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October 26, 2000
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From Pavilion to Paving
Bystanders watch as workers from Land Construction of Lincoln demolish the old Livestock Judging Pavilion on East Campus on Oct. 19. The centuryold building, not only housed livestock, it also housed a number of animal science students during its heyday. Short term plans call for a surface parking lot on the site, which sits about a block north of the East Union. Long range plans have not been determined. Business and Finance Informational Symposia Held Nov. 9 & 10Business and Finance Informational Symposia will be held Nov 9 and 10. On Nov. 9, deans, directors and department heads and chairs are invited to participate. The Nov. 10 session is for business managers, faculty and staff. Both days' events take place in the Clifford Hardin Nebraska Center for Continuing Education, 33rd and Holdrege streets. The schedule for Nov. 9: o 8 to 8:30 a.m., coffee, rolls and welcome from Chris Jackson, vice chancellor for business and finance. o 8:30 to 10 a.m., opening session: 1. "Contracts, Signature Authority, and Other Legal Issues," Richard Wood, NU vice president and general counsel; Carmen Maurer, NU associate general counsel. 2. "SAP," with Kim Phelps, assistant vice chancellor for fiscal affairs, and Alan Moeller, assistant vice chancellor for IANR. 3. "The Buck Stops Here - A Guide to Fiscal Management and Oversight," Linda Larsen and Operations Analysis staff. This session focuses on changes wrought by the SAP conversion and what departmental procedures are necessary to ensure internal control of processing, recording, approving and monitoring transactions. This session will also discuss how the SAP can help administrators oversee operations and make financial management decisions. The Nov. 10 morning symposium also begins at 8 a.m. and follows the same schedule until 10:10 a.m. when break-out sessions are added. o 10:10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Break-out Session I: 1. "Purchasing Procedures and Policies," Bill Bode and Carl Hutchison, University Services-Purchasing. 2. "Construction Issues," Howard Parker, Facilities Management and Planning. 3. "Post-award Grants Management," Mike Behne and Donna Kassmeier, Office of Research Management. o 11:10 a.m. to noon, Break-out Session II: 1. Family Medical Leave & NU Values Update, Roshan Pajnigar and Suzanne Drew, Human Resources. 2. "Payroll Updates," Pat Amedeo, Data Entry; Phyllis Geary, Payroll, and Pat Smith, IANR Finance and Personnel. 3. "Environmental Health and Safety Training," Brenda Osthus, Environmental Health & Safety, and Judy Roots, NU associate general counsel and director of regulatory compliance. The schedule repeats in the afternoon, beginning at 1:30 p.m. with the presentations from the morning's opening sessions. From 3:10-4 p.m. the morning break-out session II will repeat. From 4:10-5 p.m., the morning break-out session I will repeat. The symposia are sponsored by the Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance, Facilities Management, Fiscal Affairs, Human Resources, Operations Analysis, University Police and University Services. The symposia are free and no registration is required. For more information, contact the office of vice chancellor for business and finance, 210 Canfield Administration Building, 0425. Or call 472-4455, fax is 472-7963. Earth Science Week Was Celebrated Oct. 8-14On Oct. 11, in the Warner Chamber of the Nebraska State Capitol, Gov. Mike Johanns announced that the week of Oct. 8-14 was Earth Science Week in Nebraska. Joining Johanns were Norman Smith, chair of the UNL department of geosciences; Mike Slifer, chief of the Nebraska district of the U.S. Geological Survey; Mark Kuzila, director of the UNL Conservation and Survey Division; and Dave Gosselin, director of the Nebraska Earth Science Education Network, a joint program of CSD and the UNL School of Natural Resource Sciences. CSD, the state geological survey, seeks this statewide proclamation annually and biennially sponsors an Earth science open house in its offices during the week, to be held again next year. Nationally, Earth Science Week is sponsored by The American Geological Institute, a nonprofit federation of 35 organizations committed to earth science education. Earlier, President Clinton declared the second week in October as National Earth Sciences Week and he praised the scientists and other who work in the discipline. Pop Culture Expert Lecturing Nov. 3The changing conceptions of domesticity, visual media and mobile communications technologies from early television to the computer is the focus of a lecture by Lynn Spigel, professor of cinema and television at the University of Southern California. Spigel's talk, "Mobile Homes," begins at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 3 in the Mary Riepma Ross Theater Auditorium in the Sheldon Art Gallery. The lecture is sponsored by the In.form Journal and the Kruger Foundation. Her past works include, Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America, 1992 from University of Chicago Press and the forthcoming Welcome to the Dream House: Popular Media and Postwar Suburbs from Duke University Press. She has edited numerous anthologies on film and television and is writing a book on the history of television and modernism to be published by University of Chicago Press. With her grip on the pulse of pop culture, this dynamic lecture will further define the integration of mobile communication in contemporary society. 