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For August 19 2010

My second thank you card while being at the Sun! (I really wonder how many emails I would have had this summer from contacts or people who have read my stories if I actually had a Sun Media email attached to the bottom of my articles)

Smoke and haze all day (check the Sun story later!):

Applied for a parking spot at NAIT, this will save both Mike and I about $120 in terms of parking costs!

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For August 18 2010

Good day for mail! got my iPhone4 bumper and DJ Pauly D tickets!!! :)

Took a trip to the Edmonton Humane Society, met two incredibly adorable dogs!

Bandit, Siberian Husky Collie:

(Metro Edmonton’s Andreas Moore and EHS Shauna Randolph in the back)

Polar, Alaskan Malamute:

It was Fun Shirt Day in the newsroom!

Four people participating is pretty successful! :)

Published in the August 17 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Child falls from balcony

Shoppers and employees at West Edmonton Mall were interrupted Monday morning by screams after a child fell from a top-floor railing at the mall.

“As soon as I heard the first scream, I knew something bad had happened and I went running over there to see,” said Virginia Montgomery, general manager at the Bourbon Street Boston Pizza, who said a large crowd had formed around where the boy had hit the ground.

“I saw a young boy lying on the tile next to the fountain.”

Police said it was around 11:40 a.m. Monday when a three-year-old boy climbed over a balcony railing and fell from the second level down to the first level near Bourbon Street on Level One, Phase III.

The boy hit the walkway then rolled into water by the nearby fountain.

“We got a call reporting a child had fallen from a balcony of the second floor at West Edmonton Mall. We sent a fire crew,” said Tim Wilson, spokesman with Edmonton Rescue Services. “There was a child lying on the ground and the ground was a little bit wet, next to a fountain.”

“I can’t even explain the screaming that we heard,” Montgomery said. “It really shook me up … his chest was going up and down really heavily.”

She said another witness who had a medical background was helping with the boy before rescue crews arrived.

Wilson said the boy was taken to the University of Alberta hospital and was conscious. He had minor injuries.

It was not known Monday night whether he was still at the hospital.

Police say the boy was with his family when the accident occurred and the incident was not criminal.

Calls to West Edmonton Mall were not returned by deadline.

Published in the August 7 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Teenager gets close to the heart

It’s been a heartfelt experience for a local high school student who spent his summer doing heart research.

Edward Spink, 16, has always been interested in learning about the heart.

Since July, Spink has had the opportunity to see and study the organ as part of the Heritage Youth Researcher Summer (HYRS) Program.

“Actually getting to see it up close and out of a body is such a cool experience,” Spink said Friday, after observing an isolated working heart system in a lab at the Heritage Medical Research Centre of the University of Alberta.

‘FASCINATING’

“Seeing it with your own eyes, you get a better understanding of the blood flow in and out of the heart … I just find it fascinating.”

Trading in a “normal” teenage summer for hours doing research in a laboratory, Spink said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This is such a rare opportunity, if it means giving up my summer, I’ll take it.”

On Friday, the eager science student got a chance to witness an angiogram heart procedure for the first time, one of many firsts experienced throughout the six-week program, including studying the concentration of protein in the heart, separating protein, examining ultrasounds of hearts and more.

This is the 11th year the HYRS program has been running.

Spink is one of 45 students working in labs across the province, and one of 20 specifically at the U of A.

PURSUE IN FUTURE

The program is meant to allow students the chance to see what working in a particular field is like, and encourage them to pursue work in that field in the future.

“We aim … to expose students to a career in bio-medical and health sciences so they can at least see what it’s all about before they have to make some decisions about their university,” said HRYS associate manager Marion Hutchins.

And the program has certainly struck close to Spink’s heart. The student, who will be entering Grade 12 at J.H. Picard High School this fall, hopes to study medicine and do heart research as a career.

“I think I’d like to do it for the rest of my life,” he said with a smile. “Maybe I can create something that will save lives one day.”

Published in the May 18 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

The cycle of life

The babies of two new mothers have made history in Edmonton.

