The payoff of shopping locally

By:  Morgan Smith

ITHACA—

The town of Ithaca is asking residents to “Remember to think local first when shopping this holiday season.”  Partnered with ‘Downtown Ithaca’, ‘Localfirst’ has offered a challenge to Tompkins County residents this holiday season.

The “Local Lover Challenge” offers people who shop locally a chance to win cash cards from $50 up to $250 just by shopping at any five of the participating 72 local businesses.  Customers receive a card that can be stamped at each of the participating businesses.  The more cards shoppers fill the better chance they have to win great prizes.

Elia Kacapyr, Ithaca College Economics Department chair says that holiday retail on a national level is expected to be higher this year then it was last year.

“Last year holiday sales fell by over three percent, this year the expectation is that they’ll only fall by one percent.”

However he predicts that here in Ithaca things will be a bit worse then the national level.

“The question I get a lot is; well the reason sales are slipping here in Tompkins County is because of Etail. We’re very sophisticated and educated here in this county so more of us are comfortable Etailing. And so local retailers aren’t making those sales that are being done in cyber space.” Kacapyr said.

Online shopping is very popular these days.  Local resident Eileen Sheridan explained why she would rather buy gifts on the web.

“For me it’s just easier sometimes to turn on the computer and look for gifts, then it is to window shop. I can shop online during my spare time and I tend to find pretty good deals, and I avoid waiting in lines at the store.”

This is one of the reasons why Ithaca is trying to bring attention to the positive side of shopping locally.

Jerry Martins, works at ‘Now You’re Cooking’ located in the Ithaca Commons.  He says that when shopping online people often take the risk of not receiving the same kind of quality service and support as they would at his store.

“The thing is offering the service, you can ask questions here. So we try to let people know in our advertising that we’ve been here thirty years and that we all cook and we know what we’re doing so we can help you get the right item.” Martins said.

He also pointed out that Ithaca has so many unique shops that it’s a great place to find really personalized gifts.

“We can’t compete with the major chains because they buy their products for less, so instead of competing with them you find the niches that they don’t want to take on, and that’s what we try to do.” Martins said.

Even though Ithaca’s retail sales are expected to be a bit lower then the national average, Kacapyr believes that people are a bit more optimistic this year.

“I think a big difference this holiday season is that we’re coming out of a recession and consumers therefore have a little bit more confidence then last holiday season where we were looking directly into the face of a recession.” Kacapyr said.

Even with more confidence, families still want ways to stretch their holiday shopping dollars.

“We’re finding that people are taking the money they have and making sure the kids have a good Christmas. And for themselves we’re getting people saying ‘we’re not giving big presents, we’re just doing stocking stuffers.’ So we’re selling a lot of small items.”

One way Ithaca has helped parents with holiday shopping was through an agreement with a local day care and local businesses.  One store that participated was ‘Alphabet Soup’ a toy store located on the Ithaca Commons.

Elana Peterson and employee of ‘Alphabet Soup’ said, “There was a deal last week where a community day care watched the kids while the parents went out and shopped. The parents got a discount here and at some additional stores and restaurants.”

This was another way Ithaca was trying to give back to the community for supporting local business.

“We also sent out a mailing through our birthday club. The families received a five dollar off coupon in the mail and it’s been really well received. A lot of people are using them and its getting people in our store. We’ve actually seen an increase in sales in the past couple weeks with the amount of holiday shopping, so that’s good.” Peterson said.

Kacapyr says, that when considering the economic recession during holiday shopping this year, “People are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The hope of ‘LocalFirst’ is that with the ‘Local Lover Challenge’ in Ithaca, the tunnel might just be a bit brighter this holiday season.

Five cents really does make a difference

NEW YORK—From the cool refrigerator in the back of the grocery store, to a tip of a person’s lips, to the claustrophobic recycling machines, bottled beverages endure a long journey from consumption toward recycled decimation. The lives of these usually plastic containers are now serving a greater purpose for the environment.

Because of the newly amended New York Returnable Container Act, or Bottle Bill, prices of bottled water and carbonated beverages have increased 10 cents and five cents across the state, including retailers on the Ithaca College campus. This change could lead to more than $100 million in extra revenue from unclaimed deposits, according to the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG).

