There Isn't Enough Time to Not Vote...

Voting Polls are open 8am-8pm Today

Whatever your politics and your point-of-view, vote.

No matter if you are voting for a candidate or against one, vote.

No matter if you are voting for a party or against one, vote.

No matter how crazy your day is today, vote.

Be the Change You Want to See in Vancouver, VOTE.

Also, there's a Referendum Question: First Past the Post or Representational Voting...

Confused about BC-STV? Try it and see if you like it
By Charlie Smith, Georgia Straight

http://www.straight.com/article-219859/confused-about-bcstv-try-it-and-see-if-you-it

Hand-delivered Reply from BC Cancer Agency, April 21, 2009

I posted the letter that I had written to BC Cancer Agency at 4:24pm on Monday, April 20th and sometime before noon the following day "a guy" who was not from a courier company (according to my son Zack who was at home recovering from a sinus infection) hand-delivered the following response:



April 21, 2009


Dear Zöe [actually Zoë] :


I am writing to you in response to your letter dated March 26, 2009 [actually dated and hand-delivered on March 24, 2009].

I wanted to thank-you [sic] for your recommendations about our snack trolley and the availability of our recycle bins. It is through comments such as yours that we can provide improved care to all of our patients and families.

I have pulled a team together to review the items sold on the snack trolley with a view to add more nutritious snacks onto the selection.

We are reviewing the purchase of paper cups with safe beverage holders instead of styrafoam cups. Our cafetieria at the Vancouver Centre has already made the change.

Finally, we are adding several blue bins to the patient care areas so that patients and families have an option to use the recycle containers as well as staff.

I am hoping that we can make these changes quickly and efficiently so that you and others can benefit from the positive ideas.

Thank-you [sic] again for your suggestions to us and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have further questions and concerns.


Sincerely,


Sue Fuller Blamey
Director, Quality, Safety and Accreditation

CC. Brian Schmidt, Interim president of BC Cancer Agency
CC. Noorjean Hassam, Director of Regional Operations, Fraser Valley Centre and Abbotsford Centre
CC. Ryna Levy-Milne, Professional Practice Leader, Oncology Nutrition

I do have some comments and given how efficient it was to communicate to BC Cancer Agency via the blog, I will continue. On Tuesday afternoon, just as I was leaving the house, Sue Fuller Blamey called me to follow up on the hand-delivered letter. She noted that she was hesitant to call me given that I had asked her not to and had given her my email address more than once. I let her know again that I preferred written communication.

I note that my offer to single-handedly come up with more nutritious, patient-pleasing snack trolley options was not taken up and that Ms. Fuller Blamey has "pulled a team together to review the items sold on the snack trolley with a view to add more nutritious snacks onto the selection." I refer those on the team to this Medscape article: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/577935_7

I apologize to those who don't speak or read medical-ese but I know that this carries more weight for those who do. It basically confirms that sugar is most likely a very bad idea for people who have cancer. I came to that conclusion in 2000 when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer and had my first PET scan. I ingested a sickly-sweet drink that had "nuclear medicine" contained within it. The way the PET scan works is that the "cancer cells gobble up the sugar" and that "lights up" areas in the body that have tumour activity. I fortunately don't have a sweet tooth but that info really has caused me to be very selective about when I choose to ingest sugar.

So...I wonder about BC Cancer Agency "adding" more nutritious snacks as opposed to replacing the very worst kind of crummy chocolate bars. What about just offering organic, free-trade dark chocolate? What about investigating a partnership with Happy Planet? What about contact spud.ca for leads of which local suppliers of delicious and nutritious snacks might be wildly enthusiastic to offer their products to BC Cancer Agency patients and their families. It is my belief that what BC Cancer Agency makes available at their Centres should be representative of what people living with cancer should be eating as part of a healthy diet. Same for the Styrafoam cups...not good for the patients and not good for the landfills. So many cups are used that it is important that they be recyclable.

Also, all those water cups that are used all day, five or six days a week on the chemo floor, where do they go since there are no blue bins on that floor? Also, I am a bit confused at the sentence:
"Finally, we are adding several blue bins to the patient care areas so that patients and families have an option to use the recycle containers as well as staff." The reason that I am confused is that I don't understand why BC Cancer Agency considers recycling to be optional? Isn't it essential?

With due respect,
Zoë

Free Recycling of Electronics on Wednesday, April 22 at Lord Byng Secondary

TECH IT AWAY!

This Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22nd), Best Buy is teaming with the Lord Byng Environment Club to safely collect and recycle your old electronics at participating Encorp recycling centres.

Help keep harmful electronic waste out of Canadian landfill sites.

