Explorer, Oct. 6, 2021

EXPLORER The Voice of Marana, Oro Valley and Northwest Tucson

Oct 6, 2021

Volume  • Number 

Breast Cancer Awareness

How one local support group is providing community during a time of isolation | Special Section

INSIDE

FULL STEM AHEAD

Picture Rocks

Local realtor Lisa Bayless’ recent donation is bringing robots into local classrooms for students to get early experience with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.

Read more on page 4.

RV park plans scrapped | Page 7

Your Turn

Photo by the STEMAZing Project

Letters to the Editor | Page 13

Arizona COVID deaths surpass 20K Alexandra Pere

Sports & Rec

Focusing on winning teams, and athlete of the week | Page 14 $

Tucson Local Media

T

he state passed a grim milestone last week, with more than 20,000 Arizonans dying after contracting COVID-19.

A total of 20,137 people in Arizona had died from the disease as of Monday, Oct 4, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. A total of 1,104,535 had tested

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Although the CDC reports that 62% of the adult population has been vaccinated in the state, Arizona remains on a plateau with the number of weekly cases holding steady at about 237 per 100,000 as of the week ending Sept. 26, according to Dr. Joe Gerald of the UA Zucker College of Public Health.

“Arizona continues to experience a high number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths with conditions

deteriorating in the short-term,” said Gerard, an epidemiologist who has been tracking the novel coronavirus since it emerged in Arizona in March 2020. “The state continues to feed the remaining susceptible population into the COVID-19 grinder with no end in sight. With waning vaccine efficacy and a potentially short duration of acquired immunity, there is little reason to believe the unvaccinated can evade infection

Splendido celebrates its 15th anniversary Alexandra Pere Tucson Local Media

W

hen the pandemic first reached Arizona in March 2020, leaders in the Splendido community knew they had to close its facilities and quarantine for 60 days. Residents in Splendido are 55 and up, a highrisk age group for COVID infections.

Vice President of Sales Gale Morgan said Mather Insitute, the organization which owns Splendido, pulled together an interdisciplinary team of professionals to coordinate the best pandemic practices.

“We quickly learned that we had to expand our conversations way beyond keeping people physically safe to keeping them emotionally fit, mentally fit, happy, engaged,” Morgan said.

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 

EXPLORER The Explorer and Marana News is published every Wednesday and distributed free of charge to homes and in single-copy locations throughout the Northwest Tucson. To find out where you can pick up a free copy of the Explorer and Marana News, go to www.TucsonLocalMedia.com

STAFF ADMINISTRATION Steve T. Strickbine, Publisher Michael Hiatt, Vice President Jaime Hood, General Manager jaime@tucsonlocalmedia.com Claudine Sowards, Accounting claudine@tucsonlocalmedia.com Sheryl Kocher, Receptionist sheryl@tucsonlocalmedia.com EDITORIAL Jim Nintzel, Executive Editor jimn@tucsonlocalmedia.com Jeff Gardner, Managing Editor jeff@tucsonlocalmedia.com Mike Truelsen, Web Editor mike@tucsonlocalmedia.com Alexandra Pere, Staff Reporter apere@tucsonlocalmedia.com PRODUCTION Courtney Oldham, Production Manager, tucsonproduction@timespublications.com Ryan Dyson Graphic Designer ryand@tucsonlocalmedia.com Emily Filener, Graphic Designer emilyf@tucsonlocalmedia.com

CIRCULATION Alex Carrasco, Circulation alexc@tucsonlocalmedia.com ADVERTISING TLMSales@TucsonLocalMedia.com Kristin Chester, Account Executive kristin@tucsonlocalmedia.com Lisa Hopper, Account Executive lisa@tucsonlocalmedia.com Candace Murray, Account Executive candace@tucsonlocalmedia.com Tyler Vondrak, Account Executive tyler@tucsonlocalmedia.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING Zac Reynolds, Director of National Advertising Zac@TimesPublications.com EDITORIAL & AD CONTENT The Explorer and Marana News expresses its opinion in the editorial. Opinions expressed in guest commentaries, perspectives, cartoons or letters to the editor are those of the author.The content and claims of any advertisement are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. Tucson Local Mediaassumesnoresponsibilityfortheclaimsorcontent of any advertisement. Publisher has the right to edit for size or refuse any advertisement at his or her discretion.