Shanawa Ismayil’s son Baris Ismayil is the first baby to be born at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women, while Nadine Kaddoura’s son Hilal was the last to be born at the adjoining Royal Alexandra Hospital.

“We made a little piece of history,” Ismayil said Monday, smiling down at her sleeping baby boy.

“He is officially a Canadian and he was born in this new facility. It means a lot to us. I’m happy that he’s a piece of this.”

Ismayil was in labour while being moved from the Royal Alex to the new Lois Hole Hospital Sunday morning, while Kaddoura gave birth at the old hospital and was later moved to rest at the Lois Hole Hospital.

“Hilal was born at the old hospital, which was awesome because we got to see both the old and the new,” Kaddoura said, with her baby cradled in her arms.

Baby Hilal was born early Sunday morning at 2:45 a.m., while baby Baris was born later that same day at 10:10 a.m.

Ismayil, who wasn’t due until Tuesday, had been telling her doctor during pre-natal classes that she wished she could be the first to give birth in the new building.

“I got my wish,” she smiled. “Actually I got more than one wish.”

The two mothers were part of a group of 56 patients who were moved to the new Lois Hole Hospital. They raved about getting the chance to experience the new facility, which they say is bigger, cleaner and much more comfortable.

“It’s a beautiful place,” Ismayil said.

“It’s really, really great,” said Kaddoura. “It’s like a hotel.”

Kaddoura said the large windows, artwork, spacious bedrooms and excellent staff made her want to give birth again.

“I was kind of thinking just one, but after seeing how nice the delivery went, I’d do it again and I’d do it here, definitely,” she said. “It’s too new, you have to do it here.”

The history-making mothers have exchanged contact information with the hopes of having their boys become friends as they get older.

“He’s got his first playdate,” says Ismayil.

The Lois Hole Hospital for Women officially opened its doors in April. The five-floor, 33,450 square-metre hospital is part of the Royal Alexandra Hospital’s new Robbins Pavilion and contains about 120 beds.

It replaces the Royal Alex’s 60-year-old, 104-bed Women’s Centre, which was getting too small to keep up with patient demand.

Last year, more than 5,000 babies were delivered at the Royal Alex.

Published in the May 20 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Space medicine awakens dream

It might have been one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, but this was definitely something even more for one University of Alberta student.

Michael Gallagher, a fourth-year U of A medicine student, got the experience of a lifetime when he was accepted for a one-month Aerospace Medicine Elective at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Texas last month.

“It was one of those things that re-woke my childhood dream,” said Gallagher, who says he has always been interested in space exploration, and even has his own pilot’s licence. Gallagher got to see how medical triage units are set up around space shuttles and launch vehicles, learn different medical concepts specifically geared towards space, how astronaut’s health is affected in space, and more.

“I was fortunate enough to be a part of the medical triage for space shuttle Discovery’s landing,” he said. “I got to be right on the runway when the shuttle landed.” The 26-year-old med student was one of only three chosen for the four-week elective, and the only Canadian who was accepted.

“I was just very, very lucky to be chosen among a lot of fantastic people,” he said. “It was just amazing.” Gallagher, who is heading down to Medicine Hat for a residency this summer, says the skills he learned at NASA should apply to working in medicine in rural communities.

“Being in space, that’s probably the farthest away and with limited resources you can have,” he said. “That would be like in very small, rural community too.” And while Gallagher says it would be a dream come true if he could work in medicine with NASA someday, for now he’s fine with doing something a little closer to home.

“To work in rural family medicine where I can have a plane and hop around to take care of different communities, that’s sort of another dream of mine,” he said.

All medical schools across the country have mandatory elective time built into the curriculum. The elective time is meant to allow students to take a closer look at certain disciplines or broaden their experiences and knowledge, outside of school.

“We encourage our students to expand their knowledge base and look at all kinds of different areas,” said Dr. Fraser Brenneis, vice dean of education for the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.

“Does this potentially have an impact or opportunity down the road as far as where Michael ends up or what he ends up doing? Absolutely.”

