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Show Monday, February 2i, 2Q0" THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Am I Not From Around Here f Craig Froehlich Chronicle Feature Columnist .5 s The "fast track" is four are actually the size of current ER's NEW ER continued from page 1 With all of the curtains and spare beds in the halls, it is difficult to determine how many "rooms" there are in the ER. One large room, called the "fast track," has four cubicles in it for people who can be treated quickly and released. In addition to all of the doctors, nurses, EMTs, area is patients and family, the also shared with the Air Med flight team which occupies two rooms next to the ambulance dock. The New Emergency Room All these growing pains will come to an end next month. On March 26, the U hospital will cut the ribbon for its brand new emergency room. Right out front and just to the north of the hospital's front entrance, the new ER is a and desperately needed improvement, according to those who work in the current ER. The new waiting room's entrance is adjacent to the parking lot and is at least twice the size of the old one. Besides a large children's play area, there will be room for 60 chairs. The security guards will have their own desk two in fact (one in the back). The crowded central desk will be replaced by some 20 computer stations spaced throughout the ER. Nurses will have multiple stations and the central desk will be adjustable to fit additional equipment if needed. The huge whiteboard will be replaced by plasma screens hanging from the ceilings. Room at the New Inn The new ER has about 36 actual rooms in contrast to the current 20 "rooms," and all of them win do private. over-crowd- Like a Tom Ridge Over Troubled Water...Be Ready the Bush wanted to inform about homeland security, it took a cue from Miller Lite. It developed a sioo million advertising blitz. However, they avoided the hot, wrestling lesbians When motif. Some ad campaigns manage to be so transparent that you can picture the board meeting at which they were contrived. Such is the case with the multimedia "Don't be Afraid. Be Ready" beast that the government unveiled last week. "We need to make the War on Terrorism interactive. People need to think they matter," a white person in business attire said. "Who would have guessed they pay attention to that stupid color code thing. Everyone keeps asking how to act 'orange.' They're calling it the biggest thing to happen to colors since that Twister game." Most of the ads feature Tom "I'm Defending Homelands" Ridge looking very paternal and sincere and asking us to be casually aware of impending doom. They also feature hot, firefighters with New York accents. They must know I could never make fun of them. I love them. However, I would like to know why they prominently feature a woman in a Drug Enforcement Agency jacket. I sense a lapse in logic and misguided agenda along the lines of "Sept. 11 proved the need for national missile defense." The most publicized utterance from Ridge the Defender came not in an ad but in a press conference. He promoted the use of duct tape in making homes terrorism-prooUnfortunately, at some point in human history duct tape became a source of humor I blame the Canadians. Lost in the uproarious quips about the silver adhesive is a 2001 warning researchers made to California housing officials, "Our major conclusion is that you should use anything but duct tape to seal duct tape is ducts." Store-bougbecomes with age brittle porous, and leaves behind sticky residue. It solves very few problems that don't involve the misplacement of a rope and ball-gaWorst of all, it's not funny. Stop making prom dresses out of it and devoting Web sites to it. Reserve the Web for important as such things and the fatchicksinpartyhats.com new homeland security site. The Web site is a real treat, and I especially enjoy the "So you're a target for terrorists..." cartoon characters borrowed directly from airline emergency plan pamphlets. One reflectively ponders a thought balloon with a biohazard symbol in it. I didn't think the Bush administration could top the S20 million mass mailing that told people they were getting a $300 dollar tax refund when they would prefer a piece of that $20 million. The new public relations effort wastes even more tax money. I want real public education, not facetious adminisstroking by a media-savv- y tration. Stop packaging George and Co. the way they package cfroehlichchronicle.utah.edu non-wrestli- f. ht g. ed much-anticipat- Frank Fights for Financial Aid For All Students A NISHA VENKATESAN The Daily Free Press . Boston University BOSTON Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, and 38 reintroduced a bill last week to revoke the Higher Education Drug Provision, which denies federal financial aid to stu dents who have been convicted of drug offenses. The ER will be equipped with two new elevators, one large enough for an entire trauma team to fit in with a patient being stabilized. which mini-room- full-fledg- ed rooms instead of cubicles. The new trauma room is twice the size of the original. "That's because this is how big they need to who is also the new be," said Gardner-DanielER's project facilitator. In case Mass Casualties of chemical emergencies, the ambu- lance dock has showers for decontamination. In the event of a mass casualty emergency, like a chemical weapon attack, screens can be put up around outside showers. Patients can be treated in conveyor-bel- t method from the dock to decontamination to treatment rooms. Air Med flight teams will have their own area with huge windows to watch the weather. Yet despite all the remodeling, the ER is designed to handle the same number of patients the hospital currently receives. "The new ER has more room, square footage wise, but it's not that big because there will be so much going on. Whether it feels bigger will depend on who you are," said Katie Smith, a health unit coordinator. s, "Teamwork and communication are paramount. It's what makes us work. It'll probably be the same over there in the new ER, but it'll all be new. ir The new ER also sports some special features. In addition to more space for patients and nurses, there will be a conference room behind the central desk for physicians. Next to the desk will be pneumatic tubes for sending samples throughout the hospital quickly. There will also be a grieving room. Currently, staff has to ask administrators to step out of their offices to allow people a private space for Future Expansions Right next door will be a new St.ii buck's coffee shop and a deli that can be remodeled, should the new ER need to be expanded. The building structure was also designed to allow two more floors to be added on top if needed. Gardner-Daniel- s said. "Teamwork and cominuuic.it ion are paramount. It's what makes us work. It'll probably be the same over there in the new ER, but it'll all be new," Renshaw said. "The new system will throw us for a loop. We'll have to get used to it." The ER team will come in the week of Feb. 20 to practice. There will be two or three mock trauma drills. The community open house is March 29, and the ER will be open to patients beginning April 1. jkirk'J'chronicie.utJh.vdu mourning. Patient Flow The ER will have quick access to CAT scans and its own radiology facility. "On-sit- e radiology, that's amazing," Renshaw said. The floor layout also allows patients to smoothly flow from the ambulance dock to the trauma room, and on to radiology or a treatment room, or to the elevators. SEW I- - ! . ...... taovernment technicalities are responsible for about 100,000 college students being denied access to aid because of prior drug offenses, Frank said. "This problem is much more serious than we anticipated, and something must be done," he said. According to the law, effective in 2000, students can only restore eligibility for aid by completing a drug rehabilitation program. The law is discriminatory, Frank said, essentially punishing students for the same offense twice, in that they are punished by servjng jail time and are ..i.iliiiiaiiiiiiijitiIli'Tf''' FRIDAY FEBRUARY EB DSH BUILDING UPPER AUDITORIUM BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE if ism r SNOW THUGS way." A main ally with Frank's proposal is the Coalition for Higher Education fiT ' 4llj$l)SBrtj A Act Reform. Ben Gaines, coordinator for CHEAR, said he is grateful for congressional support for his organization's cause. "We have been working toward the goal of repealing this act for years, and now we have a representative, a man of power, who shares in our views," he said. "It seems like now our voices can finally be heard." Another one of the groups allied with Frank and his cause is Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a national organization dedicated to finding alternatives to drug problems. Shawn Heller, national director of SSDP, said in a press release that the group plans to hold congressional visits and rallies at colleges to educate the public on the "harmful impacts of this drug provision." -- a. VwW-W'-- ' ILmu- ' yflnll!M.l ,,..r.Mm&m ' - OHIO V- I t ij;;l(lni f 8:00 PM robbed of a proper education after serving their time. Frank said he is confident the repeal will be successful. "We have many groups behind us that support us in our cause," he said. 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