Climate Change Webinar for Health Care

SF Bay Area PSR invites you to a free Webinar on Climate Change and Public Health in celebration of Earth Day activities!

New this year, our partner Health Care without Harm and Practice Greenhealth are hosting two free Climate Literacy webinars titled Climate Change and the Role of the Health Care Clinician: Education, Mitigation and Adaptation; one is intended for administrator use and one for clinical use. The webinars will feature a new PowerPoint presentation, which focuses on the health effects of climate change and the role of the health care sector.

The webinars are scheduled for 10am PST (1pm EST) on April 12th (for Administrators) and April 14th (for Clinicians), the week before Earth Day. Dr. Bob Gould, SF Bay Area PSR Chapter President, will be speaking on the April 14th seminar and David McCombs from Practice Greenhealth will present on the April 12th seminar. Both webinars will also be recorded and available for your use anytime during Earth Week.

These Webinars will provide continuing education for Physicians, Nurses, and Health Care Executives.

For more information and to register, please visit the Practice Greenhealth webpage at: http://www.practicegreenhealth.org/earthday

In Memoriam Monte Gregg Steadman M.D.

Dear PSR friends,

I recently had the great honor to attend the memorial held for Dr. Gregg Monte Steadman a few weeks ago in Santa Rosa, where he continued to care for patients and be a major force for peace in the local community for most of the final period of his life. In recognition of the incredible courage displayed by Dr. Steadman and fellow peace activists Franklin Zahn and George Bonello by sailing the Everyman II in 1962 to stop US atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, SFPSR awarded Dr. Steadman its Dr. Fred Epstein peace award a number of years ago. We would like to share the recently published memorium which just gives a glimmer of an exceptional life exemplifying PSR’s highest values of commitment and service to humanity.

-Bob Gould, M.D., President, SF PSR

Press Democrat, June 23, 2010

Resident of Millbrae, California. Formerly of Sonoma County. August 27, 1920 – May 26, 2010. Dr. Monte Gregg Steadman died peacefully at home in Millbrae at age 89. Dr. Steadman will be remembered as a renowned surgeon, an excellent teacher, and a dedicated advocate for peace and social justice.

Dr. Steadman’s illustrious medical career spanned more than 50 years. He graduated from University of Southern California School of Medicine in 1946, and was one of the first interns serving at Permanente Hospital in Oakland (now Kaiser Foundation Hospital). In 1951, he became the first full-time otolaryngologist for the Permanente Medical Group in San Francisco, and served as Chief of the Department of Otolaryngology at Kaiser Foundation Hospital on Geary Blvd. until 1969. He continued his career in Redwood City as Senior Consultant in Otolaryngology until he retired from Kaiser in 1982.

Dr. Steadman’s surgical skills were renowned; many patients with advanced cancers of the head and neck were referred to him from all the Kaiser Health Plan facilities. He continued to assist and consult on complex surgeries until 1996. He volunteered his services at the Mendocino Coast Clinic in Fort Bragg, CA, Alliance Medical Center in Healdsburg, CA, and in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at Kaiser in Santa Rosa, where finally ended his medical career, caring for patients with non-surgical problems until 2007.

Dr. Steadman was an excellent teacher, highly revered by the many medical students, interns and residents he taught during his career at Kaiser, and also at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, Stanford Medical Center and the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Palo Alto, CA. He was awarded Clinical Professor Emeritus status at Stanford in 1990.

Throughout his life, Dr. Steadman supported and participated in peace and social justice movements. In 1962, at the height of the Cold War, he and two other peace activists, Franklin Zahn and George Benello, sailed a 28-foot ketch named Everyman II into the nuclear testing zone around Johnston Island. The purpose of this act of nonviolent civil disobedience was to prevent the Atomic Energy Commission from proceeding with a new series of atmospheric nuclear bomb tests and to end the nuclear arms race. At this time, nuclear bomb tests were being carried out by the US and USSR to advance the development of more and more powerful nuclear weapons.

