Health : For Good

When famed chef Jamie Oliver came to Pittsburgh last fall to start his 10,000 Tables program, aimed at getting more families to enjoy the benefits of home-cooked, television-free meals, Bobby Fry, one of the creators of Bar Marco in the Strip, asked him what local business owners and chefs could do.
 
"Your role is to inspire and empower people," Oliver answered, as Fry recalls.
 
"I likened it to the analogy of young musicians inspired by rock stars and taught by their music teachers," Fry says. So he decided: "Somebody in the community had to be supporting schools and school cafeterias."
 
Fry gathered other local organizations and teamed with Kelsey Weisgerber, food service director at the Environmental Charter School, to start the Cooking School movement. Their goals: "Find a group of kids, give them the tools, knowledge and experience and let them have higher standards for food, and that will change the system" toward healthier school lunches.
 
The group first approached Pittsburgh Obama 6-12. Fry knew the school had its own kitchen, but he found a dormant home-economics classroom. The group cleaned it, bought each student his or her own carving knife, sharpener and cutting board and brought in 120 cookbooks from Bar Marco's kitchen for them to choose among.
 
Lots of kids picked breakfast cookbooks, Fry says. "We realized breakfast is a problem for lots of these kids," who have to leave home too early to get it and pass nowhere along the way even worth shopping for breakfast foods.
 
Fry has been inspired by the level of interest in healthy eating that he found at the school. "I thought I'd have to go in and get the kids excited about cooking. Same with the administration. They were already really on board. Everybody is ready to change school lunches."
 
"We've got to get them skills here that will get them a job," he adds about the Cooking School effort. "For working in a professional kitchen, all you need to start are the proper cutting skills" -- but those are the hardest skills to master, too.
 
Now the Cooking School teaches at the Obama school every Tuesday afternoon and brings a new chef every week. The program is being aided by Andrew T. Stephen, assistant professor of business administration and Katz Fellow in Marketing in Pitt's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, whose MBA students are preparing a video promoting it. Their early work is viewable here. Kids from other schools can submit proposals for the Cooking School to teach elsewhere. If applicant schools don't have a kitchen, perhaps the program will try to raise money to install one, Fry says.
 
You can help the Cooking School raise funds for cooking utensils and local produce through crowdrise and a current Facebook fundraiser.
 
Do Good:
Looking for additional ways to find out about local, healthier eating and bring the movement to your community. Check out the programs of Farm to Table Pittsburgh.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Bobby Fry, The Cooking School

Just as with any party, you're invited to drop by or stay for the entire Biodiversity Learning Party at Assemble in Garfield on April 10, 4:30-7:30 p.m.
 
Unlike most parties, however, you'll likely come away with less gossip but more brain cells, and it's an evening for all ages.
 
"It's almost like a science fair," says Assemble founder Nina Marie Barbuto, "where we have different experts presenting their expertise and offering hands-on activities."
 
These experts include everyone from college students talking about their academic concentrations to representatives of local companies and "straight-up geeks whose expertise has nothing to do with their jobs," Barbuto says. The biodiversity party will feature presenters from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Tree Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh biology department. Also manning and womanning tables at the event will be reps from Digital Dream Labs, which teaches computer programming to children by using play to link physical and digital spaces, and Tara Rockaway and Heather Mallak, whose Digital Salad mixes art, tech, and education about farming to create educational experiences that are both interactive and edible.
 
Learning party themes this year have been mapping and music/sound, and future ones will be centered on robots and energy.
 
"It's our goal to provide access to knowledge" -- and to make it "attainable and digestible," Barbuto says. "It should be real fun, and we always have free healthy snacks."
 
Her hopes for the party, she says, "start with just having the word 'biodiversity' as part of your vocabulary and seeing how this affects the world around you." Ideally, she adds, the younger attendees will emerge thinking, "I'm interested in nutrition but I never knew this had to do with biodiversity," or "Maybe I can be a scientist."
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Nina Marie Barbuto, Assemble

"Asthma hospitalizations triple when schools start up again in the fall," reports Andrew Ellsworth of the new Healthy Schools Collaboration; that's partly due to paints, sealants, duct work and other maintenance performed over the summer and still leaking fumes and other materials into the air.
 
