New Book Delivered by Arizona’s ‘Cowboy Baby Doctor’
April 16, 2010
KINGMAN, Ariz. –An Arizona doctor who once a month rides his horse into the Grand Canyon to treat Native American patients is touring the state to promote his first book.
Dr. Kenneth Jackson, known in Kingman as the “cowboy baby doctor,” is the author of “Manifest West.” He will be at book signings April 21 at Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S. McClintock Drive, Tempe; and April 22 at Bookmans at 6230 E. Speedway Blvd., Tucson.
Dr. Kenneth Jackson’s book is about a doctor facing medical malpractice while investigating the disappearance of a boy. (Jackson photo)
Jackson has been at book signings in Prescott, Flagstaff and Pinetop promoting his book. The idea for his novel sprang from his fascination with the Native American culture.
The suspense novel is based in the Southwest. The storyline is centered on Jackson’s experiences as a physician, starting in 1976 when he began working for the Indian Health Service on the White Mountain Apache Reservation northeast of Phoenix.
Today, Jackson is a family physician at the Kingman Regional Medical Center. But on the last Friday of each month, he rides by horseback into the Grand Canyon to provide prenatal care for the Supai tribe.
For more information about Jackson’s book, visit www.manifestwest.net.
Treble Heart Books is the publisher of Jackson’s book.
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Arizona Politics Trumps Economics; Students, Needy Families To Suffer
March 21, 2010
EDITORIAL
Are Arizona’s leaders, struggling with an overpowering deficit, downsizing state programs too far?
Last week, Gov. Jan Brewer signed the state’s fiscal 2011 budget of $8.9 billion, which is a reduction of $1.1 billion.
Budget supporters called the new budget a streamlining of state government. Critics say it is hardhearted, with more pain to follow.
Arizona’s legislators for months have been tearing through the state budget like a rolling blackout. Many state agencies will keep the lights on, but others could be dimmed or darkened indefinitely.
Arizona’s residents expect the state to do its job. But when it comes to its vulnerable populations, the state has decided all it can afford to do is look the other way. The state’s legislators congratulated each other after adopting a new budget.
Looking around Arizona, I didn’t see any other celebration. Neighbors shared their disappointment. I read about families living check to check. Most are paying their bills. They are clipping more grocery coupons. There are news stories about families walking away from their mortgages. I see SUVs and other luxury cars in the parking lots of second-hand stores.
Arizona is unlikely to ever become a dead ship sailing. But critics say the state, by cutting vital social programs, is casting adrift some of its neediest populations as well as cutting basic programs and services that benefit everyone.
Unless you have a steady job, dependable health insurance and children in private schools, Arizona government has become as predictable as a junkyard dog turning on its master.
Under the new budget, signed March 18, much of the pain of the proposed budget will be felt by the unemployed, the under-employed, public schools, their students and their families, and residents without health insurance.
These populations have become as vulnerable as children wearing blindfolds in a dodge ball game.
Everyone agrees that, because of the economy, the state’s income is eclipsed by expenses. As a result, budget cuts include the elimination of state jobs, reductions in state health care, reductions in state funds to schools and universities, closing state parks, pay cuts for state employees (except for legislators), and so on. It’s a long list.
As a result, school districts face layoffs, causing increases in class size. Closing state parks means local communities will see fewer visitors. That means a weakened economy for the communities near those state parks. And that translates into more layoffs as well as vandalism and thefts in the parks.
Ironically, the decision to close state parks comes at a time when they are inexpensive vacation options for residents already struggling with unemployment.
Class sizes in public schools could reach 40 to 55, and projected increases in university tuition are among the largest in recent history.
Arizona state government’s once-helpful hands are turning into clenched fists. Taking it on the chin are the state’s most vulnerable and least-politically powerful – its poor and needy, its students, schools and universities, and residents enrolled in state health care programs.
State health care programs also are reduced. That will give former enrollees two options – they can line up at the local emergency rooms, which will force hospitals to increase their rates to paying customers, or they can delay their medical care, which could aggravate their medical conditions and lead to even more costly emergency medical care in the future.
And who pays for those higher costs of emergency medical care suffered by the uninsured delaying treatment? Insured patients, in the form of higher premiums.