Tons of radioactive material spewed into the atmosphere caused a near doubling of the concentration of the radioactive isotope Carbon-14 in the Northern Hemisphere, and worldwide concern over the harmful effects of radiation on all life was very high. Although their boat was seized and removed from the test zone, and the bomb tests went off as planned, their bold action drew attention to the grave health risks of nuclear fallout and the dangers inherent in the rapidly escalating nuclear arms race. The following year, the Partial Test Ban Treaty, developed to stop the excessive release of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and to slow the arms race, was signed by the US, UK and USSR.

Dr. Steadman was also a great athlete. He attended UCLA on a track scholarship, and played on the varsity football team in 1939 with Jackie Robinson. He was an avid handball player, competing in tournaments well into his 60′s. He enjoyed commuting to work on his motorcycle, and backpacking in the Sierras with his first wife, Frances Hobson Steadman of Corte Madera, and their four children.

Dr. Steadman is predeceased by his second wife, Edna Indritz Steadman, and his oldest son, Brian. He is survived by his sons, Gary (Genie) of Corte Madera, Roger (Margaret) of Kelseyville, his daughter Marcia of San Mateo, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Countdown to Zero Film Premiere

Dear PSR member and supporter,

Sixty five years ago, the twin nuclear explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed approximately 210,000 people, and left those who survived the blasts vulnerable to numerous chronic health effects, including the development of cancer. Please join us and our community partners at the Hiroshima Day commemoration rally at Livermore on Friday August 6th. See the 65th Anniversary information in this blog.

As part of this year’s commemoration of this horrendous, world-altering event, PSR is joining community partners in sponsoring the SF-Bay Area premiere screening of Countdown to Zero, a compelling documentary about the escalating global nuclear arms crisis that recently premiered at Sundance Film Festival. It was produced by Academy Award winner Lawrence Bender (An Inconvenient Truth, Inglourious Basterds) and written and directed by Lucy Walker (The Devil’s Playground, Blind Sight).

The movie traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs: nine nations possess nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of failed diplomacy, terrorism, or a simple accident. Countdown to Zero makes a strong case for the abolition of nuclear weapons while creating an opportunity to bring this issue to households around the country.

We urge you not to miss this film, and to bring your friends to the local screenings sponsored by SF Bay Area PSR in San Francisco on Friday, July 30th, 7:30pm and in Berkeley on Saturday, July 31st, 7:30pm.  Purchase tickets directly at http://www.landmarktheatres.com.

After the film join us on our blog (http://psrblog.wordpress.com/) to discuss your reactions to the film, including any thoughts you have about how effectively and completely it addresses our common nuclear dangers, and how useful you think it is for raising awareness for the need to abolish nuclear weapons. I’m looking forward to seeing you at the screenings.

Sincerely yours,

Robert M. Gould, M.D.
President

2009 Donors

Physicians for Social Responsibility – San Francisco Greater Bay Area Chapter

2009 DONORS

Thank you to the following organizations and individuals for making donations directly to the San Francisco Greater Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility in 2009. Donations made to National PSR are not included here.

Grants

Jewish Community Endowment Fund

Health Care Without Harm

Physicians for Social Responsibility – National

Horizons Foundation

The California Endowment

Marin Community Foundation – Gokyo Fund

Resolve, Inc.

Roots of Change

Donors

Susan Adamson

Joan Anderson

Dina Angress

Beth & Steven Bangert

Lydia Bartice & San Jose Kaiser Pathology Dept.

