Upfront
News Digest YMCA hangs tough on Page Mill closure
August 2014
Community Health Education Programs For a complete list of classes and class fees, lectures and health education resources, visit pamf.org/education.
East Palo Alto Library 2415 University Avenue East Palo Alto No registration required.
Preventing Falls: What Can You Do? Aug. 6, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Debbie Swartz, R.N., A.E.-C PAMF Health Education Did you know that one out of three adults age 65 and older fall each year? The chances of falling and of being seriously injured increase with age. Join us to learn about the main causes of falls and what you can do to help prevent them.
Mountain View Center 701 E. El Camino Real Mountain View (650) 934-7380
The Aging Eye Aug. 12, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Yichieh Shiuey, M.D. PAMF Ophthalmology Attend this lecture to learn about conditions of the aging eye including macular degeneration, dry eye and cataracts.
Dr. Tom McDonald Memorial Lecture Series at the Palo Alto Center Palo Alto Center 795 El Camino Real Palo Alto (650) 853-4873
Don’t Turn Green, Live Green Aug. 12, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Barbara Erny, M.D. PAMF Health Education Please join us for an interactive discussion on environmental health issues, including how to avoid harmful products and toxins that can be found in our homes.
Palo Alto Center 795 El Camino Real Palo Alto (650) 853-4873
Medicare Basics Aug. 27, 6:30 – 8 p.m. A HICAP (Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program) Community Educator will explain the benefits covered by Medicare Part A and B and how to choose a Part D plan that will save you money. Attend the presentation to learn the differences between a Medicare Advantage Plan and Medigap policies.
pamf.org/education Page 10 • August 1, 2014 • Palo Alto Weekly • www.PaloAltoOnline.com
A special meeting between leaders of the YMCA of Silicon Valley and members of the Page Mill YMCA branch in Palo Alto to discuss staving off the closure of the 35-year-old gym ended on a familiar note, with the organization again refusing to reverse its decision. Three Page Mill members met with YMCA of Silicon Valley COO Elizabeth Jordan and board members Janice Fry and John Savage on Tuesday to suggest alternatives to closing the gym when its lease expires on Oct. 1. Primary suggestions have been to merge the Page Mill facility with the Palo Alto Family YMCA on Ross Road, to increase membership fees to cover any necessary renovation costs or financial shortfalls or to pursue a short-term lease extension to buy more time to strategize how to save what is a community institution for many of its members. Members have also mentioned the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the YMCA of Silicon Valley, though it has been described as a last-resort option. “Bottom line: the SV YMCA is unwilling to reverse its decision to close Page Mill when the current lease expires and is unwilling to seek a short-term lease extension to give us time to explore alternatives to closing,” read an email sent from the three Page Mill YMCA members to others after the meeting. Jordan said the Y provided data the members had requested, including financial information on the Page Mill branch from the past three years. “There wasn’t any idea or ideas that we had not already tested thoroughly to find a way to keep the Page Mill branch sustainable for 10 years,” Jordan said. Q — Elena Kadvany
Stanford names sexual-assault task force Stanford University Tuesday named a group of almost 20 students, faculty and staff who will make up a task force charged with reviewing and issuing recommendations on the university’s policies on and responses to sexual assault. The university said in a news release that the Task Force on Sexual Assault Policies and Practices, chaired by Stanford Law School Dean M. Elizabeth Magill and Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) President Elizabeth Woodson, will begin work shortly and continue through the academic year. The task force has been asked to seek input from the campus community and to review and make recommendations about Stanford’s activities in three areas: education and prevention, support following an incident, and adjudication of reported cases of sexual violence, including both the Title IX investigation process and the disciplinary process. The task force will make its first set of recommendations this fall, the university said. The creation of the task force was sparked by student uproar this spring over the case of senior Leah Francis, who was sexually assaulted by a fellow Stanford student off campus and has claimed the university grossly mishandled the case, even after determining her assailant was responsible for the assault. She went public with her case in early June, demanding that the university reform its sexual assault policy. Her strongest request — and one that is being increasingly made on college campuses across the nation — is that Stanford make expulsion the default sanction for students found responsible for sexual assault. Q — Elena Kadvany
Man alleges excessive force by cops A Los Altos Hills man is charging that Palo Alto police officers used excessive force and violated his civil rights during an Aug. 3, 2013, traffic stop in which he was allegedly pushed against a squad car and had his arm broken by officers. In a lawsuit against Palo Alto and Santa Clara County law enforcement officials filed Monday, July 28, in U.S. District Court, Tyler Harney, who was a passenger in the car that was stopped, recounted his version of events. The lawsuit alleges that at least two police officers pushed Harney face forward against a squad car, “apparently as a prelude to handcuffing him and arresting him,” and he began convulsing uncontrollably as a result of a seizure disorder. The officers then forced him to the ground, face first, and one put his knee on Harney’s back and neck, the lawsuit alleges. One officer pulled on his arm and twisted it back, breaking his arm, the lawsuit reads. Harney said he was taken and kept in shackles at Stanford Hospital, where doctors operated on his injured arm and damaged shoulder. Harney said he was taken on Aug. 7 to Santa Clara County Jail and released the next day. Harney’s earlier claims for compensation were rejected by the City of Palo Alto in February and by Santa Clara County in January. Claudia Keith, chief communications officer in the Palo Alto City Manager’s Office, said the city has not yet been served with the lawsuit. Q — Chris Kenrick