"If we can do something to minimize that impact and not see that bump in the fall," says Ellsworth, the Collaboration will be doing its job.
 
The program, funded by The Heinz Endowments, will help school districts institute new cleaning and maintenance practices, teaming and training teachers, staff, kids and the community to become educated on the issue and providing some materials and expert advice.
 
The pilot effort targets the McKeesport Area and Allegheny Valley school districts. "We wanted to serve districts that had fewer resources," Ellsworth explains. "They are the ones who tend to have more challenges with environmental health issues," thanks to a shrinking student population and tax base that does not allow for some of the needed building renovation and maintenance to avoid health risks like moisture and mold.
 
McKeesport, for instance, as a former mill town was a "booming metropolis, in a sense, prior to the collapse of the steel industry," he says, so the city has to manage lots of infrastructure. Allegheny Valley encompasses Springdale and Cheswick, which still have major manufacturing. "They are home to a number of facilities, including a coal-fired power plant that is literally next to the high school … and another power plant up the river," Ellsworth point out. "And those are a factor for student health issues."
 
Healthy Schools Collaboration will help each district identify what can be done with a low investment, such as:

• Substituting green housekeeping products for the myriad chemical floor cleaners, hand soaps and disinfectants schools employ. "They can have a large impact, because there is such a large quantity of them applied daily," he says.
• Creating better chemical maintenance to prevent potential spills and to keep students from getting access to the supplies.
• Reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides in the building and substituting less toxic substances.
• Preventing vehicle exhaust from coming into school buildings and reducing the idling of diesel buses outside the school as children exit schools at the end of the day.

All of this may have a negligible increase in initial costs for a district but will reduce the amount of supplies they need to buy, those shrinking their costs overall.
 
The initial phase of the Collaboration will last through the end of this school year. "We're really excited that these schools have stepped forward to tackle these issues," concludes Ellsworth. "We want them to be able to implement policies for how they're going to create a safer and healthier environment."
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Andrew Ellsworth of the new Healthy Schools Collaboration

Would you like fresh local produce delivered to your workplace? How about a mid-winter dose of fresh tomatoes or homemade peach jam right from your own shelves?
 
The annual Farm to Table Conference March 22-23 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, with this year's theme of “Do It Yourself,” features demonstrations, speakers, samples and more than 65 exhibitors offering hands-on cooking demos, gardening tips and nutrition, health and wellness information.
 
The event is all about "treading more lightly on the earth and being more self-sufficient," says Erin Hart, director of health benefit services for American HealthCare Group, which runs the event. Local farms, restaurants, breweries, wineries, and personal chefs are attending the food-tasting event, while speakers will take on such topics as "Herbal Soap Making," "Fermentation 101," "Fresh Eggs Daily from your Backyard Chicken Flock," "Mycelium Mayhem: Mushrooms for Hobby, Income and Companion Planting," "Applying Farm to Table to Your Health," and "Food as Medicine: The Power of Food to Heal."
 
"It seems like people are getting more and more interested in canning and preserving" and other ways of providing themselves with food that's fresh and local instead of picked in Peru six months ago, says Hart. And Pittsburgh is getting more programs such as community gardens, schools bringing farm-to-table principles into their cafes and workplaces that are implementing Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) drop sites. CSAs are farms to which you can buy a kind of subscription for a certain amount and variety of produce when it is harvested. Having drop sites in industrial parks and office complexes is "making it easier for community members to buy local and source local," Hart notes. For instance, the Penn Corner Farm Alliance goes to Westinghouse's Cranberry office lobby once a week to sell CSA subscriptions and make deliveries to employees.
 
"Seven years ago, when we started doing this, people had never heard of CSAs," she adds. Now Farm to Table "is a way to get to the masses of people, where public health might be impacted. Every year it grows pretty significantly," from 3,000 people last year to -- she expects -- 3,500 this year.
 
Teachers can get complementary registration and Act 48 credits, and those using the state's WIC benefit can get free admission as well. For tickets, visit Showclix.com and search “Farm to Table."
 
