Sandra Ortellado – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Thu, 02 Feb 2017 06:02:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Sandra Ortellado – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Stanford contributes to youth mental health care initiatives https://stanforddaily.com/2017/02/01/stanford-contributes-to-youth-mental-health-care-initiatives/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/02/01/stanford-contributes-to-youth-mental-health-care-initiatives/#respond Wed, 01 Feb 2017 08:38:17 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1122245 Stanford is working with community partners to provide better mental health care for youths in the Peninsula area.

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Stanford Children’s Health and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital are working closely this year with nearby health centers to provide local, accessible inpatient care and long-term outpatient programming in the hope of addressing gaps in adolescent mental health care services.

A team of Stanford doctors will help cover the 17-bed adolescent psychiatry unit at Mills-Peninsula Health Services in San Mateo, where parasuicidal and suicidal adolescent patients referred by nearby hospital emergency rooms and high schools receive overnight psychiatric attention.

The Palo Alto community has a teen suicide rate more than four times the national average and is notorious for two student suicide clusters affecting Gunn High School and Palo Alto High School since 2009. Because there are no adolescent inpatient care units in Santa Clara County, Mills-Peninsula is the closest inpatient unit in the Peninsula area.

“Over the years I’ve had a good relationship with the team at Stanford Health’s adolescent psychiatry division and we’ve developed a sense that we could work more closely together,” said Daniel Becker ’77, medical director of behavioral health at Mills-Peninsula.

Many patients who are transferred to inpatient care end up with different doctors than they see for regular outpatient treatment at Stanford clinics and facilities, resulting in the loss of important information and the “erosion” of the patient experience, Becker said.

“One way to smooth out the potential discontinuities between levels of care or facilities is to have doctors or clinicians from the same team working across those settings,” he said.

Antonio Hardan, with whom Becker has worked closely for nearly two years, is the director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford Medical Center. Hardan is coordinating the more intensive outpatient programs in the hope they will complement the continuity of care from inpatient psychiatric doctors.

“There is a need for us here at Stanford to develop a continuum of care between traditional outpatient and inpatient services,” Hardan said, discussing the inspiration for the new intensive outpatient program. “We have been mostly heavily focused on outpatient therapy so we had a void in higher level of care.”

A six-month outpatient program run by Stanford Children’s Health will include an optional, intensive eight-week component focusing on dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a form of cognitive behavioral therapy particularly effective for chronically suicidal individuals. The outpatient component will consist of weekly individual, group and family therapy sessions that last for three hours a day, three to four days a week. Patients will have the flexibility to participate in either the outpatient or intensive outpatient program (IOP). They will even be allowed to switch between programs depending on the severity of their symptoms.

Hardan said he and his colleagues would like to add a partial hospital program in the future, but for now, they are focusing on the outpatient and inpatient program they have planned.

Organizations such as Adolescent Counseling Services (ACS) in Redwood City contribute to local youth mental health care by providing a network of family therapists and professionally-led support groups to teens, tweens and young adults in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. The organizations work with schools like Palo Alto High School and provide on-site counselors for students, and they often refer patients to inpatient facilities like Mills-Peninsula.

Christine Tam, the director of ACS, says that providing targeted, accessible and comprehensive care, especially on-site at schools, where teens spend most of their day, can help combat the stigma that often prevents mental health care from being prioritized.

“School is the most accessible place for them to get services and while we do provide on-site services for them, there is always a need for more,” Tam said. “We do get really full.”

According to Tam, although many outside therapists may be available, families sometimes struggle to get past the stigma of mental health to prioritize care or find therapists that will take their insurance.

“Even when we do make referrals outside, it’s really hard for us to know whether the family is actually taking that referral and going and getting the services and treatment they need,” she said.

In spite of the stigma around mental health care, Becker and his colleagues are optimistic. They point to the evolving trajectory of adolescent mental health support, which includes increased screening for psychiatric illness in primary care and slowly changing perceptions about mental health.

“Teens are especially sensitive to social feedback, so if something is highly stigmatized, that would be something they would think twice about getting help for,” Becker said. “That is changing quite a bit. We have a long way to go still, but we have already come a long way, and I’m very happy about that.”

 

Contact Sandra Ortellado at sortella ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported two words in Daniel Becker’s quotes. The Daily regrets this error.  

