This is exactly what happened just six days ago in India. At 8:46 a.m. on Jan. 26, on what is now being called Black Friday, tectonic plates shifted, the ground shook and in some places opened up, leaving cracks 8 feet deep and 20 feet wide.

[Neal Patel]

Lincolnite Sunil (Neal) Patel, manager of Super 8 Motel, continues to be in fear and concern for his family in India. Patel was born in Ahmedabad and raised in nearby Bhuj, 20 km (12.4 mi.) from the quake epicenter.

Patel has heard from his family and they are safe for now. They are still in their home, which suffered only some structural cracks. They say there is no food, water or electricity, but it is the constant worry of aftershocks that preoccupies the thoughts of both survivors and rescuers. Aftershocks occurred Wednesday afternoon and are expected to continue occurring for another week.

Patel moved here from New Jersey. His New Jersey church is supporting a ministry that is there on-site, aiding the quake victims. You can help aid the victims of this terrible disaster. A fund has been set up at the Illini Bank. Contributions may be made by sending or taking checks to Illini Bank, 2201 Woodlawn Road in Lincoln. Make checks payable to Yogi Divine Society and note that the donation is for earthquake relief in western India. All donations are tax-deductible. The money will go directly to the ministry agency that has been on-site since the first day of the quake. Some statistics on this mission are provided below under "Earthquake relief in western India." 

If you would like further information, contact Neal Patel, Super 8 Motel, 2809 Woodlawn Road, Lincoln, IL 62656; phone (217) 732-8886; e-mail smite45@hotmail.com.

From Pakistan to Nepal, the entire country of India was rocked in a quake of 7.9 magnitude Friday, Jan. 26. The hardest-hit areas were in the state of Gujarat. The city of Ahmedabad (ahm-deh-bah), population 10 million, and district of Bhuj (boo-dj) suffered the greatest damages.

Many areas have been leveled. As the final search for the living in an area of Bhuj called Anjar (population 35,000) continued Wednesday, aftershocks shook the area. The city, which is now just a pile of rubble, is now closed. A number of other areas have also been searched and closed.

Gujarat is the second-most-industrialized state of India. The massive losses suffered in this quake will have long-ranging economic impact on the already struggling country of India.

While the incomprehensible loss of life and injuries is still being dealt with, the World Health Organization has a UN disaster management team preparing for the next stage of the disaster. They are doing a situational analysis in order to prevent the spread of disease. Many world relief organizations have set up camps and are providing food, water and shelter for the survivors. It will be a long, expensive recovery time for all of the areas struck.

The following newspaper has extensive information and ongoing reports on the effects of the quake: Times of India, http://www.timesofindia.com.

[LDN]

• Population of Bhuj and surrounding areas: 236,000. People found alive as of 1-28-01: 16,000.
• The quake destroyed 90 percent of the homes in Bhuj.
• At least 100,000 (the Hindu) are still buried in debris.
• Around 18 villages have disappeared.
• Eighty percent of the buildings in Ahmedabad have suffered severe structural damage. It is expected that it will take at least 10 years for affected areas to recover from this.

Yogi Divine Society (YDS), a socio-religious organization spearheaded by P.P. Hariprasad Swami Maharaj, has taken immediate relief efforts in these areas:

• YDS workers reached Bhuj and surrounding areas on the same day and delivered 25,000 food packets.

• A 24-hour relief operation center has been set up in Rajkot. All relief operations are directed from there. A relief camp with 20 YDS workers and 400 volunteers has been set up in Anjar village near Bhuj. Operations at the site include:

• A 24-hour kitchen provides meals for everyone.

• 50,000 food packets are delivered daily to Bhuj.

• Ten tons of prepared food, eight tons of fresh vegetables and two tons of potatoes have reached the affected area.

• Blankets, tents and clothes are being delivered to the quake-affected areas.

• Medical supplies have reached Bhuj from YDS centers in Anand and Baroda.

• Volunteers numbering 1,500 to 2,000 from centers in Baroda, Surat and Bombay were expected in Bhuj.

The Yogi Divine Society appeals for help in these efforts. All donations are tax-deductible.

The $4.24 million bond issue, the district’s share of the more than $12 million project, was originally projected to cost $3,060,460 in interest over the next 17 or 18 years. Because interest rates have gone down, the district will instead pay $1,933,453 over a period of 15 years, a saving of $1,127,007, Dr. Kidd said.

The interest rate the district will pay is 4.9275 percent, while the rate projected earlier was about 6.5 percent, he said.

"This is not an extra million dollars available for the school district to spend. This leaves the money in the pockets of the taxpayers," Kidd said.

The $4.24 million also includes money to repay the $85,000 remaining in the current bond issue. The tax rate to pay off the bonds will remain at 47 cents per $100 of assessed equalized valuation, the same as it is for the current bond issue. The rest of the funding for the $12 project will come from a state grant.