Sheldon Baumrind, DDS & Joan Baumrind

Valerie Bengal , MD

Nanette Biers

Ronald Bieselin , MD

Adelie Bischoff

Steven Blumlein, MD

Paula Braveman, MD

Janet Burdick

Amy and Harold Bush

Marie Carroll

Alice Cary

Mark Charney, MD & Tere Charney

Barry Chauser, MD

James Clever, MD & Linda Clever, MD

Annabelle Cloner

Stephen Cohn

Mary Connors

Beverly Copeland, MD

Mary Dillon Kerwin

Lewis Dolinsky

Richard Dorsay, MD

Stacy  Drasen

Maj-Britt Eagle

Dietlinde Elliott

John Erbaugh, MD

John Erskine, MD

Zarrin Ferdowsi, DDS

Geraldine Fink, MD

Natalie Fisher

Martin Fishman, MD

Stuart Flashman

Alan Frank, MD

William Frantz

Perrin French, MD

James Frey

Gale Garza RN

Fred Geiger

Marianne Gerson, MD, MPH

Stephen Gibbs

Jo Gilbert

Hayes Gladstone, MD

Randall Goetzl & Sharon Goetzl

Joan Goldman

Robert Gould, MD & Patrice Sutton

A.V. Gratch, MD

Marian & Roger Gray

Carlos Greaves

Joseph Gutstadt, MD

Thomas Hall & Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc. & Onward Fund

Marian Hardin

Charlotte Herzfeld, MSW

Edith Hilton & Kenneth Hilton

Louis Hinze

Agatha Hoff

Ned Hoke O, MD, LAc

Patrick Holland

John Holmes, MD

Victor Honig & Lorraine Honig

Yusra Hussain

Richard Jackson, MD

Sarah Janssen, MD, PhD

Gary Katz & Ilene S. Katz

Harvey Kayman, MD

Dana Kent, MD

Kasra Khatabi

Mary King

Hedda Kornfeld

Janet Lai

Lorene Lamb

Gordon Larsen, MD

Mollie LeBoit

Philip Lee, MD

John Lee, MD

Catherine Leonard

Pearl Leonard

Sara Levin, MD

Albert Levy, MD

Sylvia Levy

Judith Levy

Margaret Loverde

Eleanor Luce, MD

Frank Lucido, MD

John Mann, MD

Jeanette Margolin, MD & Alan Margolin, MD

Joseph Mariotti, MD

Meredith Marschak

Hagope Mashlakian

Marian Maynard, MD

Darleen Anne Mayo

Ron Maysenhalder

Mary Mikkelson

Kenneth Mills, MD

Evelyn Montez

Helen Morgenrath

Arthur Morse

Thomas Newman, MD, MPH

Kathleen Nichols

Susan Obata, MD

Betty Ortez

Janet Owens

Paul Perchonock, MD

Joanne Perron

E. Blake Peterson

Richard Quint & Julia Quint

Martin Rabkin

Jean Rabovsky, PhD

Shirley Reece

Jeffrey Ritterman, MD

Sherri Roberts

Lawrence Rose, MD

Robert Rosenberg, DDS

Gail Rubman

Peter Rudd, MD

Patrick Russell

Joseph Sachs

Richard & Phyllis Schlobohm, MD

Jacqueline Sedgwick, MD, MPH

Kenneth Seeman, MD & Karin Seeman

Lee Shahinian, MD

Anahit Shaterian

Sandra Shirkey & Mark Shirkey

Gina Solomon, MD, MPH

Irwin & Rebecca Solomon

Ruth Solomon

Roberta Spieckerman

Susan Stangeland

Janith Steinhardt

Philip Stephens & Cherie Stephens

Barbara Sternfeld

Allison  Stockley

Clifford Straehley, MD

Dwight Straub

Mary Strauss

Carolyn Sugars

John & Elouise Sutter

Richard Sutton & Mary Sutton

Sara Syer, MS, PA-C & Thomas S. Bodenheimer, MD

Jean-Luc Szpakowski, MD

Cheryl Tanasovich, MD

Theresa Ticen

Diane Tokugawa, MD

Alice Vdovin

Dorothy Vura-Weis, MD

Deborah Whitney

Kathryn Williams, MD

Jonathan Wittwer

Jonathan Wolf

Sarah Wolfe

Norman Zilber

Physicians for Social Responsibility – San Francisco Greater Bay Area Chapter

2009 DONORS

Thank you to the following organizations and individuals for making donations directly to the San Francisco Greater Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility in 2009. Donations made to National PSR are not included here.

