remain home until they have been off medicine and not had a fever for 24 hours.“So quite possibly, we are preventing illness by limiting exposure to a sick person, and it may be that more students are taking advantage of getting the flu shot,” Gines said. This influenza season began the first week of October 2011, said Shawn Richards, an epidemiologist for the ISDH. Flu cases usually peak in February.The latest report for flu activity in Indiana was published Feb. 22. A statewide system for monitoring Indiana emergency rooms reported a low percentage of influenza-like illnesses for the previous week.Alec Mayer, principal at St. Charles Catholic School in Bloomington, said more than 60 students were absent due to sickness and that 10 teachers were sick Monday through Thursday. Eighteen of the absent students had flu-like symptoms, he said. “We were hit pretty hard,” he said. “I think we’re through it, but we got hit pretty hard.” Like MCCSC, St. Charles also enforces an illness policy that students and teachers must be fever-free or medicated 24 hours before they can return to school. Mayer said they have made other efforts to reduce possible bacteria in the air. Total release foggers, from a company called Saniguard, were used to sanitize rooms in the school building. Teachers were also asked to stay after school and sanitize common areas. Jeffrey Katz, head of Bloomington Montessori School, said the school has had a normal influenza season and that kids have experienced flu-like symptoms. Six influenza vaccine manufacturers are projecting that almost 200 million doses of the influenza vaccine will be available in the United States for the 2011-12 influenza season. People with the flu always experience a fever, but other symptoms can include coughing, a sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue and nausea. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that flu vaccines be taken annually and before December.
(02/28/12 3:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Nonprofits thrive on donations. Donations are the reason the City of Bloomington Arts Commission’s 2012 Arts Project Grant Program has been able to increase its funds for grants. The grant program, which began about 10 years ago, awards up to $1,000 per project for each eligible applicant. This year, applicants have until April 2 to apply for the first cycle. The deadline for the second cycle is Oct. 1. Applicants must be able to match the award amount and demonstrate that the project cultivates diverse art activities within the community and a high level of artistry. The most important component of the project is how it will benefit the public, said Miah Michaelsen, City of Bloomington’s assistant economic development director for the arts. She also listed components such as project quality and the artists or artists’ organizations ability to carry out the projects.“That is a primary consideration for them,” Michaelsen said. This year, the commission has $20,000 in grants to award, which is $5,000 more than last year. On average, the program funds 12 projects per year. However, the number of applicants per year has increased, Michaelsen said. The Arts Commission will offer a workshop for potential applicants to the April grant cycle from 4 to 5 p.m. March 21 in the Hooker Conference Room in City Hall. The workshop is free and applicants will be addressed on a first-come, first-served basis. “The commission has certainly made some great strides in standardizing the grant requirements and the process and sort of getting out in the community and letting people know that these grants are available,” she said. Last year, the program funded 13 nonprofit organizations responsible for creating arts-based projects for the community. The Center for Sustainable Living, a nonprofit, received a grant after applying last fall. The Center received more than $500, which will help fund a fashion show called “Trashion Refashion” on April 22 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.“The point is to raise awareness about recycling, and it’s intended to encourage people to look at their own clothes and to think about how they could be reworked into something more fashionable,” said Jeanne Leimkuhler, the show’s producer. The “Trashion” part of the show involves clothes that are made out of non-clothing items, such as shopping bags, bubble wrap and window curtains. The “Refashion” portion shows clothing made of different articles of clothing. Local designers, some from as far away as Indianapolis, apply to showcase their designs in the show. The CSL also received a rental grant from the Buskirk-Chumley Theater Grant Program that subsidizes the daily rental fee for organizations using the theater. Leimkuhler said the grants have helped produce and promote the show, and the CSL has been able to afford more advertising. “The show is also a fundraiser,” Leimkuhler said. “It’s grown into more than a fundraiser because it’s a really fun, creative, artistic event, but it’s also a fundraiser for the Center for Sustainable Living.” Leimkuhler said the Center relies mostly on memberships and fundraisers to sustain the organization. The Arts Commission Project Grant Program last year also helped fund Jazz from Bloomington, a group that promotes jazz events and educational music programs for the community. Fred Parker, the president of Jazz from Bloomington, said the funds were used to pay for a jazz session at Café Django the last Tuesday of every month. The sessions are geared toward fostering kids’ music interests, but are also open to anyone interested in jazz. “We’re able to really say, ‘This is what we do, this is what we’re doing,’ and to show people that we’re involved in music education,” Parker said. “Jazz Masters in the Schools,” one of the programs the group promotes, provides jazz programs at rural schools in south-central Indiana. Parker said Jazz from Bloomington has run out of funds for the program every year. Michaelsen said the funds from the BAC Project Program for each project have continued to increase. “It makes the time that an organization puts in more appropriate to the dollar amount that they are receiving,” she said.
