February 12, 2003

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

As war looms, experts speak
Prof applauds home care funding
This week's staff positions
Much happening on a cold Wednesday

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Lincoln and Darwin born on the same day

[Rock, trees, sky and water]
Under the snow, the (relative) wilderness of the north campus awaits -- to be set aside as an "environmental reserve" as part of the plans for the research and technology park. An open house about the environmental assessment activities for the north campus is scheduled for February 27, with two sessions: one from noon to 2:00 in the Davis Centre for UW people, one from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Waterloo Recreation Centre for the public at large. Officials are making an advance presentation to UW's WatGreen committee today.

As war looms, experts speak -- a release from UW media relations

Ron Cleminson, the only Canadian appointed by the UN Security Council as a commissioner on the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), the body responsible for investigating Iraq's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, will join a panel of experts tomorrow to discuss the current inspection process and other issues related to the Iraq crisis.

Sidelights on the issue
The causes of war? Conflict Resolution course this term
WPIRG project for humanitarian aid to Iraq
Black humour from the Math Society
The panel will speak at a public forum on Iraq on February 13 at 7 p.m. at the Waterloo Inn. This event is sponsored by Project Ploughshares, which is affiliated with Conrad Grebel University College.

Ernie Regehr, executive director of Project Ploughshares, will moderate the forum. The participating panellists:

§ Ron Cleminson, the only Canadian appointed by the UN Security Council as a commissioner on UNMOVIC. He's an expert in the field of verification and non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament agreements, and was appointed in 1991 by the UN Secretary-General as a Commissioner on the United Nations Special Commission relating to Iraq.

§ Peggy Mason, senior fellow at The Norman Paterson School of International Relations and Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament with the department of foreign affairs for five years; during 1994-95 she chaired the UN Experts Group which examined the efforts to disarm Iraq.

§ A representative of the International Study Team. A Canadian-led team of international experts returned to Canada from Baghdad last week with the results of their one-week study on civilian vulnerabilities. The International Study Team's report, titled Our Common Responsibility -- The Impact of a New War on Iraqi Children, was funded by Project Ploughshares and other Canadian non-governmental organizations and charities. A representative from this team will share the results of their mission and report.

Said Regehr: "We are pleased to welcome these experts to our community. Through their extensive international experience, these experts can provide substantial information and insight into the situation and challenges in Iraq."

The public will have an opportunity to comment and pose questions to the panellists at the end of the presentation, which is an open microphone format. Admission to tomorrow night's event is free. It will be held in Wagner Salon B at the Waterloo Inn at 475 King Street North in Waterloo.

[Chain of hearts]
Love can make it around the world in nanoseconds -- but so can computer viruses. And so we have a killjoy warning, passed along by the information systems and technology department: Be careful about opening electronic valentines. One site was actually blocked by IST yesterday, and Reg Quinton of that department explains why: "The valentine arrives as e-mail and invites the user to click on a URL. The URL is a cute page where you download an executable, and that installs several programs on your system including one that gets run at startup." He thinks it then propagates itself to other computers by e-mail: "It certainly looks nasty."

Prof applauds home care funding -- a release from UW media relations

A Waterloo researcher who advised the Roy Romanow Royal Commission has come out in favour of this week's federal-provincial plan to put $34.8 billion into health care over the next five years.

John Hirdes, who provided the commission with expert advice on home care for the elderly, said he's encouraged by the portion of the plan that provides $16 billion for primary care, home care and catastrophic drug coverage. "Home care should be a top priority for health care funding in Canada. It is a cost-effective service that reduces institutionalization and improves quality of life for vulnerable Canadians," Hirdes said.

Hirdes is a member of UW's department of health studies and gerontology, which examines the relationship between lifestyle and health, and the importance of disease prevention, as well as the aging process and issues affecting the older person. As a consultant to the commission, Hirdes provided expert advice on policy options related to the home care portion of the report. He led a research group that did a cost analysis for home care.

One recommendation adopted by the commission called for funding of targeted home care services, with a focus on post-acute care, palliative care and mental health services.