'Eat With Your Family' Kicks Off NU for Families Nov. 1By Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer From Omaha to Ogallala, University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension educators are urging Nebraska families to break bread together Nov. 1. The statewide "Eat With Your Family" initiative kicks off a month of activities around Nebraska during November, the month designed to celebrate NU for Families. For today's on-the-go families, eating meals on the run or at differing times from each other has become common, said Kathleen Lodl, 4-H youth development specialist. Turning off the telephone and television during mealtime and tuning into each other matters more than some people think, she said. "Research shows families who eat together at least once a day or more often are stronger than families who don't," Lodl said. The month-long NU for Families initiative will focus on educational events and programs designed to support families. In addition to the "Eat With Your Family" effort, about 30 Nebraska counties will be implementing various family-strengthening activities throughout November. Programs will be free or cost only nominally to attend, and will support the message that families are important and give ideas for how to make them stronger, she said. For more information about events occurring in your community, contact your local NU Cooperative Extension office. Student's Renovation Project Is UCARE-FundedDoug Kiser is a a fourth-year interior design student who assisting his professor, Carl Matthews, in renovating the former butcher shop and adjacent garage. Kiser is creating a three-bedroom apartment in the wood-frame building connected to Matthews' residence. He is completing the design/build research project under a grant from UCARE, the Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences program. The grant pays for his time developing and building the interior structure. UCARE is a program funded by income from the Pepsi Endowment. Its purpose is to offer opportunities to undergraduates to work alongside faculty members and participate in the research and/or creative activities on campus. Planning the project proposal for the grant lead Kiser to read several books on the design/build process and on preparing construction documents. He faces several challenges in designing and building the interior of his building because its support structure comes from the perimeter structure of the building. "Working with actual materials is a lot different than in a studio class environment," Kiser said. "The tangible materials are inspiring." Miller Retirement Reception Nov. 16A retirement reception for Marg Miller will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 16 in the Regency Room of the Nebraska Union. Miller has worked at UNL since Aug 1989 in the office of Student Loan Collections, maintaining the Perkins loans. She will be leaving at the end of November. Reminder for Shipping Dangerous/Hazardous StuffIf you ship dangerous goods or hazardous materials, you must either be a "designated shipper" or take these materials to Mail and Distribution (1820 R St.) for packaging and shipment. "Designated Shippers" are those persons who have demonstrated proof of proper training to Environmental Health and Safety and are certified to package and ship dangerous goods/hazardous materials. Dangerous goods and hazardous materials include most chemicals, radioactive materials, and biological or infectious materials, such as recombinant DNA, pathogens, and tissue specimens. Shipping vendors, such as FedEx, have been instructed to pick up these materials only from "designated shippers." Irish Rights Activist Addressing Death Penalty Nov. 1William Schabas, director of the Irish Center for Human Rights in Galway, Ireland, and representative of human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, will speak Nov. 1 on "Abolishing the Death Penalty: New International Developments." The address is free and open to the public and begins at 2 p.m. in the Nebraska Union. Schabas has written more than 85 articles and 12 books concerned with international human rights law, the latter including "Genocide in International Law." He is also editor-in-chief of "Criminal Law Forum," the quarterly journal of the Society for the Reform of Criminal Law. Schabas has often been invited to participate in international human rights missions on behalf of nongovernmental organizations such as Amnesty International and the International Federation of Human Rights. Schabas' talk is sponsored by the UNL College of Arts and Sciences' Human Rights and Human Diversity initiative. Mark Gelber Lecture CancelledThe Harris Center for Judaic Studies/Arts and Sciences Lecture, "Jewish Life in Germany Today," Mark Gelber, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 has been cancelled. Gelber, who teaches at Ben-Gurion Univ., Becrsheva, Israel, is unable to attend because of the current situation in the Mideast. Bioethics Advisory Hearing Nov. 21The Nebraska Bioethics Advisory Committee will hold a public hearing Nov. 21 on draft recommendations concerning the operation of Insitutional Reveiw Boards at the University of Nebraska. The recommendations are available on the web at: http://www.uneb.edu/administration/Reports/Bioethics/BioethicsC ommittee.htm. The hearing will occur in the Norfolk Room of the Nebraska Center