Showing posts with label Community Health Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Community Health Council. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Community Health Survey - Open until May 29th

FYI - I did participate in the survey and it does take less than 10 minutes!

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Dear Community Resident,

We are requesting a few minutes of your time in completing an important survey.

Milford Regional Medical Center and its partner organizations are conducting a community health assessment of the Greater Milford region to develop a new vision of how health and wellness programs can best serve area residents, and we want you to be part of that planning.

As part of this effort, we are asking you, as someone who also lives in the communities listed in the survey, to give us your feedback and suggestions about health services in the region by completing a 10 minute survey by Friday, May 29th

All responses are anonymous. Your feedback is valuable since the information gathered from this survey will be used to inform future health programming.

Please click on the link below to take the survey. If the link does not bring you to the opening page of the survey, copy and paste the web address into your browser.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MilfordCHASurvey

Thank you again for your participation, and please feel free to contact Ellen Freedman at EFREEDMAN@milreg.org or 508-422-2627 if you have any questions about the survey or the larger assessment.
Milford Regional Medical Center
Milford Regional Medical Center


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Communities: Bellingham, Blackstone, Douglas, Franklin, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millville, Northbridge, Sutton, Upton, and Uxbridge.

Partner Organizations: 
Center for Adolescent & Young Adult Health Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center Family Continuity Inc. CHNA 6 Hockomock Area YMCA Tri County Medical Associates Milford Public Schools 
Tri River Family Health Center



Tuesday, November 13, 2012

"it provides good information"

The Milford Daily News reports that the annual survey by the MetroWest Health Foundation is expanding this year. The expansion will cover all 25 of the communities covered by the Foundation.
The survey asks students about everything from their drug and alcohol use to their daily stress levels, providing schools and health officials with a valuable glimpse into their lives. Data gleaned from the questionnaire also influences where and how the MetroWest Health Foundation spends its program funding, which is another reason the organization wants as many towns as possible to participate, according to Donham. 
"In order to have good data to supply to us, they need to take the survey," she said. 
This year’s participants have until Thanksgiving to complete the survey. Many districts are already done. 
The 2012 version includes several new question topics, including bystander behaviors and peer support. The high school questionnaire also has more questions about dating violence and sexting.

Read more of the Milford Daily News article: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x35737837/Student-health-survey-gets-full-participation#ixzz2C6A3pKV3

Franklin has been one of the 25 communities to participate in the survey and use the data to direct program efforts. Some of the related posts on the survey data can be found here:

2007 - http://www.franklinmatters.org/2007/12/metro-westedc-adolescent-health-survey.html

2008 - http://www.franklinmatters.org/2009/12/live-reporting-metrowest-health-update.html

2010 - http://www.franklinmatters.org/2010/04/live-reporting-community-health-council.html


For more information on the MetroWest Health Foundation visit their webpage here  http://www.mwhealth.org/


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Healthy Futures in Action!

From the Franklin Community Health Council:


We have some GREAT news to share. A few months back a number of Bellingham Memorial Middle School Students, in conjunction with our YMCA and Whole Foods Market Bellingham, entered the Let's Move! and USDA Recipe for Healthy Kids ChallengeThe winners of the challenge receive $3000 and have an opportunity to visit the White House and prepare their recipes along side White House chefs! Amazingly, out of the 15 recipes chosen as finalists, BMMS was the only school with TWO recipes chosen as finalists.  

We are asking you to get online and support the BMMS students! Please vote for your favorite BMMS recipe!  

The link to vote is as follows: http://www.recipesforkidschallenge.com/submissions 

Please help spread the word!


The official government press release is as follows:

USDA ANNOUNCES SEMI-FINALISTS AND OPENS PUBLIC VOTING PERIOD IN RECIPES FOR HEALTHY KIDS COMPETITION



Friday, January 7, 2011

Community Health Council hears from the KP BeSmart Wellness Coalition

The Community Health Council met on Thursday night. Much of the evening was a discussion with the BeSmart Wellness Coalition from King Philip Regional HS.

What is the BeSmart Wellness Coalition?
It is a group of student leaders formed to leverage existing programs and provide a focus on wellness activities for teens and parents in the KP community. In hind sight, they did their organization backwards. They would coordinate more with the School District and faculty to bring this around. They feel the district and teachers was somewhat threatened by the organization and aggressive desires of the group. Contentious teacher contract negotiations were going on during the group’s formation and that did not help the situation.

