Medicine Hats Ted Clugston, the mayor who ended homelessness

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Allan Maki talks to Medicine Hats Ted Clugston, who has been in office only 13 months, but has already cemented his legacy as the mayor who ended homelessness. Not bad for a guy who tried to scuttle the project.

So what do people call you these days Super Mayor? The mastermind who taught homelessness a lesson?

Im a fraud. Im getting all the credit for this. I didnt do anything. What happened was I was giving a state-of-the-city speech as mayor. I had 40 or 50 slides I was showing about city improvements and roadways and I had one slide that showed a house. I said, By the way, were going to be the first city to end homelessness. I moved on to the next slide, but all anybody wanted to talk about after that was the homeless issue. Before I became mayor, I was on city council for seven years. I actively campaigned against [the Housing First initiative]. I was told the plan to end homelessness was going to take five years. I laughed at that. I said, No ones ever going to end homelessness. And yet, were going to announce that some time within a year [likely early in 2015].

So what changed your mind?

As mayor, I looked at the work being done by Robin Miller [chief administrative officer of the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society] and Alina Tucker [of Turner Research & Strategy]. They spent four years to get me on board. If you look at the cost of [a homeless person] being picked up by an ambulance, staying in the hospital overnight, the justice system being involved, it actually makes financial sense to give them a home. Thats the theory behind Housing First. The homeless go through an entrance procedure to find out what kind of support is needed. Is it a health issue? Is it an addiction issue? We get the right support people in there right away.

How big a problem was homelessness in Medicine Hat?

On a per capita basis, it was the same as any other city in the country. People think were a small community. There are 61,000 people living here. Weve had 819 people that weve housed in the past 4 years. For rent, they pay 30 per cent of their income. Were still looking for some money from the province for support houses. After that well go into maintenance mode to keep the project going.

What has surprised you the most about this project?

[The media coverage] is 1,000 times bigger than I thought it would be. The CBC has done a few stories on it. The Economist magazine called. I sometimes dont even know whos calling me. Everyone asks, How did you do it? They think there is a formula to follow. I think were small enough that we can work together and large enough to make a difference.

Have you said Im sorry to Ms. Miller and Ms. Tucker, who pushed for Housing First until they converted you?

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Medicine Hats Ted Clugston, the mayor who ended homelessness

New discoveries in age-related macular degeneration revealed in industry and academia

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11-Dec-2014

Contact: Michael Petr michael.petr@insilicomedicine.com InSilico Medicine, Inc. @InSilicoMeds

BALTIMORE, December 11, 2014 - Insilico Medicine along with scientists from Vision Genomics and Howard University shed light on AMD disease, introducing the opportunity for eventual diagnostic and treatment options.

The scientific collaboration between Vision Genomics, Inc., Howard University, and Insilico Medicine, Inc., has revealed encouraging insight on the AMD disease using an interactome analysis approach. Resources such as publicly available gene expression data, Insilico Medicine's original algorithm OncoFinderTM, and AMD MedicineTM from Vision Genomics allowed discovery of signaling pathways activated during AMD disease.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with Alex Zhavaronkov and Evgeny Makarev, and their team at InSilico Medicine. Big Data analysis is part of the future of medicine, and with our technique of signaling pathway activation analysis, we will decipher the genetic network alterations that lead to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and eventually human aging itself", said Antonei Benjamin Csoka, PhD, CEO of Vision Genomics, LLC, and Assistant Professor at Howard University.

The research publication titled "Pathway activation profiling reveals new insights into Age-related Macular Degeneration and provides avenues for therapeutic interventions" was accepted by one of aging research's top-rated journals "Aging", detailing these findings and methodology. This study not only validates the efficacy of interactome analysis within aging, but also allows the investigation of cellular populations within AMD models.

"We are happy to collaborate with Antonei Benjamin Csoka's teams at both Vision Genomics and Howard University on this exciting project. Coupling Big Data with advanced signaling pathway activation analysis may help find new therapeutic approaches for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that holds many keys to understanding human aging", said Evgeny Makarev, PhD, Director of Aging Research at Insilico Medicine.

On December 9th Insilico Medicine, Inc announced the appointment of 2013 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Michael Levitt, to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Levitt's background in computational modeling focused on understanding protein folding processes and molecular interactions, may turn to be extremely valuable for compound discovery related to AMD and other age-related diseases. The concept utilized by Insilico Medicine involves identifying the difference between several signaling states on a tissue-specific level, be it health and disease, or young and old, and evaluating a large number of drugs and drug combinations that can modulate the difference using advanced parametric and machine-learned algorithms. "To create more value from our predictions we will need to identify compounds that are even more effective than top-scoring drugs and that would require multi-scale modeling of macromolecules, the field pioneered by Dr. Michael Levitt ", said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, CEO of Insilico Medicine, Inc. Insilico Medicine continues to be represented from top institutions, including Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and New York University. With this broad range of expertise, Insilico and its collaborators will pursue AMD disease further and utilize the newly discovered activated pathways as a foundation.

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New discoveries in age-related macular degeneration revealed in industry and academia

MSU students visit Flint elementary school

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FLINT (WJRT) - (12/11/14) - A Flint elementary school has visitors every month from Michigan State University.

While it's a program for the kids, everyone involved is learning a lot about the school environment - and themselves.

As part of a certification program at Michigan State's medical school, three third year students are visiting the Durant-Turri-Mott Elementary School.

