Hi all,
Here are minutes from our phone call tonight. Feel free to add anything I left out or correct any mistakes.
Jane Lester
CHIMPS steering committee meeting, by phone, 8 pm, Monday 8-27-12
Present : Ellie, Nancy, Linda, Jane
Fundraising - Ellie has a few items to drop by Jane’s house Thursday. Ellie will send Diane Wade’s
email address to Jane. Jane made a procurement form. Jane to send reminder (request for donations)
every week and designate donation deadline one week before the auction.
We will send request for donations to Ann’s list and Diane’s list. The same people will participate in
auction. Jane sends item spreadsheet to both lists. Buyers email Jane what they would like to bid on, and
how much, and Jane updates spreadsheet daily. At end of 4th day, the spreadsheet notes the highest bidder
and final amount due.
Cor will help collect money, as buyers make payments by PayPal or credit card on the CHIMPS website
under “donate.”
Liaison with residents and students:
Swedish FM with Cor as liaison. Greg Engel is coordinator of global health. Cor set up meeting and
include a steering committee member?
Keep communication open with Children’s residency program too.
Nancy will ask Richard and Heather about having a CHIMPS representative talk with interns at intern
retreat this fall. Other ways to reach interns?
Keep in contact with Analisa (sp?) and Branden. Very busy now, Linda has not heard back from them.
Both will be working at SeaMar, after the baby is born.
Ellie would like to make contact with the Hispanic pathway students at UW medical school.
November 2012 brigada – October meeting will be packing party at Linda’s house Tuesday October 16.
Nancy will forward supply list to Linda for upcoming brigada. Work on budget for trip, propose to Abrazo, work with Cor.
April 2013 brigada – Nancy leading, send out tentative dates to interested parties. Mary O’Connor
interested? Invite residents.
Ellie, Jane and Linda will not be available for Sept meeting Wednesday 12 at Maggie’s house. Steering
committee meeting by phone on Monday September 10 at 8 pm to include Nancy, Linda and Jane.
Thanks!
Jane
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2012 20:56:02 -0700
Subject: Minutes of CHIMPS meeting August 23
From: elinoragraham@gmail.com
To: reyeson43@yahoo.com
CC: finleylester@hotmail.com; beckyandjoe@familysherman.com; nancy.danoff@gmail.com;
nstokley2@hotmail.com; margaret.wheeler@vmmc.org; amylorae@yahoo.com; crystal67@comcast.net;
janehh@u.washington.edu; lori_margaret@yahoo.com; marchand@u.washington.edu;
normagene@olympus.net; oconnorhoward@comcast.net; perkadan@me.com; stevense@ohsu.edu;
aya.reiss@gmail.com; cvanniel@u.washington.edu; sconn2@uw.edu
Dear Friends, brief minutes from the meeting yesterday evening are below:
1. Mary O'Connor gave a report on the issue of chronic renal disease (CRD) in Meso America. She has
made useful contacts with an El Salvadorean professor of geology at Ohio University that has done an
extensive study mapping the known cases of CRD, sugar cane plantations and average
temperature. There does not seem to be an association with temperature but a strong association with the
sugar care plantation locations. Toxins from fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides are suspected and there
are a short list of 4-5 chemicals that she recommends for testing of the samples obtained of water and the
sugar cane panelas obtained by the April brigada. There is also a meeting of researchers on this epidemic
in Costa Rico that will occur at the end of November. There is also a major nephrology conference at the
end of October in CA and there may be some presentations at these meetings. We decided the following:
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Mary will create a "drop-box" for these documents for other's to review
Mary and Nancy S. will follow-up with the toxicologists here in Seattle to determine the cost
of testing the samples for the short list of toxins
Joe and Mary will check the list of participants in the Costa Rico conference and see if any of
them are people from the NW.
Joe will make contact with Dr. Matt Rivara who is a nephrology fellow at UW and may be a
potential contact to keep us informed about research on CRD
We recommend that the November brigada develop and delivery education about the kidneys,
how they function and how they can be impacted by toxins and that they do this education
initially with the Health Committee, give them any additional information about the CRD
epidemic. We can also discuss with them how to personally protect themselves from any
toxins. Ideally, we could include the Unidad de Salud workers in this education.
It was felt up to the Health Committee to determine how they use this information to advocate
for more safety and investigation of potential toxins.
A health fair could ask additional questions about occupational exposures and symptoms
associated with CRD such as extreme weakness and fatigue as well as screen for BP, anemia, and
proteinuria...ideally this should be done with the Unidad de Salud staff. If the Health Committee
thought it appropriate, we could do more education about how to decrease occupational exposure
to toxins among farm workers.
2. November Brigada. Currently Linda Reyes, Joe Sherman, Maggie Wheeler and Norma and Gene
Turner plan to join the brigada (Ellie talked with Gene yesterday and he said to definitely include Norma
and he. They would like to be part of the next phone conference call.) Nancy Danoff and Nancy Stokley
would also like to be part of that call to help with the planning. Suggestions for planning and contact with
the community included:
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Try to have direct contact with Ocelina and Flor who met with the Unidad de Salud to be sure
that the Health Committee and the Unidad de Salud staff can participate in the health fairs and the
education. Perhaps Sonia can get the phone numbers for them and Linda could call them directly
We also need to have the Health Committee contact the school ahead of time and see what day
would be best to do the oral health education and varnish application in school.
We should see if Norma can join the brigada as an interpreter.
3. Steering Committee. Had one meeting and roles were discussed. We do not have anyone to be a liaison
with medical students and residents. Jane will organize meetings and set up agendas, notify people of
meetings and be a contact person for queries via the website. Linda will make communication with our
partners in El Salvador her focus. Ellie will provide historical perspective and information about past
CHIMPS work and help Ann to figure out a way to archive this information. Nancy will try to provide
continuity in brigada work and help with the time lines and processes for these activities and to facilitate
communication with SCH. Generally the Steering Committee will try to have a phone conference call
before each CHIMPS meeting.
We are planning to hold an electronic auction in Sept. Please let Jane know of any items you can
donate.
Next Meetings: Wednesday, Sept 12th at Maggie Wheeler's home, 2123 NW 95th Street, 6:30pm
October meeting changed to Tuesday, October 16th. Place to be determined.
I have attached the Health Fair Intake Form that was used last November. The November brigada
members may want to revise it. Maggie Wheeler has obtained BP cuffs and stethoscopes for each Health
Committee member and practice doing blood pressures will need to be reviewed with the Health
Committee once again.
-Elinor (Ellie) Graham
elinoragraham@gmail.com (Please note that this is a new email address...please change in your address
book if you have an old address)