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THE SUNDAY
Tribune
PAGE 22 Chandler/Tempe Edition
EAST VALLEY
Valley fever is ‘nasty stuff,’ victim says
This Week
COMMUNITY ......... 14
BY SHELLEY RIDENOUR Tribune Staff Writer
Pathway along Rio Salado is cyclist’s dream come true
C
BUSINESS ................ 20 Rock shop caters to jewelry makers, artists worldwide
(Kimberly Carrillo/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Jennifer Hardaway is comforted by caregiver Mary Cattier at The Centers for Habilitation. Hardaway, who suffers from cerebral palsy and other conditions, cannot walk and can only say a few words.
Swim class helps Muslim women exercise, preserve modesty
Treatment programs endangered by increase in minimum wage COVER STORY BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
EVENTS ....................... 31 Bars and restaurants will be shamrockin’ for St. Patrick’s Day
COMMUNITY ................14 BUSINESS .......................20 OPINION........................24 SPORTS........................... 27 FAITH ..............................29 CLASSIFIED ....................38
PAGE 35 Sunday, March 12, 2017
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INSIDE
FAITH .......................... 29
Jan D’Atri’s One Minute Kitchen debuts
K
ate Noll, 29, was isolated and depressed when she first moved to Arizona with her family, before her mother discovered her lifeline: east Mesa’s Marc Community Resources. Cheryl Noll said developmentally disabled people like Kate thrive on structure and a sense of purpose. Kate had neither during her first three months in the East Valley. She became irrational. Her eating and sleeping habits changed. That’s why Noll and other parents of developmentally disabled children, who are now adults, are worried about whether an increase in the Arizona minimum wage will
have the unintended consequence of shutting down or curtailing the day treatment programs that developmentally disabled people need. “If I had Kate at home all day, I would be at home,” Cheryl Noll said, forcing her to give up her job. “We would lose our (health) insurance, we would lose our home. “Kate would be miserable. It is invaluable to us. It’s our lifeline.” Like most parents of developmentally disabled children, David Hardaway of Chandler wondered where his daughter, Jennifer, 23, would go after she “timed out” in the public education system at age 21. Hardaway is not alone. Arizona has 35,000 developmentally disabled persons in its Medicaid program. See
SHUTDOWN on page 6
orey Schubert winces a bit as he describes how he felt while suffering from valley fever. “It’s the worst thing, ever,” the Gilbert resident said. “It is really nasty stuff.” Valley fever is caused by the fungus coccidioides, which grows in soils in areas with low rainfall, high summer temperatures and moderate winter temperatures. That’s a relatively small area in the United States: Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties; the San Joaquin and Central valleys of California; southern Nevada; southern New Mexico; west Texas; southern Utah; and southeastern Washington. It also occurs in northern Mexico and parts of both Central and South America. In Arizona, every person in one of the affected counties has a 3 percent chance every year of being exposed to valley fever. “But, you’re not constantly exposed,” said Dr. John Galgiani, director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence. On average, it takes 12.5 years of living in Arizona to be exposed enough times that you might become infected. A diagnosis of valley fever means a fungus is growing in your lungs. When someone inhales the spore and it sticks to their lung and grows, they get valley fever. Schubert blames himself for picking up the spores. He believes he became infected when he went outside during “a giant haboob” in July 2011. He was toting his garbage and recycling containers to the curb and now realizes he should have waited for the dust to clear first. Although it was nearly seven years ago, he See
VALLEY FEVER on page 10