“Four cents of that five cent increase goes to the [New York] state general fund,” Laura Haight, a senior environmental associate with the research group said. As of Oct. 31, all containers of water under a gallon in size now have a five-cent refundable deposit. Retail prices on Ithaca College’s campus have been changed from $2.19 to $2.29, respectively as of Nov. 30.

According to the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), more than 3.2 billion water bottles are sold each year in New York, which until the updated amendment did not have a deposit price. Haight said less than 17 percent of those 3.2 billion bottles are actually being recycled.

“When the bill was first introduced in 1982, 70 percent of roadside litter was reduced,” Haight said. “With this new amendment [to the bill], we are hoping for a similar effect.”

Haight said the number one item in litter clean up is water bottles and that if the rate of recycling for these bottles increases to 77 percent—the current rate for recycled beer and soda bottles—significant environmental benefits are a guarantee.

“Without a doubt, this is one of the most important environmental bills that has been passed in New York in recent years,” Haight said. “Does it solve all of our environmental problems? No, but it does target some really recyclable materials.”

Public reaction to the price increase has been mixed. Some community members said they fear whether the extra revenue will actually go to environmental programs.

“How do we really know where that extra money is going?” said Michelle Otis, a senior outdoor adventure leadership major at Ithaca College. “Unless [the bottle companies or the state government] plan to make the exchange of the extra revenue transparent to the public, I don’t see how we as consumers could ever know where that money is really going.”

Spencer Harper, a managing supervisor at Campus Center dining hall at the college said he doesn’t blame anyone, especially students for a lack of recycling habits.

“It’s important and I know I try to recycle everything I can,” he said. “But at the same time for a student it’s difficult, especially if they don’t have a car. There should be more recycling services offered on campus and in the community.”

There are three main recycling centers in Ithaca and many grocery stores as well as convenience stores offer recycling services, such as Wegmans and GreenStar. Wegmans of Ithaca offers a beverage container return service and multiple bottle return machines in the front area of their store.

“Since the introduction of the Bottle Bill, we have seen an increase in the amount of people recycling,” said Wegmans service team leader, Alex Adeleqitz. “There was such an increase in the last several months that we had to buy a few new recycling machines with more capacity.”

Ithaca College dining services is contracted through Sodexo, one of the largest food service companies in the world. Jeff Scott, general manager for Ithaca Dining Services said when Sodexo’s packaging and shipment prices went up, the cost to dining services went up as well.

“No one likes to see the cost of anything go up, but I don’t think anyone was surprised,” Scott said. “It’s never a good position for us, as a retailer, when fees are imposed. However, the number of bottles in landfills and so forth is a growing problem. On a personal level, I think [the price increase] is okay if it will help the environment.”

Carol McLaren, who has been a cashier in the campus center food court at the college for almost 21 years said only a few faculty members have commented on the price increases, but none of the students have said anything to her.

“Because students have meal plans and bonus bucks, they usually don’t even know what they’re spending,” she said. “Faculty members, on the other hand, usually pay with cash or only have a few meals a week, so they notice that five cent or ten cent increase.”

Even with the skepticism from some students, the Container Recycling Institute said the projected benefits from the bill reform and price increases will be worthwhile. According to the institute’s analysis, energy saved by recycling the additional containers is enough to power 43,660 households for an entire year and recycling the additional containers will also avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of 28,075 cars.

Haight said that getting people to commit to regular environmental practices, like recycling, can sometimes be challenging, but she said with the updated bill and its greater economic impact, environmental practices will be easier to implement.

“There was a lot of grassroots organizing for this bill and a lot of support at the community level,” she said. “Of the many environmental issues I have worked on, this certainly has been one of the most approachable and accessible. This issue is something we can see and we all benefit from cleaner, healthier communities.”

A System in Crisis: The U.S Criminal Justice System

By: Tracey A. Casseus

ITHACA, NY—“Our lives are in the human struggle, the struggle is painful and deep, the struggle holds death and life, out of the struggle of the now we will try to create a more human world for the future, the past is approved, the present is received, the future is open.”

This was a saying often used by Lawrence Hayes throughout his 20 years spent in prison.