(02/20/12 2:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Twenty years ago, breast cancer and heart attack survivor Ruth Aten was diagnosed with a rare form of heart disease known as Prinzmetal’s angina. After experiencing repeated chest pains, she visited the doctor and was told to take antibiotics that could treat a cold.“Basically, women believe that men have more heart attacks than them,” she said. “We have different symptoms. All the research has been done on men.” Aten, a retired service coordinator for the Department of Folklore and Musicology, said she is now healthier than ever and advocates for women’s health. As a member of the Monroe County Extension Homemakers Club, Aten organized the Heart Healthy Hoopla event that took place Saturday at College Mall. The event, in honor of American Heart Month, included a variety of presentations by local organizations such as IU Health-Bloomington Hospital, the YMCA, the Twin Lakes Recreation Center in Bloomington and the American Heart Association City of Hope. Susie Carter, director of the IU Health-Bloomington’s cardiac rehab center, gave a presentation about the symptoms of cardiovascular disease in women, which include “extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, lower abdomen pain, back-of-neck pain, nausea and fainting,” she said. After, local groups promoting health and heart disease awareness performed on a stage near Macy’s.The Hudsucker Posse, a local Hula-hoop dance group, performed for an audience of about 20. Mall retailers contributed to a Red Lady Fashion show, which was followed by a choral performance by the Music Makers. The event ended with a seven-woman dance routine from the Endwright Center, a senior exercise program from the Area 10 Agency on Aging in Elletsville, Ind. “It’s part of our commitment to lead longer, stronger lives,” said Kerry Conway, executive director of the agency.Conway said the group has been together for a little more than two years and consists of women between the ages of 58 and 88. “There are measurable differences in terms of their balance, flexibility, range of motion and strength,” she said. Sharol Laczkowski, the director of the Endwright Center, said the group knows 25 dances and works out to music twice a week. Carter said she thinks the event had a good turnout.“It’s so important that after you have a heart attack to exercise and get your health on track,” Aten said.
(02/20/12 2:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>People attach a stigma to receiving health care intended for low-income individuals, an IU study released last week found.The study, which assessed Volunteers in Medicine patients throughout a two-year period, also found that a diverse population uses the VIM clinic.Graduate students Kathleen Oberlin and Oren Pizmony-Levy collaborated with VIM to survey more than 700 patients.“The VIM got a sense of who they were serving, literally where they lived,” Oberlin said. “Then they wanted to know more about the demographics.” Patients who are eligible to receive VIM services must live at or below 200 percent of the poverty level. “We discovered one finding that we had, which is the diversity of patients,” Oberlin said.More than half of the VIM patients said they perceived their health as poor. Respondents’ assessment of their health was more likely to be poor the less education they had. Unemployed respondents were more likely to say their health limited daily activities, such as grocery shopping and housework. Slightly more than half of patients gave the same response. “You might think that people who are unemployed are the ones using these services,” Pizmony-Levy said. “You’d be surprised.” The reported number of employed people who use the services — 55.9 percent — means peoples have lost their health benefits, he said.Half of VIM patients reported they knew someone who lacked insurance and were in need of VIM services but did not use them. Only 7.7 percent of respondents said they would be embarrassed if others knew they used VIM services, but almost 30 percent said they thought others would be embarrassed if people knew they used VIM services.Oberlin said these questions were used to indirectly measure community perceptions of services intended for low-income individuals.Volunteer Robert Stone, director of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Care Plan, said he thinks people tend to have a “brutal, cruel” outlook of others without health insurance.“That kind of attitude is expressed by a lot by people, whatever their political and spiritual philosophy is, that poor people don’t deserve health care,” he said. Stone has been volunteering at the clinic since it opened and said he asks patients about how much health care they receive. “I am aware of how embarrassed they are,” he said. “I’m a little cautious of how I ask those questions because I don’t want the patients to get the sense that I am grilling or judging them.” Stone has cared for a variety of patients at the clinic including people with advanced degrees. “There are lots and lots of people who are poor in the sense they can’t get health insurance for one reason or another,” he said. Pizmony-Levy said the survey was a “win-win” for the Bloomington community, the clinic and the researchers, and that he hopes the survey will break the cycle of stigmatizing the use of low-cost health care. “It’s better to go and use the VIM services and to take care of yourself health-wise than to be embarrassed and develop some worse health condition later on,” he said. “And that is an important message that we hope people will know.”