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David Rumsey Map Center celebrates opening https://stanforddaily.com/2016/04/26/david-rumsey-map-center-celebrates-opening/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/04/26/david-rumsey-map-center-celebrates-opening/#respond Tue, 26 Apr 2016 09:32:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1114135 Last week, the David Rumsey Map Center opened in Green Library, unveiling a new collection of 150,000 pieces donated by David Rumsey to Stanford Libraries. With the Rumsey maps, the new Center builds on maps from other donors, Stanford’s Special Collections and the Branner Earth Sciences Library to create a wealth of resources that Stanford Libraries calls “unparalleled on the West Coast.”

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Last week, the David Rumsey Map Center opened in Green Library, unveiling a new collection of 150,000 pieces donated by David Rumsey to Stanford Libraries.

The collection, amassed by the retired real-estate developer and longtime collector over more than 40 years, features a wide range of artifacts, from atlases to globes to children’s maps, and spans the whole Earth, focusing in particular on North and South America. With the Rumsey maps, the new center builds on maps from other donors, Stanford’s Special Collections and the Branner Earth Sciences Library to create a wealth of resources that Stanford Libraries calls “unparalleled on the West Coast.”

The Rumsey collection is not only large but unusually accessible — a characteristic that was important to Rumsey when he chose Stanford to host his maps.

“In the past, these kinds of collections were more about preservation, which is good, very admirable,” Rumsey told KQED. “But we would like to change that paradigm.”

The entire Rumsey collection will be available online as part of Stanford Libraries’ Cartographic Digital Philanthropy Program. The program — whose phrase “digital philanthropy” was coined by Rumsey himself — makes personal collections widely available to viewers in digital form, allowing them to visualize cartography with geospatial mapping technology.

(KEVIN HSU/The Stanford Daily)
(KEVIN HSU/The Stanford Daily)

“The center addresses one of the key concerns of historians in the computer age: How are we going to make sure key materials survive?” said Karen Wigen, Frances and Charles Field Professor of History.

Each piece in the collection was scanned and put in an online database equipped with special tools for analysis. For example, one can overlay maps of the same location from different time periods and compare side-by-side how cartographers understood the world around them in the past and present.

Technology is also important to the physical Center in Green. Its fourth-floor room in the Bing Wing features two massive iPad-like touch screens, one 12- by 7-foot and one 16- by 19-foot, that allow visitors to zoom in and examine maps in minute detail.

During last week’s opening events, Rumsey, head and curator of the Center G. Salim Mohammed, consulting associate professor of engineering Paul Saffo J.D. ’80 and other staff demonstrated an array of technology at the Center’s disposal, from the aforementioned giant screens to iPads to the virtual reality tool Oculus Rift.

“Over time the map center will become a place not only about history but also about the history of technology,” Rumsey told The Daily.

Both David Rumsey and his wife Abby Rumsey, who was at last Tuesday’s packed grand opening, emphasized what the center has to offer for students.

“What I hope Stanford students will be able to take away from the center is an understanding of the power of exploration,” Abby Rumsey said. “Maps have a lot of things only discovered by close analysis. They have a denser level of information that can help you understand broader concepts.”

“We’re hoping that students will define how they might use the center,” David Rumsey added.

The center and its opening exhibit “A Universe of Maps,” which runs through August, took over five years of planning by Mohammed in collaboration with Rumsey.

“[Rumsey] is the world’s most involved donor,” Mohammed said of the partnership between Rumsey and Stanford Libraries.

The fruits of this extensive planning were on display throughout last week, as the center celebrated its opening with two days of talks from center staff and scholars at Stanford and other universities.

Many at Stanford already engaged in map-related work shared their enthusiasm during the Center’s festivities. At a presentation by Stanford’s Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA), which encompasses a variety of research projects in the digital humanities, multiple researchers described how maps and spatial data had opened up new angles of inquiry whether they were investigating the development of the Grand Canyon or fictional portrayals of London.

Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, also spoke of maps’ ability to enhance learning.

“Using both maps and spatial data allowed me to do some of the best teaching I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.

The Center is open for viewing from 1 to 5 p.m. on weekdays to both Stanford community members and the public. Visitors must request materials in advance.

 

Hannah Knowles contributed to this report.

Contact Sandra Ortellado at sortella ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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‘Scary Path’ roped off, but students push for improvements https://stanforddaily.com/2016/03/29/scary-path-roped-off-but-students-push-for-improvements/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/03/29/scary-path-roped-off-but-students-push-for-improvements/#respond Tue, 29 Mar 2016 08:33:27 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1112593 The path between Enchanted Broccoli Forest (EBF) and Kappa Alpha (KA) fraternity house, known to students as “scary path," has been recently fenced off with bollards and chains on both sides and a sign barring entry. However, some students believe more is needed to make the path safe.