Hayes was born and raised in Harlem, NY and became a member of the Black Panther Party in 1968. In August of 1971, he was arrested for acting in concert at a murder scene of a policeman. Hayes was sentenced to death, and was one of the five New York State death row inmates awaiting execution at the time of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1972 Furman vs. Georgia decision that abolished the death penalty. His sentence was commuted to life with parole.

Hayes was paroled in 1991 and since then has become a spokesman against the death penalty. He has spoken at several colleges and universities and is a member of the international abolition organization, Hands Off Cain. Hayes is the Co-Founder of Campaign To End The Death Penalty and has dedicated his life to ending the death penalty.

“The criminal justice system, of all the systems that have been modified and changed and reformed over the years, has not been touched,” says Hayes.

Although the United States contributes to only 5 percent of the world’s population, the nation incarcerates nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) at yearend 2008, federal and state correctional authorities had jurisdiction over 1,610,446 prisoners and the prison population increased by 12,201 prisoners from 2007 to 2008.

Estimated number of sentenced prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction from 2000-2008

That means about 1 in every 133 U.S residents were in custody of state, federal prison or local jails.

The incarceration rate was 754 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents for inmates held in custody of state or federal prisons or in local jails and by the end of 2008 the total incarcerated population reached 2,424,279 inmates up 0.2% or 5,038 inmates from yearend 2007.

“There’s a lot more racial bias in the criminal justice system than people don’t realize,” says Alan Bean executive director of Friends of Justice.

And statistics of the prison population under state and federal jurisdiction seem to agree with Bean’s statement.

Estimated number of sentenced prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction by race from 2000-2008

According to the BJS, black males were incarcerated at a rate six and half times higher than white males. In 2008 about 34 percent of all sentenced prisoners were white, 38 percent were black, and 20 percent were Hispanic.

Nevertheless, in keeping with BJS statistics, the number of imprisoned blacks has declined by about 18,400 since yearend 2000, reducing the total number of blacks in prison to about 591,900 at yearend 2008.

On the contrary, the numbers of sentenced white and Hispanic offenders have increased since 2000. The number of imprisoned whites has risen by 57,200 since 2000 to reach 528,200 at yearend 2008. The total number of imprisoned Hispanics rose by 96,200 to reach 313,100 at the close of 2008.

While 20 states reported a decline in the number of prisoners under their jurisdiction in 2008 for a total decrease of 9,719 prisoners, 29 states and the federal prison system reported a combined increase of 21,920 prisoners at yearend.

The United States government seems ready to review its criminal justice system. In March Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) introduced a bill in an effort to reform the criminal justice system.

The National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 proposes the creation of a blue-ribbon commission to extensively review every aspect of the criminal justice system. Webb wants to work toward reducing the overall incarceration rate while refocusing efforts toward locking up truly dangerous criminals and gang leaders, decreasing prison violence, establishing meaningful reentry programs for ex-offenders, reforming the nation’s drug policies and improving treatment of the mentally ill.

The legislation has already garnered wide bipartisan support in Congress and from interest groups representing a range of backgrounds and political viewpoints.

On Sen. Webb’s Web Site explaining the bill he states,

“America’s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation’s prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives. We need to fix the system.”

Tracey’s Soundslide

Spit That! Spoken Mic

A Diabetic’s Tale

Dominique Legaux

By: Tracey A. Casseus

ITHACA, NY—November is nationally recognized as American Diabetes Month and is used as a time to spotlight the serious disease that affects the lives of many in the United States.

However, those who live with diabetes already know just how serious, complex and dangerous a disease diabetes is, which is growing to be a global epidemic. According to the World Health Organization more than 220 million people worldwide have diabetes.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar.

For 21-year-old Ithaca College senior, Dominique Legaux diabetes is something she pays great attention too, much more attention than just one month out of the year.

Legaux has type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, and has had it since she was 14 years old. Type 1 diabetes is characterized by a lack of insulin production.

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin to properly control blood sugar levels.

Legaux remembers being a freshman in high school and first noticing the changes happening to her body.

“[I] was thirsty all the time and had to use the restroom more than usual,” recalls Legaux.

She noticed that her vision was becoming hazy which was her first warning sign because she had never had problems with her vision in the past.

At first she thought she was just sick with the common cold or something minor like that and went on about her daily life as normal.