Grants

Jewish Community Endowment Fund

Health Care Without Harm

Physicians for Social Responsibility – National

Horizons Foundation

The California Endowment

Marin Community Foundation – Gokyo Fund

Resolve, Inc.

Roots of Change

Donors

Susan Adamson

Joan Anderson

Dina Angress

Beth & Steven Bangert

Lydia Bartice & San Jose Kaiser Pathology Dept.

Sheldon Baumrind, DDS & Joan Baumrind

Valerie Bengal , MD

Nanette Biers

Ronald Bieselin , MD

Adelie Bischoff

Steven Blumlein, MD

Paula Braveman, MD

Janet Burdick

Amy and Harold Bush

Marie Carroll

Alice Cary

Mark Charney, MD & Tere Charney

Barry Chauser, MD

James Clever, MD & Linda Clever, MD

Annabelle Cloner

Stephen Cohn

Mary Connors

Beverly Copeland, MD

Mary Dillon Kerwin

Lewis Dolinsky

Richard Dorsay, MD

Stacy  Drasen

Maj-Britt Eagle

Dietlinde Elliott

John Erbaugh, MD

John Erskine, MD

Zarrin Ferdowsi, DDS

Geraldine Fink, MD

Natalie Fisher

Martin Fishman, MD

Stuart Flashman

Alan Frank, MD

William Frantz

Perrin French, MD

James Frey

Gale Garza RN

Fred Geiger

Marianne Gerson, MD, MPH

Stephen Gibbs

Jo Gilbert

Hayes Gladstone, MD

Randall Goetzl & Sharon Goetzl

Joan Goldman

Robert Gould, MD & Patrice Sutton

A.V. Gratch, MD

Marian & Roger Gray

Carlos Greaves

Joseph Gutstadt, MD

Thomas Hall & Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc. & Onward Fund