"We work directly with the community. We do these weekly volunteer activities just to get to know the community and also try to do some good and help out in ways that we can," said Joe Meleca, third year Michigan State Medical student.

The med students work through the program "leadership and medicine for the underserved", and with Flint being a community where there can be challenges for families to access medical and health services, the school couldn't be happier to partner up.

"They live in kind of an artificial environment. Usually they're in a very academic world, so when they get right in schools and experience students first hand, they get to hear all the things that they're dealing with, and it becomes much more real," said Pam Flores, Durant-Tuuri-Mott School social worker.

They visit three times a month throughout the school year, focusing on attendance and health, and doing activities with the kids.

"We've been trained in the Michigan model and our hope is to do some education on health, good touch/bad touch, how to keep yourself clean at home, how to eat nutritious foods. Not only can they learn those things, but hopefully they can bring those things back their household," Meleca said.

Everyone's learning from each other.

"Some of them are blind, some of them are deaf, and just understanding the difficulties they have to go through every day just to have the same kind of learning that maybe I had in school, it really impacts me quite a bit," Meleca said.

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MSU students visit Flint elementary school

Warrnambool medical student is Deakin's dux

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Dec. 12, 2014, 4 a.m.

THE Warrnambool campus of the Deakin Medical School has again produced the dux of the school.

THE Warrnambool campus of the Deakin Medical School has again produced the dux of the school.

In a remarkable record, a Warrnambool-based student has won the dux of the school title for the third time in four years.

The winner, Steven Nicolaides, had not even heard of Warrnambool a few years ago but now recommends his fellow students complete their medical training here.

Dr Nicolaides topped this years cohort of 117 graduates from all of the schools campuses including Geelong, Box Hill, Ballarat and Camperdown. Dr Nicolaides, from Melbourne, said he felt a little embarrassed about his previous lack of knowledge about Warrnambool.

Id never heard of Warrnambool to be honest, which is pretty surprising because it is such a great town and has been a wonderful place to live, he said.

Because its a small group of students (at Warrnambool) you get to know the consultants and senior doctors by their first names.

In terms of the support you get from the medical school, the feedback we heard from previous students made it seem like the best place to complete our training.

This was his first country living experience and he is looking to return after completing his specialty training at St Vincents hospital in Melbourne.

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Warrnambool medical student is Deakin's dux

Yale medical school: E-cigarette use among kids on the rise

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Metro-North bans alcohol for SantaCon weekend Metro-North bans alcohol for SantaCon weekend

Updated: Thursday, December 11 2014 3:46 PM EST2014-12-11 20:46:39 GMT

Santa is expected to be sober on Metro-North Railroad. The commuter rail line said Wednesday that alcohol will not be permitted on trains and stations this weekend as holiday revelers dressed as Santa Claus travel to SantaCon events.

Santa is expected to be sober on Metro-North Railroad. The commuter rail line said Wednesday that alcohol will not be permitted on trains and stations this weekend as holiday revelers dressed as Santa Claus travel to SantaCon events.

Updated: Thursday, December 11 2014 3:23 PM EST2014-12-11 20:23:29 GMT

A Yale School of Medicine study says one-fourth of high school students in Connecticut have tried an electronic cigarette. The study also found that 3.5 percent of middle school students have used e-cigarettes, more than had used tobacco in the past month.

Updated: Thursday, December 11 2014 7:31 AM EST2014-12-11 12:31:53 GMT

A man has been arrested by tribal police at the Foxwoods Resort Casino on charges that he left his 3-year-old son alone for several hours at a hotel.Police say Troy Forster, 33, of Windsor Locks left his son alone for more than three hours while he was at the casino with his girlfriend.

Updated: Wednesday, December 10 2014 8:31 AM EST2014-12-10 13:31:34 GMT

A former Milford man who says he's using medical marijuana has been arrested on accusations he operated a drug factory.

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Yale medical school: E-cigarette use among kids on the rise

People seek medical help after school prizegiving

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JOHN HAWKINS/FAIRFAX NZ

Edendale Christian Activity Centre is getting its lights replaced after a number of people complained of sore eyes and sunburn-like sensation on their faces.

Several people sought medical help for burning eyes after attending a prizegiving ceremony in the Southland town of Edendale.

One man complained of sore eyes and a swollen face after attending the Edendale Primary School's prizegiving on Tuesday evening at the Christian Activity Centre.

He went to Southland Hospital about 5am on Wednesday when the pain became unbearable.

"It was like having sand in my eyes," he said.

He was given eye drops and ointment for his face and said part of his face and both eyes were still swollen yesterday.

Gore Hospital chief executive Karl Metzler said four people presented with symptoms at the hospital, and another 17 complained of similar symptoms atSouthland Hospital's emergency department.

"We were relieved it was only four here," he said.

Edendale Primary School principal David McKenzie said people had approached him about having sore eyes and a sunburn-like sensation on their faces.

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People seek medical help after school prizegiving

Liberty Paintball Airsoft Sundays 12/7/14 "For What Its Worth" Squad Rolling Deep – Video

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Liberty Paintball Airsoft Sundays 12/7/14 "For What Its Worth" Squad Rolling Deep
So the goon squad headed back to Liberty Paintball in Patterson NY last weekend for a fun day of bb warz. We had so much fun we #39;re going again this Sunday. So if you #39;re in the area and wanna...

By: Specter Airsoft Team

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Liberty Paintball Airsoft Sundays 12/7/14 "For What Its Worth" Squad Rolling Deep - Video