X-Message-Number: 18157 Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 15:42:54 -0700 From: Jessica Lemler <> Subject: This Week at Alcor! The following can be found on our website at: <http://www.alcor.org/>http://www.alcor.org Week of December 10 through 16, 2001 Jennifer Chapman, Membership Administrator MEMBERS The majority of my time is normally devoted to assisting various applicants who are eager to establish a membership. However, this week I primarily offered customer service to our members. Such tasks include sending membership paperwork and insurance transfer forms, performing a review of the membership file and notifying the member of any deficiencies, confirming the status of new policies, updating contact information, and processing orders for merchandise. I also processed the annual policy summaries received in November. Before forwarding the original summary to the member, I must make a copy for the Accounting Department. After performing a brief review of the summary to identify any obvious deficiencies, a copy is also placed in the membership file. PROJECTS Memory Boxes: I updated the list of individuals authorized to access the memory boxes Alcor has in storage. Communication Seminar: The better part of the day on Wednesday was spent participating in the Communication Seminar hosted by Dr. Robert Newport. Although this was our final scheduled session, the possibility of continuing these gatherings was discussed. Updated information package: With the upcoming release of our revised introductory booklet, Dr. Lemler has requested that staff members make it a priority to compose an improved information package over the next few weeks. In preparation for our meeting on Monday, during which we plan to discuss our various ideas, I designed several options for the cover of our folder and contacted a couple of different printing companies for quotes. I also typed an excerpt from The First Immortal, which James Halperin has permitted Alcor to include and updated our list of insurance agents. Reviewing the information package of another cryonics organization was also beneficial. PROSPECTS It was my pleasure to meet with a prospective member to discuss our program and provide him with samples of various membership documents. Although I was unable to attend, various other staff members went to dinner with this individual, who purchased several books and seemed quite pleased with our facility. Joe Hovey, Accounting Manager Computer problems fixed, at least for now. Still catching up on e-mail. Put together a descriptive package of our pre-pay policy for a prominent investment broker who is contemplating a large number of signups with Alcor. May involve some board decisions before it is done. Still no resolution of our new credit card system. More promises and assurances. I am getting nervous again. Contacted American Express about changing our corporate card system. AMEX is very accommodating but also very slow. New cell phones issued to the cryotransport staff. Better system but again, very time consuming to get everything organized. Bank accounts reconciled with some question about keeping them all active. We now have almost 30 different accounts to be managed! Most of them are pre-pay accounts that don t require much monitoring but still need to be watched. Took part in another group counseling session for Alcor staff on Wednesday with Dr. Newport, Alcor s Ombudsman. The session was actually very useful if a bit too time consuming. Must do payroll report today, make another bank deposit and finish reconciling bank statements. Dr. Jerry Lemler, President, CEO We've received a preview sneak review of the new Tom Cruise movie, "Vanilla Sky", which opens today (Friday), in theaters across the country. Although not advertised as such, we're told the film deals with cryonic suspension by no less than an outfit in of all places-- Arizona. Alcor staffers are planning to view Vanilla Sky as a group on Saturday night, and we're looking forward to gaining (even modestly) an increase of public awareness in our organization. Dr. Bob Newport conducted a follow-up Communications Seminar on Wednesday for the Alcor staff. Thanks go, once again, to Dr. Robert for freely giving of his time and acumen, and also to ADR-A team member Bruce Cohen for allowing us to use his home for all three of the seminars. Our last two days, (Thursday and Friday) were largely spent in consultation with the new Advisory Committee fact-finding representatives, answering their many poignant questions, procuring documents for their perusal, and showing them through the various phases of operations at Alcor Central. Hopefully, we'll have their final recommendation report in the not too distant future, and we certainly appreciate their time in helping us improve our cryotransport services. I've been told our new membership book, "Alcor Life Extension Foundation: An Introduction" will be mailed by Ripon Printers to all Alcor members on December 