Alcor News Bulletin
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Number 12: May 1st, 2003
CEO's Health Update
Almost three weeks ago, Alcor's President and CEO Jerry
Lemler MD received the devastating news that he was
suffering from metastatic cancer allowing virtually no
possibility of treatment or remission. Today the situation
looks a bit more promising, thanks to a prominent (and at
this time) anonymous Alcor member who not only insisted that
Jerry be evaluated and treated at the world renowned M. D.
Anderson Cancer center in Houston, Texas, but pledged to pay
any portion of medical and related ancillary expenses not
covered by insurance. Jerry's current provisional diagnosis
is that he has a malignant nonHodgkins lymphoma.
Following several excursions to Houston for numerous tests,
Jerry and his wife Paula are scheduled to have a summation
conference with his attending oncologist, Dr. Anas Younes,
on Tuesday May 6th, when they should learn the precise
tissue diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options.
In general this type of tumor tends to be about 50 percent
curable, and the odds may be better as researchers at the
Anderson Cancer Center are involved in more than 700
clinical trials allowing cancer victims to receive new
chemotherapeutic protocols long before they are submittedd
for FDA approval. Jerry is now dividing his time between
working at Alcor and visiting Houston as an outpatient.
We're delighted that his prognosis seems to be less bleak
than first anticipated. We are also extremely grateful to
the anonymous Alcor member who is providing resources to
enable the best available care.
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Two Employees Leave Alcor
On April 11th, Jessica Lemler Sikes and James Sikes left
their positions at Alcor. Jessica had been assisting us in
the membership administration department, and was our
corporate Secretary. James had been our facility manager,
who recently completed for us a new portable ice bath of his
own design. We appreciate all the time they've spent helping
us, and we hope they'll find good opportunities to flourish
at other businesses in the Phoenix area.
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New Help Arrives at Alcor
Immediately following the departure of James Sikes, we
advertised online for a new facility manager and received
more than 100 resumes within two days. Our ad requested
someone with good crafts skills (able to do metal working
and welding), and we've found a person who has all the
abilities we were looking for. He is Christopher Thomas, a
Phoenix native whose previous work included construction of
production line equipment for Intel and Epsitech; custom
installation of car stereo systems; screen printing; and
various fabrication jobs. Christopher will be handling a
wide variety of tasks for us, such as maintaining our
vehicles and assembling prototype equipment, in addition to
general facility maintenance. He has a strong interest in
Alcor and has offered to assist in our operating room during
future cases. His significant other, Patch Thomas, has
offered to work for Alcor as an unpaid volunteer, hopes to
assist us with our web site, and will be available for our
operating room.
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A Hospice in Florida
During a recent trip to South Florida, Dr. Jerry Lemler and
Dr. Michael Riskin visited Vitas, the largest hospice in the
state. As a result of this visit, Vitas has officially
confirmed that it will accept terminal Alcor members and
will allow us to deploy our equipment at bedside. This very
significant development provides some assurance that in
cases where we have advance warning, we can minimize
ischemic injury despite the substantial transcontinential
transport time.
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Paramedics in Florida
Paramedic Todd Soard, who teaches emergency medicine in
South Florida, has contracted to provide cryonics field
services exclusively for Alcor. In previous cryonics cases
where Todd participated, we acquired a very high regard for
his expertise. We're extremely pleased that he will be
available to help us in association with other paramedics on
the East Coast.
Our next step is to arrange Florida training sessions in
which personnel will learn to use our equipment. Director of
Clinical Services Larry Johnson will be scheduling the
sessions in May.
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Personnel Changes in Southern California
Regina Pancake and Peter Voss are our new Southern
California coordinators. Between them they will manage and
maintain our equipment and coordinate local volunteer
capability. Regina is cofounder of a small Hollywood
special-effects lab, while Peter owns an artificial
intelligence research company.
Bobby June and Todd Huffman have stepped down as our
previous Southern California coordinators. Bobby is fully
occupied with a new business venture, while Todd will be
moving to Scottsdale to join us as a fulltime employee on
June 1st of this year, after he completes his B.Sc. in
neuroscience. We greatly appreciate their contribution
during the past months, maintaining and helping to implement
our Southern California capability. Bobby has pledged to
continue active participation as a team member in future
California cases.
We now have an urgent need for extra help in the greater Los
Angeles area. If you've ever contemplated the possibility of
becoming involved in cryonics on a part-time basis, now is
the time to step forward. A medical background is not
essential. Please send email to if
you'd like more information.
Local volunteers are vital in an emergency where time is of
the essence. Past experience indicates that Alcor members
can make a tremendous difference when we need to help each
other.
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Southern California Acquires a Transport Vehicle
Our activists in the Los Angeles area have acquired a new
van that will be converted for pickup and transport of
cryopatients. In a typical case where we would normally use
a mortuary service to collect the patient, our own vehicle
can reduce transport time by at least an hour and will
eliminate the anxiety associated with trying to rent a van
or truck on a last-minute basis. Also, our van can be fitted
with ancillary equipment such as interior lighting and
compressed-gas cylinders to drive a Thumper (or similar)
cardiopulmonary support unit.
Many thanks to Regina Pancake and Peter Voss for pursuing
this initiative.
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Our STASIS Vehicle
Here in Scottsdale, the laborious process of lining the load
area of our new truck with heat insulation is now virtually
complete, and a commercial air-conditioning unit has been
installed. Provisionally named STASIS (Standby-Transport
Ambulance for Surgical Intervention and Stabilization) the
vehicle is now ready for hospital-grade wallboard followed
by patient-care equipment and supplies storage. Currently we
are investigating the possibility of using white LEDs in a
very large array with a parabolic reflector as an ultra-
reliable, low-wattage light source for medical procedures.