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The path between Enchanted Broccoli Forest (EBF) and Kappa Alpha (KA) fraternity house, known to students as “scary path,” has been recently fenced off with bollards and chains on both sides and a sign barring entry. However, some students believe more is needed to make the path safe.

Stanford’s measures to prevent unsanctioned use of the path follow creation of a task force, called the Knoll Path Working Group, dedicated to addressing safety concerns of students using the path as a shortcut home from late-night events. While the University has no immediate plans to modify the dirt path itself, this group is working to build a walkway and install lighting.

The Knoll Path Working Group consists of four undergraduate students, a graduate student and five administrators, including Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman, who co-chairs the task force with Alexis Kallen ’18.

Kallen has led the initiative to improve student safety in the “scary path” area since last year, after working as an executive fellow for the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU). Kallen said she was alarmed when she received numerous emails from students expressing concern about the rocky and dangerous path where many had fallen or were afraid of being attacked.

Kallen said approximately 85 percent of the emails she received about “scary path” expressed a fear of sexual assault.

The 528-foot-long dirt path, which takes approximately two minutes to walk, is isolated and dark at night, and surrounded by a wooded area. Last January, former Stanford varsity swimmer Brock Turner was allegedly found sexually assaulting an unconscious woman about ten feet from the path, according to a brief written by Kallen and Elizabeth Woodson ’15, former ASSU president.

Several students quoted in the brief mentioned that they frequent the path in order to reach KA and other fraternities, especially on weekend nights. Kallen said that members of Greek life, especially the Kappa Sigma and KA fraternities, have been “very supportive” of efforts to make the area safer.

Jordan Parker ’18, who works closely with Kallen as part of the task force, said concerns about “scary path” have an extensive history.

“It goes back, I think, six or seven years that students have felt that this is something that needed to be addressed,” Parker said.

The recently created task force marks the first concrete effort to combat the issue.

At the Knoll Path Working Group’s first meeting in mid-February, members discussed potential approaches to improve safety and security for students using the path, including constructing a paved and lighted pathway.

The University said it has not made improvements to the path, and does not currently intend to, because the route is not a legal thoroughfare.

“The path in question has never been a University-sanctioned transportation route; it is a shortcut that students elected to take instead of staying on lighted, paved pathways as is advised by campus police and the University,” wrote University spokesperson Lisa Lapin in an email. “Because it is not a University path, yet students have continued to choose to use it, the University has installed chains and “no entry” signs.”

However, Lapin also noted that “there are ongoing discussions with a working group of students and staff to study the options.”

“I think there has been some implication that students just shouldn’t be drinking or that [the University] can’t be responsible for their behavior if they decide to cut through,” said Lily Lamboy M.A. ’13, a fourth-year Ph.D. student on the task force.

However, students like Lamboy and Kallen are pushing to improve the existing pathway rather than encourage alternative routes. Lamboy and Kallen both pointed out that students prioritizing efficiency and speed over safety might not be deterred from using the path despite the fence and signs.

One student living in nearby Narnia house, who preferred not to be named, confirmed this intuition, saying, “basically [the path] being roped off is completely ignored by everyone.”

Several Knoll Path Working Group members emphasized the importance of listening to student concerns and making safety accessible.

“It’s important to recognize that especially late at night, people really want to get home quickly,” Lamboy said. “And right now there’s not a very efficient or quick way to get from one place to another, so people use this as a cut-through. I see that as a safety trade-off, and that’s a bad trade-off for students to have to make.’’

Conservationists have raised concerns that paving “scary path” would destroy the ecological habitat of an endangered species of salamanders living in the area around Lake Lagunita. But both Kallen and Lamboy believe it is possible to work around the endangered salamanders species in a collaborative effort.

An elevated boardwalk would be one way to provide a safe and lighted pathway without disrupting the salamanders, Kallen said. Furthermore, the boardwalk would provide ease of access for individuals with disabilities and eliminate the need to level the pathway.

Knoll Path Working Group members are also looking at additional measures, such as putting up a map near the path and giving comprehensive campus tours to new undergraduate and graduate students to help them understand campus geography and minimize their chances of getting lost in an unfamiliar part of campus.

Joy Leighton, communications director for Student Affairs, said in an email that Boardman is working with the Knoll Path Working Group to draft an informational email to students about the path, which will be sent at the end of March.