This did not stop the group from holding events such as:
Sheet draping for Junior Prom 2009 – based upon a stat that every third car had a serious or fatal accident, the group obtained a donation of sheets. Every third car was draped while the students were in the Prom so the visual was impact-full when the students left the event. There was communication and notifications prior to the event so it was not a complete surprise and worked out to be quite effective.
A big hit was the development of an intramural program. This was held after school, using school facilities, and started with volleyball. All parent volunteers were used to coordinate. The program lasted one and half hours each evening. It was just enough time, 6:30 – 8:00. The time slot right after school was not as successful, the later time worked better for attendance. They are working on developing a dodge ball intramural league for this year.
They did plan activities for school half days. In particular, the middle school students loved the monster mini-golf. A future event is being planned for the dinner theater in North Attleboro.
The Distracted Driving Campaign was a great success. They are looking to re-do this year as well. There were daily posters and notifications leading up to the event. They collaborated with the high school video production students and the DECA program. Competing for the grand prize, sign the pledge, etc. There was a tangible marketing production. The video production group got to go to the local production of Oprah in Boston.


All the events were student lead, student driven from conception through execution. They recommend having food involved for the student activities, it helps to make the event attractive and successful. The group grew from 20 (last year) to 60 (this year). Their meetings are currently held in the KP cafeteria which is not a great location as it is not a very quiet and private space to help build the relationships amongst the group. They also split into subcommittees to focus planning on each of their initiatives. They want to get a better meeting space and bring the group together after the subcommittee working sessions to help foster the relationships as a group.

For the group as an organization, the students developed a policy and an application with questions and an interview process to apply for membership. The students pledge to not drink, etc. This group coordinates with the Students Against Drunk Drinking (SADD) which is focused on drinking. The BeSmart group has a much broader health wellness focus.

They are proposing a joint event to be coordinated with Franklin High School featuring Cara Filler ( http://www.carafiller.com/) It would be possible to hold during day events at each school (FHS and KP) and then do a joint event for the parents in the evening.

Additional updates

Deb Sweeney, representing Arbour Counseling, discussed possible coordination with the Council.
http://www.arbourhealth.com/
http://www.arbourhealth.com/counseling.htm

For example – if a group was identified via the MetroWest survey with a particular problem, then a support group could get formed to meet that need. Groups are more powerful than one-on-one sessions due to peer-to-peer interaction. They are looking to link the services with the needs of the community. They do handle a lot of individual referrals but think there may be an opportunity for more group work. They are looking to find out if there are service needs that are not being met. In most cases, funding for their counseling can be done through the individuals health insurance coverage. They left the group with a question: How can we capitalize on the audience of another event to provide some counseling awareness or services?

Lauren Marciszyn, from the YMCA, put a plug in for the planning meeting on Jan 11th .

Lisa Keohane provided a quick update that 240 folks attended the Perry Aftab event in December. It was video taped and will be posted to the cable channel sometime TBD. The teenangels program is now 78 students. It is the only one in New England. They are continuing to work on cyber bullying. Four students have moved from the middle school to be freshman at FHS this year. Kristin Cerce is working to help get them and their teenangel experience integrated into the high school.

Lisa also provided a book recommendation “Please stop laughing at me” by Jodee Blanco. (http://www.jodeeblanco.com/) While their program to date has been using the Wired program materials, they are also looking to integrate other materials appropriately.

Action Item
As the meeting closed, there was a proposal raised to add a meeting to the calendar for Feb 3rd. Email Michelle Kingsland-Smith if unable to make this date.

Additional information about the Council can be found here


Franklin, MA

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Monday, April 26, 2010

W.A.S.T.E.D. returns - 4/27/10

W.A.S.T.E.D presents: The Prevention of Underage Drinking - Community & Parent Forum


When:
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. 


Where:
Franklin High School Lecture Hall


This national  event is sponsored by the Federal Government’s Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking and statewide by the MA Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. The forum will address local initiatives, offer practical strategies for communicating more effectively with teens, identify community resources and discuss prevention solutions for parents in the Franklin community. The panel will include Officer Dan MacLean, Mardi Donovan, Bill Phillips, New Beginnings Programs, and students and parents of students in recovery.

Coordinated as part of the Franklin Community Health Council


W.A.S.T.E.D had previously held an evening at FHS on December 2, 2008. Information (pictures, text and audio recordings) can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2008/12/wasted-info-session-120208.html


Franklin, MA

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

W.A.S.T.E.D. returns - 4/27/10

W.A.S.T.E.D presents: The Prevention of Underage Drinking - Community & Parent Forum


When:
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. 


