The gift of life – celebrated through Organ Donor Awareness Month

BY CINDY SAMORAY | Voice Correspondent

Rick Coogan was shocked to be in such pain after donating a kidney in 1989, when surgeons made a seven-inch flank incision and carved off a rib in order to remove the organ.

It wasn’t nearly as painful for Claus Buchholz, when he donated a kidney just a few months ago, thanks to modern technology.

But there were far more similarities in these medical procedures nearly a quarter-century apart. Both involved a fair amount of anguish during the decision-making process – though both donors acknowledge they cannot imagine reaching a different conclusion because both resulted in successfully extending the quality of life of a loved one.

“I couldn’t have said no,” said Coogan, 65, of Dearborn Heights, a retired supervisor at Ford Motor Co. who gave a kidney to his ailing father.

“I volunteered to be tested pretty quick,” Buchholz’s, 53, of Lansing, who gave a kidney to his sister. “She was always the generous one, she deserved this.”

While surgical advances have improved the process of organ donation dramatically in the past quarter century, the need for healthy, life-sustaining organs is greater than ever. While April is recognized around the world as Organ Donor Awareness Month, there were 127,725 people in the United States waiting for a human organ transplant in March, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

Michigan’s share of that waitlist is 3,131. Buchholz’s recent donation to his sister, reduced that number by one. But Coogan’s wife, Connie, 64, a retired State of Michigan supervisor from the Department of Social Services, is still on that list, waiting for a liver. She suffers from scleroderma, a debilitating disease that attacks the organs.

Eighteen people die each day, waiting for a live saving organ transplant, according to Gift of Life Michigan. But one donor’s death can save up to eight lives by sharing, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys , pancreas and intestines. Donors can also enhance the lives of others through tissue donation by giving corneas, skin and bone.

“The decision to donate isn’t the hard part, it’s losing their loved ones,” Mark Gravel said, a registered nurse and director of donation initiative at The University of Michigan Transplant Center.

But as they say in the donor business: “Don’t take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here.” But these life-giving decisions can be brutally difficult.

“Pediatrics [cases] are always the hardest … the only time it’s easier is when they are adults who have given consent,” Gravel said, adding that tragedy and deadly accidents happen without warning.

“Loss of control at the realization they are going to die is hardest on the families,” Gravel added. “Donation finally gives them the opportunity to make a decision and find something good from something so bad.”

Eighty percent of that waitlist – enough people to fill Michigan Stadium – wait for a kidney.

Fortunately, kidney donation doesn’t always involve tragedy and death, as Coogan and Buchholz can attest.

Detailed memories of that spring and summer in 1989, those months prior to surgery are vivid and seem more like yesterday than 24-years ago, Connie said. However, both recall it was an emotional, strained and stressful time in their lives.

Coogan was not close to Tom, his father, which complicated the situation. Nevertheless, he decided to free his father from dialysis.

“I feel pretty good about it, I felt pretty good about it,” Coogan said, about his decision to donate. “I wouldn’t do anything different.”

But in 1989, the open-nephrectomy technique used to remove a donor kidney was much more invasive and required a lengthy hospital stay

“They took out a rib. They kind of split me sideways,” Rick said. “I was shocked … I was in such pain.”

Six-months passed before some sense of physical normalcy returned, though a complete recovery took several years more.

“I was messed up for so long … for at least two or three years,” he added. “There would be times I would get (back) spasms that would take me down to my knees.”

That’s in stark contrast to the hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy used today.

When Buchholz, an engineer and father of two, donated his kidney to sister, Anette Buchholz, in February, the experience was far less painful.

Anette, 52, a product engineer and part-time actor from Twin Lake, on Michigan’s west side, learned of her pending kidney failure 10 years ago.

“At that time, the plan was to wait and watch,” Anette said, noting that in recent years she began “to feel more fatigued, more forgetful and wasn’t feeling up to par.”

Two-years ago Anette’s doctor referred her for a transplant evaluation.

“It was such a blessing that my brother and many others volunteered to be a donor,” Anette said. Her brother recalled the donor process, including his own anguish about it.

“I spent most of a day getting tests and scans,” Buchholz said. “To be honest, I did have some reservations about donating. There were so many volunteers, but I was the best match.”

Buchholz talked it over again with his wife, Janet.

“He asked what I thought,” Janet said, adding that she told him, “’I can’t tell you what to do, but if it were my sibling, it’s kind of a no-brainer.’”