 

Contact Sandra Ortellado at sortella ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Concussion center pioneers treatment for dilemma in college sports https://stanforddaily.com/2016/03/09/concussion-center-pioneers-treatment-for-dilemma-in-college-sports/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/03/09/concussion-center-pioneers-treatment-for-dilemma-in-college-sports/#comments Wed, 09 Mar 2016 10:45:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1112172 The Stanford Concussion and Brain Performance Center is at the cutting edge of concussion diagnosis and rehabilitation, with eye-tracking technology and a treatment protocol combining exercise and recovery.

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The Stanford Concussion and Brain Performance Center is at the cutting edge of concussion diagnosis and rehabilitation, with eye-tracking technology and a treatment protocol combining exercise and recovery.

Established in 2014, the Center aims to improve treatment of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

The Center complements a Department of Defense-funded consortium led by Stanford called the Brain Trauma Evidence-based Consortium (B-TEC). Created the same year as the Center, the B-TEC seeks to develop an evidence-based definition for concussion and proper diagnosis.

“There are over 3.1 million concussions that happen in this country any year,” said Scott Anderson, director of athletic training at Stanford. “It’s an epidemic. People don’t realize it.”

“The area has been poorly studied and people don’t really understand what the symptoms or what the clinical presentation of concussion actually is,” he said.

At the forefront of diagnosis and treatment for athletes

Anderson and the rest of Stanford’s Athletic Department worked closely with Jamshid Ghajar, clinical professor of neurosurgery and director of the Center, to develop a protocol for diagnosis and treatment of student athletes. Ghajar is also head of the B-TEC and president of the Brain Trauma Foundation, a nationwide organization that works to improve the care of traumatic brain injury patients.

Ghajar and a team of neuroscientists refined a patented portable eye-tracking technology called EYE-SYNC, which measures attention focus and recognizes unique signals indicating concussion.

Stanford athletes who think they may have a concussion immediately take the eye-tracking test, in which they watch a small circle move on a screen while the device monitors their eye movement. The device can also pick up on sleep deprivation and attention-deficit disorder.

“To my knowledge, the only places in the world right now that are using eye-tracking to detect concussions are Stanford University and the military,” Anderson said.

Before they can begin training, all student athletes must complete a baseline concussion test that can be used for comparison later to assess their medical condition. Baseline testing has become a standard requirement in university athletic programs across the country.

But today’s eye-tracking technology has made baseline testing somewhat of an extra precaution, because the eye-tracking device can detect concussions in just 30 seconds.

Ghajar, who treats patients at the Center in addition to conducting research, said he thinks that baseline testing will soon switch over to surveillance testing monitoring athletes not to see if they have returned to baseline performance but to make sure they are in safe condition to be able to train and compete.

After the eye test, athletes suspected of having a concussion undergo two additional series of tests to rule out other injuries or conditions, such as whiplash, that are often misdiagnosed as concussion.

One series of tests evaluates functioning of the vestibular system, which monitors orientation of the body with respect to gravity and can be impaired by damage to the inner ear. These tests involve balancing exercises such as reading from a paper while walking forward.

Another series of tests consists of more traditional exercises that evaluate memory and cognitive function, testing athletes’ ability to recite sequences backwards and identify their location and the date.

The combination of these tests with the eye-tracking technology creates a particularly exhaustive approach to diagnosis.

Following diagnosis, Stanford immediately exercises concussed athletes on a cardio-based exercise machine in order to reestablish circadian rhythms and restore sleep cycles that aid healing. Ghajar said that long periods of rest actually impede recovery.

Anderson estimated that in the most favorable conditions, athletes following the treatment plan and passing regular testing throughout the recovery process could recover in five to six days.

Ghajar supported this estimate, saying that 90 percent of concussion cases treated at the Center recover within a week. Athletes recover even sooner, he said, often in three to four days.

Brian Rossi ’18, a wrestler who recently underwent concussion diagnosis and treatment, said he believes he has had many diagnosed and undiagnosed concussions throughout his career. According to both Ghajar and a 2014 NCAA concussion study, wrestlers are at the highest risk for concussions in NCAA sports.

Rossi noted that in his high school wrestling experience, doctors and coaches would not allow players to return to practice until they reached their normal baseline levels. At Stanford, he said, trainers immediately but gradually ease athletes into training, instead of telling athletes to cut all exercise until they are completely symptom free.

“I would say Stanford is more aggressive in their treatment,” said Rossi, who was cleared for competition about a week after initial testing.

