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Show - Page 6 The West View SLC Police Dept Opens New Pioneer Precinct on West Side © ne Salt Lake City Police Department opened the doors to its new Pioneer Precinct on June 23. : | The facility is located at 1040 West 700 South (former Salt Lake Community College’s as well as the citizens of west side communities. The precinct Trucking School site) and will will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and will facilitate most law enforcement functions. The facility will greatly increase opportunities for citizen walk-in contacts with police officers, house administration and Community the Pioneer Patrol Division, commanded by Capt. Zane Smith and the Training Division, commanded by Capt. Ken Pearce. This move signifies a return to Action Teams. ; - The administration will work normal business hours and. will occasionally adjust their shifts to accommodate community func- traditional neighborhood policing tions and interaction with the residents of adjacent communities. The Pioneer Precinct is a welcome site for our police officers Police officers will be in and out and policing activities. of the building throughout the day, writing reports and conducting training, problem solving, investigative follow-up, interviews, etc. The Community Action Teams will work in the building, conducting community meetings and training then will be available for community con- tacts. The Police Training Division. will also occupy the building. It will conduct quarterly training for the current police officers on the department and the in-house academy for new recruits. There are three large training. rooms, building that will facilitate the _ qualification and certification of community. precinct police officers and new recruits. In addition, there is a complete fitness facility with aerobic and weight equipment. © The Police Department is excited about the move to the new precinct. The philosophy of the department is community oriented policing and this building will extend this effort into the Establishing in the the neighborhood, affords the citizens an opportunity to contact an officer without having to call or-drive downtown to fight traffic and look for avail- able parking. Be on the lookout for a grand opening celebration as the Police Department announces its move as an accessible and positive neighbor. ® — which will be available for community meetings, training and other activities. There : is a five-lane | indoor soundproof shooting range at the Recruiting Hispanic Organ Donors by Ben Dieterle because they healthcare don’t system,” trust she the said. She’s a regular feature in the west side communities of Salt Lake City. Whether on the air “Here in the U.S., the transplant community tries to help everyone that needs an organ or tissue with Telemundo, Univision, Radio Unica, and Radio Fiesta or in print with El Semanal, the Mundo Hispano and La Prensa, Rocio Mejia shares her message to anyone who will listen. “Organ and saves lives, tissue many donation lives,” she says. Born in Mexico, Mejia immigrated to the U.S. about 14 years ago. She’s well aware of home- land misconceptions about organ and tissue donation. “In my country, donate many My job is to teach Hispanic donation community that is the right thing to do.” Her message seems to be working. Since Mejia started walking the beat two years ago, many in the community have rallied behind her efforts. Campos Markets, a chain of specialty grocery stores, has educated its clientele about donation. Churches and civic groups have don’t invited Mejia to speak to their members. A Spanish language tissues, helpline has received hundreds people their organs and transplant. of calls about donation. The most telling result of her work has been the number of Hispanic donors. For the last several years, Hispanic donors. have made up 10 percent of total donors. This statistic is consistent with their percentage of total population in Utah, between 8 and 10 percent. “People are understanding that being a donor means you are helping your own community, which is great, because there are many Hispanics who are waiting for transplants,” Mejia said To learn more about organ and tissue donation, call 1-866-YESUTAH or visit our Web -www.yesutah.org. site at Espanol 801-521-0550.¢@ 1- Rocio Mejia recruits Hispanic donors for The Utah Coalition for Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation. Utah Donor Registry Tops One Million People by Ben Dieterle Alex McDonald, Chairperson of the Utah Coalition for Organ, Eye & Since its launch in April 2002 with Gov. Mike Leavitt, the Utah Donor Registry as recorded over one million ‘potential organ, eye and tissue donors. between the ages of 16 and 74 have joined the Utah Donor Registry.” first-time federally funded, online database, the Driver License Division Tissue Donation, remarked on the phe- When Gov. Mike Leavitt, Utah State nomenal success of the new Utah Donor Registry. “Consider this fact,” said McDonald, “over 74% of Utahns Senator Karen Hale and the Utah Coalition for Organ, Eye, and Tissue names of people who designated “yes” on their licenses for donation. Since Donation then, a comprehensive launched a $1.06 provided million, approximately 900,000 marketing and — community outreach campaign to educate and register Utahns as organ, eye and tissue donors, has increased the donor registry to over a million potential donors. -— | This remarkable milestone was celebrated with a commemorative billboard campaign in Salt Lake City. The new billboard reads, “1 Million Utahns have said “yes” to organ dona_ tion. Have you?” A survey performed last year indi- cates that 91% of Utahns favor donation, while currently only 65% of families. consent for donation when a loved one dies. The discrepancy is due in large part to family grief and confusion about a potential donor’s wishes at the time of death. Now, families will be notified if their deceased member was on the registry, relieving them of having to guess what their loved one wanted. , The Utah Coalition for Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation (www.yesutah.org or 1-866-YES-UTAH) is a group of organizations dedicated to inspiring Utahns to donate life through organ, eye and tissue donation. The Coalition members provide a variety of donor family services, transplant services, and education outreach programs. @ |