X-Message-Number: 17835 Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 14:31:04 -0700 From: Jessica Lemler <> Subject: This Week at Alcor The following can also be viewed on our website at: <http://www.alcor.org/this_week_at_alcor.html#30-4>http://www.alcor.org/thi s_week_at_alcor.html#30-4 Hugh Hixon, Facilities Engineer Friday, send off a letter to our international mortuary shipping service requesting their services (Mathew Sullivan is doing most of the work on this). Attempt to move the old vaults out of the way for paving the parking lot; there are some things you cannot do with a 2,000 lb forklift. Arrange to have the old second ambulance hauled away. Sunday, work on a letter. Monday, note to the international mortuary shippers answering some questions. With Mike Perry, take an LN2 delivery and partial-fill a whole-body dewar for our probable next suspension. Finish the vault-shuffling job with a 5,000 lb forklift; still too small for a straight lift, but its's got the power. Talk with Russ Cheney about some of the pecularities of their training tubing pack. Responded when a window was broken about 11:30 PM. Tuesday, sifted through popcorned glass from the window to see if I could find the projectile. No luck. Weekly meeting. Look at proposed security system. Wednesday, finishing up on dumping the second ambulance. Rework security system proposal with the ADT rep, hopefully for action Sunday. Write most of a message to the Board and advisers about the new plan. Talk with Jeff Benjamin about a different objective for his immediate work. Thursday, work on old ambulance title transfer. Talk with Leonard Zubkoff a bit about the new firewall machine for our intranet. Help James Sikes get started on making more dewar fill lines. Get the security system proposal off to Board, staff, and advisers. Write a short report on Jeff Benjamin's activities. Jennifer Chapman, Membership Administrator MEMBERS--All of Monday was devoted to completing tasks relevant to various members, with my primary engagement being to review several memberships and determine whether to issue a notice of cancellation due to funding deficiencies. While reviewing the standard procedure for processing such cancellations, substantial consideration was given to whether the interests of both Alcor and those of our members are being adequately served. It is probable that revision of the current procedure will be discussed during the upcoming board meeting. However, past procedures, as stated in previous contracts, may remain unchanged. A portion of my time was also allotted to addressing the comments of a member who expressed concern about naming Alcor as the owner of his insurance policy. It was clarified that only incoming applicants are required to name Alcor as the owner, although Alcor is requesting that current members also comply with this updated requirement. Several lengthy discussions ensued, whereby the advantages and disadvantages of this ownership requirement were presented. Yet, such discussions did not alleviate the concerns of this member and he decided to address the Board of Directors of Alcor. APPLICANTS-- Several membership applications have been received for minors, as submitted by their parents and\or legal guardians. In the past, Alcor has approved memberships for minors by permitting one guardian to sign the legal paperwork, as the minor child cannot enter into a contract on their own behalf. However, there is uncertainty regarding whether both guardians should be required to sign and whether the existing contract is appropriate for such circumstances. Alcor is currently attempting to resolve this matter by seeking legal advice. PROSPECTS-- A mailing list was composed in preparation for the upcoming East Coast gathering, with invitations sent to various members, applicants, subscribers, and prospective clients in that region. Promotional assistance is also being extended for various additional CryoFeast celebrations that are being hosted across the country this year. PROJECTS-- After several days of corresponding with the company printing our revised wallet cards, the proof has arrived. Although minor adjustments are still pending, it is likely that the final draft will be approved this week. Paula Lemler, Volunteer This week I have been busy with the usual check-writing, and also filing of financial reports. Additionally, Dr. Lemler assigned me the task of copying the cryotransport manuals, which became involved as I endeavored to update them. Dr. Jerry Lemler, President, CEO I felt as though I'd at long last met the wizard! Yesterday (Thursday), Leonard Zubkoff paid a visit to Alcor Central, spending the better part of the day re-working and augmenting our computer system. Observing a bonafide master of any field of endeavor has always been a source of fascination for me. I've witnessed the likes of Michael Jordan on a basketball court, Eugene Fodor with a violin, Cindy Tutwiler responding to cues on Password, Neil Young rifting a six-string, Sir George Solti leading an orchestra, and now Leonard Zubkoff winding his way through a maze of complex hardware options. Thanks, Leonard! I've been busy this week meeting with several prospective Alcor members, giving each a tour of our facilities. Additionally, I've been preparing for Sunday afternoon's Board of Directors meeting. One final note-- our overseas member's once-critical medical status (leading Alcor to go on High Alert Status earlier in the week), has significantly improved. We are in communication with his medical surrogate in Tel Aviv, and our hope is to be able to transport our member to the U.S. for terminal care. Carlos Mondragon, former Alcor President