for Continuing Education at 33rd and Holdrege streets. The 90-minute hearing will begin at 10 a.m. The public will be permitted to testify for up to five minutes each only on the proposed draft recommendations concerning Insitutional Review Boards. Individuals who inform the committee in advance of their interest in testifying will be given priority. Individuals who are interested in testifying or who would like to receive a hard copy of the recommendations should call 472-2111. Ag at the Crossroads Conference Convenes Nov. 2By Molly Klocksin, IANR News Writer "The Future Structure of Agriculture: Power, Prices, People," will be the focus of the 10th annual Agriculture at the Crossroads Conference, held from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at the East Union. Topics presented will center on responses to structural changes in agriculture, particularly the livestock sector. James MacDonald of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service will identify current and predicted structural changes. Speaking on pricing and marketing options, production options and community options will be Brian Buhr, University of Minnesota economist; Larry Bitney, UNL agricultural economist; and John Allen, UNL rural sociologist, respectively. The luncheon speaker will be George P. Slover of the U.S. Justice Department. The afternoon session will lead off with a panel discussion on "Government Responses to the Changing Structure of Agriculture." Breakout sessions will give conference attendees a choice of discussing "Producer Options" or "Policy Options." Breakout session resource persons will include Eugene Glock and Jamie Nygren, representing Senators Bob Kerrey and Chuck Hagel, respectively. Conference co-sponsors are the UNL Department of Agricultural Economics and the Nebraska AgRelations Council, a nonprofit, nonpartisan volunteer organization dedicated to "telling Nebraska agriculture's story," particularly to urban residents. Ray Supalla, UNL ag economist, is conference coordinator and moderator of the morning session; Steve Cady, NAC president and executive director of the Nebraska Pork Producers Association, will moderate the afternoon session. Registration is $25 per person for NAC members and $30 per person for non-members. Fees include lunch. The reservation deadline is 5 p.m. Oct. 31. Make checks payable to Nebraska AgRelations Council, 104 Ag. Communications Building, P.O. Box 830918, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. 68583-0918. For further information, call Sandy McKinnon at (402) 472-2821. Nov. 2 Town Hall Meeting Examines Race in AmericaAs part of a national conference on race in America, UNL will host a town hall meeting from 8 to 10 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Nebraska Union Auditorium. The town hall, "Overcoming Problems of Race: Are Law, Politics and Protests Enough?" will encourage a panel of eight scholars and the audience to engage in an interactive discussion on race. The meeting will be moderated by Lucius J. Barker of Stanford University. Panel members are Mack Jones of Clark Atlanta University, Linda Williams of the University of Maryland at College Park, Rick Thomas of the Santee Sioux tribe of Nebraska, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva of Texas A&M University, Dianne Pinderhughes of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, William Nelson of Ohio State University and John Hibbing and Miguel Carranza of UNL. The town hall is part of the annual Hendricks Symposium at UNL, this year titled "Race in America: Analytical and Policy Perspectives for the 21st Century." "The conference on race permits the examination of race in a diversity of ways and approaches," said Michael Combs, professor of political science at UNL and one of the symposium's organizers. "National scholars on race and related issues will present papers and discuss the multifaceted nature of race in the context of America." The Nov. 2-3 symposium at the Nebraska Union will include scholars from 31 colleges and universities from across the United States, as well as representatives of government, church groups, Native Americans and the Screen Actors Guild. Panels will address race in America in terms of urban policy, the justice system, religion, history, politics, psychology, education and the media. Turkey Sale Runs Through Nov. 1The UNL Animal Science Graduate Student Association is again sponsoring their Thanksgiving Turkey Sale. Get your fresh, Nebraska-grown, self-basting Thanksgiving turkey for only $1.20/lb. This year they are offering four sizes of turkeys: Small (8-12 lb); Medium (12-16 lb); Large (16-20 lb); and X-Large (20-24 lb). To order, simply call 472-5929, Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., through Nov. 1. Turkeys may be picked up at the Animal Science Department Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 20 and 21, 7 to 9 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m.. For more information, email Kim Franzen at kfranze1@bigred.unl.edu. Weekly Support Groups Offered by Women's CenterThe Women's Center offers weekly support groups. These groups are co-sponsored by the Counseling and Psychological Services and the University Health Center. The following groups are now meeting: o Eating Issues Support Group, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, 338 Nebraska Union. Call Norma or Brooke, 472-7450 for information. o Students with Children Support Group, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., on