In addition to treating TBIs, the Center is conducting the largest long-term study on concussions in the United States.

This study, launched in 2011 and funded by the Department of Defense, seeks to redefine concussions and develop a new brain trauma classification system for effective diagnostics and therapeutics. It examines 5,000 soldiers and 5,000 civilians and athletes from all over the country, including at Stanford. Researchers plan to publish results this fall.

A dilemma in collegiate sports

The Concussion and Brain Performance Center was founded amid heightened national discussion in medicine and the media about the consequences of concussions.

In 2011 and 2012 respectively, the suicides of NFL safety Dave Duerson and NFL linebacker Tiaina “Junior” Seau drew national attention to the lasting brain damage that can result from concussions sustained on the field. Analysis of Duerson and Seau’s brains revealed that both had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a serious neurodegenerative disease.

But concussion controversy extends beyond the NFL, and athletes attested to the prevalence of concussions in high-contact college sports.

“I think in my eight-year football career, I’ve probably had 15 to 20 concussions,” wrote Anthony Wilkerson ’14, a former Stanford running back, in an email. “Fifteen or 20 times where in your head you think, ‘What did I just do? What did I just hit? I need a minute to gather. Ah, my head is pounding. Just go back to the huddle and do what’s necessary to get this win.’”

Anderson said that just in one quarter, the Stanford football team can average around 20 new concussion cases.

A number of national programs have arisen to address concussions in high-contact sports. For example, every football coach in the U.S. must now be Heads Up Football-certified to teach players to reduce dangerous contact by not using their heads to hit.

Stanford football player Peter Kalambayi ’17 also said that concussion detection has become a much greater priority in recent years.

“In the past it was more lenient in terms of diagnosing the concussion,” he said.

However, Wilkerson said that high-contact sports will always put athletes at risk.

“As we’ve moved forward, the approach to TBIs have changed immensely for the good but they will never be where they need to be as long as football is football,” he wrote. “Playing football expedites the process of cognitive decline.”

“Dr. Bennett Omalu, the first to publish findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in football players, made that clear to me when I asked him via email if there was anything we could do about concussions in football,” Wilkerson added. “He simply said ‘stop playing.’”  

Still, in a sport like football where concussions are so commonplace that players often refer to minor unreported concussions as “getting your bell rung,” many players like Kalambayi, who aspires to a career in the NFL say they fully understand and accept the risks of playing.

“When you put on your football helmet, there’s a warning sticker on the inside that says ‘Football is a dangerous sport. May result in serious injuries,’” Kalambayi said. “You see that the first time you play football when you’re like 10 years old.”

“Every player knows they are going to get concussed at some point it’s just a matter of how severe your concussion is going to be,” he said. “Everybody that plays football has kind of accepted it.”

When asked about the potentially serious long-term complications of playing high contact sports like football, wrestling and ice hockey in a university setting, Ghajar emphasized that he and the other doctors at the Center are very careful about patients who do not recover quickly, and for whom it may no longer be safe to continue playing contact sports.

Ghajar said that CTE is not sufficiently understood at this point to determine early on whether someone may be at risk for developing it. He also noted that, in addition to contact sports, sleep deprivation can be a large risk factor for injuries of all types, including brain injuries.

Ghajar added that student athletes come to universities mainly to study. He said that activities that could interfere with that, such as sports that may cause brain injury, should take less of a priority.

But ultimately, the decision to put oneself at risk for TBI by playing contact sports is a personal one.

“There’s only so much that the staff can do,” Wilkerson wrote. “Players have to look at themselves in the mirror and ask, ‘Is it really worth it?’ And if it’s worth it to you to sacrifice for your team, then so be it. You play at your own risk.”

For some former players like Wilkerson, love of a high contact sport and the allure of a professional career are not worth the risk of sustaining serious brain damage.

Wilkerson has not played football since graduating in 2014. After graduation, he helped start a company called BrainGear that makes a daily brain supplement.

“My experience at Stanford drastically changed my thoughts and opinions of football and brain injuries,” Wilkerson said. “I would never play again… All the research I did, all the lives that acted as examples before me, and my passions lying elsewhere, were enough to change everything.”

 

Contact Sandra Ortellado at sortella ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

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CAPS reports progress at ASSU town hall meeting https://stanforddaily.com/2016/01/27/caps-reports-progress-at-assu-town-hall-meeting/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/01/27/caps-reports-progress-at-assu-town-hall-meeting/#respond Wed, 27 Jan 2016 08:43:02 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1109849 The director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Ronald Albucher presented recent improvements to the mental health organization on Jan. 20 at a town hall meeting. Albucher and his staff addressed student concerns in an effort to open the conversation about mental health services on campus.