Do Good:
Want to know more and connect with CSAs? Come to the CSA Fair at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh on March 16. Get more information here.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Erin Hart, American HealthCare Group

It's hard to imagine an eight-month-old baby doing more than drooling and banging on an iPad, but The Early Learning Institute has discovered that kids this young can benefit from app-based therapies -- and so can their parents.
 
The Institute got a grant from the Verizon Foundation to buy 10 iPads to pilot a study of occupational, physical, speech and developmental therapies used with the 1,100 kids in their Early Intervention Program, which treats children experiencing developmental delays from birth to three in Allegheny and Washington counties. The idea is to help them achieve normal developmental milestones.
 
As a result, says Kara Rutowski, executive director of The Early Learning Institute, the kids have increased their vocabularies, learned to take turns, improved their balance, learned to make good decisions, increased their attention spans and expanded their abilities to express and understand language.
 
They've also to follow directions, match items, answer yes or no questions and identify family members, objects, colors and pictures. The eight-month-old is learning fine motor skills, to improve grasping and the use one finger at a time and other skills that will prepare this child to write, color, cut and perform other pre-school tasks.
 
The program uses mostly free apps so that each child's parents can use them at home to reinforce a kid's goals. Parents can also take their own smart phone or iPad in to the Institute between sessions to practice with the therapists. In addition, the Institute uses iPad learning for babies and toddlers in its socialization group, the Social Butterflies program.
 
"It's never too early to work on these skills," Rutowski says. "The beauty of it is, children are having fun. They don't realize they are working while they are using these things."
 
Do Good:
Searching for additional ways to help kids with special learning needs? Volunteer at the Children's Institute.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Kara Rutowski, The Early Learning Institute

The benefits for families who eat home-cooked meals together and actually talk to each other, with the television off, are clear. According to the national Let’s Move! Campaign to decrease childhood obesity -- including Let's Move! Pittsburgh -- Americans already eat 31 percent more calories than we did in 1970, including 56 percent more fats and oils and 14 percent more sugars or sweeteners. All that fast food is a big contributor to obesity in kids. Eating home-cooked food together, on the other hand, teaches kids what and how to eat.
 
The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (you have their cookbook, don't you?) has found 68 scientific studies that showed “the more a family ate together the less children consumed dietary components thought to be harmful to health."
 
And most home-cooking is simply healthier for you, says Jamie Oliver, famed British chef and television personality. He was in town this month to challenge attendees at the One Young World conference, and the world, to take action on this issue by joining his "Food Revolution." "Inspired by Jamie Oliver," says Liz Fetchin, Let's Move! Pittsburgh created 10,000 Tables, which aims to get 10,000 Pittsburgh families to add one more home-cooked, television-free meal to each week. Fetchin, spokesperson for Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (whose head, Richard V. Piacentini, directs Let's Move! Pittsburgh), says the group wanted to come up with a reasonable initiative that could be accomplished over the next year.

Other local organizations also joined in. The City of Pittsburgh aims to increase farmers markets, bikeways and trails, and to increase participation in its CityFit Wellness at Work initiative for employees. Whole Foods will work through its school garden grant program, while the Eat'n Park Hospitality Group's LifeSmiles program will continue a $1 million/20,000 volunteer-hour investment in health and wellness initiatives for families. UPMC's Dining Smart program in 2013 will seek to bring healthier meal and vending choices to its more than 50,000 employees and promote it to other employers, and Propel Schools will increase its use of healthy food choices and My Plate Guidelines for its students.
 
"Most families are eating in front of the TV or are eating separately -- it's because they are so busy," Fetchin allows. Let's Move! hopes this movement to cook at home and eat together will encourage families to enjoy the health benefits more often.
 
Is the participation of 10,000 families realistic? "We sure hope so," Fetchin says. "We think that it will really catch on. We hope to do a lot of outreach," including to neighborhoods where fresh food is not as readily available. Let's Move! soon will be handing out recipes and shopping lists at Giant Eagles and other locations throughout the area, and will be offering cooking demonstrations there and elsewhere.
 