Published in the June 21 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Touching tribute

The mother of two little girls killed along with their dad in a train collision is being buoyed by support from her daughter’s classmates.

Students and friends lined up to hug mom Alana Baxter outside Winterburn Elementary School after the Thursday memorial — attended by about 400 children. Many gave her cards, posters and drawings of her girls.

“It’s beautiful and it’s touching that people would take the time to do that,” Alana said.

Grades 2 and 4 classmates of Julianne Baxter, 9, and sister Coral, 7, planted two shrubs in honour of the girls, sang My Heart Will Go On and released butterflies in honour of the sisters and their dad John.

The “celebration of life” also included a tree dedication in John’s name.

Julianne, Coral and John were killed on the snowy morning of May 4 when a collision occurred between the dad’s pickup and a Via Rail passenger train on Winterburn Road near 111 Avenue.

Alana and her two-year-old son John Jr. were on hand for the memorial.

Alana blinked back tears as she listened to school stories about her two girls and husband.

“Everything has just been so overwhelming, just all the care and compassion that people have shown has just been my source of strength right now,” she said.

“I don’t know if I will ever recover from this. Maybe I will the day I die and I’m reunited with them, but right now I have my son and maybe through him I can learn to love life again.”

Many of the students at the memorial were dressed in Oilers jerseys, and Oilers officials were also in attendance, including Kevin Lowe, Pat LaForge and Tom and Glenda Renney.

The Baxter family were Oilers season-ticket holders.

‘AREA FOR REMEMBRANCE’

“Today was very important to have the opportunity for closure for the school community, but also the opportunity to say that we aren’t forgetting, we are creating an area for remembrance,” said principal Shane Dzivinski.

“They will always be a part of us.”

A special plaque is also being made by the school and will be put by the shrubs and tree.

“It is just so touching and comforting to know that if I miss my children and my husband, I can come and sit on this bench and just look at these trees and just feel them,” Alana said.

Police have not yet publicly concluded their investigation into what happened to cause the crash.

Published in the May 20 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Better car for dying

Christine McCourt was halfway through her second pregnancy when her husband Jon was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer.

McCourt was told that there was no cure for her husband’s esophageal cancer and only palliative care could be offered.

This is not uncommon, as more than 76,000 Canadians are expected to die from cancer-related illnesses this year, with over 6,000 of those deaths occurring in Alberta alone, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Canadian Cancer Society.

The report stresses that end-of-life care for terminally ill patients in Canada, like McCourt’s husband, needs to be improved.

“When they get to that end-of-life kind of stage, they should be able to die with dignity … we need to do something to make that happen, rather than people having to die in a hospital setting,” McCourt said Wednesday at her west-end home.

The Canadian Cancer Society stats indicate in an aging population, more Canadians will need palliative care in the coming years and the quality of palliative care services are inadequate, varying within and between provinces.

This includes services for ill Canadians, as well as their caregivers, who in 2009 spent an estimated $25 billion of their own money to care for their sick loved ones.

“That’s huge and that’s unfortunate that’s what they have to do to make sure their family members are dying with dignity,” said Angeline Webb, spokeswoman for the Canadian Cancer Society.

“We have a large baby-boomer population that is aging, so that population will increase the cancer rates and we need to make sure that they are taken care of.”

According to the report, most terminally ill people want to die at home, but more than 55% of deaths occur in hospitals because palliative care services aren’t adequate enough to support in-home service.

The report also states that palliative care services in Canada are often unused or patients and their families are sometimes unaware the services are even available.

“We need to have systems in place where people can go to get answers and have those programs and services that will just make their cancer journeys a little bit easier,” McCourt said.

Published in the May 26 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Second man eyed in ’81 homicide

A second man may have had a hand in the 1981 sex slaying of a city cabbie, say cold case homicide detectives who charged 50-year-old Robert James Fletcher last week with the killing.

Now they are asking anyone with information about the case — and the man they’ve charged — to come forward.

