Here’s something that should reassure those “Velcro parents” a little bit, from the Washington Post’s “Campus Overload” blog: A new study from the National Communication Association finds that more than three-quarters of peers would at least try to prevent a female friend from embarking on a drunken sexual encounter with a stranger, and in some cases would directly try to prevent it.
Health care professionals joined forces with dancers, musicians and other artists on Saturday at Washington Park as part of the 21st annual African-American Cultural Arts Festival. The University of Virginia’s Office of the Vice President and Chief Officer for Diversity and Equity and the U.Va. Health System worked with Martha Jefferson Hospital, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Health Department and the Quality Community Council to offer a range of health screenings. The 80 or so volunteers provided 55 sports physicals for youth, 13 mammograms, 50 checks for peripheral artery disease and more. They conducted screenings and gave information on Alzheimer’s, AIDS, cancer, nutrition and healthy weight and high blood pressure.
Marcus Martin, U.Va.’s interim vp and chief officer for diversity and equity, sent a shout-out to the ODE team, which orchestrated the fair. “I am so proud of the team effort,” he said. “The community benefitted in a very positive way.” Besides the screenings, folks were treated to juice, bagels and coffee. “I was exhausted at the end of the day but really pleased to have such a great ODE team,” Martin said.
Dory Hulse, director of communications for U.Va.’s School of Nursing, spent the weekend with the hundreds of U.Va. volunteers who helped staff the Remote Area Medical clinic in Wise, Va. The annual clinic draws thousands of people from Southwest Virginia and neighboring states seeking medical attention. This is her third and final dispatch from the clinic.
July 24, Wise — Breakfast under the stars. Lions Club volunteers are serving a hot breakfast to all of us volunteers in a buffet line on the stage at the Wise County Fairgrounds. Groggy and bright-eyed people line up for pancakes, eggs, bacon, biscuits with sausage gravy, fruit and juice and coffee. Other volunteers are circulating through the parking lot with food for the patients. I had to clear foggy car windows this morning, but we’re all grateful for the chilly air. Soon enough it will be hovering around 100 degrees.
At least we all slept in beds and enjoyed showers. Out in that parking lot whole families have spent the night sleeping in cars, the backs of vans and in tents. Who are they? Stan Brock, founder of Remote Area Medical, and Dorrie Fontaine, dean of the U.Va. School of Nursing, are at the gate greeting hundreds of people eager for coveted first-come, first-served numbers that will gain them admission for free health care. I circulate through the crowd with an audio recorder and camera.
Dory Hulse, director of communications for U.Va.’s School of Nursing, is tagging along this weekend with the hundreds of U.Va. volunteers who are helping with the Remote Area Medical clinic being held in Wise, Va. The annual clinic draws thousands of people from Southwest Virginia and neighboring states seeking medical attention. She has agreed to provide us with updates through the blog as she goes along.
July 22, Wise — After six hours along interstates and country roads, through undulating banks of thick kudzu and past massive coal operations, my friend and I have arrived at the Wise County Fairgrounds to join the rest of the U.Va. team of volunteers gathering and preparing for the weekend’s annual free clinic.
Some have been here since Tuesday installing wiring and computer and communications networks. A group of Air National Guardsmen are hooking up generators to supply power for lights, equipment and air conditioning. The U.Va. telemedicine department is already geared up to connect patients and on-site clinicians with specialists back in Charlottesville for consultations. Pharmacy students from Virginia Commonwealth University are sorting and bottling medications under a tent and under the watchful eye of their professor. Nursing and medical students are hauling tables and equipment to help set up operations for triage and medical care.
Dory Hulse, director of communications for U.Va.’s School of Nursing, is tagging along this weekend with the hundreds of U.Va. volunteers who are helping with the Remote Area Medical clinic being held in Wise, Va. The annual clinic draws thousands of people from Southwest Virginia and neighboring states seeking medical attention. She has agreed to provide us with updates through the blog as she goes along.
July 21, Charlottesville — Like swallows to Capistrano, flocks of people are heading to Wise this weekend for one of the largest free clinics in the country. Organizers expect to see a repeat of last year’s 20 percent increase in the number of patients who drive for hours to get what may be the only health care they’ll have all year: medical, dental, vision and hearing.