Earlier this year, a study by Arizona State University economists predicted that reducing the health care program, which drops about 310,000 adults and 40,000 children from coverage, will cost 42,000 Arizona workers their jobs. That means longer lines at emergency rooms and unemployment centers.
One possible solution to Arizona’s budget crisis – a temporary sales tax increase – was rejected early in the budget talks.
That’s because, bold as Starbucks black, Republicans decided that any talk of a tax hike was forbidden territory. Several lawmakers went on to beat that dead horse by signing an anti-tax pledge. Onlookers saw the pledge for what it was – campaign rhetoric or party solidarity, and at the expense of reason, logic and compassion.
Arizona’s astute voters will remember in November, when they are asked to vote for lawmakers who prefer short-term savings over long-range gains. In Economics 101, that response would be a failing grade.
In fairness, Arizona is not alone when it comes to tackling major budget challenges. Several other states are dealing with budgets as attractive as infected zits. Finding the best response is the billion-dollar challenge.
The budget is contingent on voter approval of Proposition 100, which calls for a temporary sales tax increase. The election is May 18. If approved, the measure could raise $900 million.
For information about Proposition 100, visit www.yeson100.org.
But if voters reject that 1-cent sales tax increase, Arizona legislators will have to trim another $862 million from existing programs. And that, budget critics warn, could slow state government to a crawl.
State Rep. Steve Farley of Tucson, in a bulletin to the Tucson Weekly, says “Arizona’s future is now at risk” because of what he calls “the Republican budget.” Farley, a Democrat, says the budget “has no constituency, only ideology.”
One of the state’s budget watchers is David Griffiths, executive director of tax services at the Phoenix office of Grant Thornton. Griffiths says Arizona, where voters typically oppose tax increases, is one of many states facing severe budget challenges.
Unless Arizona’s economy makes dramatic positive changes, and soon, the state Legislature will be forced to make more budget cuts, says David Griffiths, executive director of tax services at the Phoenix office of Grant Thornton.
If Arizona voters in May reject the proposed sales tax increase, “there will be deeper cuts” to the state budget, “and I don’t know where they would cut any further,” Griffiths says.
“I don’t know what I’d recommend for a temporary fix, to tell you the truth,” Grifftths says. “
“Short of shutting government down, I don’t know what else to do,” he says. “I can’t predict. If the economy doesn’t pick up, things look pretty grim.”
For details about Arizona’s 2011 budget, visit www.azleg.state.az.us/jlbc.htm.
If you would like to contact your Arizona legislator, their names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses are available at www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp.
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Butterfly Exhibit Star Attraction at Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix
March 14, 2010
PHOENIX, Ariz. – A few steps inside their sanctuary, while I was adjusting my camera, I was embraced by two tiny sparks of life as delicate as moonlight. They grabbed my hand with their tiny feet.
All I could do, to avoid startling my two new friends, was stand still. They explored my hand for several minutes.
Eventually, they flew off, joining their many other colorful cousins in the Marshall Butterfly Pavilion at Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Each spring and fall, the Butterfly Exhibit becomes one of the Garden’s most popular attractions.
Some butterflies taste with their feet. That allows them to determine which leaves or flowers are the best places to lay their eggs. Shown are Julia butterflies. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett.
We’re talking about hundreds of butterflies in one place. Watch them flit from flower to flower, or land on the orange slices placed inside the pavilion for them. I’m fascinated by the way they feed. They unfurl a coiled proboscis, or tubular mouth, from their head to get flower nectar. Or juice from orange slices.
When one of the garden workers said many butterflies can taste with their feet, I wondered what the two butterflies were tasting while they explored my hand. Soap? Essence of Steering Wheel with Coffee Cup Seasoning?
If one of the winged wonders lands on you, savor the moment. Allow your wonder at their shimmering colors to unravel the stress caused by fatigue and freeway fumes.
A butterfly is the original shape shifter. It begins life as a caterpillar. It could represent greed because it gorges itself. It later goes into a cocoon, from which it comes back to life as a butterfly, more beautiful than before. In Christianity, the appearance of butterflies each spring around Easter gives it a spiritual connection to the Resurrection.