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Copyright:The entire contents of Explorer/Marana News are CopyrightTimes Media Group . No portion may be reproduced in whole or part by any means without the express written permission of the Publisher,Tucson Local Media, 7225 N. Mona Lisa Rd., Ste. 125,Tucson, AZ 85741.

Hot Picks

ZOOcson 2021. Reid Park Zoo is bringing back one of their largest events with food, entertainment and auctions.

This year’s gala is inspired by the zoo’s new African wild dog pack. It benefits the zoo, and you get to learn all about exocit animals. Everyone’s a winner. 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8. 3400 Zoo Court. reidparkzoo.org Yume Japanese Gardens Reopens. This year, which has so far been about three decades long, but simultaneously 14 seconds long, has felt weird. We could all use some Zen energy and a little bit of a mental re-

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Día de los Muertos at Tohono Chul. Modern celebrations of this holiday, which recognizes and celebrates death, are a rich and beautiful part of Tucson’s cultural heritage. This exhibit features 61 works from 42 different Arizona artists, who bring the spirit of the holiday to life in works with both personal and universal meaning. Manuel Fontes, who studied fine art photography at Phoenix College and earned his BA and MA in ecological anthropology from ASU, is joining Tohono Chul’s team as co-curator for the exhibit. His art has been shown in 11 Tohono Chul exhibitions since 2015. On display through Nov. 8 at Tohono Chul, 7366 Paseo del Norte.

Galleries open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. $15 adult entry, $13 seniors/military, $6 kids ages 5 to 12.

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct 6, 2021

Realtor’s donation brings robots into elementary classrooms Jeff Gardner Tucson Local Media

I

t’s no surprise to hear local realtor Lisa Bayless is supporting charity, as she donates a portion of every commission to local nonprofits as part of her “community first” program, and is on-track to hit $80,000 in donations by the end of the year.

But her latest donation will allow teachers and students in six local schools to have first-hand experience with more than 500 robots, thanks to Bayless’ recent $25,000 gift to the nonprofit STEMAZing Project, which advocates for science education throughout Arizona.

Four of the six schools are in the Amphitheater district: Copper Creek, Donaldson Elementary, Harelson Elementary and Innovation Academy. The new Dove Mountain CSTEM school in Marana Unified is also involved, as is Oyama Elementary in Tucson Unified. A

total of 20 fourth- and fifthgrade teachers will take part in the project.

“My husband and I decided we wanted to support schools this year because of all the craziness that greatly impacted them over the last year. And we also feel strongly about STEM in elementary education,” Bayless said. “Of course we wanted to support schools, but we also believe a STEM education is crucial for how the world is developing. We want to position kids for success.”

The program is a collaboration between the STEMAZing Project and the Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation, and will supply more than 500 Edison educational robots and supporting supplies, as well as two full days of professional-development training for the participating teachers.

While the STEMAZing Project supports science education and literacy, they do

this by supplying and educating science teachers for a more productive classroom.

“I’m still in shock,” said DaNel Hogan, director of The STEMAZing Project.

“Teachers don’t typically get this kind of loot or support.

Generally they get one thing or just a few. But now they’re also getting entire classroom sets of books. In a perfect world, this is what this program would look like. And in this case, it’s a perfect world.”

Hogan initially received a message through the STEMAZing website from Bayless’ husband, Jeff Stitt. At first she didn’t believe it, but she still followed up and their offer turned out to be real.

Bayless and Stitt’s donation was originally planned to be $5,000. However, this gradually increased to $25,000 as STEMAZing scaled up the project for more opportunities to teachers and students.

“We had 24 robots for a class, but that was almost like torture, because if we had 16,

we’d have a robot for every two students, and if we had 32 there’d be one for each.

So we went back and asked them for more to really do this right, and they said yes. I was in awe,” Hogan said.

Teacher training with the robots is taking place over two Saturdays at SARSEF’s Catalyst location in the Tucson mall. At the trainings, local teachers learn the basics of the robots and how to best implement them for student learning. The first day allowed the teachers to familiarize themselves with the small, two-wheeled robots.