Jamie Oliver has not announced plans to come back to Pittsburgh yet, but, says Fetchin, Let's Move! hopes 10,000 Tables will be so successful that Oliver will be inspired to return to celebrate his Food Revolution again in Pittsburgh.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Liz Fetchin, Let's Move! Pittsburgh

From Pittsburgh park habitués to people who wouldn't know an Oval from a Blue Slide, everyone wants the same things once they go deeper into city parks and hit the trails: a trail map and the locations of bathrooms and water fountains. They also want a schedule of park activities and some way to report a park issue to authorities, a recent Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy survey found.
 
So it's high time for a Pittsburgh Parks app, says Conservancy Vice President Mike Sexauer. "There are psychological barriers to people walking on a heavily wooded trail," he notes -- especially in Frick Park, where there are no interior roads. "Once people take a few steps down a trail and can no longer see where they're parked, [they] sometimes need extra reassurance that they can find their way back."
 
The app is being funded by UPMC Health Plan -- "a natural partner," Sexauer says, given that the app will try to "get more people into the parks for the mental and physical health benefits" -- and designed by Deeplocal for smart phones. It will cover Schenley, Frick, Highland, Riverview and Emerald View parks.
 
"There is a place for technology in the natural world, especially with the implication that technology can enhance someone's experience in our parks," he says, adding, "we'll put some surprises in." For instance, park officials are currently rating trails for stroller and wheelchair accessibility, and noting natural sites and the best views. They are also planning to use the 311 system to let park-goers email a photo of problem areas.
 
The app still doesn't have a name, however, so the Conservancy has set up a Facebook page where people can vote for the moniker. Names the Conservancy suggests: PGH UrbanParks, PGH ParkScout, PGH Parks, ParksBurgh, MyPGHParks or PGH Park Pal. Concludes Sexauer: "We're looking for write-in votes …"


Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Mike Sexauer, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy

The hills around Pittsburgh and throughout Pennsylvania are good for more than dramatic views and traumatic bicycle rides -- they mean the state is inhospitable to large factory farms.
 
And that's a good thing, says Erin Hart, who works in business development for American HealthCare Group. In Pennsylvania, locals have a better chance of becoming locavores: people who eat locally grown foods and get the nutritional benefits of unprocessed meals that move quickly from farm to table.
 
The annual Farm to Table Conference, which Hart's organization runs, will be held March 23-24 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. It offers a taste of local farm products, a guide to preparing them and a chance to learn about the other health benefits of eating right.
 
The conference's farmers' market includes about 20 farms selling eggs, honey, maple syrup, teas and other products, such as seedlings and small plants. Vendors will offer new ways to prepare local foods in a healthy way, including live cooking demonstrations using local ingredients, alongside other demos of garden planting, canning, and heirloom seed use.
 
The many speakers, from educators to farmers and cooks, include Mark Buzzatto, a holistic dentist with a Bridgeville practice, who will talk about how food affects the health of teeth, and your health in general, as well as Christopher Rihn, a Greensburg internal medicine doc who counsels his patients to be locavores.
 
There's even an extra event -- a food tasting the evening of March 23rd, featuring 45 chefs, food producers and farms, all using local products for locally made foods.
 
"Agriculture is Pennsylvania's number one industry and we're exporting a lot of the food that's grown here," Hart says. "And we're importing food not just from other states but from all around the world." She hopes the Farm to Table Conference makes people aware that great local food "is everywhere," and that learning about the possibilities "makes it easier for people to eat from local farms, so that it becomes second nature."
 
"The best thing" about eating local foods, she concludes, "is that you're eating real food, not an invention."
 
Do Good:
Get ready for Citiparks' farmers markets; catch the schedule here.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Erin Hart, American HealthCare Group

Here are some scary statistics: a recent survey of families in East Liberty found that, in an emergency, 14 percent have left their kids with a person whose full name or address they didn't even know, someone who had "anger issues," or a person whose ability to care for their kids was in doubt. The results, for some, were children getting hurt or developing “big behavior problems.”
 