Marian Hardin

Charlotte Herzfeld, MSW

Edith Hilton & Kenneth Hilton

Louis Hinze

Agatha Hoff

Ned Hoke O, MD, LAc

Patrick Holland

John Holmes, MD

Victor Honig & Lorraine Honig

Yusra Hussain

Richard Jackson, MD

Sarah Janssen, MD, PhD

Gary Katz & Ilene S. Katz

Harvey Kayman, MD

Dana Kent, MD

Kasra Khatabi

Mary King

Hedda Kornfeld

Janet Lai

Lorene Lamb

Gordon Larsen, MD

Mollie LeBoit

Philip Lee, MD

John Lee, MD

Catherine Leonard

Pearl Leonard

Sara Levin, MD

Albert Levy, MD

Sylvia Levy

Judith Levy

Margaret Loverde

Eleanor Luce, MD

Frank Lucido, MD

John Mann, MD

Jeanette Margolin, MD & Alan Margolin, MD

Joseph Mariotti, MD

Meredith Marschak

Hagope Mashlakian

Marian Maynard, MD

Darleen Anne Mayo

Ron Maysenhalder

Mary Mikkelson

Kenneth Mills, MD

Evelyn Montez

Helen Morgenrath

Arthur Morse

Thomas Newman, MD, MPH

Kathleen Nichols

Susan Obata, MD

Betty Ortez

Janet Owens

Paul Perchonock, MD

Joanne Perron

E. Blake Peterson

Richard Quint & Julia Quint

Martin Rabkin

Jean Rabovsky, PhD

Shirley Reece

Jeffrey Ritterman, MD

Sherri Roberts

Lawrence Rose, MD

Robert Rosenberg, DDS

Gail Rubman

Peter Rudd, MD

Patrick Russell

Joseph Sachs

Richard & Phyllis Schlobohm, MD

Jacqueline Sedgwick, MD, MPH

Kenneth Seeman, MD & Karin Seeman

Lee Shahinian, MD

Anahit Shaterian

Sandra Shirkey & Mark Shirkey

Gina Solomon, MD, MPH

Irwin & Rebecca Solomon

Ruth Solomon

Roberta Spieckerman

Susan Stangeland

Janith Steinhardt

Philip Stephens & Cherie Stephens

Barbara Sternfeld

Allison  Stockley

Clifford Straehley, MD

Dwight Straub

Mary Strauss

Carolyn Sugars

John & Elouise Sutter

Richard Sutton & Mary Sutton

Sara Syer, MS, PA-C & Thomas S. Bodenheimer, MD

Jean-Luc Szpakowski, MD

Cheryl Tanasovich, MD

Theresa Ticen

Diane Tokugawa, MD

Alice Vdovin

Dorothy Vura-Weis, MD

Deborah Whitney

Kathryn Williams, MD

Jonathan Wittwer

Jonathan Wolf

Sarah Wolfe

Norman Zilber

65th Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Japan

August 6, 2010 marks the 65th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, a second nuclear bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki.

We invite all Northern California people of peace to participate in a commemoration at the gates of the Livermore nuclear weapons laboratory.

At 8 AM on Friday, August 6, we will gather at the northwest corner of Livermore Lab, located at the intersection of Vasco Road and Patterson Pass Road, in Livermore. (Take I-580 to the Vasco Road exit and go south.)

The program will feature Taiko drummers, speakers, including Norman Solomon, and musicians. Following the rally, we will march a short distance to the Livermore Lab’s West Gate, where those who choose will nonviolently risk arrest.

We will observe a moment of silence at 8:15 AM. It was then, the morning of August 6, 1945, that the Enola Gay dropped a uranium bomb over the city of Hiroshima and vaporized thousands in a flash. Thousands more died agonizing deaths in the days and months that followed. Still more have died and are dying each year of the lingering effects of radiation exposure.

We will gather at Livermore Lab in remembrance and to pledge “never again.” And, at the site where “new and modified” U.S. nuclear bombs are presently being developed, our physical presence will also proclaim our determination to achieve the genuine security of a nuclear weapons free world.

Our theme this year is “65: Time to retire nuclear weapons.” Join us to take a stand to eliminate these weapons – at Livermore Lab and around the globe.

For more information, www.trivalleycares.org.

PSR’s Healthcare Leadership Institute

Training healthcare providers to speak up for human health and the environment

The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of PSR (SF PSR) is one of the oldest and largest in the country, with a membership of over 4,000. In California, SF PSR is a leading organization in providing scientifically credible advocacy on security and environmental health issues. Our members are considered experts on many different topics and are regularly called upon to speak in hospitals, at press conferences and symposia, and before policymakers. As a chapter however, we recognize that there is great potential to increase our education efforts to maximize the impact of the clinical voice.

Health professionals are recognized as trusted experts on health-related issues, not only in the clinic, but also in the community-at-large. Well-informed and prepared clinicians can dramatically influence and educate our communities and decision-makers. It is not enough to provide them with the scientific information about a particular subject so they become effective public speakers. It is about opening up a myriad advocacy avenues through which they can use their expertise and influence most effectively.  These advocacy avenues include communicating important environmental health information to their patients and families, serving in local and state government, participating on hospital sustainability committees, working with the media, and tapping into health professional networks and associations to promote effective public policy.

SF PSR has a long history of peer training and involvement by members in advocacy and education. Our chapter delivers over 60 presentations per year from a speaker’s bureau consisting of practitioners who volunteer their time for Grand Rounds presentations, expert legislative testimony in Sacramento, media advocacy, community events, and local and national conferences. SF PSR members are responsible for facilitating the passage of over 15 resolutions in the past ten years through the California Medical Association and the American Public Health Association focused on improving environmental health of our communities and the health care sector.

To develop the skills of members to speak out on and advocate for solutions that impact our collective public health, SF PSR is launching the Healthcare Leadership Institute this year.  The goal of the Institute is to provide clinicians with the scientific information and advocacy skills that they need to become effective advocates on a range of issues in a variety of settings. Issue areas will include security, social justice, climate change, sustainable food in health care, and prevention of exposure to environmental toxins.

