Mason to talk about Spallation Neutron Source at Director's Colloquium today "The Spallation Neutron Source: A Powerful Tool for Materials Research," is the subject of a Director's Colloquium by Thomas Mason of Oak Ridge National Laboratory today at the Laboratory. The talk begins at 1:10 p.m. in the Physics Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3 and is open to all Laboratory workers. Mason is project director and associate laboratory director of the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. For more information, see the Aug. 17 Daily Newsbulletin. Renovations to Otowi Building Cafeteria increase accessibility for disabled workers Concerns about the safety and accessibility of the Otowi Building Cafeteria has prompted the Laboratory's Accommodation Review Board to eliminate the stairs in the dining area and provide funding for other changes. The installation of ramps in the dining areas is complete. Additional changes, making the salad bar and silverware and tray units more handicap accessible, are forthcoming. Many employees feel the stairs have been a safety concern for employees and visitors for quite some time, said Debbi Wersonick of the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO), chair of the Accommodations Review Board and the Laboratory's Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) coordinator. "Many accidents and near accidents have occurred over the years," she said. Wersonick said that in addition to the safety issues, a group of employees expressed concern that their wheelchair using colleagues could not join them in the cafeteria. These employees felt that by not having complete access to the cafeteria, the Laboratory was treating disabled people differently, said Wersonick. In response to these concerns, OEO and the Accommodations Review Board, agreed that this project should receive a high priority and provided funds to rectify these problems. "In the spirit of making the Laboratory a more welcoming and friendly environment for our disabled employees and visitors this project was one of our highest priorities in fiscal year 2001," Wersonick said. After talking to several Laboratory employees who use wheelchairs, Wersonick and Bruce Reed, the ARAMARK manager, proposed additional changes to the cafeteria that will make it "a much more friendly place for our disabled guests." ARAMARK is the Lab's food service provider. Additional changes include new equipment on the salad bar and the tray and silverware unit that will make it more accessible to wheelchair users. Designs for the Otowi renovations were done by Mike Ragsdale of Systems, Engineering and Maintenance (FWO-SEM). Ragsdale is an architect and an expert on the Americans with Disabilities Compliance Act. Renovations to the cafeteria started Aug. 3, with most of the work being done on the weekends. --Leah Gardner Editor's Note: This is another in an occasional series featuring Laboratory students. Suggestions for additional student features can be submitted to newsbulletin@lanl.gov by electronic mail. Lab student Moss gets firsthand look at Cuba's health care system Very few students have the opportunity to study Cuba's public health system and work at the Laboratory all in the same summer. Carolyn Moss, a sophomore at Johns Hopkins University, and a member of the Bioscience (B) Division has done both. Moss, a aspiring member of the Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, traveled to Cuba this summer with nine other students from the Woodrow Wilson Research Program to study Cuba's public health system. The Woodrow Wilson Research Program is run through Johns Hopkins University and awards $10,000 grants to specified students for research purposes. This year, in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health in Cuba, the program funded these students to spend one month studying the public health system in Cuba. Cuban participation in this program is extremely enthusiastic because the Ministry of Public Health is interested in educating doctors worldwide about their program. Their public health program is based on prevention education, which has thus far proved very effective. "It was amazing to me that prevention methods are so effective that even a Third World country can practice effective medicine," said Moss. Moss' job at the Laboratory is related to her interest in public health. With the help of her mentors Karen Hill and Paul Jackson of B Division, Moss does polymerase chain reactions, cycle sequencing, and other microbiological methods of studying DNA, for the purpose of comparing bacteria strains. "Bio-threat reduction has a lot to do with public health and with preventing human-controlled outbreaks of diseases in populated areas," said Moss. While in Cuba, students had the opportunity to tour hospitals and clinics, ask questions and go on rounds with several doctors. "The medical systems in Cuba and the United States are vastly different," said Moss. A major difference is that in Cuba the primary focus and the primary source of care is a network of family doctors. The ratio tends to be about one of these family doctors, housed in what is known as "consultorias," per neighborhood. Their job is to care for the people only in their neighborhood. They will care for these families for their entire lives. The secondary level of care in Cuba is given in what is called "policlinicos." This is where patients receive vaccines and all lab testing is done. The third level of care is administered in the larger hospitals. This is where surgeries are performed and in-patient care is provided. "It's such a different life," said Moss. "People are desperate for money. To put it in perspective, taxi drivers make more than doctors in Cuba." She said that an average salary for doctors is around $22 a month. Despite the lack of funding however, the Cuban public health system is quite an effective one. For example, there is virtually no AIDS epidemic. For a country of 11 million people, Cuba has less than one percent new AIDS cases reported each year, said Moss. The Cuban methods for controlling the epidemic however, are not what the United States would call humane. Up until 1999 for example, the Cuban government quarantined AIDS patients in sanatoriums. Another example of controls imposed on the AIDS epidemic is that in order to receive ration booklets everyone is required to take a HIV test, said Moss. Moss hopes to study epidemiology and international public health at Johns Hopkins University. She would be interested in pursuing a career related to either of those. --Leah Gardner
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