Butterfly symbols are found in many religions and cultures. They represent transformation, change, joy and beauty. Shown is a Zebra longwing butterfly. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett.
Some believe that if a butterfly enters your life by landing on you, it is an omen suggesting that you are – or will be – undergoing a major change.
A cocoon, to some, might represent fear or beliefs that restrict a person’s individual growth. Break free of the confining cocoon and, like a butterfly, enjoy new opportunities and freedoms.
Butterflies live an average of a month, depending on their size, species, and where they live, according to www.thebutterflysite.com.
Some butterflies live about a week, and others as long as several months. During their short lives, butterflies – like this Pipevine swallowtail – spread beauty by helping pollinate flowers. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett.
Visit the Desert Botanical Garden’s web site, www.dbg.org, for more details about its Butterfly Exhibit. The Garden’s address is 1201 N. Galvin Parkway in Phoenix.
Another interesting site offering details about butterflies and their life cycle is www.magicoflife.org/Pupal_emergence.html, prepared by The Magic of Life Butterfly House.
Only one other time have I seen so many delicate creatures in one place. It was in the 1980s on a mountain near the mining community of Globe, east of metro Phoenix. We were following a winding Forest Service road. We stopped for a break and saw a bush that was pulsing with movement. When we walked closer, we saw that the waist-high reddish bush was covered with ladybugs. Tens of thousands of ladybugs. Probably more. They were swarming. And I didn’t have a camera.
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Desert Viking Starting New Phase of San Marcos Commons in Chandler
March 10, 2010
CHANDLER, Ariz. – Maybe, just maybe, the term “leapfrog development” in central Arizona soon will fade into history, like rotary telephones and index cards.
Maybe developers and cities and homebuyers are starting to recognize the value and long-range importance of higher-density communities in central cities, where a sense of community and easier access to groceries and schools and entertainment will trump long and costly commutes.
The lure of the desert’s magic and lower land prices are why, for many years, residential developers have leapfrogged beyond city boundaries, forcing cities to annex more land and add streets and services for water and other utilities. Those costs, eventually, are passed to home buyers.
Central city living’s amenities are among the advantages cited by Mike Hogarty and Niels Kreipke, co-owners of Desert Viking Cos., developer of a $100 million downtown Chandler project called San Marcos Commons.
Desert Viking is one of a handful of developers busy in metro Phoenix in these challenging economic times. San Marcos Commons, started a few years ago with 37 Spanish colonial-style townhomes, is launching its second phase of 42 townhomes. Prices for the two- and three-story townhomes start in the $199,000s.
Desert Viking’s buyers include first-time homeowners, Canadian visitors, and single professionals.
San Marcos Commons’ units range from 1,343 to 2,037 square feet. The sales center is at 121 N. California St., Unit 28.
The 15-acre mixed-use development’s third phase includes 58,000 square feet for retailers, 28,000 square feet for restaurants, and 70,000 square feet of office space. Although the third phase’s construction schedule depends on market conditions, its projected start date is mid-2011, with completion in mid-2013. The work includes a parking structure with 540 spaces and surface parking with 200 spaces.
And for fans of Arizona history, the new development is across the street from Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort, originally opened as San Marcos Resort in 1913, one year after the Arizona Territory was granted statehood.
Other new developments in downtown Chandler include a $76 million new city hall, and the new $8.5 million Boys and Girls Club. Several new restaurants, bars and art shops also have opened in the downtown area.
Hogarty and Kreipke say residential living in downtown communities, where homeowners can walk to stores and restaurants, can be as attractive as living in the ‘burbs, as well as less costly with shorter commutes to jobs. This summer, for example, fuel costs are expected to pass $3 a gallon. Again. And who wants to bet when, or if, fuel prices will drop.
Desert Viking is a unique developer in Arizona. It has received honors for its restoration of historic buildings in downtown Phoenix and for its work in Chandler on the 90-year-old Suhwaro Hotel and Hotel Chandler. For details, visit www.desertvikingcompanies.com.