If you have an interest in participating in the development of this exciting new program, assisting with teaching or training, or donating dollars to help make this program a reality, please contact Lucia Sayre, Co-Director of SF PSR, at 510 845 1819 or luciasayre@sbcglobal.net.

Dr. Richard Ricklefs (1916 – 2007)

The SF Bay Area Chapter and National PSR recently received a generous bequest from Dr. Richard Ricklefs, a longtime PSR member and chapter supporter.  Dr. Ricklefs was born November 13, 1916, in Monticello, Iowa and passed away in Arcata, California on July 7, 2007, at the age of 90. Below is a personal reminiscence of Dr. Ricklefs by another PSR member, Dr. Fred Adler.

RICHARD RICKLEFS…A PERSONAL REMINISCENCE

In recent years I was honored to be Richard Ricklefs’ friend. While I did not know him during his long years of medical practice and during his remarkable marriage to Elsie Mae Gardner, the consistency of his life continued and through his gentle reminiscences I became well acquainted with the shape of his life. We don’t often these days use the word exemplary to speak of a person but it is certainly the word that comes to mind when thinking of Richard.

Richard was a man of courage and quiet persistence. As a lifelong pacifist he served as a conscientious objector during the Second World War. Both he and his wife, Elsie, worked in a psychiatric hospital in Connecticut at that time. Their work and that of other conscientious objectors became fundamental to the subsequent reform of state mental hospitals in our country. After World War II, Richard managed, with his wife’s help, to return to school to study medicine at Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, then doing a rotating internship designed for prospective general practitioners at St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco. A few months into his internship Richard became aware that the pediatric training being offered was less than had been promised, and less then he felt he needed to practice in an isolated rural setting. Being a bit older than most of his fellow interns he was willing to approach the administration of the program about these deficiencies and appropriate changes were made.

In 1952 Richard began his practice in the Hoopa Valley.

To speak of Richard it is necessary to speak of the Hoopa Valley and the Hupa People. Richard first went to Hupa in 1934 as a teenager to visit his brother who was teaching there. He fell in love with the Valley and with Elsie Gardner, a Hupa girl a few years his junior. Their long courtship led to their marriage in 1942; a marriage which endured some sixty years until Elsie’s death a few years ago. Their lives were intertwined with those of the Hupa Tribe and the wider community through Richard’s medical practice, Elsie’s work as community activist and educator, and more essentially through deep love and trust built up through years of commitment, dependability and courageous service. Their commitment to one another in itself required courage and independent mindedness, beginning as it did at a time when such a “mixed marriage” was not always welcomed.

Richard’s work as a physician has been well known in Humboldt County since it began 55 years ago. He was a pioneer in the organization of health care, running a prepaid medical system in Hupa in the 1950’s, emphasizing family centered obstetrics and the integration of Native American approaches to health care with the benefits of Western Medicine.  His dedication and the quality of the care he gave are legendary in Hupa.

After retiring from full-time medical practice in the late 1980’s Richard remained active as community organizer, peace activist and respected elder in the Hupa and Quaker communities. He transferred his membership in 2004 to Humboldt Friends Monthly Meeting in Arcata where he provided wise counsel and vocal ministry. In 2005 he was one of six Friends from the Meeting to petition the U.S. government for permission to provide relief and witness to the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.

It is through his Quaker connection that I came to know him well. During the last years of his life he traveled to the coast frequently to attend Humboldt Friends Meeting where he provided inspiration to many. He and Elsie had become Quakers in the 1940’s but during the most active years of their lives it was not easy to attend meeting while living in Hoopa.

My friendship with Richard was based on many common interests but more than anything on a shared philosophy about medical practice. He had great respect for the ideals of the profession and remained active both in the Medical Society and in the organization of medicine in Hoopa into the last years of his life.

