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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1983)
Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, April 27, 1983 T opinion Fevered spring has sprung Is it my imagination or do you feel this way, too? It seems to me that the last few weeks of the spring semester are even more wearying than the long weeks be fore the fall semester’s end. Maybe it’s because we’ve been here all year. Maybe it’s because the weather is too nice to miss by studying. Maybe it’s that old spring fever. Did you ever wonder why it was called “spring fever?” When I don’t feel like studying, it’s fun to sit around and won der about trivial things such as this. (Other things to wonder about include important stuff like — Do they give you two diplomas if you graduate with a dou ble major?) Back to spring fever, let’s wonder together. In my heart, I know it’s not a “physic al” ailment. But, my body has me con vinced that it is. Each year, spring seems to bring with it the first flu spell of the year. “Spring fever” seems to be a literal expression in this case. Or perhaps it’s that fevered look seen on the faces of students in classrooms everywhere as they gaze anxiously out the window while listening with half an ear to the world’s social problems. (For you engineering students, it would be lis tening to the intrinsic delights of calculus and thermodynamics.) There seems to be evidence that spring fever affects our romantic im pulses as well as our academic ones. Cou ples on campus seem to shoot up faster than mushrooms after a spring rain. They wander about gazing lovingly into each others eyes and holding hands. This is inconvenient when carrying all your books, but anything for love. As the fever spreads, they become appendages of each other and never seem to do any thing by themselves. An exaggeration? Perhaps. But, I’ve been guilty of the spring love bug, too. It took a lot of ther apy to restore my identity, but it is possi ble. Of course, it’s not bad having some one to study with as long as you’re going to be up all night anyway as finals loom closer and closer. Physical or psychological, spring fever seems to be a definite characteristic of just about any student at this time of year. Of course, graduating seniors don’t help the situation for the rest of us folks. The last hectic weeks of finals for us are the easiest weeks for the lucky graduates. They flaunt their freedom as we sweat through hours of arduous studying. A few years ago, some of the year’s gradu ates set up a home-away-from-home of sorts and proceeded to camp out, literal ly, in front of the commons and sunbathe on lounge chairs wishing everyone on his way to a final exam an impish “good luck!” The cheeky devils drank certain substances out of their glass bottles as they whiled away the hours watching the less fortunate heading anxiously to yet another final exam. Well, this reporter is going to succumb once and for all to her annual bout of seasonal fever. I think Tm terminally ill this time. So, if you want to go to the library or the computing center, don’t ask me. I’ll just be taking a quick time-out to soak up some rays and listen to Jimmy Buffet. See you at the exam. RETURNtSeJEDI Reader: advanced life support needed Suppose your favorite aunt is in town and suddenly she clutches at her chest, gasps for air and slumps. You ask some one to call the paramedics, right? If you live in Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, or a number of other cities and counties across Texas, you’re right. If you live in College Station or Bryan, you’re wrong; maybe dead wrong. What do you get? The College Station and Bryan Fire Department ambulances are manned by well-trained Emergency Medical Technicians whose certification allows them to provide basic emergency medical care. They are allowed to stop the bleeding, but not add more circula tory volume through intravenous ther apy to stop life-threatening shock. They are allowed to administer oxygen to heart patients; but not to communicate heart information to an emergency room physician who can instruct them to admi nister life saving cardiac drugs through intravenous lifelines. The Emergency Medical Technician can perform all the basic emergency medical skills that they are allowed to do under their basic EMT certification, and they can do them well; and then rush the critical patient to the hospital for more definitive care. But what about all those times when that just isn’t enough? What about your favorite aunt, who doesn’t have that extra four or five or more minutes that it takes to get to the hospital? So why don’t we have the Advanced Life Support System that we deserve for ourselves and our loved ones? Most of the equipment used for advanced life support is already here. This equipment was provided by government grants and Brazos County. But, according to Bill Schaer, College Station Emergency Medical System coordinator, we will have to wait “at least one more year” for adv anced life support in College Station and the surrounding area. According to Dr. Alvin Prause, Col lege Station city councilman and chair man of the EMS portion of the Brazos Valley Development Council: “There are a lot of towns in the area that already have advanced training; I don’t think we Reader’s Forum have to go all paramedic or all advanced- trained EMT’s but we can do it in stages and get there and accomplish the same task.” Dr. Prause also says “there is a grant available through Brazos Valley Development Council where it would cost approximately $100 per man for advanced EMT’s who are already trained as basic EMT’s. I am not sure what it would cost to go directly to paramedic but that is something we can certainly look into also.” Pertaining to the BVDC grant for training, Laura Kitzmiller, assistant pro fessor of health and physical education at Texas A&M, who conducts all of the EMT classes on campus, has been in strumental in the furtherance of training for local agencies. According to Kitzmil ler, there has already been an EMT Spe cial Skills (advanced EMT) class offered this spring but only two people registered for it. Since some training is available through the BVDC, the real problem, as I see it, is this: The city or county govern ments need to “create” an Advanced Life Support System, in agreement with the emergency room physicians and staff. This includes 1) monetary incentives to make the advanced training and the greatly increased responsibility more attractive to personnel. 2) Appropria tions for additional personnel for the fire departments so fire apparatus can be kept manned to state specifications and still keep paramedics assigned to ambu lances; or separate the EMS from the fire department. 