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Arizona’s Sunrise Walks and Wildlife, Chimichangas and Historic Buildings
March 7, 2010
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Just a few of my Arizona favorites: A lone bull elk grazing on the lawn early one November morning as I stepped out of El Tovar Lodge at Grand Canyon. I never had seen a bull elk, much less been so close to one. Lunch at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix. Optimism displayed by city officials and the business community at the future of their downtowns in Glendale, Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe and Phoenix. A ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad. La Posada Hotel in Winslow. Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Old Main at Arizona State University.
The redevelopment potential of old warehouses and other aging buildings throughout Arizona. Architects’ creative ideas for these buildings.
Westward Look Resort in Tucson. A visit to Tubac and its arts and crafts shops south of Tucson. A walk around Mission San Xavier del Bac. A visit to any one of Desert Mountain’s golf clubhouses. Silverleaf at DC Ranch.
Chicken chimichangas. Homemade turkey burgers. Barbecued salmon steaks. Guacomole and chips. Chipotle seasoning.
A horseback ride in the desert east of Tucson. Or in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix. Walking the West Fork Trail west of Oak Creek. The end of the summer heat. Ladybug swarms. Saguaros blooming in the moonlight. Watching horizontal lightning. Listening to Carrie Newcomer or Mary Chapin Carpenter or John Gorka sing about growing up and compassion and friends.
A view of the Grand Canyon at sunrise in November, from the south rim. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett.
A sunrise walk on the south rim of the Grand Canyon any time. Sunset at Canyon de Chelly near Chinle. Summer camping in the forest on Mogollon Rim north of Payson. Discovering marine fossils during a summer drive on the Rim Road. Visiting Zane Grey’s cabin before it burned in a forest fire in 1990. (A replica built in Payson opened in 2005.)
Studying the prehistoric petroglyphs at Painted Rock Petroglyph site west of Gila Bend. From a helicopter, photographing inaccessible ruins in the cliffs in central Arizona. A helicopter flight over the Salt and Verde rivers and their dams.
Watching quail, javelina, coyotes and a black rattlesnake, from a distance. Spotting a great white heron in the shallows of the Verde River. Summer rains, desert aromas and rainbows.
A hummingbird zooming up from behind and hovering near my shoulder. Sitting motionless in my parked Jeep when a cactus wren lands on the sill of the open rear passenger door window. It then hops onto the rear seat, then the floor, before it flies away.
Oral histories of early Arizona. The Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort, originally opened as San Marcos Resort in 1913, in downtown Chandler. Taliesin West in northeast Scottsdale. Designs of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Downtown Phoenix’s historic buildings, including Hotel San Carlos, opened in 1928; Orpheum Theatre, 1929; the Luhrs Building, 1924; and the Luhrs Tower, 1930.
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A California University’s Chapel is Rooted Deep in State’s Early History
March 4, 2010
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Out of the corner of my eye, an urban beggar with a long tail distracts me. I was standing on the campus of Santa Clara University, admiring its chapel, the Mission Santa Clara de Asis.
The Franciscan mission became the eighth of 21 founded in California in the 1700s by Roman Catholic missionaries.
I was studying the church’s architecture. I was intrigued by its destruction three times over nearly 150 years – first by flooding, then by earthquake and later by fire – when an approaching squirrel entered my comfort zone and interrupted my thoughts.
Mission Santa Clara de Asis, one of the 21 Franciscan missions founded in California, became home to Santa Clara College in 1851, one year after the Golden State was granted statehood. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett
It was a Saturday morning. Except for a few visitors, the campus was quiet. I turn my head toward the inquisitive squirrel. It stops 10 feet away. In its mouth are two unshelled peanuts. It realizes I am not a statue, nor do I have food, and moves to safety behind a nearby palm tree.
The restored mission originally was founded in 1777. It was the eighth of 21 missions founded in California, and it became the only one named for a woman, St. Clare (1198-1253). Today, the mission functions as the university chapel.
Near the chapel is a memorial garden honoring St. Clare. A plaque describes her as “a religious mystic and peacemaker, spiritual friend of St. Francis, and the first woman in Western Europe to compose a rule of religious life for women, the Poor Clares.”
For a century and a half after its founding by Padre Tomas de la Pena, the church was moved or rebuilt several times because of damage from floods in 1779, an earthquake in 1818 and a fire in 1926.