Richard was a truly modest man though intelligent enough to know his own worth. To live with simple integrity and in a humane and loving manner is not an easy task in our world. Richard managed to do that and the only tribute he would want is that others try their best to do the same.

Fred Adler, MD

July 16, 2007

The SF Bay Area Chapter and National PSR will use Dr. Ricklefs bequest for our program efforts, in this way hoping to extend his legacy.

Bequest Giving

Members who are intending to remember PSR in your will should designate clearly whether the gift should be given to the National office, the local chapter, or both.  SF-Bay Area PSR provides the following chapter bequest language: “I bequeath (amount or remainder interest) to Physicians for Social Responsibility/San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, a not-for-profit institution having its offices at 2288 Fulton Street, Suite 307, Berkeley, CA 94704-1449.” If you or your attorney have any questions, please feel free to call the PSR office at 510-845-8395.

How to Green Your Medical Practice

Attention Physicians and Office Managers

How to Green Your Medical Practice

Saving Green by Going Green

Tuesday, June1^st

6 to 8:30 PM

Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center

Stanford University

326 Galvez St., Palo Alto, CA

There are many ways to save money. One important way is to green your office. We will present practical steps in this process that will benefit you, your patients and the planet. Join your colleagues for an uplifting informative evening to learn, share and be part of the solution.

A cornucopia of delicious catered hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Speakers include:

Dr. George Tingwald- “The Greening of Healthcare: From a Local to a Global Perspective” Acclaimed physician, architect and planning director for Stanford Hospital Replacement Project, .Dr. Tingwald is a chief consultant for the upcoming PBS documentary “The Greening of Medicine and Healthcare”.

Dr. Joel Kreisberg –“Greening Your Medical Practice”

Founder of Teleosis Institute  and a national leader in helping physicians transform their offices to promote health for people and the environment. He is dedicated to empowering healthcare providers to become environmental stewards by practicing sustainability.

Panel topics of discussion with additional speakers include:

e Developing a green plan

e  Greening your front office

e  Green Pharmaceutical Program

e Energy and resource conservation

e  Medical waste regulation and maximizing recycling

Free Parking on Galvez Street at Campus Drive

RSVP preferred. Please call Sandie at SCCMA at 408-998-8850. Info at SCCMA.org

Sponsored by

Stanford University Medical Center, Santa Clara County Medical Association (SCCMA) and the

Community Environmental Action Partnership (CEAP)

Training Webinar on Environmental Drivers of Chronic Disease

Based on the peer-reviewed report Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging.

Expand your knowledge of environmental health across the lifespan, and your comfort level on speaking to others on this topic. Join Greater Boston PSR and Ted Schettler MD MPH, Healthy Aging report co-author and a leading expert on environmental health, in a training webinar based on key findings of the Healthy Aging report.

The 1.5 hour webinar will be held on the following dates:

Monday, May 10th 7pm EDT, 4pm PDT

Tuesday, May 18th 1pm EDT, 10am PDT

Wednesday, May 19th 9pm EDT, 6pm PDT

Please respond to psrmabo@igc.org with the subject “EDCC Training Webinar” and indicate which date you will attend. You will be sent instructions on how to access the webinar and provided background material.

The webinar will feature a PowerPoint Presentation complete with references and speaker notes, and time for questions and answers.

It will cover the following:

• Environmental factors as key drivers of many common chronic diseases
• How environmental factors alter key biological pathways leading to chronic disease
• Important environmental determinants of health including:
  • Food system/nutrition and diet
  • Toxic chemicals
  • Built environment / physical activity
  • Psychological & socioeconomic stress
• Examples of cross cutting solutions for healthy people & a healthy environment

This is an excellent opportunity to engage and activate PSR chapter members in a concrete activity that they can use to educate patients and peers. Help us expand the PSR speaker’s bureau on environmental health issues and enlist new constituencies such as the burgeoning aging community in efforts to promote health and prevent disease.

The webinar PowerPoint and other Healthy Aging materials will be made available to attendees.

