X-Message-Number: 17549 Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 14:51:30 -0700 From: Jessica Lemler <> Subject: THIS WEEK AT ALCOR! The following information can also be found on our website at http://www.alcor.org/eventsb.html THIS WEEK AT ALCOR! DR. JERRY LEMLER, PRESIDENT, CEO My first week as President/CEO of Alcor certainly had its share of ups and downs. As I (in advance) informed those in attendance at last Sunday's annual Board meeting, I convened a full staff meeting on Monday morning to outline my 34 point agenda, and to delegate and assign various projects-- this very column being one item itself. I've been spending some valuable time with Linda Chamberlain working on transition matters. Linda has (as usual) been very helpful in her new capacity of executive consultant. I've also been busy working with Project Future Bound coordinator Russell Cheney making preparations for our much anticipated weekend (September 28-30) in Southern California. I do hope to see many of you at Kat and Dave Kekich's home for the inaugural Alcor Outreach reception at 7PM on Friday, September 28. I will be driving to the LA area, accompanied by Hugh Hixon, Jerry Searcy, and my wife, Paula. The down side of everyone's week, even at Alcor, were naturally the tragic events back East. Though I don't personally know (to the best of my knowledge) any of the victims, I am a native New Yorker, and my son is a lieutenant in the army, (who worked last summer at the Pentagon for the DOD). Joe Hovey and I contacted our New York Metropolitan members via e-mail, (those we had correct addresses for), and we received five replies. All five indicated they were safe, and thanked us for our concern. I'm continuing to stay in close contact with Dr. Howard Gleichman as he attempts to mobilize towards the formation of a full-time professional rescue team. We're scheduled to conduct an anatomical surgical training workshop in Scottsdale next weekend, if travel plans via the airlines permit us to do so. Dave Pizer has presented us with a plan to consider regarding locating our patients in a more remote location north of Scottsdale. As many of you are aware, he also posted his thoughts on this matter on Cryonet. I do intend to honor Dave's request, and pass it on to the Board at our next meeting (in October). In the meanwhile, I'd like to solicit your responses. Send to This week also was noteworthy in that we welcomed the return of energetic volunteer Judy Muhlestein. What a remarkable individual! She brought me a very nice present, too. Seems her sister works for a cigar exporter. Thanks for the stash of Macanudos, Judy! The newly revised letterhead is nearing completion. I look forward to continuing working with re-elected Board members Dr. Kathleen Cotter, Dr. Michael Riskin, Stephen Van Sickle, Dr. Ralph Merkle, and Hugh Hixon. Equally, I welcome new Board members Saul Kent and Carlos Mondragon. It's also a tremendous plus to add the expertise of such notables as Dr. Michael West (Scientific Advisory Board) and Dr. Steve Harris (Medical Advisory Board). I know I was only supposed to write a paragraph about what I've been doing this week, but brevity has never been my strong suit. And besides that, there are so many exciting things going on here. Best of all, next week promises to be even better! JENNIFER CHAPMAN, MEMBERSHIP ADMINISTRATOR This week I was proud to compose various proposals and reports as requested by the newly elected President of Alcor Foundation, Dr. Jerry Lemler. This included a written explanation of my expectations for the improved database and phone systems to be installed at Alcor in the coming weeks. Similarly, a review of Alcor s past and present international relations was composed for consideration by management. After updating the paperwork and funding approval guidelines required for incoming applicants, I welcomed 3 new members to Alcor. To further promote the advantages of our program, I assisted several volunteers with sending invitations to local members and applicants announcing the Outreach Gathering to be held in Southern California on September 28, 2001. JOE HOVEY, ACCOUNTING MANAGER Mostly I watched television all day and all night with occasional time off to keep up with the reports on the Internet and the radio about the events of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. I was given a series of tasks by the new President of Alcor on Monday to be added to my usual projects. I tried to get things organized for the coming weeks. So much to do. Tuesday, everything stops dead. Everybody glued to TV as the terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon unfold before our eyes. Sent a message to all members and those in the signup process in the affected areas for whom we had email addresses inquiring as to their safety and condition. Got responses from almost all of them over the next few days. This was nothing more than a gesture since if they had been in the World Trade Center or the Pentagon there was absolutely NOTHING we could have done for them. However, they all appeared to appreciate Alcor Central's concern. Incredibly frustrating. I managed to process the mail and tend to a few administrative details, but otherwise accomplished virtually nothing. Wednesday, I worked on revising the phone system procedures in between being caught up in the drama taking place in New York and Washington. Processed five new signup applications. Came to a decision on how to arrange for keeping at least one live person at Alcor at all times. Just an interim solution but better than nothing. Thursday I discovered some extra large bills on our corporate AMEX card. None of the principal cardholders knew anything about the charges, (over $10,000!). After querying other persons, finally traced it down to one of the suspension providers for our last suspension a couple of weeks ago. Alcor will be reimbursed. This sort of thing can take hours or days to resolve! Attended a meeting with Mathew and Jennifer to go over events that led to the breakup of Alcor-U.K. for report to Dr. Lemler. Friday, I must go to the bank for our weekly deposit and oversee Paula Lemler's accounts payable duties, as well as interface with our volunteer Microsoft Access programmer. His project is going to be extremely useful and important for Alcor. He