Nursing students go abroad
Crimson White – March 26
Adventurous nursing students who crave hands-on learning have an opportunity to explore this summer with The University of Alabama’s nursing service-learning program in Cambodia. This 10 day trip immerses nursing students in a Cambodian community to investigate the physical and spiritual states of the people, according to the program’s brochure. The Capstone College of Nursing has offered this type of trip for four years with a number of destinations. “I began taking students on these trips in 2012,” said Marilyn Handley, a faculty member of the college who initially spearheaded this program. “We have been to Peru, China, Costa Rica and Tanzania.” Leigh Booth, faculty director for the program, will help lead the trip for the third time, with this being her second time in Cambodia. “Once I saw how much the students got out of the experience and how much they were learning, I was hooked,” Booth said. “Not only were you able to go and help others and provide a service to others that they did not have access to, but we were also learning so much from the people of the countries were in.”
Look up UA the Blue Angels are flying by!
Al.com – March 25
It’s a bird; it’s a plane, well actually it’s six planes. That’s what you might say if you are in Tuscaloosa Thursday morning. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels plan to do two flyovers near the University of Alabama campus as the team arrives for this weekend’s Tuscaloosa Regional Air Show. The six F/A-18 “Hornets,” will fly in a delta formation for two photo passes near the campus. The first pass will be from south to north over McFarland Boulevard followed by a return pass from north to south. The photo shoot is scheduled to take place between 9:40 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. if the weather cooperates. After the photo passes the team will land at the Tuscaloosa Regional Airport. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox is scheduled to welcome the pilots.
Al.com (gallery) – March 25
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 25
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – March 2
UA has Parenting Assistance Line
ABC 33/40 (live interview)
The Parenting Assistance Line is a free confidential phone line. Amy Walker, parent resource specialist: “We have parent resource specialists answering calls from parents and caregivers. We are housed out of the Child Care Resources at The University of Alabama. The phone lines are open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. The website is available 24 hours a day.”
‘Dizziness’, the super-tobacco hooking UAE teens
The Jordan Times – March 25
Despite campaigns on the risks of smoking, teenagers in the United Arab Emirates are turning to a little-known tobacco product five times more potent than cigarettes and said to cause seizures. Omar, an 18-year-old Sudanese student in Abu Dhabi, describes how each hit of medwakh — a legal product inhaled from a small pipe — makes him feel. “It’s a horrible habit. But if I don’t do it my head hurts,” he said. “I feel I need it.” Omar is not alone in smoking medwakh, which means “dizziness” in Arabic; the product is reportedly popular among young people throughout the United Arab Emirates. … Its appeal has even become international, with one Emirati expatriate family setting up a medwakh import business in the United States, according to Alan Blum, a tobacco expert at the University of Alabama.
Funding state government
Randolph Leader – March 25
Gov. Robert Bentley is traveling the state this week to promote his plan to raise taxes to help shrink a $700-million deficit in the state’s General Fund budget, which pays for such things as public safety, health care for the poor and elderly, and highway and bridge construction and repair. … The argument against the governor’s tax proposals will be that state government should be cut even more than it already has been in recent years. Some numbers from just one of the agencies that would be affected show why that would not be a good idea, though. Roanoke native Chuck Daniel, a state trooper working with the Public Information/Education Unit in the Birmingham and Jacksonville area, points out that the shortage of troopers has reached a critical point and provides information to back this up. … It sounds like the problem of inadequate staffing is being solved until we consider the findings of a study conducted by the University of Alabama’s Center for Advanced Public Safety, which is independent of ALEA and the former DPS. That study concluded that Alabama should have a minimum of 1,016 troopers assigned to patrol the highways. With the funding being proposed the number will remain at less than half of what the study says is needed for public safety.
Immunization data company raises $760k
Post Business – March 25
Local immunization data venture MedPass Health has raised $760,000 from its founders and seven angel investors and aims to grow its staff to 20 from today’s half dozen over the next year. CEO Hallett Ogburn and his team also have struck a partnership with the University of Alabama Management Information Systems program. Milt Capps has that info and more — including another capital raise — here … The UA alliance helped MedPass develop its initial platform by drawing on a formalized team of six UA MIS students, who each work 20 hours per week, with guidance from MedPass engineers and oversight by a sponsoring faculty member, Joanne Hale, Ph.D. The UA MIS students are now working on MedPass iOS and Android mobile apps, which are to be available by late Summer.
Food first directory speaks on injustice in food system
Crimson White – March 25
Wednesday night, the anthropology and food and nutrition departments came together to sponsor a lecture: Dismantling Racism in the Food System. The lecture was given by Eric Holt-Gimenez, executive director of Food First, an organization focusing on ending the injustices that cause hunger in the world. Holt-Gimenez’s lecture centered around the concept of food justice, which is characterized by dismantling racism and transforming food systems. He challenged attendees of the events to “care about people more than food.” He said this means having to ask some hard questions in a wealthy nation where 1 in 7 people go hungry. “Racism is structured into our food system,” he said. “It’s not just about attitudes but how our system works.” Holt-Gimenez also promoted the idea that the best way to end food injustice is when “community feeds community,” instead of capitalism dominating food production and distribution.
Perdue sees model for babysitting go national
Crimson White – March 25
At almost 6 feet tall, Cori Perdue was once ranked No. 12 in the world in women’s swimming. She was on a full athletic scholarship to The University of California, Berkley. It was 1996, her senior year of college, and Perdue had qualified for Olympic trials. She had also just found out she was pregnant. The experience revealed to Perdue that few programs supported student-parents. Almost 13 years later, she is giving these parents a chance to succeed. Perdue helped create The University of Alabama’s Sitters For Service, America’s first organization to provide free babysitting services to student-parents. “Our primary goal is to help support student-parents and help sitters who want to be grounded back into a family setting,” Perdue said. “We provide sanity to the parents and a richer college experience to the sitters.”