Wednesdays, 338 Nebraska Union. Call Gail, 472-7450. o Coping with Cancer Support Group, 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays, 338 Nebraska Union. Call Yasmin, 472-7450. o Lesbian Bisexual Questioning Discussion Group, 5:15 to 6:15 p.m. on Mondays, 338 Nebraska Union. Call Kris, 472-2597. Unit Safety Committees Reps' Meeting Nov. 2Environmental Health and Safety is hosting a meeting for representatives of all Unit Safety Committees. Last year's meeting was a big success for distributing new EHS materials, including a Safety Committee Workbook. Items on this year's agenda include supervisor training, virtual manual, and news from the Chancellor's University Safety Committee. The meeting will be from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Nov. 2 in 327 Keim Hall. Call Jill Hyslop-Bohling at 472-5488 if you would like to attend. All safety committee members, and representatives from those departments wanting to create a safety committee, are welcome. Office of Graduate Studies MovesThe Office of Graduate Studies has been relocated to 1100 Seaton Hall,(0619). Their telephone numbers remain the same, 472-2875, although the fax number is now 472-0589. New Interlibrary Loan Service at the UNL LibrariesThe UNL Libraries are experimenting with web delivery of interlibrary loan articles. If you select the appropriate delivery option on the interlibrary loan web request form, your article will be supplied to you electronically. In many cases, you will receive your item more quickly because it will not take two to three days to reach you through the U.S. Mail. Library staff will notify you by email when your article is ready to be accessed via your own web browser. You may view and print it or save it at that time. The system will remove your document after it is viewed five times or after two weeks have passed since you were notified, whichever comes first. Technical requirements and recommendations: o Your browser must be configured to display PDF files. o A laser printer is recommended for printing. Other types of printing may take a long time. o An ethernet connection is recommended. Modem connections may take a long time to access PDF documents, which can be large files. Robak Speaker at Nov. 8 UAAD MeetingThe November meeting of the University Association for Administrative Development will be held Nov. 8, one week earlier than its normal meeting date of the third Wednesday of the month. The meeting will be held at 11:45 a.m. in the Board of Regents' Meeting Room, Varner Hall. The speaker is Kim Robak, vice president for external affairs and corporation secretary. Brown bag lunches are permitted. Those attending will be permitted to park in Area 40 just south of the building. For more information about the program, contact Julie Hagemeier at 472-1619. For membership information, contact Tish Roland at 472-2101. Mutilation Escapee Speaking Nov. 1Fauziya Kassindja will lecture on "Escaping Female Genital Mutilation," at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 in the Nebraska Union auditorium. She will share her account of fleeing the practice of female genital mutilation in her native country of Togo, West Africa. Once in the United States, she spent 16 months in prison trying to prove the reality and injustice of the tradition she fled - seeking asylum in a place where no one believed her. The book "Do They Hear You When You Cry" (Dell Publishing) tells her story of pain and ultimate triumph over the cultural, religious, and societal persecution of a practice that mutilates more than 2 million women and girls each year. The lecture is sponsored by The Women's Center; The African Student Association; Student Involvement; University Program Council; Pepsi Endowment Fund; Student Alumni Association; Student Foundations; Council for Student Affairs Directors; Human Rights/Human Diversity Initiative; Psychology; Sociology; African American/African Studies, Communication Studies, Political Science; Institute for Ethnic Studies and Friends of the Commission on the Status of Women. Nominations Invited for ChancellorUniversity of Nebraska community and alumni are invited to submit nominations and comments for the position of UNL chancellor. The chancellor serves as UNL's chief executive officer and reports to the president of the University of Nebraska System through the president to the Board of Regents. The chancellor is responsible for providing leadership for all instructional, research, and service programs at UNL, and for communicating effectively with internal and external constituencies. Candidates should have demonstrated leadership ability, excellent academic credentials and performance, and significant administrative experience in higher education. Nominations of minorites and women are encouraged. Please send your nominations to: James Van Etten, Chair, Chancellor Search Committee, University of Nebraska, 3835 Holdrege St., Lincoln NE 68583-0745. Kellogg CEO Delivering Faulkner Lecture Nov. 1Carlos M. Gutierrez, chairman and chief executive officer of Kellogg Co., will be guest lecturer at the 22nd annual E.J. Faulkner Lecture Nov. 1. The lecture is free and open to the public and will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Nebraska Union Auditorium. Overflow seating will be available in the Union. The lecture will also be shown via closed circuit television anywhere on the UNL campus. Gutierrez has been chairman of the board of Kellogg