In 1851, Santa Clara College, the first in California, was founded in the mission buildings by the Jesuits. In May 1928, today’s Santa Clara mission chapel – resembling the chapel of 100 years earlier – was dedicated. All that remains of the original mission is the Adobe Wall, a section of garden wall. For more information about the mission and the college, visit www.scu.edu/visitors/mission/history.cfm.
In the chapel’s tower are the original bells received from Spain in the late 1700s, according to California mission history. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett
The church façade and the bell tower are striking against the royal blue sky and white-as-fresh-snow clouds. The clouds are the remnants of a Pacific storm that marched across the coastal region overnight. It left the air and buildings and flowers freshly washed, and the lawns sparkling.
I spend several minutes pacing around the front of the church, looking for the best angle for photos. I want to capture the contrast created by the morning light and fading shadows.
I sense that someone is watching. I look around and see a campus security officer approaching on a Segway. Maybe he’s a Santa Clara policeman. Through our dark glasses, we study each other, 50 feet apart, then exchange smiles. He rides on.
Sad, how recent events have forced us to become more vigilant. Are you friend or foe? I’m watching you. I know you know. But have a nice day.
Shielding a sidewalk along one side of the church is a wood frame canopy supporting an ancient vine. The base of the vine is as thick as a tree. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett
A few other solitary visitors follow me onto the mission grounds. Maybe a walk through local history and physical beauty is their goal.
One visitor is a young woman in jeans and a sweatshirt. Another is a woman shouldering her backpack. Then comes a balding man in his 40s. He smiles. The women didn’t. They focused on the sidewalk, out of shyness or their burden of private thoughts. A third young woman gives me a friendly, but uncertain, up-from-under glance.
Later, a woman with a boy of about 12 – both dressed for a special event – excuses herself for walking in front of my camera.
“Sorry,” she says, taking a sudden step backward.
I lower my camera.Tagging along behind them is an older woman, taking slower steps. A grandmother, maybe?
A black-and-white cat sleeping on a bench in the shadows of the Adobe Wall ignores my approach. Until I stop. Then it slowly opens its pale blue eyes, one at a time, and only part way. We study each other. The cat has a rotund shape. It must be someone’s companion.
I walk on. When I return, the cat is gone. A few feet later, around a corner, we spot each other again. The cat starts to head my way, then reverses course. It pads into a flowerbed’s soft dirt for its morning duty.
A doorway in the Adobe Wall, a section of garden wall that is all that remains of the original mission, frames Mission Santa Clara’s tower. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett
Between one side of the church and the sidewalk is a secluded grassy alcove perfect for special ceremonies. I see two young men and a young woman talk and make hand gestures like they were arranging future memories. A play? Graduation? A wedding?
A young woman pushing a stroller on the sidewalk shaded by the vine stops in a small circular concrete plaza bordered by flowers. We exchange smiles. She lifts a toddler out of the stroller. She holds onto the little boy’s left hand as he steps up on the curb along the flowerbed. His steps are uncertain. Then the mischievous youngster spies a pile of animal droppings on the curb.
The woman leans down to the boy and coos, “Don’t step on the poop.”
He ignores her. Bull’s-eye with his right foot. But the poop is hard. Disobedience fails today. The woman reaches for the stroller handle with her other hand. She and the boy walk on, four of his tiny rapid fire steps for every one of her slow ones.
The bright morning light is erasing shadows. I glance at my watch. It’s time to head back to my car. The airport isn’t far.
I stop again in front of the mission to admire its architecture. In the quiet and the beauty radiating from the church and the flowers, I wonder about the countless others who, in the mission’s history of more than 200 years, walked the church’s hallowed grounds to heal inner wounds.
Maybe they walked the grounds at sunrise or sunset to watch the golden sunlight carve new shadows. Maybe they strolled at night, holding hands with a best friend, under the light pouring from a million silver stars.
I hope to visit Mission Santa Clara de Asis again.
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Luxury Hotel, Convention Center Planned by Pascua Yaqui Tribe in Tucson
Feb. 22, 2010
TUCSON, Ariz. – A luxury hotel with 215 rooms and a conference center accommodating up to 1,500 guests are planned adjacent to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s Casino Del Sol.