The solution is a relief or crisis nursery, say the two physicians who hope to found this first-in-the-city facility: Dr. Lynne Williams, an internal medicine-pediatric physician at East Liberty Family Health Care Center, and Dr. Tammy Murdock, an obstetrician-gynecologist who is a board member of the Family Life Fund of the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
 
"The city has a lot of resources in terms of child abuse prevention and parent education," says Williams, "but there is no emergency overnight care. Under the age of 6, there is no place for [kids] to go."
 
Dubbed Jeremiah's Place after one of Williams’ mother’s foster kids and a Bible quote (Jeremiah 29:11 "… plans to give you a hope and a future"), the crisis nursery will offer respite care to families with kids up to 6 years old. Children can be dropped off without notice to relieve a variety of stresses on families: If a single mother is ill or needs someplace for a first child to go while she's delivering a second, for instance -- or if a parent needs help because he or she is worried about hurting the children.
 
The need is real: The pair point to reported statistics that show Allegheny County receiving more than 17,000 notifications of suspected child abuse or neglect in 2011.

"We won't assume that you're in any crisis," Murdock assures parents who might need Jeremiah’s Place. "You could be in a time crunch. You won't necessarily have to explain." Jeremiah's Place will aim for a home-like atmosphere, with a first-floor community center for parenting classes and community events, plus upper floors (and backyard) for the kids. Locations are still being scout along the Penn Avenue corridor to serve Wilkinsburg, Homewood, East Liberty, Garfield, Lawrenceville, Lincoln-Lemington and Larimer. The founders are also looking for $750,000 to $1 million to fund the project.
 
"Our goal is to provide for the safety of the child and be supportive of the family," says Williams. "We want them to feel that we are a partner with them."
 
And, says Murdock, staff will also ask parents, "’Next time, how are we going to work through this together? Are you going to come back here?  Do you have supports in the community?’
 
There have been a lot of groups trying to help families backed into a corner,” he adds. “If we don't capture them, this will continue the cycle."
 
Do Good:
Know someone who needs similar emergency help with school age kids? Under the right circumstances, that may be found at the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh or, for older teens, UPMC’s Re:solve Crisis Network. And you can sign up for the Jeremiah's Place newsletter to receive updates.
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Sources: Dr. Lynne Williams and Dr. Tammy Murdock, Jeremiah’s Place

“Turn out the light!” “Close the door!” “Shut the water off!”
 
Bet you didn’t know that your mom and dad were going green when they shouted that stuff at you. You just thought they were making some sort of point about money failing to grow on trees.
 
Most methods of acting environmentally are also about saving money, as well as sticking to common-sense health and safety precautions, says Phil Boise. But many people in child care who aren’t parents may not know about these incentives.
 
That’s the reason Boise, head of the nonprofit GreenCare for Life, is happy to be one of the keynote speakers at the Rachel Carson Forum: Creating Healthy Places to Live, Learn and Play on Oct. 22 at Chatham University.
 
"It's harder to impact as many children" in day care and other early child-care venues than it is to reach kids once they hit school-age, Boise notes. Unlike a statewide Department of Education, he says, "You don't have a statewide director of child care who will tell everyone what to do."
 
The conference will help lend child-care officials and workers the most progressive tools to keep their methods green and their young charges safe – tools that are still being developed today.
 
The Conference agenda includes sessions on “Healthy Places for Young Children,” “Administrative Policies for Green Operations,” “Avoiding Toxic Exposures Indoors and Outdoors,” “Cost Efficiency of Green Practices,” and “Curriculum and Best Practices in Teaching Young Children about the Environment.”
 
An early-childhood focus for environmentalism "is a really new and emerging kind of field." Boise says. "People are just beginning to catch on"
 
Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Phil Boise

The environmental group Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture) is enlisting Pittsburghers to spot local places that ought by law to have signs prohibiting large, diesel-fueled vehicles from idling.

Their first find? The Oakland and Lawrenceville headquarters of the Allegheny County Health Department. Both locations should have a sign at their loading docks, says Tiffany Hickman, PennFuture's western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator. This new effort is part of the group's Breathe Easy, Stay Healthy campaign, whose goals are to educate people about the importance of clean air and hold polluters accountable for their actions.