When Legaux’s mother noticed the changes in her she told her daughter that her body just needed rest and predicted after a good night’s sleep she would feel much better in the morning.

When Legaux woke up the opposite had occurred. She was very weak and could barley see.

While packing, getting ready to spend the day with her father, she collapsed on her living room sofa and when he father found her he started to cry. The daughter he hadn’t seen in a week and a half had lost about 15 to 20 pounds.

Legaux remembers her father telling her that, “It looked like my skin had dried from the inside out.”

Her father rushed her to the emergency room. While being examined, doctors checked her blood sugar levels. Those who do not have diabetes should have a reading of about 70-140 mg/dl (milligrams per deciliter), Legaux’s read 1200 mg/dl.

She was rushed to the intensive care unit where she remained for a week.

Before this all happened, Legaux never even heard the word diabetes. It was never mentioned in her family. They knew nothing about it.

When the doctor told her she had diabetes it went over her head. “Alright I don’t know what that means,” she told the doctors.

Then the doctors brought out a baby doll and needles to make the message sink into her head.

“At the time I was confused. [I asked] why are you bringing out a baby doll and needles? And [they replied that] ‘we’re going to teach you how to give a shot.’ And I was like ‘why?” And they said ‘now for the rest of your life you will have to give yourself shots to live.”

Legaux’s entire world had changed.

“All of this was thrown at me in a week. And I had to learn all this stuff that was suppose to sustain me for the rest of my life. Between checking your blood, how much insulin, calculating how many carbs are in the foods you’re eating. Things that I’ve never had to deal with before, and I’m not good at math either. So I was like ‘Oh my goodness, I’m going to have to do this every single day?’”

Each year, more than 13,000 young people are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes according to the Center for Disease Control.

“You know it boggles my mind that at 14 I was like ‘good gracious, now this is what I have to do for the rest of my life.”

Legaux is not alone.

According to the data from the 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet a total of 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, 7.8 percent of the population, have diabetes. About one in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents has type 1 diabetes

Diabetes is lifelong disease that must be properly managed in order to prevent damage to the body.

That is why finding health insurance for diabetics that will cover the basic medical care needed is critical. Many complications of diabetes require specialized medical care, and even regular health issues often require specialized care if the patient is diabetic.

In many countries like Canada, Spain and Sweden, diabetics have regular care covered by a national health plan. In the U.S. however, finding insurance after diabetes has been diagnosed can be very difficult, because of common limitations on coverage of “pre-existing conditions” placed by most insurance companies.

“Our system is disorganized,” said Stewart Auyash, associate professor of Health Promotion and Physical Education at Ithaca College.

“That’s why our system is not organized for the care of people. That person is going to be effected because their choices are limited and when your choices are limited then you really have no choice.”

With Legaux graduating in May she is very concerned about how she will receive adequate health care post college.

“I’m going to be dropped from my dad’s insurance soon because I’m an adult,” said Legaux.

“And that already worries me because I have now a pre-condition whereas when I was first put on the insurance, when I was younger, I didn’t have it but now I do. So once I get off this insurance and try to apply for something else [they’ll say] ‘you have diabetes, turned down.’”

Even some of the most basic insurance plan that covers the cost of basic medication and office visits do not cover important ‘accessories’ for diabetics, such as insulin pumps.

Legaux and her family worked with their health insurance company for years to get an insulin pump that could help better control her blood sugar levels. Two and a half years ago she had the surgery for the insulin pump.

The insulin pump cost $6,500. Legaux ‘s family only had to pay $500 out of pocket.

Legaux says life has improved a great deal for her since receiving the pump and understands how lucky she is to have it.

“People who don’t have good insurance coverage or people who cant afford that,  [their] health suffers because you can’t afford a device that’s suppose to help you,” said Legaux.

“So then in turn if you’re not getting better then your going to get sick and then insurance is just going to have to keep shupling out money when you keep going into the hospital because you can’t buy the preventative things that’s going to help you anyway.”

Earlier this month the U.S. House of Representatives passed The Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) in a 220-215 vote. The proposed bill could prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to people with diabetes.

The proposed bill also could eliminate annual and lifetime caps on benefits, limit out-of-pocket expenses, and provide subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford insurance.

Many are hopeful for that the proposed health care bill will do a world of good to people who need it the most.