On Wednesday, April 22nd from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m you can drop off unwanted electornics for free recycling at Lord Byng. There will be a drop -off station in the parking lot--look for the signs and the volunteers.

Items accepted for recycling include:
• Computers, Monitors, Cables and Accessories
• Laptops
• Printers
• Fax Machines
• TVs
• Batteries

Best Buy will help the school to purchase new, energy efficient elecdtornic equipment, in exchange for hosting the recycling event. King George Secondary and Churchill Secondary are also participating, and the school that collects the most items for recycling will win $2000 for its
environmental/sustainabiility student club.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Maria Taddei

Principal, Lord Byng Secondary

Going Public with Letter to the BC Cancer Agency

Letter hand-delivered March 24, 2009

Dear Mr. Brian Schmidt, interim President, BC Cancer Agency;
Dr. Charles Blanke, Head of Div. of Medical Oncology, Systemic;
Ms. Cheri Van Patten, Registered Dietician & Clinical Researcher

I am writing as a long-term patient of the BC Cancer Agency. I was first diagnosed with locally-advanced breast cancer in 2000 (patient #000-1804). I have been in the fabulous care of Dr. Karen Gelmon since then. I received treatment in 2000 and was seemingly disease-free until the spring of 2008.

On Thursday, February 5th, 2009 I began chemotherapy (for the first time) and just had my third dose on Friday, March 20th. I am receiving a chemo cocktail comprised of Herceptin, Taxol and Carboplatin, which means that I spend long periods of time on the sixth floor of the BC Cancer Agency.

Following are several questions/concerns that I have:

1. The Contents of the Snack Trolley

I am shocked that the snack trolley has only unhealthy snacks! Poor quality chocolate bars? Lay’s potato chips? Sugar-laden cookies?

2. Serving Tea and Coffee in Styrofoam Cups

The evidence really seems to point to styrene being a carcinogen, not to mention that it takes about 100 years for Styrofoam to break down in a land fill. Also, it makes tea taste lousy.

3. Lack of Recycling at BC Cancer Agency

When I was leaving on Friday after my third dose, I asked the nurse if there was a blue bin to put my newspaper in. “Not on this floor,” she said, “maybe in the cafeteria.” As I walked down the hall I saw three huge green garbage bags stuffed full. “I wonder how much of the contents are recyclable,” I thought to myself as I sought out a recycling bin for my newspapers. The woman at reception kindly put it in her recycling bin…she wasn’t sure if there were any others on the main floor and then I asked for the name of the president of the BC Cancer Agency so that I could write this letter.

I have a background in marketing and public relations. I would be happy to pursue healthier options for your snack trolley as a volunteer. I believe that with very little effort, the contents could be greatly improved, at no additional cost to the Agency.

Also, I have a friend who recently spear-headed the institution of a recycling program at our children’s elementary school. I would be very happy to forward information to you as to how to arrange for this.

Given that there appears to be an environmental link to at least some cancers, shouldn’t BC Cancer Agency be taking a leadership role in mitigating its eco-unfriendly footprint?

I look forward to being of service,



Sincerely,




Zoë Lewis


p.s. A friend, who also benefits from the BC Cancer Agency’s services, asked me if I would say something “…about the cafeteria. It used to be so good that the staff at VGH came through the tunnels for lunch. It is now virtually empty. It too, should be striving to model the kind of diet that patients and family should be eating.”

cc: Dr. Karen Gelmon, Medical Oncologist

The following email was sent today to the previous recipients plus the person who phoned me from the Agency on March 24th plus the person who is the media contact at the Agency:

Subject: Still Awaiting an Email or Snail Mail Response to My Letter

Dear Sue Fuller Blamey:

On March 31st at 10:57 a.m. you left me a phone message saying that your name is Sue Fuller Blamey, Director of Quality and Safety at the BC Cancer Agency and that you had called to say that you had received my letter about the snack trolley among other things and to: "...let you [me] know what we're going to do about it and just to acknowledge your letter..."

I'm not sure how you got my phone number? Perhaps it is acceptable for anyone at BC Cancer Agency to access a patient's data for non-medical reasons? I did call back late on the afternoon of March 31st explaining that I was needing to conserve my energy as I had just had a dose of chemo and to please email me and verbally gave my email address twice and you of course had my home address.

It is now April 20th and I have yet to receive further communication from you. I have posted my letter on my blog:

http://bethechangeyouwanttoseeinvancouver.blogspot.com

I am looking forward to hearing from BC Cancer Agency and to find out if you are wanting my volunteer services to help with the snack trolley or instituting a recycling system for the Agency. As you may be aware, Wednesday, April 22nd is Earth Day. It would be wonderful and appropriate if the Agency makes an announcement by then. Please feel free to make a comment on my blog.