Designs for the multimillion-dollar expansion project include includes a steakhouse with seating for 100; an international buffet with seating for up to 250; a lobby lounge and bar; an exercise facility with a spa; an outdoor pool; an arcade for teens next to the lobby and gift shop; and a parking structure with 1,120 spaces.
Rendering of the new hotel and convention center courtesy of McCarthy Building Cos.
Casino Del Sol and Casino of the Sun are owned by the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. Both casinos are southwest of downtown Tucson. A map showing their locations is available on the Tribe’s web site, www.solcasinos.com.
The expansion project’s architect is Phoenix-based Leo A Daly. McCarthy Building Cos. in Tempe is the general contractor. The owner’s representative is Innovation Project Development. Construction will start in March 2010. Completion is scheduled for late 2011.
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Doctors Offering Five-Star Customer Service at New Cancer Clinic
Feb. 10, 2010
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – When their doctors say those gritty words, “It’s cancer,” patients often see themselves heading down a one-way road. And it looks rough.
They suck in their breath. Their fingers, searching for anything to hold onto, turn into white-knuckled fists. Their courage is challenged. They think about hair loss. Nausea. Or worse.
Aware that a patient’s cancer diagnosis often is a ticket to a difficult journey, even with family support, two Scottsdale physicians are offering five-star features in their practice.
Drs. Andrew Buresh and Lesley Meng are settling into their new Desert Springs Cancer Care Center in north Scottsdale. Their philosophy includes customer service techniques that are the cornerstone of the hotel industry.
Drs. Andrew Buresh and Lesley Meng, to make their patients more comfortable during treatment, are making their new clinic more like a luxury home. Photo courtesy of Desert Springs Cancer Care
Buresh and Meng adopted the hospitality industry’s service techniques after meetings with executives at Four Seasons resorts, first in Hawaii and later in Scottsdale. The key to first-class customer service, Buresh and Meng say, is hiring skilled personnel who can make patients feel comfortable.
“We can teach people how to answer the phones properly, but we can’t teach people how to be nice or teach them what should be in their hearts,” Buresh says. “So when we picked our staff, that was what we were going after, looking for customer service. We’re looking for skill as well, but also customer service.”
Smiles, eye contact and compassion are key attributes. So are remembering the names of the patients and their families, even their preferences of coffee from the clinic’s exclusive coffee menu, says Patricia Wuensche, the office administrator.
“Always, always greet the patient,” Wuensche says. “It doesn’t matter who you are, what your position is, how many times you’ve see that patient, you give them eye contact, say hello, how’s your day. Give them some kind of acknowledgment every single time you see them.”
Hospitality industry secrets
Besides meeting with Four Seasons executives, Buresh read the book, “Four Seasons: The Business Philosophy,” by Isadore Sharp, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
Desert Springs is at 21803 N. Scottsdale Road. Enter the front door – outside of which you are asked to leave your fear – and you’ll find a 5,000-square-foot medical facility that looks like anything but. A sitting area is a coffee aficionado’s dream, with many selections of coffee. Cancer patients undergoing treatment sit in leather-covered reclining loungers where they can read, listen to music, even knit.
“We want the patients to feel comfortable when they walk through the door,” Meng says. “When they come here, they come here with a lot of anxiety. They are scared to death. They don’t know what it means to have cancer.”
The offices lack the sterile feel, smell or look of a typical medical office. Wood office doors are replaced by sliding glass doors.
Other features include a pharmacy, manicure and pedicure services, facials, massages, yoga classes, acupuncture, chiropractic treatment and advice for physical therapy and nutrition.
Physicians and staff avoid wearing stethoscopes and white lab coats. Business casual is required. So are smiles and attentiveness. The ambiance is very user-friendly.
Instead of arrow straight, the corridors are undulating, like the waves of an ocean. The color scheme of the walls and furniture is earth-tone greens, blues, browns and corals.
The offices were built and fitted with “green” construction materials and furniture. Lights are automated to turn off when the rooms are empty.
“We want it to be more like a home environment, not like a medical clinic,” Meng says.
But of all the features offered by Desert Springs, the number one priority – after medical expertise – is an attentive, professional and compassionate staff, with emphasis on compassion, Meng says.