“Most people at this point get insurance either through schools if they go one to get to graduate school or through their employer so it kind of necessitates having a job or going to school and that’s difficult,” said Erin Hall-Rhoades, physician and assistant director of the Hammond Health Center at Ithaca College.

“Hopefully then [with the new health care bill] employments status and other things like that will not negatively affect your ability to receive health insurance and health care.”

Auyash agrees.

“I think it can happen,” he said.

“I think it’s the best opportunity to have this happen since my lifetime I would suspect and I have some hope that it’s going to be a positive outcome. I think that it may be the best opportunity to do this and if we don’t do this now then it might be many, many years before we can revisit this again.”

Saving the world one fungus at a time

By Melanie Breault ’11

ITHACA, NY—They’re on your pizza. They’re in your beer. They’re even in your medicine. Fungi—this overlooked moldy kingdom has the potential to be a leading force in planet and humanitarian preservation, according to multiple accredited mycologists, or fungal scientists. With huge environmental and medical problems worrying citizens around the world, one small seed, one microscopic spore could be the solution.

Dr. Kathie Hodge, an associate professor of mycology in the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology at Cornell University, has been studying the benefits of fungi for more than 20 years. Hodge, who is also a taxonomist or classifier of fungal diversity, said that over 90 percent of fungal species have not yet been discovered. Of the species that have been identified and described, some fungi have been used for medicinal purposes including inhibition of tumor growth and improvement of immune-system function.

“Mold is a fungus and a lot of mold is really good for mankind,” Hodge said. “It is used to make penicillin and other medicines that people don’t even realize.”

Hodge referenced the work of a fellow mycologist, Paul Stamets, a scientist who specializes in bioremediation and medicinal mushrooms. Hodge said through bioremediation, people can manipulate the enzymes of fungus to help heal catastrophic environmental problems such as oil spills and horticultural diseases.

“Fungi can be developed to break down really nasty chemicals that we put into the environment, even petroleum products,” Hodge said. “Enzymes from fungi are being looked at to find the most efficient way to use their energy conversion for biofuel production.”

Christine Layton, a graduate student at Cornell has made biofuel production her fungal focus for more than five years. She studies specifically smut fungus, a fungus that attacks the reproductive systems of switchgrass, resulting in the stunting of the plant. Switchgrass has garnered attention as a source for biofuels because of its well adaptive nature to different climates and deep root systems.

“There is a lot of economic and environmental importance for switchgrass because it was becoming very clear that corn was not the solution to producing ethanol in this country,” Layton said. “As we transition into the age of green technologies, switchgrass is not going to be a silver bullet, but we’re going to have to take a multifaceted approach to this kind of production and switchgrass is part of the solution.”

Teresa Pawlowska, a fungal biologist who specializes in mycorrhizal fungi—the symbiotic or mutualistic relationship between plants and fungi—said people should not just pay attention to the benefits of fungi. She said we should address these agricultural and economic concerns, specifically the increase in nitrogen fertilizers—a manmade environmental pollutant.

“These fertilizers are accumulating in the environment and they cause a decline in ectomycorrhizal fungi,” Pawlowska said. “These fungi are important for forest function including mineral uptake of trees, but they are declining because of the nitrogen pollution.”

Both Hodge and Layton use the Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium for their research. The facility is one of the largest mycological herbariums in North America, holding about 400,000 fungus and plant disease specimens and about 60,000 historical scientific photographs.

Layton said through her research, she understands that fungus cannot heal the entire planet, but a combination of resources can make a difference. She said the real solutions to environmental problems lie in human’s ability to use the tools right in front of them.

“Fungi are very connected to everything on this Earth,” she said. “If we start manipulating them to our will, they can make a huge difference in saving the planet.”

http://melbreault.blogspot.com/2009/11/saving-world-one-fungus-at-time.html

Tompkins County local government is responding to climate change, are you?

By  Morgan Smith

ITHACA–

Even if you choose to ignore it, climate change on a global scale and even at the local level is a very real problem.  It’s hard not to notice 60 degree weather in November, especially in Ithaca NY, which is known for it’s windy and cold winters.

In response to these changes the Tompkins County Planning Department has recently amended the County’s comprehensive plan by adding a new element to address the issue of energy and greenhouse gas emissions.