For your information, I am thinking about being in touch with some of my contacts in the media who may consider some of these issues to be of interest to their readers/listeners/viewers.

Sincerely,
Zoë (Lewis)
zoe (at) screamingpeacock.ca

p.s.: I find it interesting that the only instances where there are contact names and direct phone numbers on the BC Cancer Agency's website are for the media and for people who want to give the Agency donations. For every one else, including patients, they are expected to use the main switchboard.

Open Letter to Premier Gordon Campbell...#2

Dear Premier Campbell,

I acknowledge that the people who hold the public purse strings in today's economic environment are faced with very difficult decisions.

I also believe that short-term "I want to be re-elected" platforms are not in the best interests of the citizens of Vancouver.

Obviously, there are as many points-of-view and "this is the way to resolve this or that" big fat opinions as there are issues.

Here's mine:

I have two children. My 12-year-old is in Grade 6 at General Gordon Elementary, one of the schools that is apparently at risk of losing its vice-principal, and my 14-old-year is in Grade 8 at Lord Byng. From a parent's point of view, both of these schools are excellent: the teachers care deeply about their students, the administrators are engaged and committed. The principals and vice-principals leave their offices, engage the students, take on new, innovative initiatives; say "yes" to extra-curricular sports and activities that necessitate more time on their parts. These are schools that are not only surviving, but are thriving with already very low funding.

It is nonsensical that the Provincial Government not come up with sufficient $$$ for schools to be able to have vice-principals. You propose to cut out the beating hearts of our schools by making adequate funding to our schools as such a low priority.

Schools already deal with children coming to school without having had breakfast; children who do not respect the authority of the teacher; being olbigated to spend precious classroom hours teaching children how to write standardized tests--something that I do not believe helpskids learn how to learn thereby allowing them as adults to be able to respond creatively or effectively to society's rapidly and ever-changing reality. The list goes on and on...and these issues that are much more severe in many schools across the city.

Please don't make new problems with your funding decisions.

In the Thursday's Vancouver Sun it states that the Liberals "have promised a major review to ensure K-12 parents and teachers have up-to-date tools to help all students, and a full curriculum reivew to put new emphasis on climate change, aboriginal history, personal heatlth and personal finance." (Vancouver Sun, April 16, A11)

I have to be honest, this sounds like a lot of expensive mumbo-jumbo. Who will be left at our schools to participate in this review? How many additional hours of work will they be expected to fit into their day? How is it acceptable to keep adding things for administrators to deal with that don't directly relate to ensuring the smooth functioning of their schools this school year.

Premier Campbell, your bio says that you went to public school, I know that your mother worked at a public school, I know that your wife taught (teaches?) at a public school, I know that your sister was an educator. I believe you know how vitally important it is to properly fund education. Why then do your actions as Premier of B.C. appear to be encouraging people to put their kids in private schools?

People have to come before things. Young people have to matter. Education needs to involve being engaged in the community, caring about others, being the change you want to see in Vancouver even when the world seems to be going crazy around you--this necessitates a functioning administration and therefore necessitates both a principal and vice-principal at every school.

Please do the right thing. Work with the Vancouver School Board Trustees to ensure adequate support of our most precious grown-in-BC resource.

Sincerely,

Zoë Lewis

Save Our Schools!......................................... Vice-Principals are Indispensable!

Just when you think Vancouver cannot go more crazy in a bad way, the news comes out that the VSB is proposing to cut vice-principals in some schools in order to balance its books:

"The Vancouver School Board is facing a $7.13 million dollar short fall. This follows many years of cuts. School Boards are obligated by provincial law to balance our budgets. Thus, our board has met with Vancouver MLA's such as Premier Campbell, letting them know our situation and the type of cuts we are facing...." quote from email sent to me by Jane Bouey,Trustee and Vice Chairperson,Vancouver School Board,1580 W. BroadwayVancouver, BC V6J 5K8 Phone: (604) 876-4123 e-mail: jane.bouey@vsb.bc.cahttp://www.vsb.bc.ca/

Inaction is no longer an option.