Allegheny County and the Pittsburgh region are already failing to meet federal air pollution standards, she adds. But the addition of more diesel exhaust is particularly bad, because it's harmful to people's lungs, especially the elderly, the young and those exercising outdoors, and it contributes to cancers and heart attacks.

That's why PennFuture wants all of us to be a stickler for signage, aiming to enforce the state's Diesel Powered Motor Vehicle Act. The law is supposed to force facilities capable of parking or unloading vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds to post signs against idling for more than five minutes.

The group's website for reporting missing signs hasn't been idle; the group plans a few more "surprise" finds before even the public can weigh in, Hickman says: "We have a few already lined up. People will be able to make reports for the foreseeable future."

Do Good:
If you see a spot that ought to have an anti-idling sign, report it here.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Tiffany Hickman, Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future
 
 

Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis just got done testing her kids' toys and souvenirs for harmful chemicals, and she is none too pleased. A holiday mug with a teddy bear -- "Perfect for hot chocolate on a snowy day," she reminisces -- tested positive for lead, arsenic and chromium at levels above what the federal government says is safe. A Mardi Gras-style necklace had high levels of the flame retardant bromine; a ball contained too much cadmium.

"Several items will be disposed of this week!" she said, lest her three kids, all under 12, are exposed to them any longer.

Naccarati-Chapkis is head of the national Women for a Healthy Environment, headquartered here. With the Learning Disabilities Association, another locally headquartered group, they are co-sponsoring the Pittsburgh leg of the first ever National Stroller Brigade on Aug. 10. Parents with kids will march (or use strollers) along the North Shore and employ an XRF (x-ray fluorescence) analyzer gun for parents and caregivers to have children's jewelry, toys, electronics and other items tested for toxins.

She is hoping the event, part of the national Safe Chemicals, Healthy Families campaign involving about 20 such walks across the country, will inspire women to learn more about environmental risks and to approach their legislators about a solution.

As Naccarati-Chapkis points out, the last major law in this area was the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act. Since then, 80,000 chemicals have been introduced. The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, currently in the Senate, would would require pre-market testing and removal of the most toxic chemicals.

"It's really time for a sound policy that really protects public health and the environment," she says.

Do Good:
To register for free parking at this free event, call Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis at 412-420-2290 or email her.

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis, Women for a Healthy Environment
Image courtesy of Women for a Healthy Environment

Elvis Presley has re-entered the building – this time with a peanut-butter hairdo.

He's been re-dubbed Elvis Pretzley, and re-dipped (none of that processed cheese sauce for him), thanks to FitWits, a new collectible character card and text-messaging game at Eat'n Park designed to get parents and kids talking about healthy eating -- and acting on the idea too.

"Kids have so many negative characters in their daily lives," says Kristin Hughes, associate professor of design at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design, who leads the Fitwits team there. Hughes means negative food-pushing characters, of course, such as the sugary cereal shills populating grocery store shelves and TV commercials. The new FitWits characters, with their jokes, riddles, quizzes and recipes, may attract kids to multiple messages about healthy foods.

There's three-strawberry-headed Berry S'Mores, promoting a yogurt-and-berry variation on the campfire snack, or Phil and Spill, the taco twins, plus the Queen of Wheat and Sunny Yolk. FitWits worked with local fifth-grade classes to create the creatures. As for Elvis Pretzley, "I'm not sure how that one came about," Hughes says. But at least the youngsters may recognize the name from Penguins hockey games, if not ancient vinyl.

Kids can also use text-messaging to help Elvis Pretzley choose his meals while on the road during his singing career – presumably so he doesn't turn into a soft pretzel, wearing a salt-covered cape.

Also part of the FitWits team are UPMC St. Margaret Family Health Centers, The Heinz Endowments (which funded this anti-obesity effort with a $125,000 grant), Open Science Initiative (which created the text message game), and Tropo (which is donating text-messaging services).

Hughes is confident about the program's future impact. "The characters provide a level of comfort and ease for a parent and child to talk about the idea of healthy eating," she says. "I think that's the success of the program."

Writer: Marty Levine
Source: Kristin Hughes, FitWits

In the spring of 1998, just days after Remi Sophia Savioz was born, she began suffering from uncontrollable seizures. Hospital visits, more seizures, high fevers, tremors, dystonia, hypotonia and low muscle tone followed.