Scott Doyle is the Senior Planner for the Tompkins County Department of Planning, he says, “This is an issue that is mainly a concern because of what we see in trends in terms of energy and oil demands, demands are continuing to raise but the supplies are continuing to diminish.”

The Tompkins County comprehensive plan has four sections, which they call interlocking pieces.  The first section is housing, transportation and jobs.  The second section is environment.  The third section is neighborhoods and communities, the forth section is the initiative recently added for energy and greenhouse gas emissions.

Rebecca Webster is a double major in journalism and environmental studies at Ithaca College, and she says she is very glad Tompkins County has adopted this plan.  “This area is so dedicated to making smaller footprints on the earth, it was only a matter of time before that common thought became part of our county policies.” Webster said.

The Tompkins County Legislature passed this amendment in December, 2008 and plans and progress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve energy on a local level have been underway ever since.  Counties in New York State are not required to have a comprehensive plan but Tompkins County is leading the pack.

“Tompkins County is unlike any where else in the State, I think that our citizenry supports planning and thinking about these things much more then other places I’ve worked. In doing something like this and the fact that our local decision makers are supportive of this, that alone is pretty huge.” Doyle said.

Susan Allen-Gil, Associate Professor of environmental studies and science at Ithaca College believes that this is a very impressive plan.

“I don’t think most people appreciate the level of commitment that the Tompkins County legislature made to reducing green house gas emissions. To try to reduce emissions 80 percent by 2050 is one of the most ambitious plans of any county across the country and certainly for upstate New York. It’s way leaps and bounds above what any community has been able to do.” Allen-Gil said.

There have been many programs implemented in this community that people can use to their advantage.

“They’re talking about a program to give loans to low income people to help improve the insulation and the energy efficiency of their own homes. So they need to know that those kind of opportunities are going to exist for them, so that if they feel that putting insulation in their houses is not worth it or they can’t afford it, this gives them a way to know that there is assistance at the county level to make these kinds of changes to and reach the 80 percent reduction.”  Allen-Gil said.

Tompkins TCAT is trying to go green as well and has supported this plan by integrating more fuel efficient buses and recently began a vanpool program that acts as a carpool for commuters and can fit five to fifteen people per vehicle.  This saves the commuters time and money, but that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone is taking advantage of it.  Nichole Tedesco, Service and Operations Analyst for TCAT says the program will only be successful if people use it.

“The vanpools are determined on customer demand. We do have the program in place but right now we’re waiting for people to sign up, we can’t put a vanpool out if we don’t have enough people to use it. When gas prices went through the roof a while ago we had so much interest, but now people are getting used to paying three dollars a gallon for gas so alternative transportation is less in demand I guess.” Tedesco said.

There has been a lot of local support for the county’s comprehensive plan, and there are many simple things that you as an individual can do to help reduce your global footprint.  Walk more, drive less, turn off lights and unplug electronics.  These are simple and effective ways to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and arguably they’re also simple ways to improve your own quality of life.

“There are things can you do in your everyday life to reduce your impact. But it’s such a large issue that it’s tough to not get overwhelmed with it. The key is to realize that you’re not going to be able to do everything but you can do things in your daily life that will make a difference.” Doyle said.

 

14 firefighters old and new learn the basics of survival

By Melanie Breault ‘11

ITHACA, NY— Hand over hand, Kara Cundy slowly made her way head first down the ladder. As Cundy stared at the ground 30 feet beneath her, she took one deep breath after another to prevent herself from throwing up.

“I am terrified of heights,” firefighter Cundy of the Big Flats Fire Department said. Cundy has been a firefighter for 10 years, but she still has not been able to overcome her fear of heights, until now. “I had to do it. I couldn’t chicken out in front of my chief.”

Cundy attended the Tompkins County Fire Training Division’s firefighter survival program Nov. 14 at the Tompkins County Fire Training Center on 200 Pier Road. This daylong course that teaches self-rescue and rescue of trapped firefighters is offered twice a year under the instruction of State Fire Instructor for the city of Ithaca Fire Department Tom Basher.

Basher has been an instructor and firefighter with the Ithaca Fire Department for 17 years and has been teaching this program for the past 15 years.