The bonds for the project, construction of a new elementary school to replace Central School and a new junior high school, have already been sold by First Midstate of Bloomington, and were purchased by a local investor, whose name has not been disclosed.

The school district has taken another step which may also result in cost savings on the construction project — hiring a construction manager to oversee the building of the two schools. At a recent meeting, the District 27 school board hired the firm of S. M. Wilson & Co. of Granite City and St. Louis.

The board had previously discussed the possibility of hiring a construction manager, and Kidd and several board members began looking into the possibility.

"The districts we talked to who used this firm are very satisfied with them," Kidd said. One such district was Rochester, and the manager of that project, Steve Zick of Springfield, will also manage the job for District 27. Other Illinois school districts which have use the construction management services of S. M. Wilson include Tolono, Belleville, Eldorado, Greenville, Carlinville, Waterloo, Pleasant Plains and Breese.

"The traditional way to build a project like this was to have the architect put together specifications, get bids and hire a general contractor," Kidd explained. "The general contractor hired subcontractors. Generally they don’t have a lot of say on the contractor, because they have to take the lowest responsible bid. If the contractor and the subcontractors found ways to save money, those dollars went into the contractor’s pocket. Traditionally, the architect would come to visit the site once a week or so.

"A construction manager, however, will be on site at all times, making sure things are being done the way we expect them to be done. Before bids are let, the construction management firm’s staff go over the architect’s drawing and ‘cost it out.’ They know if we are asking for more than we can get. Then they let the bids for subcontractors. They still have to take the lowest reasonable bids, but they will probably have a more accurate idea of what the actual costs will be, because two sets of people, the architect and his staff and the construction manager’s staff, have gone over the plans. This will minimize the need for change orders and improve the chances of preventing cost overruns," Kidd said.

Because the construction manager is paid a flat fee, determined ahead of time, if money is saved during the building process, that money remains with the school district.

"One of the reason we went with the construction manager concept is that these firms pride themselves on bringing building projects in on time and on budget," Kidd said.

The next step in the building process is to get preliminary plans drawn up by the architect, Dave Leonatti of Melrose, Morse and Leonatti of Springfield. The Central School building committee, a group of teachers and others who are providing input on plans for the new school, will meet with the architect on Feb 14. Committee members are Lenny Janet, principal; teachers Charlise Leesman, Susan Rohrer and Leslie Wilmert; librarian Elaine Knight; custodian Terry Thompson; and school board members Bruce Carmitchel and Joe Brewer.

Kidd said he would like to see ground broken for the new Central School, to be built behind the present school and facing Seventh Street, in August or September.

That’s what Terry Hill, executive director of the National Rural Health Resource Center in Duluth, Minn., told the Healthy Communities Partnership (HCP) when announcing its most recent award, the Networking for Rural Health Site Visit Award.  Logan County is one of only 20 rural locations in the United States to receive the site visit award, which will bring a team of experienced, nationally recognized consultants to Logan County to help HCP task force leaders plan for the future.

[Coordinator of Healthy Communities Partnership Dayle Eldredge stands in front of an exhibit explaining the Mobile Health Unit.]

A survey of the HCP programs will be completed in the coming weeks, and the team will visit Logan County early this spring.  It will help profile the strengths and weaknesses of HCP in purpose, decision-making, planning, financing, leadership, staffing, communication and evaluation.  

The team will meet with leaders of all four task force groups — Healthy Families; Rural Health Partnership; Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs; and Domestic Abuse and Violence — in a daylong retreat.  The aim of the program is to strengthen and improve new rural health care networks so they can continue to offer access to quality health care.

Since its inception in 1997, HCP has received over $850,000 in grants to help fund its activities.  Funders include Health Resources Services Administration, Rural Health Outreach Grant; Southern Illinois University School of Medicine; the Center for Rural Health, Illinois Department of Public Health; the Logan County Board senior services tax levy; the Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy; and the Rural Health Outreach Project Mini-Grant of the Rural Medical Education Program, College of Medicine at Rockford.

In 2000-2001, grants received to fund HCP totaled $200,442.  They include a $40,000 Rural Health Outreach Grant carry-over; $80,000 from the Southern Illinois School of Medicine; $45,569 from the Illinois Department of Public Health Center for Rural Health, for Healthy Communities Partnership; $21,848 from the Illinois Department of Public Health Center for Rural Health, for Rural Health Partnership; $10,125 from the Logan County Board for the Rural Health Partnership’s Mobile Health Unit; and $2,900 Rural Health Outreach Mini-Grant through Health Resource Services Administration, Washington, D.C.

Before the meeting, both officials toured the HCP Mobile Health Unit, a van that travels to 12 Logan County towns and villages, a site in Lincoln, and Greenview in Menard County, providing health services to about 700 walk-in patients a month, both young and old.  The 36-foot van has exam rooms, lab equipment, a computer, TV/VCRs for patient education, and both a registered nurse and a nurse practitioner on board.  It visits each community at least once each month, and most more often.