Background:

Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging

A Report by Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility and Science and Environmental Health Network -  www.agehealthy.org

A new synthesis of medical research reveals that, even in people who are genetically predisposed, environmental factors play a major role in the overwhelming majority of cases of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Diet, exercise, exposure to toxic chemicals and other environmental pollutants, and socioeconomic stress can alter biochemical pathways influencing the risk of these diseases, and other chronic illnesses termed the “Western disease cluster”– diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome – themselves risk factors for neurodegeneration.

This collection of diseases is driven by dramatic alterations over the past 50 to 100 years in the U.S. food supply, a built environment that encourages an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, proliferation of environmental chemicals, and other factors. By modifying these factors, the risks for these diseases can be dramatically reduced, and the odds greatly improved for delaying or even preventing disease onset.

Advocacy Training Program for Physicians

Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment

Reach the Decision Makers Training Program

April 7, 2010

Are you a scientist, community-based leader, public health professional or health care provider with experience in environmental or reproductive health? Join Reach the Decision Makers:

• Spend twelve months becoming a powerful communicator on environmental and reproductive health science.
• Learn to work in collaborative teams to educate the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) on reproductive environmental health issues of importance to you and/or your community.
• Develop the skills and tools necessary to effectively engage USEPA policy makers.
• Establish relationships and partnerships with USEPA staff.

Reach the Decision Makers (Reach), a project of the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, is an innovative science and policy training program that works to increase the number of scientists, community-based leaders, public health professionals and health care providers who are actively involved in informing the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) of current and relevant scientific findings impacting their decisions in setting policy.  Reach is designed based on the very successful “Women’s Policy Institute” of the Women’s Foundation of California. We believe Reach will help translate science into meaningful public policy that can protect reproductive health.

The program, beginning in June 2010, is structured around a two day meeting in Washington DC, eight monthly 2-3 hour webinar trainings, and a final all day training in Oakland, CA in May 2011.  Exact dates are included in the application. The trainings will address issues related to environmental reproductive health science and public policy, including how to work with the USEPA, understanding science and the role of science in public health decision-making, team building and leadership, and how communities can use science to improve community health and well-being.

Once selected, fellows will be put into teams of 3-4 individuals and will, as a team, choose, research and develop a policy project that addresses a pressing environmental reproductive health issue. Each team’s chosen policy project will be the basis of their engagement with USEPA at an in-person Washington DC meeting in 2011. The purpose of the visit is to engage the agency on the team’s policy project, to learn more about the agency’s activities and to share their perspectives on environmental reproductive health science and policy. Fellows will be trained to identify the appropriate EPA office(s) and staff, set up their own meetings, and develop meeting materials. Each team will have a team mentor who will help guide the team in developing and implementing their policy project.

This project is made possible through a 3 year grant from the Kresge Foundation. Each fellow will receive a $500 stipend for participating in this project. Costs associated with the training program (travel, housing, food, teleconference costs) will be covered by the program. Out-of-pocket costs to participants are expected to be minimal beyond the time commitment required for participation.

The 2010 inaugural class of 18-24 fellows will be for California-based participants only. Starting in 2011, the program will accept applications from throughout the United States.

INFO CALLS

Informational conference calls will be held on the following dates and times. Please join us during that time to learn more about Reach and to have your questions answered. Please RSVP for one of these calls online at reach@obgyn.ucsf.edu.

April 21, 3:30-4:30pm

April 22, 2:00-3:00pm

APPLY NOW!

If you are interested in applying for the inaugural class of 2010, please complete the application available at http://prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/reachdecisionmakers.html and submit it to reach@obgyn.ucsf.edu. If you have any questions about the program or eligibility requirements, please contact PRHE at (510) 986-8990 or email reach@obgyn.ucsf.edu. Applications are due May 7^th, 2010.

Sincerely,

Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH

Director, UCSF Program on Reproductive Health

and the Environment

&

Marj Plumb, DrPH, MNA

Director, Reach the Decision Makers