Because Anette still had kidney function at the time she was evaluated, there was no rush to surgery. Eighteen-months passed before Anette’s kidneys began to shut down and dialysis was imminent – but her brother needed to attend to some important things in his life, too.

“I coach my son’s high school robotics team, our season ends in February,” Buchholz recalled. “The surgery had to be scheduled around my life … I needed to be up and running before the team competes in the World Tournament in April.”

As the transplant date approached, Anette was having her own reservations.

“I was grateful, but didn’t want him to make this sacrifice for me,” Anette said, “just before surgery I said, ‘you don’t have to do this.’”

But he did, and Buchholz gave that ultimate gift to his sister.

Surgeons only need small openings to remove a kidney now – two one-inch and one four-inch incisions is all it takes. Buchholz kept all his ribs and went home the next day.

“That first week, I had to move carefully and was in a little bit of pain,” Claus said, “but I feel pretty normal now.

Just the Coogan family was touched twice by transplant, so has Buchholz family. Janet’s mother died 12-years ago and was a tissue donor.

“Because she was an artist, one of the things we really felt good about was giving the gift of sight,” Janet said. “Giving those gifts will keep them alive and not only in our hearts.”

To become a registered donor, visit Gift of Life Michigan’s web-site http://giftoflifemichigan.org or any Secretary of State office.

College denies charges by former employees of multiple contractors, mismanagement in Marketing Department

BY ADRIAN HEDDEN & BEN SOLIS | Managing Editor & Editor

Despite statements from Washtenaw Community College’s Marketing department that its recent multi-media advertising campaigns used only in-house talent, sources close to the college have come forward to refute such claims.

Contrary to previous statements by Vice President of Advancement Wendy Lawson and Executive Director of Marketing Annessa Carlisle, given to reporters and printed in the last issue of The Voice, the college’s newest billboard and Web campaigns have been 100 percent outsourced, former employees say.

According to former web developer Patrick Springstubbe, College President Rose Bellanca sat down with all of Information Technology and Web Services last year, saying she would not outsource IT, as in past experiences.

But Stringstubbe said he and others were doubtful.

“The fact that she had to say, ‘I want to put to bed the rumors about me outsourcing or planning on outsourcing IT, or any department,’ is a bad sign that she might do it,” he said.

Stringstubbe said that the decision to outsource is typical of Carlisle’s penchant for seeking unnecessary outside assistance while denying the contributions of her own staff.

“The more she (Carlisle) got established, the more that (outsourcing) happened,” he said. “All of that could have been done by me or Jason (Withrow, Internet professional instructor). All Annessa knows how to do is work with vendors. If we didn’t like a piece of what we were doing or what they were doing, we’d say so.

“She didn’t like that.”

Other sources have further refuted that the college’s recent billboard and television campaigns weren’t successful at all. Another former employee said that fewer than 10 people visited the college’s “landing page” over the summer from an advertisement on Ann Arbor Public Schools’ website.

Carlisle admitted that few people were visiting the URLs listed on various media campaigns, but she said it was a learning experience for her department and its new staff.

Sources said the poor performance followed the billboard and movie trailer efforts as well, and added that no official analysis was done for the campaigns.

Stringstubbe explained that the advertisements were in fact being monitored, nullifying the source’s claim, but despite the department’s best effort, the overall message was not being received.

He also said that assignments given to Web services to create were rushed due to poor management in the Marketing Department.

“When they came up with a ‘big idea,’ they’d sit on it for weeks, and then out of nowhere ask you to complete the task in two days,” he said. “Those particular videos were one-week projects: scriptwriting, casting, scouting, shooting and editing.

“Other schools that I know of who have video campaigns take about month to do everything.”

Sources also warned that Carlisle and the newly hired Director of Web Services Bryan Freeman intend to further outsource the departments, despite struggling with past contractors.

Stringstubbe explained that private contractors were subsequently hired for the movie theater and high school campaigns. He said that company was Sunny Media – a claim that Carlisle denied.

Sunny Media, she said, was only used for smaller text-message campaigns because the school did not have the technology to complete them on its own.

Carlisle did confirm that outside companies were contracted, but only for advertising space. Sunny Media was also brought in to facilitate the brainstorming sessions last year that resulted in WCC’s current campaign and tagline.