“People were getting killed,” he said, referring to the fire at Cornell University’s Alpha Psi fraternity on Dec. 6, 1906, where three volunteer firefighters were killed after a wall collapsed on top of them. “Had [those firefighters] had some knowledge or training in certain fields, they may not have had that same outcome,” Basher said.

The Tompkins County course is based on FDNY Battalion Chief John Salka’s “Training Your Firefighters to Get Out Alive” program. Salka created the program in 1995 after 11 New York City firefighters died in the line of duty in 22 months.

“Nine out of 11 of those firefighters were killed in a building they could have easily gotten out of had they had the proper training,” Salka said.

Salka is also the founder and president of Fire Command Training, an organization that provides lectures, workshops and hands-on training to fire service professionals around the country. Salka was awarded the Fire Engineering’s Training Achievement Award in March 2001 at the Fire Department Instructors Conference in Indianapolis for his firefighter survival program.

“I didn’t come up with this all on my own,” he said. “I took the skills I learned from other firefighters as well as my own situations and created a package. This [package] has become the model for so many different fire departments now.”

As the first step toward their career, Basher said potential firefighters must go to the New York State Academy for Fire Science in Montour Falls. Once they have completed the academy, they must attend specific firefighter training in Ithaca, which includes 90 hours of basic training as well as constant training throughout their careers, including mandatory attendance at the firefighter survival program.

“There are certain dangerous working conditions that are always constant [for firefighters],” Salka said. “I don’t know if these conditions will ever change, but through [the firefighter survival] training, we can diminish the number of fatalities and injuries per year.”

According to the National Fire Protection Association, 70 on-duty firefighters died in 2009 with 4.28 percent of those deaths caused by being caught or trapped at the scene. New York state made up the largest number with five on-duty firefighter fatalities.

“In actuality, not that many firefighters die from being trapped in a burning building,” Salka said. “But it still keeps happening and we are taking steps to diminish these numbers. There shouldn’t be even one.”

The training session Saturday featured 14 old and new firefighters from fire departments across the county including Big Flats, Lansing, Danby and Freeville. Some of the attendees have taken the course several times to improve their skills, while others like new firefighter, Liz McClure from the Freeville Fire Department, took this course for the first time.

“Fortunately, we don’t see that many fires, but then we don’t get much practice,” McClure said. “This training is good because when [a fire] does happen, we know exactly what to do to protect yourself and your team.”

Dryden Volunteer Firefighter Spends Extra Time At The Station

By  Morgan Smith

DRYDEN, NY–

The siren from the Dryden fire station can be heard from miles away, and one of the first members to arrive at the station is 23 year old firefighter Bruce Eck.

When an emergency call is placed to the local 911 dispatch center, the information is then transferred to the station with the closest jurisdiction.

“We have people here for our ambulance side at all times, fire side usually we don’t have anybody here unless its getting to be bad weather or something. Somebody usually comes down and stands by, usually somebody like myself, somebody who is relatively new, and is still gung hoe.” said Eck.

Eck definitely is ‘gung hoe’. He spends his spare time at the station so that he can get more experience, and be one of the first to get to the scene.  He has been a volunteer firefighter with Dryden for 1 ½ years and was recently certified to be an interior firefighter.

“I had to take two classes before I could be an interior firefighter. I had to take scene support which was a 27 hour class, and firefighter one which is a 96 hour class.” said Eck.

The Neptune Hose Co. and Dryden Ambulance Inc. is a small station.  The fire department is strictly volunteer run, while the ambulance and EMS have full-time paid workers response ready 24/7.

“The fire side of the department is smaller. Our ambulance has bigger coverage, it goes to Groton a lot  while the fire department mainly covers the just village of Dryden.” said Eck.

He added that they sometimes go to Cortland if they call for extra support, however the stations average call is usually an alarm set off at the Tompkins Cortland Community College Campus near by.

On top of being a firefighter, Eck is also taking classes at TC3. He said it’s hard sometimes to manage school and work, especially when you don’t receive a pay check as a volunteer firefighter; but its well worth it because he loves the job.

The station recently went through $400,000 worth of construction, adding a new radio room, bunk room and common room to house their 22 interior firefighters and 5 exterior firefighters.  They should also be getting two new trucks by 2011.

