This fall, University Parking and Transportation Services began the roll-out of 19 new buses, updating its shuttle fleet that serves University of Rochester students, faculty, and staff. The fleet upgrade will be completely in place by early-January, with each new bus equipped with features that add efficiencies and safety to the shuttle service.
University ID card readers are being introduced on all buses. Beginning Jan. 14, riders will need to have their UR ID card ready to swipe upon boarding all buses. If a passenger does not have their ID card, the driver will need to log the information manually.
The card swipe will provide location and time data needed to assess routes and ridership. This information will be shared with the University's Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), which includes representatives from all the academic units, students from SA government and the Graduate Organizing Group, along with representatives from the Medical Center and Parking and Transportation. TAC assists in monitoring and evaluating shuttle services and routes to maximize efficiency in University transportation.
The survival rates for patients receiving liver transplants at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC) exceed national averages at statistically significant levels according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.
"The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center’s program for the treatment of liver disease is among the most advanced in the country,” Samir S. Awad, M.D., Operative Care Line executive and an associate professor in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, said. “Given that we provide excellent care for Veterans with end-stage liver disease preoperatively and postoperatively, the ability to meet their transplantation surgical needs is a tremendous advantage.”
According to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, the MEDVAMC Liver Transplant Program’s one-year patient survival rate is 97.06 percent, compared to an expected survival rate of 90.30 percent and the national hospital average of 89.53 percent. The program’s three-year patient survival rate is 83.33 percent, compared to an expected survival rate of 73.93 percent and the national hospital average of 79.85 percent. The expected survival rate reflects the health condition of the program’s transplant patients.
Besides being the busiest surgery program in the Department of Veterans Affairs, MEDVAMC is well-known for tackling the most complex surgical cases, with patients usually older and in poorer health than other hospitals. Featuring advanced robotic surgery technology, the hospital’s surgery department was the first VA to use a computerized, operating room real-time location system to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of day-of-surgery operations by directly coordinating and supporting surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, patients, family members, and related support personnel and activities.
“We see these patients first, and they are sicker than you can imagine,” Blase A. Carabello, M.D., Medical Care Line executive and the Moncrief Professor of Medicine and vice chairman in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said. “Our extraordinary team of doctors, nurses, and support personnel truly give these patients a second chance at life.”
“Our outstanding surgery program, our talented, top-notch staff, and our successful Liver Transplant Program were three of the reasons the DeBakey VA was recently approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a Kidney Transplant Center,” J. Kalavar, M.D., Medical Center chief of staff, said. “We constantly strive to provide Veterans the best health care anywhere.”
The MEDVAMC Liver Transplant Program began in 2007 and performed its 50th procedure on Nov. 19, 2012. Transplants are the most advanced treatment for patients with severe, end-stage disease with no other effective, available medical or surgical treatments, according to clinicians.
Harold Gage slowly backs his semitrailer up next to the fence at his Rozet home. His friend, Tyler Hippen, trails behind, making fresh footprints in the snow. As the sun sinks, the temperature falls steadily toward zero. Gage’s girlfriend, Lisa Winjum, runs inside the house to put on warmer clothes, but she’s right back outside as soon as her coveralls are buckled.
Gage steps down from the cab, and he, Winjum, Hippen and two others get to work loosening the tight straps that hold 13 round bales of hay to the trailer. One by one, they pull the straps off and stow them under the cab.
Gage and Hippen then hoist the skinnier of the other two men up onto the truck. He leans back on one of the round bales and gets ready to push with his legs. Winjum calls her dogs away from the truck, and on the count of three the men kick and push the first hay bale off the rig. Once one falls off, the rest is easy.
They all jump up on the trailer, and after a few minutes of grunting and shoving, the remainder of the load is off. The round bales weigh between 1,700 and 1,800 pounds. They fall to the ground with a thud, and they don’t bounce. These bales are solid, fresh hay wrapped up tight, with no mold in the middle.
With such a bad drought this season, seeing more than a few bales of hay spread out on one property is uncommon in Campbell County. Hay is so tough to come by that many ranchers have had to downsize their cattle herds, selling cows and giving away horses they cannot afford to feed.
But Gage and Winjum have worked out a system. Three or four times a week, the couple or a hired driver travels 430 miles up to Wild Rose, N.D., to pick up 26 bales of hay, a full truckload on Gage’s semi. Once they get the hay loaded and securely strapped down — at least a two-hour process — the pair turns around and drives the 430 miles back.
While the two own 26 horses, they don’t need that much hay for themselves. They know the livestock community is hurting, so they sell what they can at a fair price — $165 per bale, to be exact.
Winjum said some hay in the area is going for $250 to $300 per ton, up from the typical price of around $100 per ton last year. She said they’d sell their bales for cheaper, but they need to take transportation costs into consideration.
“We figured out how much it would cost to get Harold’s semi up and running again, and licensing, permits in each state, insurance, tires, fuel, truck driver pay and maintenance,” Winjum said.
As soon as she posted an Internet ad around Thanksgiving, they started getting calls. The couple delivers to a few regular customers, but they hear from someone new almost every day.
“It seems like most of the people are new people,” Gage said. “They’re just in dire need of hay, and they need it now.”
Janet and Bill Woodworth are regular customers who heard about Gage and Winjum through word of mouth. Janet Woodworth has been raising cows all her life.
“We’ve always had hay, and we’ve always been able to have some carry-over hay,” Woodworth said. “There was only one year we had to buy a little bit, and that was probably 15 years ago.”
Not only has Woodworth had to buy numerous bales of hay this year, she has already had to sell six head of cattle in order to be able to afford to feed the rest.
“It’s a sad year,” Woodworth said. “All this beautiful weather this fall and winter is not good for us. It’s getting scary for next year.”
This is the first year Gage and Winjum have done something so drastic to be able to feed their animals, but they may have to keep it up if Wyoming doesn’t get more precipitation.
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