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Director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Ronald Albucher presented recent improvements to the mental health organization on Jan. 20 at a town hall meeting. Albucher and his staff addressed student concerns in an effort to open the conversation about mental health services on campus.

Albucher outlined the events of what he referred to as the “difficult” past year for the counseling center. According to Albucher, a number of clinicians left their positions at CAPS last year for reasons including retirement, medical illness, maternity leave and other job opportunities, leaving CAPS “pretty much … maxed out in terms of services [it] could offer for the numbers of students coming in.”

This lack of resources and staff prolonged the already lengthy and thorough hiring process for new staff. Consequently, students were experiencing wait times of three weeks or longer for standard appointments. According to Albucher, however, wait times have dropped to an average of seven days for this past fall quarter.

As of now, all open positions have been filled, including those of three former counselors who were instrumental in reaching out to the African-American community on campus. Five specialized clinicians were hired for facilitating mental health outreach and support within the African-American community.

In addition, supplementary funding was used to create new positions, including that of a licensed clinical social worker. This part-time staff member coordinates referrals to local private psychologists for students seeking treatment lasting longer than the average of six to eight weeks of CAPS therapy. Albucher and his staff added, however, that there is no definite CAPS session limit.

Other changes implemented have increased the efficiency of CAPS processes. Phone screening questionnaires, used to match students with appropriate clinicians and appointment types according to the Vaden Health Center, have been shortened.

Despite these improvements, students at the meeting voiced complaints that the short-term psychotherapy model currently used by CAPS fails to provide adequate support for those who are struggling with mental health.

Joe Begovich ’19 spoke about his confusion with the referral process, which he said often consists of students having to “cold-call” a number of different therapists in search of a practice that accepts their insurance. Begovich said that Palo Alto psychologists often charge upwards of $300 per 50-minute session, which students’ insurance plans often cannot cover.

“It’s incredibly traumatic for people to first do a phone triage with someone they don’t know, then start with another counselor,” Begovich said. “Then, after two, three or four sessions, they have to go cold-call 10 to 15 people … and by the end of this process, they could have gone through five-plus counselors.”

Begovich added that it can be difficult for students to arrange transportation off campus.

Anonymous concerns submitted in the days leading up to the meeting also brought to light the need for graduate students in roles like teaching assistants (TAs) to be trained in handling situations regarding students’ mental health. One graduate student, Wendy Ni, recounted the lack of mental health guidance in her own experience as a TA.

“I’ve TA’d twice and I have not received any information on what to do if my students have a mental health problem,” Ni said.

In response, Albucher and the CAPS staff emphasized a desire to bridge the gap between the organization and the student body by encouraging interest in joining the new student advisory board set to meet each month. The advisory board is intended to give students an opportunity to provide feedback to CAPS staff and to help resolve issues in mental health services on campus. Additionally, CAPS emphasized an ongoing goal to prioritize outreach and work with student groups on campus to get rid of barriers related to healthcare accessibility.

“Mental health on campus is not a CAPS-only issue, and I think to put the focus on CAPS and put the responsibility on CAPS in that way misses out on the potential for collaboration and creativity and so many other areas,” Albucher said. “CAPS will never be able to do it all by itself.”

 

Contact Sandra Ortellado at sortella ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Ike’s to submit proposal for space in McMurtry building https://stanforddaily.com/2016/01/21/ikes-to-submit-proposal-for-space-in-new-mcmurtry-building/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/01/21/ikes-to-submit-proposal-for-space-in-new-mcmurtry-building/#respond Thu, 21 Jan 2016 09:03:26 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1109612 Sandwich shop Ike’s Place might finally return to campus: Stanford’s Financial Management Services department is currently accepting proposals from vendors to fill an unoccupied area in the McMurtry Building. Ike Shehadeh, owner of  the Ike’s sandwich franchise, said he received and accepted a Request for Proposal letter several weeks ago and plans to submit a […]

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Sandwich shop Ike’s Place might finally return to campus: Stanford’s Financial Management Services department is currently accepting proposals from vendors to fill an unoccupied area in the McMurtry Building.

Ike Shehadeh, owner of  the Ike’s sandwich franchise, said he received and accepted a Request for Proposal letter several weeks ago and plans to submit a proposal detailing his bid and plans for the space.