Hirdes said his research group developed a prioritization system that can be used to identify home care clients who should be high priority for access to services based on their increased risk of a nursing home admission, health care-giver burnout and an inability to remain in their homes. "The research showed that people who have cognitive deficits, functional impairments and behaviour disturbances are at greatest risk," he said.

Previously, Hirdes was the lead investigator for a $1.7-million project funded by Health Canada (1999-2001) to develop home care quality indicators, among other things. The indicators were developed in collaboration with researchers from six Canadian provinces, the United States, Japan and Italy. Among other applications, those indicators can be used in public report cards to monitor the quality of home care services.

Currently, he serves on the board of a 22-country not-for-profit research network known as interRAI. The network develops assessment instruments for various sectors of the health care system, including home care, long-term care and psychiatry. In Ontario, for example, the provincial government has adopted the assessment instruments, including mandatory use of the home care assessment by Community Care Access Centres.

This week's staff positions

Just two positions are listed on the weekly circular from UW's human resources department showing staff jobs for which applications are being accepted.

Here are the opportunities included in today's list:

Technician, earth sciences, USG 5.
System support analyst, development and alumni affairs, USG 7-9.

Longer descriptions are available on the HR web site.

As always: "The University welcomes and encourages applications from the designated employment equity groups: visible minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and aboriginal people. For more information call ext. 2524."

[Sax]

Much happening on a cold Wednesday

There will, alas, be no saxophone music today. A concert with sax appeal was scheduled for noontime at Conrad Grebel University College, but has had to be cancelled, Stacey VanderMeer writes from the music department at Grebel. "We have rescheduled the concert for March 5 at 12:30."

Also cancelled are today's training sessions for Ricoh photocopying equipment. "All training sessions scheduled for today at Main Graphics are cancelled due to the weather," says a last-minute memo from Iris Strickler. "The Ricoh trainer is not able to get to Waterloo due to road closures. Graphics apologizes for the inconvenience but will reschedule and post the new date on our website. Everyone registered will receive an e-mail notification of the new date as well."

But much else is going on, such as a workshop this morning on the design of "innovative learning spaces", sponsored by the LT3 technology centre as part of its "Learning Forward Colloquium" series. Also today, there's a repeat of yesterday's workshop on job searching for international students, starting at 4:30 (information is online).

It's the final day of voting in the Federation of Students election. Polls close at 4:15 on campus, and 4:30 electronically. "It looks as though the results will be released on Friday at 4:30," says Federation staffer Brandon Sweet, "to account for the possibility of any complaints coming in up to two business days after the close of voting."

History professor Stan Johannesen will read from his new novel, Sister Patsy, at noon today in the UW bookstore, South Campus Hall.

Also at noon, it's "Waterloo Squares" -- a takeoff on "Hollywood Squares", of course -- described as "a funny, entertaining, informative look at being Suddenly Single". Single members of staff and faculty are welcome, as well as those who aren't single but have family members or friends who are. "Have the rules for dating changed? . . . What do you need to know to protect yourself? . . . Do you need financial advice?" Lots of questions and, I gather, lots of exuberant acting by some UW volunteers. The event is sponsored by the Employee Assistance Program and starts at 12:00 in Davis Centre room 1302.

Graduate students will enjoy "The Dating Game" at 6:30 tonight at the Grad House, with an appealing bachelor and bachelorette looking for the right date. . . . The drama department's double bill of plays by Daniel MacIvor, "House" and "This Is a Play", is beginning the second week of its run, tonight through Saturday in Studio 180 in the Humanities building (8:00). . . . The civics research group presents the second in a series of civic dialogues tonight at 7:30 (70 King Street East, Kitchener), this week with the title "Mosaic or Mirage: Are Our Cities Really Becoming More Multicultural?" . . .

Advance note: chilled water will be turned off all day tomorrow (7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.) in Biology I, Biology II, and the Earth Sciences and Chemistry building. But I suppose the air conditioning isn't being heavily used these days anyway. (It got down to minus 18.1 Celsius at the north campus weather station last night; that's zero Fahrenheit.)

CAR