3) Utilization of what is already available, such as the BVDC grants for training and the help of people like Laura Kitzmiller and others who are willing to help and are knowledgeable. 4) An ongoing educational process for pa ramedics, once they are trained, in con junction with hospital physicians and nurses with whom they will be working. Remember, next time your favorite aunt has a heart attack, you’ll only get paramedics from Brenham or Navasota while College Station and Bryan, the largest group of people in the area, and the site of a major University, are drag ging their feet. by John Davidson ’83 Correction A cutline on page one of Tuesday’s Battalion incorrectly identified the spon sor of the Sally Struther’s program. MSC Political Forum sponsored the program. Also, Sharon Colson’s name was misspel led. The Battalion regrets the errors. Slouch By Jim Earlf Si to The w >a Alph iren’t gc lecausei he hous Nanc ion pre lents of Hit befo nodatio 11. The’ wilding ipanme emestei “If’s not that bad an idea for a bumper sticker, but since it pertains to an academic matter, let’s work on it a little harder. ” Studei jew spea speaker 1)83-84 beeting ■ednesc Democrats running The i jington ( Four ISenate v* senators the first I for president — du by Clay F. Richards United Press International WASHINGTON — With the addition of Sens. John Glenn of Ohio and Ernest Hollings of South Carolina last week the field for the 1984 Democratic nomination appears com plete and the word that best describes it is “dull.” Despite a depth of experience there is not one candidate that can be described as “excit ing” in the field that also includes former Vice President Walter Mondale, former Gov. Reubin Askew of Florida and Sens. Gary Hart and Alan Cranston. Mondale can turn on an audience with a barn-burning speech when he wants to and his experience is impressive. Glenn’s astro naut accomplishments inspire hero worship among the most devoted of his followers, and he is learning how to give a good speech. But neither of them nor any of the other four offer Democrats the chrisma of a John Kennedy, the dynamic bombast of a Lyndon Johnson or the strength of a Franklin Roosevelt. Sen. Edward Kennedy, the Democrats cur rently best able to bring his party to its feet, dropped out. Rep. Morris Udall, whose warmth and rich humor made him likeable even to those less liberal, dropped out. Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, perhaps the most chrismatic Southerner in his party, dropped out. The remaining six have now been bearded through party “cattle shows,” in Sacramento, Calif., Atlanta and Springfield, Mass. Those meetings gave the candidates direct exposure to probably 10,000 Democratic leaders in ma jor states in three different partsli country. The analysts said Mondale came* those showings the front-runner.Clem distant second. Ciranston did bettenk pected and Hart ncjt as well as expectei: mgs and Askew failed to registerira anything in those events. But talk to the delegates in thosew — the rank and file who forthemts think it is to early to commit toanyDeii — and they will tell you they like all (I above or none of the above. T he Democratic candidates havetlit old and new solutions for solvingthena economic problems. But talk to leaJf organized labor and they will tellyoult hope the candidates have voiced off American back to work isthatanyoneof would be better than President Reagr The candidates have made little Mi on the issues. Only Cranston’s constaai mering away on the nuclear freeze!® sparked any great responseamongtkf and that following may not be broadei to give him that much of a boost. T he hundrum field of competitiot w'ell clear the way for the carefully* t rated Mondale campaign to blitz the fe it may mean Glenn’s hero image willbeil is needed to win the day. Or Democrat!: end up saying let’s try one of tliei knowns, just as they tried Jimmy Can 1976. j Anything can and will happen inDts tic politics. Maybe even a Kennedycatii will be resurrected. But until then d* pect things to be very exciting. the small society by Brickmc OOP- &tOO&ST • * • THAT 0^, ©1981 King Features Syndicate, Inc World rights reserved (36c5'< 8-7 The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member ot Texas Press Association , Southwest Journalism Conference Editor Diana Sultenfuss Managing Editor Gary Barker Associate Editor . j . . Denise Richter City Editor Hope E. Paasch Assistant City Editor Beverly Hamilton Sports Editor John Wagner Assistant Sports Editor .J°hn Lopez Entertainment Editor Colette Hutchings Assistant Entertainment Editor. . . . Diane Yount News Editors Daran Bishop, Brian Boyer, Jennifer Carr, Elaine Engstrom, Shelley Hoekstra, Johna Jo Maurer, Jan Swaner, Jan Werner, Rebeca ! Zimmermann Staff Writers Melissa Adair, Maureen Carmody, Frank Christlieb, Connie Edelmon, Scott Griffin, Patrice Koranek, Robert McGlohon, Ann Ramsbottom, Kim Schmidt, Karen Schrimsher, Patti Schwierzke, Kelley Smith, Angel i Stokes, Joe Tindel, Tracey Taylor, i Kathy Wiesepape Cartoonist Scott McCullar Graphic Artists Sergio Galvez Thompson, Fernando Andrade Photographers David Fisher, Guy Hood, Eric Lee, Irene Mees, Barry Papke, William Schulz Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting news- * f (C paper operated as a community service to ft 11 University and Bryan-College Station. Of®* pressed in The Battalion are those of the author, and do hot necessarily represenltheoff Texas A&M University administrators or fatt 1 hers, or of the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a /aboralorjW’f for students in reporting, editingau scs within the Department of CommunicaW'f Questions or comments concerning af matter should be directed to the editor. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed length, and are subject to being cut if the) art*' The editorial staff reserves the right to edit style and length, but will make every effort the author’s intent. Each letter must also be show the address and phone number of ibt^ Columns and guest editorials are also web ‘ are not subject to the same length constrain**■') Address all inquiries and correspondence to ' The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald,Texas!*' versity, College Station, TX 77843, orphonet' 2611. The Battalion is published daily duringlexi' 1 ' fall and spring semesters, except for holiday® 1 '; nation periods. Mail subscriptionsare$16./5p i: f ter, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full'® Using rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed V- Building, Texas A&M University, CollegeS® 77843. United Dress International is the use for reproduction of all news to it. Rights of reproduction of all othermatK reserved. 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