is worth spending some time with. Holding up opening new Endowment Fund account until I get a better handle on our cash flow situation. I must find the time somewhere to concentrate on my straight accounting duties. Will have to wait until the weekend. Damn all terrorists everywhere regardless of race, color, or creed! JEFF BENJAMIN, RESEARCH DIRECTOR Although performing at anything like a normal standard has been very difficult this week, what with not having a computer to use on Monday (it was taken over by Kat for the day), the uproar on Tuesday, and the constant state of fear and tension that seems to have frozen a large part of my mind and will, I have been able to complete the summaries I was directed to perform on Monday morning. Specifically, I have spoken with Hugh over the high temperature storage issue and drafted a summary, drafted a summary of what will be needed to bring the patient care bay back into the ADT alarm system, gone to the ASU library to retrieve a stack of articles on ischemic damage, and drafted a working outline of the directions I feel research should proceed. Basically, after reviewing the current literature on molecular markers specific to the questions we would like answered, my research conclusions are that we utilize protein kinase C (PKC) in a rat animal model as the spring board for all our molecular research, and that we do NOT attempt to perform culturing or microdialysis protocols, since they are unreliable and/or non-conclusive. JESSICA LEMLER, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSOCIATE, WEBMASTER It has been a busy week for all of us here at Alcor. As the newly elected Corporation Secretary, I have been working on compiling the minutes from this past Sunday s Board meeting. I have also been revising the letterhead to ensure it includes all new officers, Board Members, and Advisors to the Board, and staying in contact with Board Members, Advisors, and Alcor Staff to comprise a suitable email list for all. Additionally, Russell Cheney has been in contact with me, and we have been working with the gracious Judy Muhlestein on mailing out notices for the Out reach party at the end of this month. I must admit, Judy and Russell have done most of the work for the mailings, and it looks fantastic! Our rewrite of CRFT (the Alcor introductory manual) is nearing completion, and I keep crossing my fingers with every draft that it will soon be off to the printer. Lisa Lock is, I m sure, as anxious to get her hands on it as I am to have it off my desk! This is our first week posting the "This Week at Alcor" updates, and hopefully I will soon have time to make the drastically needed changes to the website. I met with Mike Perry on Thursday, and we discussed the need for more up to date information and pictures on the website. He will be helping me gather this, and it is on my agenda to post this information as soon as possible. We are thankful that, to the best of our knowledge, none of our members were harmed physically in Tuesday s disasters. We are, like the rest of the world, carrying on in our routines as best we can, hoping the decisions made by those in charge will be the right ones. PAULA LEMLER, VOLUNTEER Volunteer Paula Lemler, working as an accounts payable clerk, wrote checks and filed the related receipts. Additionally, she ordered business cards for some of the staff, and corresponded with Russell Cheney regarding door prizes for the Friday, September 29th meeting at Kat and Dave Kekich s home. (To interested readers, this get-together, for the Alcor Outreach to Southern California, will include discussion of Project Future Bound, starts at 7:00, and is open to everyone. You can RSVP to me at: ) MATHEW SULLIVAN, FACILITIES OPERATIONS MANAGER & PATIENT CARE MANAGER I have had a busy week, filled with phone calls, ordering and supplying our stock, and updating the inventory supply lists. In addition to numerous meetings, I also gave a technical tour and update to Judy Muhlestein, who was here at Alcor Central this week. Went to HighTech with Hugh to purchase equipment for Project Future Bound. Did a review of the UK situation and & phone system issues. Worked on building and diagramming whole body tubing pack. Compiles project status memo, and resolved minor computer issues and cell phone issues. HUGH HIXON, FACILITIES ENGINEER Got started on a dummy load/surgical practice simulator for the head-only perfusion procedure. This should allow the surgeon and the perfusionist to practice with the ATP and its adapter for head-only perfusion. I intend to mount this simulator on the dummy head. Roughed out an answer for Russ Cheney about dealing with introducing changes (improvements?) into the field, a matter which I have been somewhat casual about as long as we're small, but which quickly becomes a serious problem with multiple teams with equipment in the field. Tuesday, I was watching the TV on the WTC disaster. One of those messes where cryonic suspension arrangements are not going to make a lot of difference; by the time they get to the bottom of the rubble heap, they'll be doing DNA identification on smears on concrete. Wednesday, went to a medical surplus place in Phoenix and got small surgical lights for Future Bound, plus other bits and pieces of useful medical equipment. The building was not air conditioned, but that was probably just as well, as the heat drove me out before I spent any more money. Thursday, worked on long to-do list from Dr. Lemler. Did flow tests on dummy perfusion load to get close to real experience. Friday, finished breadboard of dummy load. MIKE PERRY, PHD, PATIENT CARE ASSISTANT 24 hour presence at Alcor. Joe, Hugh and I have worked out a preliminary arrangement to continue the Alcor policy of having someone present on the premises at all times. The coverage should continue uninterrupted, as we complete our move to a house recently purchased, and we can work on refining the details later. Website update. New picture images and edited text are now available for the website. Patient reports. I have the notes for Alcor's latest suspension, which began Aug. 22, and will start data entry this coming week. Other--I continue working on writing projects, including in-house technical reports and articles for the magazine Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17549