since April, and chief executive officer since April 1999. A native of Cuba, he joined Kellogg de Mexico in 1975 as a sales representative in Mexico City. Following several sales and marketing assignments, he was promoted, and transferred in 1982 to corporate headquarters in Battle Creek, Mich., as supervisor of Latin American marketing services. In a series of promotions from 1982 to 1999, he held executive positions for Kellogg in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Asia-Pacific region, in addition to corporation-wide positions. He was elected to the company's board of directors in 1999. Woodmen Accident and Life Co. of Lincoln sponsors the Faulkner lecture series through a grant to the University of Nebraska Foundation, in conjunction with the College of Business Administration. The series is named for the late E.J. Faulkner, who served for more than 60 years with Woodmen and was the company's chief executive officer for 44 years. Class of 2015 Learns to Read Through Harvest of BooksNU faculty and staff might want to think ahead - way ahead - about some of the freshmen who'll be arriving in 2011. Right now, they're learning to read, and Lincoln's Harvest of Books wants to get them started on the right track. The Harvest of Books hopes to receive donations of 10,500 books - enough to give two books to every first grade and one to every second grade pupil in each of Lincoln's public and private schools. "It's a great program," says Teachers College Dean James O'Hanlon about the drive, now in its fourth year. Many Lincoln bookstores are participating by offering a 40 percent discount on children's books purchased for the harvest, or you can make a financial contribution to Harvest of Books, c/o Lincoln Education Association, 4920 Normal Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68506. The Harvest of Books is a joint project of the Lincoln Education Association and the Lincoln Journal Star. The drive runs through Nov. 5. Proper Storage Required for Fluorescent TubesEnvironmental Health and Safety reminds everyone that used fluorescent tubes (from light fixtures) must be stored in a fluorescent tube box and must be placed in the designated storage area for used tubes. If you are changing or replacing a fluorescent tube, place the used tube in the box in which the new tube came. Be sure to place used tubes in the designated storage area for your building so that the tubes can be sent for recycling. If you need a box, or need to know where your designated storage area is, contact Dale Ekart, UNL recycling coordinator, at 472-6099. EHS Class For Shippers of Infectious Materials/Dry Ice AvailableEnvironmental Health and Safety now offers a three-hour class to train shippers of dry ice and/or infectious materials. The next class will be offered from 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 15 at EHS, 3630 East Campus Loop. Class size is limited. Call 472-4925 to register. If you only ship these types of dangerous goods, you may become a designated shipper by attending this to-the-point class by EHS. Classes for shipping all types of dangerous goods usually take three days. Speaker to Address Nazi Medical CrimesPatricia Heberer, will speak on "Medical Crimes in Nazi Germany: Ethical Implications for Our Time," at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 9 in the Nebraska Union Auditorium. Heberer is a historian on the staff of the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., where she is the museum's in-house expert on medical crimes and eugenics policies in Nazi Germany. Some of the most horrific crimes associated with the Holocaust were committed by physicians. These included cruel medical experiments on captive human subjects, the selection of concentration camp inmates for extermination, and the murder of the physically and mentally disabled for the sake of a eugenics-inspired racial purification. Heberer has lectured widely on postwar adjudication of Nazi war crimes and crimes against humanity. She is writing a history of the Hadamar Asylum, one of the institutions where the Nazi regime, as part of its eugenics campaign, carried out the systematic murder of mentally and physically disabled Germans. Heberer's speech is sponsored by the Humanities in Medicine Program and the Harris Center for Judaic Studies. The talk is free and open to the public. Fall Pre-Law Open House Oct. 28The University of Nebraska College of Law and the UNL College of Arts and Sciences Advising Center will co-host a fall pre-law open house from 9:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Oct. 28. The open house will be at the College of Law in Ross McCollum Hall, East Campus Loop and Fair Street. The open house is targeted to students early in their college careers who are interested in learning more about law school and career opportunities in law. The program will provide information about preparing for law school. Current law students and alumni will share their law college experiences with the open house guests during a free pizza lunch. For more information, contact the College of Law's Admissions Office at (402) 472-2161. The open house is free, but reservations are recommended. Scholarship IN Society Lecture Nov. 2The Scholarship in Society lecture series continues Nov. 2 when Thomas Bolden, professor of chemistry and physics at Alcorn State University, describes "Riding the Bulldozer." The lecture is free and open to the public and begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Nebraska