“We hired our staff with extra-friendly skills,” she says. “These people were just born to be people pleasers.”
Wuensche adds that the doctors give their cell phone numbers to their patients so the patients can call them any time of day or night.
Fear can be worse than treatment
Buresh says apprehension of cancer treatment sometimes creates more anguish than the treatment itself.
“Most patients come back and say, ‘Gee, this is not as bad as I thought it was going to be,” he says.
Hair loss depends on the type of chemotherapy used. “It’s variable, from one patient to another. Nausea also is variable, depending on the drug. While nausea may not always be reduced or eliminated completely, we are able to reduce its impact quite a bit these days,” Buresh says.
“Everyone’s different,” he continues. “I’ve had 85-year-olds sail through a combination of chemotherapy for lymphoma, and I’ve had 25-year-old girls with breast cancer who have nothing but trouble. There’s no way to predict.”
Buresh and Meng say the rate of cancer, already affecting about a third of the U.S. population, could increase because people are living longer.
Meng says the risk of contracting cancer can be reduced by limiting consumption of alcohol and foods treated with pesticides. Physical exercise, such as 30-minute workouts three times a week, also can reduce cancer risks.
One of the office staff is Cheryl Freeman, a cancer survivor. She was 40 when a routine blood test for her back surgery a few years ago looked suspicious. Further tests confirmed she had leukemia. She says her initial apprehension, treatment and recovery give her a clearer perspective in helping cancer patients.
“I’m sure everyone knows someone with cancer, unfortunately,” Freeman says. “I feel very, very, very lucky.
Desert Springs opened in December. Buresh, Meng and their staff will host an open house and fund-raising event Feb. 25, from 4 to 7 p.m. Proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society.
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Historic Church in Southern Arizona is a Visual, Religious Beacon
Feb. 2, 2010
TUCSON, Ariz. –After a week of January storms, the air in southern Arizona was clean and fresh. So were the historic church’s dome and towers, glistening as white as the new snow blanketing the mountains north and east of Tucson.
San Xavier del Bac, nicknamed the “White Dove of the desert,” is like a beacon in the desert, visible for miles in many directions. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett
The mission is a few miles south of Tucson, just west of Interstate 19, on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation. The parking lot at San Xavier del Bac was empty on a recent Saturday morning. I was the first to arrive. Exterior photos on this day will be easy, but interior shots will have to wait for another day. The church and staff will be occupied by two baptisms and other services.
Soon after I parked, other visitors began arriving in family groups. They filled a parking lot that was separate from public parking, so I assumed the family visitors lived nearby. Other visitors, including those on a tour bus, walked around the church, talking softly and pulling out their cameras.
One elderly gentleman used a four-footed metal cane in his left hand. He took tiny steps as he approached the main entrance. We exchanged good mornings. He wore a Marines jacket and cap, the kind you might receive when you join a retired veterans club. He walked soldier straight, despite his age. An attentive young woman was at his right elbow.
Inside the church museum, a visitor motions for her companion to join her at a window. She explains that the thick walls keep the church cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
The church’s exterior provides an endless source of photo angles, depending on time of day, time of year, and whether the day is sunny or cloudy. Morning and evening sunlight, arched doorways, niches and other architectural features – including the apocalyptic cat and mouse above the front entrance – offer creative and constantly changing shadows for memorable photo angles.
Little is known about the reason why a cat and a mouse were placed in swirls at the top of the church’s facade. Photo by Mike Padgett
The cat and mouse are crouching in the façade’s swirls. The cat is on the east side of the facade. The mouse is on the west side. If the cat should ever catch the mouse, so the legend goes, the end of the world is near.
The features of the cat and the mouse have been worn smooth by years of wind and rain. Photo by Mike Padgett
In the church gift shop, I bought a copy of author Kathleen Walker’s book, “San Xavier: The Spirit Endures.” The photographs were provided by contributors to Arizona Highways, which publishes the magazine with the same name as well as books about Arizona’s peoples and places.
In her prologue, author Walker says San Xavier, “which has been compared to the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, is called the finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the United States.”
A plaque on the church says the mission was founded in 1692 by Fr. Eusebio Kino in 1692. It says the “present church was built under the direction of the Franciscans.” Work started in 1783 and was completed in 1797.