With summer orientation for incoming students cranking up next week, Student Council has posted a new video on its website that urges them to give some thought to the community they’re about to join.
With so much talk these days about going green, eating local and just being more sustainable in general, it can be daunting trying to figure out where to start.
Nickie Knight, an enterprising 2002 graduate of the School of Nursing, has launched a new nationwide online directory of “verifiably green businesses” called TheGoGreenPages.com. Visitors can search by keyword or location, or browse by category. There are also articles like “How to Start and Urban Herb Garden” and “Traveling Green: Finding an Eco-Friendly Hotel.”
A quick search for Charlottesville turned up two business listings: for Savvy Rest, a home furnishings store that sells organic mattresses, and Sammy Snacks, a maker and retailer of “all-natural, holistic foods” for pets (and their humans).
Knight is listed as the founder and editor-in-chief of both TheGoGreenPages and Hip Moms Go Green, an online magazine.
According to her official bio:
Going ‘green’ has always been more than hobby, or buzzword, for Nickie. Having combined a nursing degree from The University of Virginia with an innate love of research, Nickie has minimized her children’s severe health issues through alterations to her family’s diet and environment, as well as started a successful consulting business. Her specialty is in simplifying the process of going green so that moms are undaunted by the task of creating a healthier world for themselves and their children. For over a decade, Nickie has tackled issues in the fields of homeopathy, naturopathy, and nutrition, in addition to drawing on her experience in interior design to assist in the management and elimination of home-based toxins.
For the latest on the death of fourth-year student Yeardley Love, please see the U.Va. home page.
University community members who need support, please call:
Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS): 434-243-5150 for appointments; 434-972-7004 for after-hours emergencies. For more urgent needs, walk-in services are available Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Office of the Dean of Students: 434-924-7133 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; after hours, call University Police and ask to be connected with the dean-on-call who is available 24/7.
The event, which raises funds for a U.Va. faculty member’s pediatric cancer research, includes games, inflatables, face-painting, a silent auction and more. It’s put on by U.Va.’s Student Athlete Mentor program, a peer education program “designed to train student athletes in substance abuse prevention and to create a safer social environment for students at the University.”
Admission is just $5, which is a bargain for two hours of entertaining a kid these days. It might be worth it just to see Jerome Meyinsse get beat by a fourth-grader in the obstacle course challenge.
The spring running of the Foxfield Races is one of the social highlights of the academic year for students, one last big blowout before the end of the semester and final exams.
To keep things fun — and there’s nothing less fun than a drunk-in-public arrest, or a trip to the ER — U.Va.’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team, or ADAPT, has produced a YouTube video with helpful hints for race-goers. It is truly epic!
The Cavalier women’s basketball team has arguably its most important regular-season game Monday night.
The game is certainly important basketball-wise. U.Va. faces off against archrival North Carolina in the Cavs’ continued quest for the ACC regular-season championship. And the game will be televised nationwide on ESPN2.
But Monday will also mark U.Va.’s participation in the nationwide “Pink Zone” project to raise awareness of breast cancer. The Cavaliers will wear pink uniforms, and are asking fans to wear pink as well, thus transforming John Paul Jones Arena into a “pink zone.”
The game has added meaning for U.Va. head coach Debbie Ryan, who is herself a cancer survivor.
Just finished the first draft of the story on President Casteen’s State of the U address today, and thought I might empty the notebook here and note a few things that did not make it into the story (at least not yet, as the editors are now working):
The last currently scheduled H1N1 flu shot clinic for U.Va. employees is scheduled for today (Wednesday) in Jordan Hall, rooms G1 and G2. The starting time has been moved back to 10:30 a.m., thanks to the weather; the clinic will end at 4 p.m.
I know H1N1 sounds like “so last year,” but there are some fears that it may be poised for a comeback.
Last week’s discovery of the body of Morgan Dana Harrington is a sobering reminder that Charlottesville is not an isolated haven from the problems of the world. Vice President for Student Affairs Patricia Lampkin has sent out a letter to U.Va. students reminding them of specific steps to take to make it less likely that they could be victimized.
Nickie Knight, an enterprising 2002 graduate of the School of Nursing, has launched a new nationwide online directory of “verifiably green businesses” called 
U.Va.’s student-athletes 
The game is certainly important basketball-wise. U.Va. faces off against archrival North Carolina in the Cavs’ continued 