Alcor's Chief Operating Officer, Charles Platt, has reopened
the discussion regarding where the STASIS vehicle should be
stored. The truck's air conditioning system is extremely
powerful and includes an electrically driven backup
compressor that can be plugged into any nearby source. This
should provide ample protection for the load area if the
truck is parked outside during Phoenix summer heat, but we
still have to address concerns about security. We will reap
a very significant saving in floor space inside the building
if we are able to park the truck outside, but first me must satisfy board members who are justifiably concerned about
risks associated with external parking.
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Facility Expansion Work
We have received bids from two contractors for the first
phase of our facility expansion, and we will be receiving
another bid from a third contractor during the next few
days. After that, we will decide who should do the initial
work. Meanwhile our new facility manager, Christopher
Thomas, has made accurate measurements of Unit 106, which
will become our new patient storage area. We will be drawing
plans for the following tasks: Location of a hoist in a
cut-out section in the roof, thermal insulation of the
remainder of the underside of the roof, new air-conditioner
ducts, enlarged access door, bulk storage tank for liquid
nitrogen, conduits for electrical outlets, sheetrock on the
north interior wall, construction of a possible interior
dividing wall to protect Dewars, new paint on all walls and
ceiling, and installation of appropriate lighting. Our
Facility Expansion Committee and Patient Care Trust Board
will be consulted at every step in these very ambitious
plans.
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Readiness is Restored
As a result of the rapid sequence of cases reported in
previous editions of Alcor News, our equipment and supplies
were reduced to a minimum. At Alcor Central we have now
restored our ability to respond to future cases (including
multiple cases, if they occur). Our operating room is ready,
and we have finally managed to acquire a new supply of
hydroxyethyl starch (HES) which is a fundamental component
of our washout solutions and perfusates.
Larry Johnson, our Director of Clinical Services, has worked
with our Director of Suspension Readiness, Mathew Sullivan,
to stock twelve new meds kits which will be eventually
deployed around the country. The kits still require some
specially formulated meds which we expect to compound
ourselves as soon as we receive the remaining necessary
supplies.
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New Directors at the Venturist Society
Jerry Lemler MD and Paula Lemler are pleased to report that
they have been elected as directors of the Venturist
Society. For more information about the society, please
visit www.venturist.org.
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Problems Affecting Recent Cases
During a debriefing session involving many of the volunteers
and employees who participated in our last two cases, we
identified areas where problems occurred and improvements
are necessary.
In the case of patient A-1234, we were very pleased with the
performance of team members during the transport phase.
Unfortunately in our operating room a clamp was left open,
allowing cryoprotective perfusate to flow directly to the
dump instead of recirculating. This emergency was addressed
by closing the clamp and quickly adding a large volume of
concentrated perfusate, which terminated the initial loading
phase and caused a rapid overall increase in concentration.
Normally we allow an initial period in which we maintain a
relatively low concentration to mitigate osmotic shock and
load the cells. We have no way of knowing the exact
consequences of skipping this loading phase, but the patient
did perfuse thoroughly, and vitrification seemed to occur.
In the case of patient A-1025, we reported previously in
Alcor News that some confusion about mortuary paperwork
caused an overnight delay during the transport phase.
Apparently our California mortician was reluctant to act
because he had not received assurance that a doctor would
sign the death certificate. By the time one of our surgical
team members in California realized this, the staff of the
emergency room where the patient had been pronounced had
already gone home. A significant delay ensued before anyone
could find a physician who would sign the death certificate.
This case was preceded by an unavoidable period of about two
hours while we waited for the hospital to release the
patient. Worse still, before the patient reached the
hospital he had gone through probably two days of
dehydration. This combination of negative factors almost
certainly was the primary cause of some brain swelling, a
low flow rate, and relatively poor penetration of
cryoprotectant in our operating room.
Every case involves some risk of problems and errors, since
we must deal with many factors outside our control while
attempting to provide emergency medical services under
severe time pressure. Also, in the last two cases, legal
death occurred without prior warning.
In the future we are contemplating possibilities such as
gathering all necessary information for death certificates
from our members while they are still alive and well;
obtaining preauthorization from next-of-kin to enable us to
collect a patient after legal death, in a state such as
California where authorization is mandatory; and a detailed
study of California mortuary industry practices concerning
death certificates and transit permits.
Lastly we are addressing a very basic problem that has
afflicted our DuaLogR temperature-recording devices, one of
which normally accompanies every patient who travels to our
facility. The DuaLogR is intended as a hand-held device. If
it is not carefully secured during transport it can move or
fall, causing one or more of its control buttons to be
pressed. Our new facility manager and crafts person
Christopher Thomas has designed a clip-on button protector
which will be installed on all of our DuaLogR units.
In addition, while the DuaLogR can be set up and programmed
easily under quiet conditions, the layout of the keypad
encourages key errors in a stressful situation, and the key
sequences are not intuitive. Charles Platt is in the process
of writing a new instruction manual in the hope that standby
team members will practice the primary functions and reduce
the possibility of human error, which probably has been a
factor in past cases where inadequate data were recorded.
Alcor News is written primarily by Charles Platt.
Contents are copyright 2003 by Alcor
Foundation but permission is granted to reprint any whole
news item, so long as Alcor is credited as the source and
the reprint includes our URL at http://www.alcornews.org.
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