Be the Change You Want to See in Vancouver

From: Zoë

Please vote AGAINST budget cuts for General Gordon. Please keep General Gordon's V-P Noreen MorrisHello. My name is Zoë Lewis and I have a Grade 6 daughter who is attending Late French Immersion at General Gordon Elementary. I have just discovered that the Vice-Principal of General Gordon, Noreen Morris, is at risk of losing her job. Please do not do this. This is a school that actually functions: a school where administrators and teachers and the community work together; a school where they keep saying "yes" to enriching programs and activities even when that means longer hours for them; a school where the administration is hard-working and responsive; a school where the principal and vice-principal are out of their offices, in the halls; a school where the administration knows all of the children's names. General Gordon is a school where students require and deserve a full allotment of administration. General Gordon is part of the solution!

Please do the right thing.

Sincerely,

Zoë Lewis

concerned parent

Dear Zoe,

Thank you for your letter advocating so strongly for your school and VP. I sincerely hope we do not have to make this cut.

The Vancouver School Board is facing a $7.13 million dollar short fall. This follows many years of cuts. School Boards are obligated by provincial law to balance our budgets. Thus, our board has met with Vancouver MLA's such as Premier Campbell, letting them know our situation and the type of cuts we are facing. We are working hard to convince them to fund our district adequately.
I hope you will join us. I believe that together, we will make a difference and the province will fund our district so that we can provide all students with the supports and resources they need.

The MLA for General Gordon is gordon.campbell.mla@leg.bc.ca

Please find attached a letter to parents from our board chair, and some information on why our district is facing these cuts.

Don't hesitate to contact me further with any questions or concerns,

Jane Bouey
Trustee and Vice Chairperson
Vancouver School Board
1580 W. Broadway
Vancouver, BC V6J 5K8
Phone: (604) 876-4123
e-mail: jane.bouey@vsb.bc.ca
https://webmail.vsb.bc.ca/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.vsb.bc.ca/

emails of the Trustees and Secretary-Treasurer:patti.bacchus@vsb.bc.ca, allen.blakey@vsb.bc.ca, jane.bouey@vsb.bc.ca,ken.clement@vsb.bc.ca, ken.denike@vsb.bc.ca, carol.gibson@vsb.bc.ca,sharon.gregson@vsb.bc.ca, mike.lombardi@vsb.bc.ca,allan.wong@vsb.bc.ca, bng@vsb.bc.ca (Brenda Ng, Secretary-Treasurer)Phone numbers of the Trustees:Patti Bacchus 604-250-1130 (Patti is the Chair of The Trustees, and isalso the liason for our school)Allen Blakey 604-433-6844Jane Bouey 604-876-4123Ken Clement 778-866-0317Ken Denike 604-889-0564Carol Gibson 604-734-6610/604-561-8015 (cell)Sharon Gregson 604-505-5725 (cell)/ 604-412-3836 (work) (Sharon isChair of the Finance Committee)Mike Lombardi 604-306-6948Allan Wong 604-437-6074

Mad As Hell

As a lifelong resident of Vancouver's Westside and the single mother of a teen and a tween and someone who is living with metastatic cancer and is part way through chemotherapy and until I began chemo went almost daily to Pacific Spirit Park with my fabulous mutt Sadie, I say "Enough!"

I am outraged at the murder of Wendy Ladner-Beaudry as she ran through Pacific Spirit Park on Friday, April 3, 2009. I was literally in the same woods with a friend and our dogs at the time that police were swarming the south-west corner of the Park. I am outraged that when I returned to the park on Tuesday that there were so few people in the park despite it being the warmest, sunniest day in since last September.

I invite everyone--each and every Vancouverite--to do something, anything in response to all the problems that hit us in the face every time we open a newspaper, turn on the radio, watch TV, walk down the street, or drive through the Downtown Eastside.

Inaction is no longer an option.

Pick up a piece of litter, check in on an elderly neighbour, smile while you walk down the street, be courteous when you drive, hug your kids even when they are driving you bonkers, make a donation to your kids' school, volunteer...just do something. Anything.

If enough people stopped minding their own business and started looking out for their fellow Vancouverites, we can dramatically improve the quality of all our lives in our city.

Be the Change You Want to See in Vancouver

If you want to actively participate, please make a comment and add what you are doing or are inspired to do to "Be the Change You Want to See in Vancouver."

p.s. the quote "Be the Change You Want to See in the World" popped into my head a couple of nights ago. I said to a friend yesterday, "I know I didn't make that up. I know that I've seen it on a greeting card but I don't know whose quote it is." Well late this afternoon, after spending the morning at the BC Cancer Agency having lab work and an appointment with my oncologist and doing four media interviews (the last one, on CKNW, I had to leave my son's volleyball game, go to my car, talk live on the radio and go back to watch the end of the match and drive my son and one of his friends home) I had a chance to google the quote and discovered that it is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. A fine example and inspiration to be sure, and with due respect, I am tweaking his quote and making it local.