Where:
Franklin High School Lecture Hall


This national  event is sponsored by the Federal Government’s Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking and statewide by the MA Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. The forum will address local initiatives, offer practical strategies for communicating more effectively with teens, identify community resources and discuss prevention solutions for parents in the Franklin community. The panel will include Officer Dan MacLean, Mardi Donovan, Bill Phillips, New Beginnings Programs, and students and parents of students in recovery.

Coordinated as part of the Franklin Community Health Council


W.A.S.T.E.D had previously held an evening at FHS on December 2, 2008. Information (pictures, text and audio recordings) can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2008/12/wasted-info-session-120208.html


Franklin, MA

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

W.A.S.T.E.D. returns - 4/27/10

W.A.S.T.E.D presents: The Prevention of Underage Drinking - Community & Parent Forum

When:
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. 

Where:
Franklin High School Lecture Hall

This national  event is sponsored by the Federal Government’s Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking and statewide by the MA Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. The forum will address local initiatives, offer practical strategies for communicating more effectively with teens, identify community resources and discuss prevention solutions for parents in the Franklin community. The panel will include Officer Dan MacLean, Mardi Donovan, Bill Phillips, New Beginnings Programs, and students and parents of students in recovery.

Coordinated as part of the Franklin Community Health Council


W.A.S.T.E.D had previously held an evening at FHS on December 2, 2008. Information (pictures, text and audio recordings) can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2008/12/wasted-info-session-120208.html


Franklin, MA

Monday, April 12, 2010

FM #64 - Week ending 4/11/10

This is #64 in the series on what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends April 11, 2010.

Time: 8 minutes, 11 seconds



MP3 File

Session Notes:


This internet radio show or podcast is number 64 in the series for Franklin Matters.

Let's take about 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends Sunday April 11th.

In this session I'll cover the Town Council meeting on April 7th and look ahead to the School Committee  meeting on April 13th.

The Town Council meeting on April 7th was interesting on a number of fronts.

1 – Before the Council got into the money items, the Community Health Council provided an update on the teenangels and other activities that the group has been working on since it was created in 2008.

Live reporting - Community Health Council

http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=3%2bGOvPeeUt7st8YYQ%2bAj7A%3d%3d


2 – Rep Vallee and Sen Spilka were scheduled to provide a legislative update on the Chapter 70 and other state aid coming to Franklin. Due to key work at the State House, they were unable to attend. Due to their schedules they may not be able to participate until some time in May.

Jeff Nutting did take the opportunity to provide an update on current Town Budget. Effectively, with $1.8 million expected as a revenue increase within the Prop 2 ½ limits, State Aid dropping about $1.2 million, the net available ($600,000) is just about wiped out by the increase in Franklin's portion of the Tri-Country Regional assessment ($550,000).

After some discussion, the override word was broached. It will be a topic for the April 28th meeting agenda.

Live reporting - budget update

http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=acp9hQto1Evo3UgpBvTlEA%3d%3d

Budget workshop
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/budget-workshop-collection-12510.html

Long term or 5 Year Plan
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_BComm/financial%20planning%20committee%20report/

3 – Several items on the Legislation for action created conversations. One item in particular had  minimal discussion (had they already talked it out in the prior two meetings?) the Council voted 6-2 to approve the Charter Changes. Vallee was absent and Jones and Zollo voted no.

In the grand scheme of things, the real vote will come in November. Hopefully, the documentation that will be provided to the voters will be more detailed and clear about what the changes are and why the changes should be made so we can all make an informed vote.

http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=KNpCzsOI59gV07XYPOcaAg%3d%3d

$2 m from 'free cash” from FY 2009 was approved to spend on capital requirements. The Council also approved setting aside $100,000 to start a fund for a fire engine replacement. This is a small step towards a “real” capital budget.

http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=uka1H3JJJ8DSkcg1NVdVJQ%3d%3d


  • The Town share for the Parmenter Solar Project was approved. \
  • Two transactions to fund assistance for the Board of Assessors annual real estate property evaluation were approved. 
  • The by-law amendment to simplify the process for wetlands approvals passed.