Another company, Uproar Communications, was contracted, she said, for an audit of the school’s website last fall, which sources said returned little new results. The previous audit cost $30,000, yet marketing could not confirm the cost of the Uproar-assisted audit.

Carlisle said that the budget for WCC’s website is an operating cost and doesn’t show up in any documentation.

She could not provide an estimate, when asked by reporters.

“Other than salaries, there’s no cost for a server,” Carlisle said. “I don’t know what the cost is to host the website. When I took this job (in July 2012), they said, ‘Here’s your team, you get Web Services.’ I’m not trying to build an empire.

“And I’m not interested in tearing everything down and having a website that will blow everyone away.”

But other sources have explained that very little decision-making, in fact originates from Carlisle’s office, and that Wendy Lawson makes more decisions than she acknowledges.

They said that Lawson is a part of most of the college’s decision-making, and that even the abrupt firing of Vice President of Instruction Stuart Blacklaw came primarily from Lawson’s office.

Lawson’s role with the college grew when former Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing Catherine Smillie left the college last year.

But Stringstubbe still worries whether or not the college’s “other president” can be trusted. He left the college last February when, after voicing concerns about marketing’s decision making, he found himself transferred to Information Systems.

Carlisle points to Stringstubbe’s denied application for director of Web Services – along with unfounded paranoia surrounding the outside contracts – as the reason he left.

BY MICHAEL J. HLYWA | Staff Writer

Unicorns, leprechauns, and scholarships: three things most students discount as the stuff of dreams.

Whether it’s because they think they’re not smart enough, their parents make too much money, or the competition is just too strenuous, even the students who do believe in scholarships often think them too elusive to bother with.

But WCC’s director of financial aid, Lori Trapp, encourages students to have faith.

“They exist!” Trapp said. “Watch and look at the website. We do put a lot of time and effort into keeping it as current as we can and as quick as we can. There are a lot of opportunities out there.”

Indeed, Washtenaw’s website lists seven different scholarship opportunities, two of which are reserved for students with disabilities. The WCC Foundation alone awards more than $500,000 to more than 1,000 students annually.

So Trapp wants students to watch their email accounts closely for different scholarship eligibility notifications.

“We’re going to be sending an email to students who we think will be eligible (based on their GPA at the end of the winter semester). So we’ll be sending that email out probably this week or next.”

But before filling out scholarship applications, Trapp recommends that students do some prep work.

Start by filling out a FAFSA, she says. A lot of organizations limit their scholarships to those who demonstrate financial need, and completing a FAFSA facilitates that.

Prepare a brief essay. Most opportunities require students to write a statement, usually 250 words in length, that demonstrates the student’s qualification. The point is for applicants to concisely and thoughtfully describe themselves and promote their achievements, particularly their school work and extracurricular activities.

Collect letters of recommendation. Many scholarship applications need at least one – some require two. Students should request current letters from instructors, employers or other community leaders who are willing to vouch for the students’ academic performance, community involvement, and leadership qualities.

Secure transcript copies. Some scholarships also demand proof of students’ scholastic aptitudes.

Finally, Trapp says, check the deadlines. Some have already expired, while others are still accepting applications – but not for much longer.

Applying for scholarships is a process that Spanish instructor Nancy Ferrario is very familiar with. She helped all three of her children find and earn enough scholarship money to get them through college. Ferrario admits it takes work, but the pay-off can be significant.

“A big piece of it is doing the homework,” Ferrario said.

There are tons of scholarships out there, Ferrario explains. You just have to know where to look for them. Some “mom and pop” scholarships, for example, aren’t listed online, so you may have to hit the books. Once you start researching, though, you’ll discover there are scholarships for just about everyone – even some for seemingly ordinary traits.

Explaining how her daughter was awarded money for writing about her heritage, Ferrario said, “She just had to write an essay about what it’s like to be an Italian-American. Come on. How hard is that?”

Another scholarship repository, available to many of Washtenaw’s brightest students, comes through Phi Theta Kappa, the international honors society. Liberal arts student Zaeem Zafar, 23, of Canton, is vice president of leadership and scholarships for WCC’s chapter of PTK. He explains that PTK’s scholarship opportunities are only available to members, but the one-time $85 membership fee is a bargain based on what you get.

“There’s about $37 million in scholarships just for Phi Theta Kappa members,” Zafar explained. “And they range from a whole lot of schools. There’s thousands of scholarships out there. And some of them range for just a couple hundred dollars, some range for $10,000-$15,000.”