In the 1870s, the church was a dominant structure in Arizona. Photo from Library of Congress archives.
There are different stories about the church’s uncapped tower. According to one, “when the (Spanish) Crown placed a tax on finished buildings, the Franciscans purposely left the tower incomplete,” author-historian-storyteller Marshall Trimble wrote in the second edition of his book, “Roadside History of Arizona.”
But since churches were exempt from taxation, another story has it that the mission simply ran out of money, according to Walker in her book about the church.
A must-see destination
San Xavier del Bac, as expected, is included many books and maps about Arizona. One popular map was created by the late Bob Waldmire, an illustrator who for about 40 years traveled Route 66. He created and sold maps of old Route 66, which ran from Illinois to California, as well as maps of the states crossed by the “Mother Road.”
Waldmire died in December 2009 following a bout with cancer. Friends called him the “last original hippie” and the “Johnny Appleseed of Route 66.” A story about Waldmire’s death appeared in the Dec. 18, 2009, issue of the Chicago Tribune.
The mission also is prominent on Southern Arizona artist Royce Davenport’s whimsical “Classic Map of Arizona.” Standing next to the sketch of the mission is a cartoonish cowboy saying, “Enchiladas por favor. Some say Tucson is the Mexican food capitol of the known world.”
Solitude prompts memories
As I walk around San Xavier, and read its history in its museum, the peace surrounding the mission blocks out today’s news and sparks a cavalcade of unconnected memories. Some I’d rather forget. Others are poignant.
I also remember the irreverence of Mark Twain in his writings about religion. In his 1896 essay, The Lowest Animal, he wrote: “Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion – several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn’t straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother’s path to happiness and heaven.”
Morning light is gone
It was approaching 11 a.m. Families still trickled into the church. The morning light was long gone. I shoulder my camera bag and head for my car. A few families are arriving for their Saturday picnics. They’re taking their places south of the church at the barbecue grills under the mesquite wood ramadas. Someone has an early start. I can smell the aroma of meat dripping juices into the flames.
The hill east of San Xavier offers one of the best vistas from which to study the church’s architecture. Copyright photo by Mike Padgett.
Historic churches like the missions in Arizona and California are among my favorite destinations. Their architecture and peaceful courtyards and history are like an ancient magic.
Maybe the churches’ patient ghosts are trying to teach something to this independent soul.
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(Ideas for interesting news stories about Arizona residents and businesses are welcome. Please send ideas and suggestions to Mike@ArizonaNotebook.com.)
Tucson Selected for Solar Energy Plant by Bell Independent Power
Jan. 19, 2010
TUCSON, Ariz. – The UA Tech Park in Tucson will be home to a new 5-megawatt solar plant with a thermal storage system that will be the first of its type in the world.
The new facility will be developed, financed, owned and operated by Bell Independent Power Corp. of Rochester, N.Y. The projected cost of the new project is $32 million. It will begin providing power to Tucson Electric Power customers by May 2011.
Heat from the sun will be captured by 45 acres of parabolic solar mirrors. The plant’s concentrated solar power, or CSP, is projected to produce enough energy to power more than 1,500 typical Tucson homes.
“The innovative storage technology built into this plant should provide us with clean, green renewable power in the late afternoon hours when our customers’ energy usage typically reaches the peak,” Paul Bonavia, chairman, president and chief executive of TEP and its parent company, UniSource Energy Corp., said today in a press release.
Bell’s thermal storage system “can make solar power more reliable and cost competitive with fossil fuel energy,” said Joseph Bell Jr., president of Bell Independent Power.
Bell designed the facility by applying its energy expertise from the nuclear power industry and five years of research and development. The proprietary thermal technology is capable of storing heat from the sun for several hours, allowing the new plant to generate power during cloudy days or after sunset.
Construction of the plant will employ 75 workers. When completed, it will have seven fulltime workers.
The CSP project will be an anchor tenant of the UA Tech Park’s new Solar Zone. The UA Tech Park occupies 1,345 acres in southeast Tucson.
News of the new power plant was announced simultaneously today by officials at UA Tech Park; Bell Independent Power; Tucson Electric Power; and Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, or TREO.
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