and current Board member will be in town for the weekend. I've talked to Carlos several times on the telephone, but I've never had the opportunity to meet with him face-to-face. Naturally, I'm looking forward to our first personal encounter. Joe Hovey, Accounting Manager Most of the week was taken up by more catch up work for the monthly financial statements. I have now completed statements through August of 2001. I will be distributing copies of the latest statements to the directors as soon as I can put some finishing touches on them. Carlos Mondragon is arriving Friday for this Sunday's Board meeting. I am looking forward to seeing him. It now looks like we will recover all of the monies that were illicitly charged to our American Express card last August and September. American Express is still investigating what happened. I was afraid that we would have to eat about $11,000 of the total, but it appears that they will credit that amount back to us since the facts of the case are very straightforward. I am working on the November billing but preparation for Sunday's board meeting will probably delay completion of the billing until Monday. Jessica Lemler, Administrative Associate/Webmaster This week I have been busy preparing reports and the agenda for Sunday's Board Meeting. We also had our "computer guru," Leonard Zubkoff, visit us yesterday, and we had a wonderful time lunching with him. It wasn't all fun and games, though, as he helped us update our networking capabilities and provided us with a new server. We owe him many thanks! I have also been keeping busy learning how to use the Image Composer component to Microsoft Front Page. This should come in handy for making changes to the website. I have been informed my help will be needed with a major advertising campaign, and I am very excited to be able to lend a hand with this project. I'm working on posting the "Alcor Forum" online, but I am having some problems with the format. I have been in touch with Charles Platt, who has been helpful to me, and hopefully I can get this newsletter posted soon for everyone to see. I got some good pictures again this week, particularly of the liquid nitrogen fill we had early in the week. Click the link below to view: <http://www.alcor.org/this_week_pictures.htm>http://www.alcor.org/this_week _pictures.htm I've been watching baseball, baseball, and more baseball this week as well, and wow, what a World Series! It should be an interesting weekend for the Diamondbacks! Mathew Sullivan, Facility Operations Manager & Patient Care Manager Cryotransport Project Future Bound UK and Canada continues as follows: 1) Small amount of progress on ATP plates and perfusate plate brackets. 2) New cannulae arrived. Cannulae were inventoried and added to spreadsheet. Gathered a few supplies for the Laughlin training class. Cleaned and prepared for possible suspension Reviewed and edited cryotransport checklists Coordinated for possible postmortem transfer of member: This was my first attempt at coordinating the transfer of a postmortem member. My initial contact was with Rowland Brothers in the UK, but the primary individual responsible for such coordination was out of the country. The person left in charge had little or no experience with the type of situation we were presenting. After some discussion, I learned that Rowland Brothers would only act as a middleman in this type of scenario, and their primary contact in Tel Aviv would be the Israel Embalming Services (IES) for packing and shipment of our member. After troubleshooting wrong numbers from both Rowland Brothers and quit a few operators, I finally made contact with IES thanks to the internet. After multiple discussions with Rowland Brothers and IES, I was informed the transfer of the member postmortem to the US on a visa could be illegal. IES also expressed concern that I needed to get my arrangements in place before the Sabbath, otherwise there could be serious complications trying to transfer the individual on the Sabbath. Attempting to resolve these issues on short notice (with no prior experience) and live up to other obligations here at Alcor was challenging to say the least. Rowland Brothers and IES contacted the embassy, and I called immigration and customs. After countless phone calls, I made contact with the appropriate customs agent, and he faxed me the necessary paper for IES, which gave permission for us to transfer our member to the US postmortem. Thankfully, the member stabilized long enough for us to get our preparations fully in place, both here at Alcor and in Tel Aviv. More recently, the member has improved enough that it might be possible to send him to a hospital in the US. There are some concerns regarding a legal requirement for embalming prior to postmortem international shipment if that becomes necessary. Mike Perry, PhD., Patient Care Assistant This week I worked a little more on possible cover pictures for ALEFI, and sent jpeg images to our editor, Lisa Lock. On Monday I was involved in a bulk fill of our dewars which, importantly, included filling one of our presently inactive bigfoots in preparation for an anticipated whole-body suspension. Other projects were to adapt and test a new, backup version of the automated cooldown program so we are not so dependent on one wiring hookup; and to work on a "Tech News" column for the upcoming issue of the magazine. Lesser projects included proofreading, looking up records of liquid nitrogen expenses covered by Alcor but chargeable to Cells4Life, sweeping the cooldown area to prepare for the suspension, and dealing with certified mail at the post office. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17835