“That’s the changing face of health care.  It’s fantastic,” LaHood said of the Mobile Health Unit.

The congressman from the 18th District told the audience of about 120 that America has the finest health-care system in the world, comparing it to some of those he has seen in other countries.  “When people get sick in other countries, they come to America if they can.”

However, LaHood noted that the problem with health care today is access.  “A good number of people in this country work in jobs that don’t have health insurance.  This is a serious problem that I hope Congress will deal with.”

Others who may lack access are uninsured people coming off welfare who must give up government-funded health benefits and people in rural communities without doctors or hospitals.  The Mobile Health Unit is one answer to that problem, he said, as well as hospitals that are beginning to collaborate to set up clinics and send medical professionals to rural areas.

Another health-care problem is providing prescription medications for senior citizens faced with large drug bills.  “We actually passed a bill in the House [of Representatives] last year to provide seniors with money for prescription drugs, but the bill didn’t pass in the Senate,” he said.  “We are going to have a spirited debate in Washington about prescription drugs.”  He added that he believed legislation would be passed to provide this help.

He also noted that legislators “need to continue our efforts in Washington to provide funding for medical schools.”  The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 cut funding to hospitals from Medicare and Medicaid, jeopardizing the financial standing of some hospitals.

LaHood did not, however, advocate creation of a universal health-care system, and he said drug companies need to make profits so they could continue to do research on new lifesaving medications.

Dr. Getto, dean of SIU School of Medicine, told the audience that communities like Lincoln “have much to offer in helping to educate physicians.  Our job is made a lot easier by communities like yourself, focusing on making the community healthier.”

Since the Mobile Health Unit began making its rounds in April of 1998, family practice residents at SIU School of Medicine have gone out with the unit as part of their training in providing medical care to rural communities.  Some residents also serve as interns at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital, an unusual program, he noted.

These programs encourage medical school graduates to stay in rural communities and SIU graduates to stay in Illinois, he said.  More than 40 percent of these graduates do stay in the state, and many more go to adjacent states such as Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky, Getto said.

Members of the various task forces that make up the Healthy Communities Partnership gave progress reports on their activities during the past six months and outlined some plans for the future.

Becky Sank, chair of the Healthy Families Task Force, described ongoing programs such as Safe Stop, finding homes and businesses that will provide safe havens for children; mentoring for teen parents; and the Baby-Think-It-Over program, which puts computerized “babies” in high school and junior high school classes to give young people an idea of the reality of caring for an infant.

Sank announced that a job fair will be held again this year for high school students who are going into the work force after graduation.  This project, set for March 14 at Lincoln College, will teach students how to apply for job, fill out an application and dress for job hunting.

Kristi Simpson of Rural Health Partnership Task Force and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Task Force outlined education programs put on in all Logan County schools.  These prevention programs are presented 10 times per year in the seventh and eighth grades.  Seventh graders learn how to resist peer pressure, how to resolve conflicts and how the media distorts the reality of substance use.  Eighth graders focus on the dangers of specific drugs like marijuana and methamphetamines.

Ron Sillings, of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Task Force, told the audience about Friday night teen dances without drugs or tobacco, the DARE program, and the Family Fun Day, which brought more than 300 people to its first outing last summer.  Sillings is also planning an after-prom event for Lincoln Community High School.

Debby Cook, chair of the of Domestic Abuse and Violence Task Force, which was established in 1999, reported that in 2000 there were 162 battery cases and that in 66 of these incidents children were present.  Among the community-based prevention programs were the candlelight vigil to raise awareness of the issue, complete with silhouettes of women who had been killed as a result of domestic violence.

She noted that on Thursday, Feb. 1, a seminar, Domestic Abuse and Violence 101, will be held at the Lincoln Park District at 1400 Primm Road.  The program, set for 6:30 to 8 p.m., will be presented by Andrea Shaner of Sojourn Shelter Services.

The Healthy Communities Partnership presented two major awards and a number of certificates of appreciation to organizations that have supported its programs.  One plaque went to the SIU School of Medicine, which helps fund the Mobile Health Van, and was accepted by John Record, assistant dean of the division of rural affairs, and Dr. Getto.  Another plaque went to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Center for Rural Health, and was accepted by Mary King, director, and Julie Casper. 

Certificates of appreciation were given to Lincoln Mayor Joan Ritter, representing the city; Alderman Glenn Shelton, representing the Lincoln City Council; Dick Logan, current Logan County Board president, representing the board; Darrell Deverman, former County Board president; the Lincoln Fire Department; the Lincoln Police Department; Lincoln Daily News; Curtis Sutterfield, first chairman of the Domestic Abuse and Violence Task Force; Police Officer Diana Short for her work on compiling and maintaining statistics on domestic abuse and violence; and Linda Schneider, for her support of farm safety programs in the Rural Health Partnership.