And Zafar knows first-hand that being a PTK member opens doors at prominent universities.

“For example, Columbia University came here for the college fair,” Zafar said. “The first thing she asked me was, ‘Are you a member of Phi Theta Kappa?’

“I said, ‘Yeah, I am.’ Then she started telling me about all these different scholarship opportunities just for Phi Theta Kappa members to the school. So there are exclusive scholarships to certain schools reserved just for Phi Theta Kappa members.”

PTK members certainly enjoy access to some otherwise unavailable scholarship money. In fact, says Zafar, a local PTK member recently won the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.

According to the foundation’s website, jkcf.org, “The Foundation provides up to $30,000 per year to each of approximately 60 deserving students selected annually, making it the largest private scholarship for two-year and community college transfer students in the country.”

So there is clearly free money available to those willing to put in some hard work and perseverance. It seems that finding a scholarship, then, is more about looking online, at school, or in your community and less about looking “somewhere over the rainbow.”

Washtenaw ranks favorably compared with other schools

BY ADRIAN HEDDEN | Managing Editor

While students at Washtenaw prepare for next year’s tuition hike – and the subsequent blow to their wallets – the school’s administration looks to continue to truncate other student expenses.

“We’re right in the middle of the pack and certainly not anywhere near the highest in terms of the cost, total cost of college for the number of credit hours. And that’s a good thing,” said former Interim CFO Chuck Thomas at the Board of Trustees annual spring retreat last month.

“Some of the colleges will charge quite a bit in excess of their tuition rate and hide it in the form of fees, and Washtenaw is quite low in that regard,” he told the board.

As WCC remains moderate in comparison to other schools as far as extra class fees are concerned, according to the survey of Michigan community colleges presented at the retreat, officials contend that the school has maintained a philosophy of eradicating the extra fees.

“Washtenaw has historically been, our board has been what I call a fee-adverse institution,” said Vice President of Student Services Linda Blakey. “They do not like having or adding fees to anything.

“Our board has really tried to keep tuition the lowest possible for students. They are not supportive of having a lot of fees.”

WCC does asses a fee for ceramics classes and a printing fee for photography, Blakey acknowledged. But she looks to vocational and lab-based programs, using heavy amounts of physical materials, as having the most costs associated.

“All that stuff costs,” Blakey said of class materials. “But with all the materials that get used, there’s no fees attached to those classes here. If you started looking at vocationals, fees will be much more variable.”

Blakey asserted that despite lab and material fees assessed at other schools, WCC does not charge extra for material-heavy programs such as chemistry and welding.

“There’s a lot of schools where if you’re taking any kind of lab class, there’s a lab fee. It might be $20 or $30,” Blakey said. “All the stuff costs; we don’t have any kind of lab fees. For a lot of schools, there’s a lot of fees attached to those classes.”

According to the survey, the total fees calculated ranks WCC at number 14 of the 28 institutions surveyed and found to have similar enrollment.

The average total tuition rate calculated in the survey for a full-time, 15-credit student at WCC was $1,590. Despite lower tuition rates at other schools such as Lansing Community College with a rate of just $81 per credit hour, when added fees are assessed the overall cost can climb to well over $2,000.

The total cost of attendance at Lansing is $2,176 for its average full-time student at 20 credit hours, 134 percent of its tuition rate.

Blakey points to some community colleges that charge students tuition by contact hour rather than credit hour, as instructors are paid by contact hour. A class like welding, she said, could pose eight contact hours and just three credit hours.

WCC only charges by credit hour.

“A lot of community colleges have transitioned and charged by the contact hour,” Blakey said. “That can make sense because faculty are paid by the contact hour.

“But it makes a huge difference for the student.”

With tuition at $89 for in-district students in 2012, added costs brought the average rate per credit hour to $106, 119.1 percent of the actual tuition rate students at WCC were charged. The rate marked a 3.9 percent increase from 2011.

According to the survey, the total fees calculated puts WCC in the middle as far as cost over tuition among other schools in the area. But despite the college’s status, trustees hope that there are costs students pay, in addition to tuition, that can be cut down further to make education more affordable.

“A dollar is a dollar, whether you raise it on a textbook or on tuition,” said Trustee Patrick McLean. “I really hope we’ll go back and discuss class costs that go beyond tuition. I think there’s some real opportunity for savings there, and I think we should take advantage.”

