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2011 Alcor Annual Board Meeting and Strategic Meeting

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The 2011 Alcor Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, September 10th at 11:00 AM (PDT) at the Alcor facility (7895 East Acoma Drive in Scottsdale, AZ). The elections of directors and officers will be conducted at this meeting.  Members and the public are encouraged to attend this meeting.

The 2011 Strategic Meeting is also scheduled the same weekend. This is a closed meeting but a summary of the topics discussed at the 2011 Strategic Meeting will be posted to our blog and newsletter.

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Readiness and Transport

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Dewar Boiloff Report
After concluding the initial boiloff test on Dewar #14 we transferred much of the LN2 over to Dewar #15 using an LN2 pump designed by Hugh. We completed the fill from the bulk tank to begin boiloff testing on the second of the three new dewars. Dewar #15 has now been quietly boiling off over the past 17 days while Mike Perry has been monitoring the boiloff rate.

Airline Transportable Ice Bath (ATIB)
The research and development team has been working on constructing a new ‘Alcor Team Only’ ATIB which was designed by Steve Graber several months ago. The main reasons for building a new ice bath were to reduce both the size and weight to make it more suitable for airline transportation. We will continue to use the current portable ice bath (PIB) for all of our response teams. Our internal team travels frequently with only a moment’s notice.  The standard ice bath is simply too bulky and too heavy to be transported efficiently through the airport system. We experienced delays and extremely high baggage fees due to the oversize and overweight of the PIB during check‐in. The new ice bath is now only 1/2 the weight and about 1/8th the size of the previous ice bath when it is folded down for transport.

TSA Known Shipper Certification
On Aug. 3, 2007, President Bush signed into law the Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007 (9/11 Act) P.L. 110-53 (2007), legislation requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a system to enable industry to screen 100 percent of cargo transported on passenger aircraft at a level of security commensurate with the level of security of passenger checked baggage, within three years. The impact of the 100 percent screening requirement is that all cargo must be screened at the piece level by TSA approved methods prior to being loaded onto a passenger aircraft.

The Known Shipper data Management System provides a systematic approach to assessing risk and determining the legitimacy of shippers by allowing TSA to identify and approve the Known Shipper status for qualified shippers located in the U.S.

Alcor has completed the process to obtain “Known Shipper” status with the Transportation Security Administration.  While we will still use a mortuary with similar status to arrange for the shipping of our patients, we now have the ability to ship/return our response kits through the airline’s cargo division to save on costs and hassles.

Watch List
There were a number of acutely ill members on Alcor’s watch list. Most of them have experienced significant health improvements from their medical treatments. Only one member is being closely monitored.

Media
The Financial Times, based out of the U.K., ran a story in their ongoing series titled “The Job” where they focus on interesting and unique jobs around the globe. The journalist, Rhymer Rigby, takes readers through a variety of jobs in world industry to show some of the people behind the headlines. This month the article focused on the role of Alcor’s Medical Response Director, Aaron Drake.

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Administrative Report (July 2011)

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Membership Statistics
Alcor had 955 members on its Emergency Responsibility List.  Ten memberships were approved, no memberships were reinstated, three memberships were cancelled and no members were cryopreserved.  Overall, there was a net gain of seven members in July.

Applicant Statistics
Alcor had 43 applicants for membership.  Ten new applicants were added, ten applicants were converted to members and one applicant was cancelled resulting in net a loss of one applicant in July.

Information Packet Statistics
Alcor received 75 info pack requests in July. Eleven were handed out during facility tours or from special request.  The average total of 114 info packs sent per month in 2011 compares to 199 in 2010. The full Information Packet is now available online.

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Cryonicists on “Can We Live Forever?”

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On Wednesday, July 27th, 2011, a particularly interesting episode of “Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman” (Season 2) will air on The Discovery Science Channel at 10 pm ET/PT. The title of the program is “Can We Live Forever?”, and the show will feature not only biological approaches such as Alcor Scientific Advisory Board member Aubrey de Grey’s contribution and possibilities involving regeneration and DNA repair but also unusual approaches that include the possibility of uploading and even the possibility that people today might survive as vitrified brains with intact “connectomes” that can be either revived or uploaded in the future. For the latter topic, the crew visited 21st Century Medicine and interviewed Greg Fahy and filmed procedures in 21CM’s kidney and brain slice labs.