“I don’t mind being here, I really like it. There is always something I can do to stay busy too.” said Eck

 

 

IC Student Finds Time to Study and Save Lives

Volunteer EMT Isaac Lief

By: Tracey A. Casseus

ITHACA, NY—Isaac Lief is a typical Ithaca College student. He goes to class throughout the day while trying to balance his time between the campus fitness center for his workouts and the library to study for his demanding courses. By first glance one would find it hard to believe that the 22-year-old has time to lead a double life.

Lief is an Ithaca College student by day and volunteer emergency medical technician (EMT) by night; Monday nights anyways. From 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Lief drives out to the Dryden fire department, about 10 miles out of Ithaca, to serve as a volunteer EMT with their ambulance unit once a week.

“I love interacting with people, I love meeting new people, I love asking questions, I love learning new things about people and then on the other hand I think disease, injury, and sickness is just fascinating,” says Lief. “I mean it’s awful but when people and disease or sickness converge it just makes a really interesting case.”

When Junior Erica Hicks heard about Lief serving as a volunteer EMT she wasn’t surprised.

“He’s a very nice person, he’s very thoughtful of others,” said Hicks.

When Lief was 12-years-old he spent the summer at camp Sprout Lake in Poughkeepsie, NY where he met a camp counselor who, to some extent, helped plant the seeds for his future.

“He told me some stories and he just made it seem really cool,” said Lief.

Lief’s desire to be an EMT was further instilled by his Uncle who was in a fire when he was 20-years-old. After the fire his uncle became involved with emergency medical services and he eventually became Lieutenant Daniel Seigel of Tenafly, New Jersey.

“I think the combination of the two was interesting and a good introduction into that type of world,” said Lief.

From there Lief got involved with his local ambulance core in Brooklyn, New York when he was about 13 years old where he was able to dispatch emergency calls and do some training. When Lief was 16 he became certified as a first responder, which allowed him to have patient contact but not as much as a medically trained EMT.

While in his second year at the University of Central Florida, Lief took an EMT course and became EMT certified in Florida in the spring of 2008. Upon moving to Ithaca in the fall of 2008, Lief had to get reciprocity to become an EMT in New York which took the entire summer and in order to become a volunteer EMT with the Dryden fire department more paper work had to be filed.

Despite being a junior health sciences major with a concentration in pre-med Lief doesn’t find volunteering to be time consuming.
“On average there’s probably one or two calls a night so I can go and do all my work, so it’s really not all that time consuming,” says Lief.

As a volunteer he performs the same tasks as any other paid EMT basic would. Lief provides basic life support to patients which at any night can include: stabilizing patients, performing CPR, using the defibrillator, putting patients on a long board and using other basic diagnostic tools.

Sophomore Chad Condidorio, Lief’s former roommate and good friend, is very impressed by the work Lief does.

“I think it’s really cool that he finds time to donate some of his time and still do his school work, I think its pretty commendable,” says Condidorio. “He’s able to give up a whole night a week [of studying] whereas usually I need at least some time every night to study and he was able to give up a whole night to do that.”

Although Lief knows his workload may seem demanding to others he finds it to be very fulfilling.

“To be able to intervene in someway and help someone either in a 15 minute ambulance ride and there’s not much you can do for them but just be there for them or if there’s a lot you can do its just really interesting to help people I think,” says Lief.

Lief plans on being an EMT in the area until he graduates in May 2011 and then move onto medical school.

Junior Andrea Hall thinks Lief fits the bill as a volunteer EMT.

“I know that he wants to be a doctor and wants to go to med school so I think that it’s a good thing for him to experience. He’s a caring person so I can definitely see him in that field,” said Hall.

Lief says that being a volunteer EMT has opened his eyes to more than different medicines but to different people.

“You can’t get fed up with people, you have to be pretty tolerate because there are a lot of time when people call 911 its for reasons that a person in a different maybe economic or educational situation wouldn’t call 911 so you have to be tolerate to people own issues,” says Lief.

Lief goes on to say, “You have to realize that you’re in a profession where your not in a position to judge you’re in a position to treat the patient, try to help them the best you can and move along.”

When asked about being a hero, Lief replies, “I’ve never risked my life so in that sense I’m not a hero but in terms of being a hero for someone, at that moment I would say for that night I was that guy’s hero.”