ANOTHER PASSENGER

“We believe there was somebody else in the cab and we don’t know what his involvement was, but we’d like to talk to him about it,” historical homicides Det. Howie Antoniuk said Tuesday.

“It could be somebody he just knew for a week or a couple days, it could have been a drinking buddy that night, that we don’t know.”

Fletcher, 50, was arrested at his apartment at 111 Avenue and 124 Street last Thursday in connection with the slaying of Barrel Cab driver Gerdina Kruidbos on Dec. 3, 1981. He has been charged with first-degree murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping and possession of an offensive weapon.

“We’re asking that members of the public who knew Mr. Fletcher back in 1981, who were close to him or friends with him, if they have any information about Mr. Fletcher’s activities regarding this occurrence … we’re asking them to come forward and speak to us,” said Antoniuk.

On the evening of Dec. 3, 1981, Kruidbos, 33, was working for Barrel Cab when she picked up a fare at the Continental Inn, 16625 Stony Plain Road.

She was found slain in her taxicab near 144 Avenue and 72 Street on Dec. 4, 1981.

She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed multiple times.

Investigators are crediting advances in DNA and forensic technology for leading them to Fletcher’s arrest, years after the original investigators retired from the case.

“The advances in science no doubt help every case. As science improves, we’re continually going back and reviewing cases to see if there’s something else we can do,” Antoniuk said.

“We have a fairly firm grasp on what happened and what the events were surrounding the night, but we’re always trying to firm those up and make the truth come out as clear as possible.”

OFFENCES

The offences Fletcher was charged with — including rape — reflect the law as it existed in 1981.

Fletcher was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning, but a lawyer was there on his behalf.

His next court appearance is scheduled for June 16.

Anyone with any information related to the case is urged to call city police or Crime Stoppers.

Published in the May 29 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

‘Reflection of Canada’

Canada’s top soldier, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk, praised aboriginal youth involved in the Canadian Forces at the closing ceremonies of Aboriginal Awareness Week at the Edmonton Garrison Friday.

The week included Hobbema Cadet Corps presentations, storytelling from Inuit elders and aboriginal dance performances.

“I’m just so proud of the Canadian Forces’ role in ensuring that we recognize the culture of our great land, that we represent Canadian society and we prepare Canada for the future, the future leaders that is our young aboriginal youth,” Natynczyk told a crowd of aboriginal youth, RCMP and soldiers.

“The Canadian Forces are a reflection of Canada, a reflection of Canadian society and culture, and that’s why we really embrace all this because we’re preparing the nation for the future and the future is right here.”

The closing ceremonies included a round dance by youth from Thundering Spirits Cultural Society, Ben Calf Robe School and the Rainbow Spirit Dance Troupe, who were dressed in brightly coloured traditional and jingle dresses.

A new aboriginal sweat lodge that was recently opened at the base was also celebrated Friday.

“Our hope is that this joint effort will inspire others to pursue similar projects on bases across Canada so that members … will have access to the spiritual benefits of the sweat lodge,” said RCMP Chief Supt. Fred Kamins.

The sweat lodge, made out of willow trees and draped with army tents, will be used for spiritual healing and prayer, as well as act as the site for future RCMP aboriginal perceptions training.

“We go on sweat for guidance; especially with our guys going out, it’s a good opportunity just to give them some peace of mind, spiritual enlightenment and then when they come back the sweat is good to help heal their spirit from the hurts of war,” said Cpl. Jocelyne Bauman.

After the closing ceremonies, Natynczyk told reporters of the progress that has been made in Canada’s military effort in Afghanistan.

“Today, the Americans outnumber us (in Kandahar) by about seven to one,” he said. “Things are changing, you can feel it when you’re there … what I see on the ground is something totally different than what was there last year, the year before or the year before that.

“We will all be out of Kandahar (and) end our military mission in 2011.”

Aboriginal Awareness Week is put on by the Canadian Forces Defence Aboriginal Advisory Group.

National Aboriginal Day is June 21.