Eventually, Remi became one of only about 200 people worldwide who are diagnosed with a disease called Glucose Transporter 1, which affects the amount of glucose that reaches the brain. Her mother, Samra Savioz, began investigating the disease and found that because it is so rare, little research has been done to discover a cure or even develop effective strategies for managing the illness.

"From my perspective, there were two choices,." Savioz says, looking back on those early years. "One was not to do anything. And the other was to do something. And doing something was going to have to mean something big. When I looked around, there were no other organizations or foundations or government resources."

Determined to change that, Savioz started a search that led her to the University of Texas, where one doctor had begun exploring the illness. He explained that without considerable funding -- as much as $1.5 million -- clinical trials and extensive research couldn't be done. So Savioz, with a background in science but no career experience in philanthropy, started a foundation in her daughter's name.

It has been exhausting. But when people say that one woman starting an entire foundation while caring for a disabled child seems insurmountable, Savoiz points out that doctors once said Remi wouldn't walk. Now she can. They said she wouldn't talk. Now she can. The seizures that once defined her days are now controlled by a complicated diet. Remi is even working on learning to read.

With enough effort, even the insurmountable can be accomplished.

After several years of research, paperwork and long hours of learning and planning, the inaugural event for The Remi Savoiz Glut-1 Foundation is scheduled for July 24 in North Park (details here). This bike tour and carnival will be both a fundraiser and a celebration: Remi has often commented to her mom that she wishes she could someday have "a birthday party like a regular kid." This event will be that party.

Savioz understands that even fast breakthroughs in Glut-1 research won't have much impact on Remi's daily life. But her goal is to make sure her daughter's condition is better understood, and ensure that Remi can be cared for properly as she grows. "She'll have a community after I'm gone," Savoiz says.
 
Savoiz's energy is palpable, and she brings a remarkable combination of determination and humor to this huge task. And she has little interest in praise for her work. "For either of my children there's nothing I wouldn't do," she says. "Compared to Remi's struggle every day, this pales in comparison."


Writer: Melissa Rayworth
Source: Samra Savoiz, Remi Savoiz Glut-1 Foundation
Image courtesy of Remi Savoiz Glut-1 Foundation

Want to make this a healthier summer for you and for the environment? Bike Pittsburgh's Car-Free Fridays initiative, launched last year, kicked off in May with "National Bike to Work" Day. The program continues all summer long, with a different neighborhood is spotlighted each month, but Pittsburghers in any part of town can join in.

The goal? Leave the car home every Friday -- that can mean biking to work, walking, taking public transportation or carpooling with friends (though it's the biking and walking that's healthiest for you, of course.)

In an effort to help support Car-Free Fridays, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield recently contributed $7,500 to Bike Pittsburgh. "Using active transportation, rather than driving, is beneficial to everyone as it burns calories, saves money, cuts down on toxic emissions and reduces stress," said Mary Anne Papale, Highmark director of Community Affairs, in a statement about the funding.

"By providing support to organizations like Bike Pittsburgh," she said, "we hope to encourage individuals to take advantage of the many bike trails in and around our city any chance they can."

The funding from Highmark goes toward designing, implementing and promoting an online ridership calculator, which will register the health and environmental benefits of participating in Car-Free-Fridays.

"The calculator is based on averages," says Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh. "It's based on the typical American man and woman, and depending on the length of your commute, you can calculate calories burned, CO2 kept out of the atmosphere, and savings on wear-and-tear on your car."

Check back at Bike Pittsburgh's site in a few weeks: "It should be out in about a month," Bricker says. "We're testing it now."

Highmark also offers bike racks at its offices to encourage employees to bike to work, and is a sponsor of Venture Outdoors' Beyond Bikes Day. And this afternoon, hundreds of Highmark employees are expected to gather at Point State Park for a "Drums Alive" exercise class that will raise money for the United Way of Allegheny County.


Writer: Melissa Rayworth
Source: Scott Bricker/Bike Pittsburgh, Kaitlyn O'Brien/Highmark
Image posted by Duncan via Flickr


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