Union Auditorium. Bolden last year won a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation for the project "Increasing Participation of Minorities in Undergraduate Research Programs by Strengthening the Curricula Using Specific Gatekeeper Courses" at the historically black university in Lorman, Miss. Prior to his appointment at Alcorn State, Bolden taught at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. He is an active mentor and adviser to students, such as Alcorn's Khem Klub, pre-medicine students, honors faculty, honors debate team, and the Summer Science Academy. Bolden completed a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Kansas State University. The Scholarship IN Society series, sponsored by the UNL Office of Graduate Studies, is aimed at modeling the myriad career possibilities available to students upon receipt of a graduate education. The series includes both scholastic and nonacademic careers, to better represent the breadth of career opportunities available to graduate students. Bolden's presentation is co-sponsored by the UNL chemistry department. Knowledge vs. Fear Coping with Cancer Through Support, FlexibilityBy Kelly Bartling, Public Relations The diagnosis of a loved one or co-worker with cancer leaves those around him or her in a quandary. Wanting to help, needing to help, and struggling with one's own fears crashes head-on with feelings of helplessness, lack of knowledge or understanding, and the turmoil of not knowing "what to do." "You want to know how to be useful. What to say, what not to say. How to not mess this up," Barbara Morton, a patient advocate at The Cancer Resource Center in Lincoln told a group of university employees at an informal lecture Oct. 12. "You need to focus on this person with cancer, who is most probably going to live." But living with a disease such as cancer or some other chronic illness that will change their lives creates all sorts of dilemmas and struggles for those afflicted - as well as for the people around them. Knowing how to best deal with those changes and be a positive, supportive loved one or co-worker was the focus of Morton's talk. Brought to the university at the request of Employee Assistance Project Coordinator Nancy Myers, Morton gave attendees practical advice, tips and encouragement, and insight into cancer victims' personal traumas. When newly diagnosed with a serious illness like cancer, "like a bomb going off in their world with all the different parts of their life lying around," the sufferer is thrown into a world of grief and loss and mourning. "They're angry, scared, depressed, crazy . . . every emotion there is going to be," Morton said. That's when those around him or her begin to play the difficult role of supporter, needing to let that person handle her churning emotions and react and cope. Whatever way and however they responds to their fear and emotions is absolutely what they need to do, Morton said. "People cope the best way they know how," she said. Morton said cancer sufferers usually cope by leading with their intellect: Absorbing information, arming themselves with knowledge, then crying later; or leading with their emotions and tears while shutting out the clinical aspects. She said that in an intellectual community like a campus, many sufferers and loved ones cope by believing that knowledge replaces fear. It doesn't. What most cancer sufferers need is people around them who are willing to listen, can react to change, "the roller coaster" that requires new levels or techniques of support, and who can respond with flexibility. "These people most often need to be heard. They find their own strengths," she said. Morton offered particular advice for coworkers: o Send a card or note; call; do something. Nothing is worse for that person than isolation, and don't do nothing just because you don't know what to do. Find out. o Offer to listen. If a coworker is afflicted, many times he or she wants to keep work as normal as possible. Ask him how he expects to be treated at work, but offer to change those "rules" if he needs. Offer to be a "friend" or shoulder to lean on after work hours. o Realize that you can't "make" your loved one better. Deal with your own fears away from that person. At work, you can "fake it" if you have to, but you don't have to be "up" or "positive" if that is not what works for that person. Let him or her take the lead: You follow. Encourage them to ask for what they need. o Seek resources yourself and encourage your friend or loved one to take advantage of cancer or grief counseling. If a friend is in denial, you may need to decide whether to risk the friendship by confrontation, if that will help that person. o Offer to help the cancer sufferer gain information, cope with medical options and treatment, be an advocate, or go to appointments, especially early on. Sometimes information is not processed properly by the patient, he feels rushed, overwhelmed or "shut down" to information. Lists of questions and detailed information and options are needed, perhaps with outside help. Myers said Morton's advice is helpful given that many employees are seeking help with similar issues. As a further extension of the employee assistance on coping with long-term and critical illness, Myers said a small-discussion group session will be held Dec. 5, from 4:30-6 p.m. Information about The Cancer Resource Center is available at 483-2882. |
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