According to Shehadeh, the deadline for submitting a proposal is Jan. 29, after which the next step in the process would likely be two rounds of interviews.

Shehadeh and six to eight other vendors were given a walk-through of the prospective first floor location. Shehadeh described the location as being of adequate size, though smaller than the restaurant previously operated by Ike’s Place in the Huang Engineering Center from 2010 until 2014, when the business’s contract ended and it lost a bid to continue operating in the Engineering Quad.

In addition to the smaller size, one inconvenient setback to the McMurtry location is the lack of ventilation and the limited capacity for preparation, since cooking is not possible in the space.

“It could make things tricky for people. It definitely makes things trickier for me for sure,” Shedadeh said.

Since the restaurant chain left campus, Ike’s has made several bids to return, including one for a space in the Lathrop Library.

Nevertheless, Ike’s popularity among students makes it a strong candidate for the McMurtry space. When Ike’s Place was replaced in 2014, students created “Ike’s Army,” an organization which led a protest against the university’s decision to replace the restaurant with Forbes Family Cafe, run by Residential and Dining Enterprises.

“Ike’s was fairly popular when it was [on campus] so it has a good chance for winning the bid,” said Evelyna Wang ’16, who signed the student created petition to save Ike’s place.

Despite some complaints about the price and wait time for Ike’s Place, Wang remembers the sandwiches as “well worth the price and satisfaction.”

 

Contact Sandra Ortellado at sortella ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Connected Horse Project pairs dementia patients with horses in new therapy program https://stanforddaily.com/2016/01/19/final-mg-connected-horse-project-pairs-dementia-patients-with-horses-in-new-therapy-program/ https://stanforddaily.com/2016/01/19/final-mg-connected-horse-project-pairs-dementia-patients-with-horses-in-new-therapy-program/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2016 07:31:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1109559 A new program conducted at Stanford Red Barn, home to the Stanford Equestrian Team, offers guided workshops with horses to teach young people with early onset dementia to build confidence, trust and a sense of community.

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SLIDER.012016.horseA new program conducted at Stanford Red Barn, home to the Stanford equestrian team, offers guided workshops with horses to teach young people with early onset dementia to build confidence, trust and a sense of community.

The second program to use horses to treat the symptoms of dementia, following a similar program in Ohio, the Connected Horse Project was initiated by Paula Hertel and Elke Tekin, co-founders of ElderHub and countless other organizations that provide elder care resources and work toward developing assisted living programs.

Emphasizing a “care vs. cure” approach, the program aims to fill a gap in the treatment of early onset dementia by meeting the need for psychosocial interventions that offer participants an opportunity to achieve a better quality of life while living with the disorder.

To develop the program, Hertel and Tekin partnered with Jacqueline Hartman, co-founder and head facilitator of the Stanford Red Barn Leadership Program, to create a series of workshops that offer participants a way to interact safely with horses and work on self-determined goals like developing patience, overcoming a fear or becoming more open to new experiences.

According to Hartman, a combination of trained staff, horses, people, evaluation, curriculum and methodology helps patients break up the patient-doctor dependency dyad and facilitates collaboration and communication between patients.

“We saw a great need and a great stigma [associated with early onset dementia],” Hertel said when asked what inspired the project.

She added that for patients, the impact of early onset dementia often creates a dependency model that relies on strict patient and doctor roles. According to Hertel, the fact that individuals with the disorder have a tendency to isolate themselves indicates that patients need a way to stay connected with purpose and meaning.

That’s where the horses come in.

“Horses have the innate ability to pick up on emotions and act as equine facilitators,” Hertel said in an interview with The Daily, just before the results of the pilot research study were presented at Stanford’s annual Community Health Symposium this past Thursday.

The study was conducted by Dolores Gallagher Thompson, professor of research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and director of the Stanford Geriatric Education Center. People ages 70 and younger with a diagnosis of early onset dementia, along with their primary care partners, were recruited to participate in the study.

Individuals underwent a series of medical and safety screenings and an oral interview, since written questionnaires can be difficult to fill out for those affected by early onset dementia. Once selected, they participated in two Connected Horse Project workshops.

Nusha Askari, senior administrator at Stanford Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, was pleased with the results of the study.

“Everyone commented about the trust,” Askari said. “An amazing level of trust and camaraderie developed over a very short time.”

All of those involved in running the program said they noticed a clear difference in the confidence and comfort level of the patients by the end of the study — especially in their newly open demeanors and improved postures.