Then the sewer extension request for 148 Washington St got real interesting. In my reading of the prepared materials, the situation seemed simple enough. A property currently in tax/title hold would be purchased and then split into two single family residences. As the location is up on the high side just before i495, they were requesting to extend the sewer line 258' to provide service. Unfortunately the Town Engineer had not received some key information, this would be adding service at the wrong point in the sewer system and potentially cause a backup to the system for those residents down stream. The attorney accused the Council of extortion, then retracted the comment. The whole thing should really have been worked out better before hand. Hopefully they will have time to work out the details before it gets to the second reading on April 28th.

http://view.liveindexer.com/ViewIndexSessionSL.aspx?indexPointSKU=S9FKcnM4ylrouWnQZmQqrg%3d%3d


Thanks to Ken Norman alerting me to a meeting on the raised garden beds being constructed around Franklin on Saturday the 17th. I was able to create the report that has been a big hit this past weekend. Thanks also to Lauren Marciszyn and Amy Cornwall for their contributions to the report.

http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/04/franklin-raises-garden.html

There are quite a few healthy activities this week.
What's on your plate is shown Tuesday night.
The Rail Trail committee also meets Tuesday night.
So instead of the watching or attending School Committee meeting you now have some choices.

Walk to School on Weds, Earth Day on Saturday,

You can check the calendar on Franklin Matters for details on these meetings and events. For the full schedule of Franklin Meetings, check out the town website
http://franklinma.virtualtownhall.net/Pages/FranklinMA_MeetingsCal/?formid=158

On the food front, Gerry's Place at Tri-County is open to the public from 10:45 AM to 12:30 and offers discounts Tue-Fri through May 28th.

If you haven't stopped by Cafe Dolce yet, congratulate BJ, Dave, and the whole gang there. This week marks the one year anniversary of their grand opening! My how time flies!

As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don’t like something, please tell me
Thank you for listening!

For additional information, please visitFranklinmatters.blogspot.com/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission

I hope you enjoy!



Note: email subscribers will need to click through to listen to the audio recording

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Text translator for 'teen speak'

Texting is all the rage amongst teens.

Cyberbullying happens to be one theme amongst the many messages sent.


LG has a website to help translate the texting shortcuts used.


You can translate from the short cut to SMS text or from a regular English sentence translate to text.


Related links:

Teen Angels is a group of middle school students working to raise awareness amongst their peers on cyberbullying. The TeenAngels presented to the School Committee earlier this month. You can see what they did here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/live-reporting-teen-angels.html

and here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/01/teen-angels-pledge-text-think-send.html

Legislation is being discussed to address cyberbullying. I don't think legislation is the answer. Parents, teachers, and the teens themselves can do a better job of creating awareness and changing behaviors.



Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Let's be honest!

The first of three seminars for parents of 5th through 8th grade students will be held Tuesday evening, 7:00 PM Horace Mann Middle School Auditorium.

This is probably one of the few times, I'll say this but if you do have a 5th through 8th grader, instead of coming to or tuning into the School Committee meeting tonight, go to Horace Mann instead.

The School Committee meeting has a full agenda but the first peek at the 2011 School Budget is scheduled for Jan 26th. You can always catch the School Committee meeting via the video on demand from the Town website!

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io




Mindy Craven is the scheduled speaker for Tuesday's Let's be honest seminar:
Mindy Craver is a Senior Community Health and Sexuality Educator for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.  She has been facilitating sexual health presentations for 14 years and is part of our Professional Training team.   Mindy has held teaching positions at several area agencies including Health Awareness, Pro Health and ResourceFul, Inc. and has consulted with many other Central Massachusetts agencies, fostering a solid reputation for providing fact-based, fun and experiential sexual health programs.  Mindy has successfully reached a variety of audiences with her participatory teaching style, including public middle school students, high risk youth, social service professionals, and parents.  Mindy’s workshops are age-appropriate, thought provoking, and engaging.  Currently, Mindy is focusing her efforts on the launch of Planned Parenthood’s parent education program Let’s Be Honest in Worcester.  She is a graduate of Bridgewater State College with a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education.

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the attached document.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

In the News - teen sex, Town Council meeting

Coordinated by the Franklin Community Health Council, the first of a series of workshops to help parents talk with their teenagers about sex will be held tonight at Mercer Auditorium at the Horace Mann Middle School on Oak St.

Tonight will be the first of five free workshops Craver will lead throughout the school year. Parents are invited to the school's auditorium from 7 to 8:30 p.m. to ask questions and participate in a detailed discussion.
For additional information on the series read:

Workshop to help Franklin parents talk to kids about sex

from The Milford Daily News News RSS 

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The actions from the Town Council meeting were reported here


Franklin OKs $1M bond for high school renovation study



Thursday, September 3, 2009

Community Health Council - Agenda - 9/3/09

The agenda for the Community Health Council meeting is attached:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io


The notes from the last meeting in June are also attached:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io


The Community Health Council meets every other month. All meetings will be held in the Training Center on the 3rd floor of the Franklin Municipal Building.