18. Thank you so much for your patience in waiting for this manuscript, and we welcome your comments regarding it! We'll also soon be revising our membership packets to include the new publication, an updated brochure, as well as other current items (i.e.: reprints, etc.), along with (of course) a membership application. Paula Lemler, Volunteer I was busy this week doing my usual check writing, filing of receipts and spread sheets, and I finished entering deposit data from November. Another duty I undertook was to be at Alcor while the rest of the staff (except Mike, of course) was in the seminar Dr. Bob was leading. I also came in one morning to type letters Dr. Lemler had dictated. I spent a fair amount of time standing in front of a big canister of candy, choosing and eating, and I do not plan to return to work until that candy is all gone! Jessica Lemler, Administrative Associate/Webmaster In addition to my usual work on correspondence, this week we had our meeting with Dr. Newport, which once again went very well. It is always refreshing to take time away from the office and communicate our ideas with each other. I spoke with the company that hosts our website and made the necessary changes to allow Mike Perry to help with the updating of our site. This is a great relief to me, and I know Mike is looking forward to being able to make updates and changes to the website. I have also been working on coming up with ideas for a new Alcor brochure, as we are pulling together to completely re-do our membership application packet, part of which will be a new brochure. I am working with Microsoft Publisher, a very easy program to work with for making brochures and other documents. We will be meeting on Monday to go over what has been done so far. With the publication of the new introductory manual, the new membership packets should be a vast improvement over the ones we have been using. I am also looking forward to going with other staff members to see the movie "Vanilla Sky" this weekend! Mike Perry, PhD., Patient Care Assistant This week I did further work on the SOP for using the DuaLogR (temperature recording device used during cryotransport), but then stopped for input from others as to exactly what procedure they wanted to follow (one or two DuaLogRs to be used, and so on). I then worked on a book review for an upcoming issue of the magazine. I also met with a prospective member who has a terminal illness and who had questions about cryonics, some involving philosophical issues. On Wednesday some visitors came to look through archival materials of a relative of theirs we have in suspension. I opened boxes and otherwise assisted them, and they selected some pictures and other items they want copied. (The copying project itself is something we expect to carry out ASAP, and the costs will be covered by the relatives. The original materials will then be returned to storage at our vaults in Kansas.) Mathew Sullivan, Facility Operations Manager Cryotransport: Helped to facilitate a protocol review of our cryotransport procedures. Several Alcor members and Board members wished to conduct a video taped review for the purpose helping to shed light on any weakness in our cryotransport procedures and ultimately make recommendations for improvement. Spent a little time participating in email discussions and replied to a request for info about Alcor. Researched an Automated External Defibrillator for Alcor, which we may be purchasing here in the near future. Facility Operations: Assisted ADT with a few issues associated with the installation of Alcor's new security system. Backed up Joe's computer files, installed software, and re-networked. Cleaned and organized Labs, OR, Cooldown Bay, and Patient Care Bay in preparation for protocol review. I figured by getting most everything back into place, the review would be simplified. Participated in Alcor's third interpersonal communications meeting directed by an Alcor member. Hugh Hixon, Facilities Engineer Saturday, close standby, join in telephone conference on high-temperature storage. Our member is doing well after a 5-artery bypass. Sunday, check with member and drive back to Scottsdale. About six hours driving time, with a stop to ride the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Monday, catch up on e-mail. Tuesday, work with alarm company installers on options. Bought a monitor for use with the security system. Picked up the bracelet of a member at the downtown Post Office; it apparently came out of its envelope going through the sorting machine. Wednesday, trudged back to the PO for the necklace, which also didn't make it through the sorter. (The reason we do this is to keep them from turning up on, say, an unknown drunk in a morgue, and causing us all sorts of hassle and expense before we figure out the situation.) Thursday, with Dr. Lemler and Mathew Sullivan, do an operations review with Charles Platt. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=18157