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A selection of posters for the digital media arts gala adorn the window of the production center in Gunder Myron.

Photo student Charlotte Manning 26 of Ann Arbor lines up the pages of a book she's printed for her graphic design class.

Students from a graphic design course work on their final projects at the production center last Tuesday.

Production center manager Julia Gleich works on a queue of prints from graphic design students.

Photography students Jessica Protetch and Charlotte Manning discuss their final projects.

Ann Arbor resident Margaux Forsch, 24, uses an X-Acto blade to cut the pages of her book.

Ann Arbor resident Margaux Forsch, 24, works on the final assignment for her graphic design course.

A group of clipboards hang behind the window of the production center office.

Graphic design student Dan Brown is bandaged by a member of the WCC security staff after cutting his finger with an X-Acto blade.

Photography student Kyle Johnson of Wyandotte, 24, is assisted by Rachael Curry, 20, in cutting a foamcore board for a large photo print.

Students showcase hard work in digital media arts exhibit

BY KELLY BRACHA AND CHARLES MANLEY | Staff Writer & Staff Photographer

It is known as both the most exciting and excruciatingly stressful time of the year – the 2013 Digital Media Arts Exhibit – in which many of the projects created throughout the semester by the graphic design, photography, 3D animation and Internet professional students are showcased for the public to see and enjoy.

Kyle Johnson has been working on his photography project for more than a year and spent much of last week mounting his photos for the upcoming exhibit.

“I started taking the photos in September of last year,” said Johnson, 24, a photography major from Wyandotte. “It’s not as hectic as I thought it would be, but it’s getting to the end, and I’m starting to feel a little stressed.”

Johnson will be presenting his black and white conceptual environmental portraits printed on metallic paper, which give the images a captivating silver metallic sheen.

“I’m more nervous about the critiques,” Johnson said. “I don’t expect it to go great. I’m not an optimist.”

For photography major Rachael Curry, the stress levels are increasing as well. Curry has been working on her dance portraits since January, and still has two photographs she needs to shoot to include in the exhibit.

“I’m really excited to show my work,” said Curry, 20, from Ann Arbor. “I’m going to downtown Ann Arbor this afternoon to shoot studio dance.”

Like Johnson, Curry’s nerves are more focused on the reviews given prior to the exhibit.

“We need to show up at 10 a.m. and get our reviews before the actual exhibit,” Curry said. “I’m just worried about getting everything done in time at this point.”

Kristine Willimann, digital media arts professor, understands all too well the nerves of the students prepping their final portfolios.

“It’s always a really exciting time of year. It’s very rewarding to see the students get to this point,” Willimann said. “It hasn’t been without painful moments, though. The biggest issue is always time management.

“Trying to juggle life, work and school and still coming out with the best possible product is no easy task.”

For those who successfully navigate the rush and lulls, preparation is the common denominator. Photography student Charlotte Manning, 26, of Ann Arbor says the trick is timing.

“It was busier last week, but I’m already a little ahead,” Manning said. She was nearly done with a small book she’d created for a graphic design course. Graphic design student Dan Brown cut a finger while working on his project. Production Center manager Julia Gleich says she calls security now, after seeing how quickly they’ve responded to the two or three cuts that happen each year.

“They handle anything my Band-Aids can’t take care of,” Gleich said.

Students participating in the event are given the opportunity to display their work from their most recent creations to projects they have created years prior.

“Most of them are perfectionists, as they should be in their field, they go and make revisions and then revise those revisions,” Willimann said.

During the last few days of the semester, the Gunder Myran garden-level, home of the photography and graphic design classes, becomes a frenzied and frantic mess of students rushing to complete their projects.

“It’s pretty busy! They’re all crammed in their like sardines,” Willimann said. “We stay open for extra hours during the week and even the weekend.”

The exhibit also gives a unique opportunity for local employers to see the talent and quality that comes out of the programs offered at WCC.

“It’s a way for area employers to look in a really broad scope at the talent that’s out there,” she said. “Several students are sometimes immediately picked up for work.”

The exhibit is set to take place on May 1 in the Morris Lawrence building from 5-7 p.m. and is open to the public.

“We often get comments from reviewers that also review for other four year schools and they are thoroughly impressed with the quality of the work and ask how we do this at a two year school,” said Willimann. “It’s the quality of instruction we have here and the glorious facilities that are unmatched.

“When you put that in combination, you crank out good stuff.”