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” Gallagher Thompson said.

Gallagher Thompson admitted to being initially skeptical of the idea and noted that change is not always “something you can capture on a questionnaire.”

However, Gallagher Thompson, Hartman and the rest of the Connected Horse team still hope to continue the progress made by the organization by conducting a larger study that hopes to expand to include a scalable national and potentially international model endorsed by the Alzheimer’s Association. They encourage Stanford students who feel passionate about elder care and mental illness to visit Stanford’s new Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center on Quarry Road.

“In a world where people are losing intimacy skills, it’s really important to have the ability to connect,” Hartman said. “Treatment of early onset dementia is usually focused on one or the other [either the patient or the treatment], but in this project, treatment is a journey you [the horse and the patient] are doing together.”

 

Contact Sandra Ortellado at sortella ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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‘Farm Stand’ snack concession opens in Maples Pavilion https://stanforddaily.com/2015/10/14/farm-stand-snack-concession-opens-in-maples-pavilion/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/10/14/farm-stand-snack-concession-opens-in-maples-pavilion/#respond Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:46:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1104804 The new Farm Stand snack concession, which opened last Wednesday in the basement of Maples Pavilion, allows Stanford athletes to refuel between classes, practice and lifts by making nutrition more convenient and efficient to fit busy schedules. The Farm Stand opened as a response to an NCAA ruling last spring.

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The Farm Stand opened in Maples Pavilion earlier this month. (ALLISON HARMAN/The Stanford Daily)
The Farm Stand opened in Maples Pavilion earlier this month. (ALLISON HARMAN/The Stanford Daily)

The new Farm Stand snack concession, which opened last Wednesday in the basement of Maples Pavilion, allows Stanford athletes to refuel between classes, practice and lifts by making nutrition more convenient and efficient to fit busy schedules. The Farm Stand opened as a response to an NCAA ruling last spring.

The Stanford Athletic Department increased its funding for nutrition this quarter and set up a more convenient resource for athletes to refuel when time and energy are limited. At the Farm Stand, athletes can choose up to three items a day from a variety of snacks including an assortment of fruit, trail mix, granola bars and even some prepared items like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and overnight oats.

The new stand follows an NCAA ruling last April that adopted proposals allowing universities to provide Division I student athletes with unlimited meals and snacks in conjunction with their athletics participation, and in addition to the meal plan covered by their scholarships.

Previously, students were allotted three meals a day or a food stipend, but dietitians and sports coaches alike lobbied to break the “fruits, nuts, bagels (no spreads)” restriction and expand offerings to include more whole foods rather than being limited to sports nutrition supplements like Muscle Milk. The proposals took effect Aug. 1 this year, but the new Farm Stand is still in its initial stages of development.

“Some schools have really extensive training tables and nutrition programs, which is what we’re hoping to get to with this, eventually,” said Jessie Starcevich, who works at the Farm Stand and as an assistant to Kristen Gravani, Director of Sports Nutrition in the Department of Athletics.

The Farm Stand is open from 7:30–9:30 a.m., and from 2–4 p.m. These abbreviated hours were intentionally planned to be outside of lunch and dinner hours, so as to discourage athletes from using the Farm Stand snacks as a substitute for complete meals at these times. On Monday, the Farm Stand was closed in the afternoon due to an electrical fire at Maples Pavilion but resumed normal service the following morning, with no shortage of hungry student-athletes looking for a post-workout pick-me-up.

Some athletes, like synchronized swimmer Shiree Lee ’18, appreciated the accessibility of this latest amenity, but note that the system isn’t perfect yet.

“The Farm Stand is a really practical way to get snacks in between practice and class, but I do wish that the ‘three item’ system accounted for the fact that not all snacks are equal — a cheese stick isn’t quite as filling as a bagel,” Lee said.

Nevertheless, the swipe system is used to account for who is using the Farm Stand and what items are most popular with athletes, who still benefit from using their ID cards to swipe for food without using any of their meal swipes or meal plan dollars regardless of what snacks they choose.

According to Gravani, the goal was to provide “more mini-meal options” to “close that gap between what dining halls can provide and what the athletes actually need.”

Gravani revealed a desire to offer sandwiches and similar “protein accessible” options as the Farm Stand expands in the future and expressed her excitement for the program.

“It’s a big step for Stanford Athletics; we haven’t had anything like it before,” Gravani said. “So far, from what I’ve seen, the athletes are excited about it, too, which always makes me happy.”

 

Contact Sandra Ortellado at sortella ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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