Note: For those reading this via email, the documents may not appear in your view. You may need to click through to the web site to view the attachments on the Franklin Matters website.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Community Health Council 9/3/09


The next meeting of the Community Health Council will be held on September 3, 2009. They will meet from 6:30 - 8:00 PM in the Municipal Building in the 3rd floor training room.


Monday, May 18, 2009

Internet Safety - 5/19/09 - 7:00 PM

The Franklin Community Health Council

Presents Worldwide leader in the area of online safety and parent and child Internet Education

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

7:00 PM

Horace Mann Middle School Auditorium

Parry Aftab is a security, privacy and cyberspace lawyer, as well as an author and child advocate. Ms. Aftab is Executive Director of WiredSafety.org, the largest online safety and educational program in cyberspace that provides important information and programs for children and teens, educators, law enforcement, parents and librarians for all matters related to children online, including online safety and privacy.

Parry Aftab is frequently called as an on‐air expert by all major news services, including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC News, The O'Riley Factor and CBS News. She has been used as a resource for 20/20, Dateline, Oprah, Inside Edition and 48 Hours. She has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and the CBS Morning Show.

For more information please a contact: Lisa Keohane at lkeohane@dean.edu or call 508‐553‐4821

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Internet Safety - 5/19/09 - 7:00 PM

The Franklin Community Health Council

Presents Worldwide leader in the area of online safety and parent and child Internet Education

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

7:00 PM

Horace Mann Middle School Auditorium

Parry Aftab is a security, privacy and cyberspace lawyer, as well as an author and child advocate. Ms. Aftab is Executive Director of WiredSafety.org, the largest online safety and educational program in cyberspace that provides important information and programs for children and teens, educators, law enforcement, parents and librarians for all matters related to children online, including online safety and privacy.

Parry Aftab is frequently called as an on‐air expert by all major news services, including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC News, The O'Riley Factor and CBS News. She has been used as a resource for 20/20, Dateline, Oprah, Inside Edition and 48 Hours. She has also appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and the CBS Morning Show.

For more information please a contact: Lisa Keohane at lkeohane@dean.edu or call 508‐553‐4821

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Safe Party Guide from MADD

If you are going to be hosting a party during this holiday season, please check out the Safe Party Guide from MADD here.

It may help to prevent something that would spoil the party or the season!

Monday, December 22, 2008

"There's really been a culture change"

Over the past decade, Revere has seen significant statistical drops in the percentage of middle school and high school students who use and abuse alcohol, coinciding with what local officials, parents, and students themselves say has been a shift in attitudes about drinking.

That's no accident. Since 1997, Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare have spent $4.4 million to fund a program called Revere CARES, designed to reduce teen drinking and substance abuse in a community where adults themselves abused alcohol and drugs at considerably higher rates than the state as a whole.

....

The data show particular improvement among middle schoolers' behavior in the five years since Revere CARES launched a campaign called the "Power of Know," which included getting more than 1,000 parents of adolescents to sign cards pledging to talk with their children about alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, listen to their kids, and get to know their children's friends and their parents.

Bold for my emphasis

Read the full article in the Boston Globe here


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Saturday, December 20, 2008

"It's still under investigation"

GHS
Posted Dec 19, 2008 @ 09:20 PM

NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH —

A 21-year-old North Attleborough man stands accused of buying rum that was later given to Taylor Meyer, the Plainville teen who died in October after wandering away from an underage drinking party at the old Norfolk Airport, according to police.

Sean P. Flynn, of 269 West St., is charged with procuring alcohol for a person under 21 and is scheduled for a show-cause hearing on Dec. 24 at Attleboro District Court.

"There was no arrest. He was served with a summons," said North Attleborough Police Chief Michael P. Gould Sr., noting the summons was served Dec. 17.

Gould said a clerk magistrate will determine at the hearing whether there is probable cause to issue a criminal complaint and send the case to court.

Flynn stands accused of obtaining two bottles of Baccardi rum for Brian Zuzick, 19, of 6 Red Coat Lane, Plainville, who then passed one bottle on to 17-year-old Taylor Meyer and the second to an unidentified, 17-year-old classmate of Meyer's, police allege.

Read the full story in the Milford Daily News here


Friday, December 19, 2008

WASTED - FHS Student presentation

Here is the PowerPoint slide show that was the backdrop for the FHS student performance at the information session hosted by W.A.S.T."E"D. on December 2, 2008.




The audio files from the WASTED evening can be found here

My thanks to Maruska Waters and Principal Pam Gould for sharing this presentation.