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Case Summaries: A-1408 and A-2357

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This past quarter, Alcor cryopreserved two of its members. The first member, A-1408, lived just north of the Tampa, FL area.  Alcor team members initiated a standby at the hospital for three days during the time the individual was listed as critical and medical providers anticipated that he might stop breathing.  The member stabilized and Alcor ended the standby while continuing to monitor the patient’s condition remotely.  When his medical condition deteriorated again, Alcor was on the verge of initiating a standby for another member and therefore decided to request Suspended Animation to provide the standby this time.

On the afternoon of the fourth day of the standby (May 26, 2011), the member was pronounced, stabilized and cooled on-site, followed by a field washout.  The transport commenced the next morning by commercial airlines and the patient was brought to Alcor with the surgical team at the ready.  After the neuro cryopreservation ensued, member A-1408 became Alcor’s 105th patient.

Alcor’s Arizona response team provided standby services twice at the home of A-2357 on the west side of the Phoenix valley, approximately 50 miles from Alcor in Scottsdale.  The first standby lasted six days before the member’s condition improved enough for the team to stand down.  While continuing to monitor the individual’s health through a very supportive hospice organization, the attending physician determined that it was time to restart the standby just a mere two weeks later.  On the second day of the standby, despite relatively strong vital signs, the member’s breathing became weaker until he finally just ceased to take a breath. The patient was pronounced on June 17, 2011.

At the prior request of the hospice physician, both she and a hospice nurse assisted Aaron Drake and Steve Graber in administering the medications, cooling and preparing the patient for transport.  They both followed the rescue vehicle back to Alcor so they could observe the procedure and see the facilities.  Being impressed with the overall process, the physician expressed the desire to provide services for future Alcor members.  This new relationship, along with the existing hospice that we have used in the past, will provide us with a stronger network of hospice options in the greater Phoenix area.  A-2357 is now Alcor’s 106th patient, being cared for as a neurocryopreservation patient.

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Transport and Readiness Update

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The Financial Times, based out of the U.K., ran a story in their ongoing series titled “The Job” where they focus on interesting and unique jobs around the globe. The journalist, Rhymer Rigby, takes readers through a variety of jobs in world industry to show some of the people behind the headlines. This month the article focused on the role of Alcor’s Medical Response Director, Aaron Drake.

 

Watch List
Alcor is currently monitoring 10 members with moderate to severe health conditions.  Of these, seven have some form of cancer, two have respiratory problems and one has advanced ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease).

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Administrative Report (June 2011)

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Membership Statistics
Alcor had 948 members on its Emergency Responsibility List.  Six memberships were approved, no memberships were reinstated, two memberships were cancelled and one member was cryopreserved.  Overall, there was a net gain of three members in June.

Applicant Statistics
Alcor had 44 applicants for membership.  Four new applicants were added, six applicants were converted to members and two applicants were cancelled resulting in net a loss of four applicants in June.

Information Packet Statistics
Alcor received 131 info pack requests in June. Seven were handed out during facility tours or from special request.  The average total of 120 info packs sent per month in 2011 compares to 199 in 2010. The full Information Packet is now available online.

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Next Alcor Board of Directors Meeting

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The next Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 11:00 AM (PDT). The meeting is at the Alcor facility (7895 East Acoma Drive in Scottsdale, AZ). Members and the public are encouraged to attend.

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Case Report for A-1614

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Wesley Du Charme, PhD became a member of Alcor in 1995. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 3, 1939, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude in psychology, from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan. In May 1961 Wesley married Skippy Clark and together they had three daughters.  He taught psychology at Rice University in Houston and later worked for corporations as an industrial psychologist. He was living in Rathdrum, Idaho at the time of his terminal illness.

Du Charme authored a book: Becoming Immortal: Nanotechnology, You and the Demise of Death in 1995, which discussed the opportunity for virtual immortality through combining nanotechnology and cryonics.  He lived life fully while always looking to the future; he joined Alcor in hopes of living in the far future.

The entire case report is located on Alcor’s website in the Library section under Cryopreservation Case Reports 2010: Wesley du Charme [PDF]

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Arizona Response Team Training Session

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Alcor will host a training session for the Arizona Response Team on Saturday, June 25th, 2011. This will be held at Alcor Central in Scottsdale, AZ starting at 10:00 am. Aaron Drake, Alcor’s Medical Response Director will conduct the training.

This is the follow-up training to the session held earlier this year in March.  After a review of the objectives and procedures learned previously, there will be scenario based exercise for everyone to practice their skills in real-time.  Please contact Aaron Drake at if you plan to attend this training session.
—
Aaron Drake, NREMT-P, CCT
Medical Response Director
Alcor Foundation

Office:      877-462-5267×104
Fax:         480-922-9027