The second day, the teachers worked to figure out engineering challenges they can recreate in the classroom, such as a robot missing a part and working around it. Bayless got to see the impact of her charity when she attended the first training session.

“The teachers were incredibly grateful,” said Bayless, who refers to her donations as investments because

she believes they make for a better community. “How enthusiastic they were to learn this and bring it into their classrooms was so moving.

It’s just as important a boost to the teachers as it is to the kids.”

While Hogan hopes the project will result in more students interested in science, technology, engineering and math, she specifically hopes it will get more students interested in the realms of computer science and cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity is one field where we need loads of support and workers. There are not nearly enough computer programmers in the field of cybersecurity,” Hogan said. “Programming and computer science is now and will continue to be one of the biggest areas of need. So the idea is to give students a really positive experience with computer programming early on so they can see themselves as someone

who can do this type of work.

We don’t expect all of them to love it, but some certainly will, and definitely more than if they didn’t have this experience early on.”

Hogan says this donation will fund the pilot for the STEMAZing/SARSEF Elementary Edison Robotics project, and plans to bring it to more local schools in the coming years.

“I’m overwhelmed by how generous this is,” Hogan said. “We’re excited someone is willing to invest in our teachers and students, especially right now.

The best thing this program is doing has nothing to do with STEM, actually. It’s making all of the teachers involved feel valued and appreciated, and it’s giving them time to have fun and remember why they love teaching. Because right now teachers are not doing OK, and the most important thing we can do is provide them with a morale boost.”

COVID Continued from P1

with the considerably higher risk of severe outcome it entails.”

Pima County was seeing 162 cases per 100,000 as of the week of Sept. 26, according to Gerald.

Gerald noted that hospital occupancy remained “above seasonal levels” as of Sept. 29, with COVID patients making up 20% of patients in general ward beds and 29% of ICU beds.

“Available excess capacity is nearly as low as it was at the worst of the winter 2020/2021 surge,” Gerald said.

Banner Health Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Marjorie Bessel said last week that Banner’s ICU capacity has been unseasonably high for the past four weeks. The total number of ICU patients at Banner exceeds that of the summer 2020 COVID surge.

“The main problem is that we have too many COVID patients in our hospitals,” Bessel said during a Sept. 29 press conference.

Bessel cited recent figures showing that 90% of COVID patients hospitalized, in ICU beds and on ventilators, are unvaccinated.

Banner’s problems are compounded by the difficulty

Explorer and Marana News, Oct 6, 2021

of keeping skilled staff. Bessel said hospital staff are worn out after fighting COVID for the last year and a half.

Banner is looking to fill positions for nurses, respiratory therapists, clinicians, and physicians. Bessel said this is the most necessary resource strained by COVID surges. Banner has been and continues to hire out-of-state contract labor every week to meet hospital needs.

Bessel pleaded with the unvaccinated public to make a vaccine appointment ahead of the projected winter surge.

Health experts predict that COVID, flu and respiratory virus infections will increase during the winter.

“So all health care systems are able to be available for you and your families that need us, please get vaccinated against COVID,” Bessel said.

Bessel also warned the public about West Nile virus.

She said sister hospitals are experiencing more cases of West Nile virus due to a heavy monsoon season creating a rich breeding environment for mosquitos that carry the virus.

“If you’re going outside and you live in an area that has a lot of mosquitoes, wear mosquito repellent,” she said.

“Also, if you have a backyard or anywhere else where there’s standing water, please try and make sure that you reduce that.”

According to the CDC, people infected with West Nile virus can experience fever, severe illnesses and even death. There are no vaccines or medications to treat West Nile virus.

OTHER COVID DEVELOPMENTS • After a Maricopa County judge struck down the state’s ban on mask mandates, ruling that the Arizona Legislature passed it in an unconstitutional manner, most local school districts, including Amphitheater, Flowing Wells and Tucson Unified, said they would keep mask requirements in place for students.

But the Marana School District governing board declined to extend the mask mandate past Sept. 29.

In a special meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 29, board member John Lewandowski asked the board to extend the mask mandate, but the motion died for the lack of a second.

New data from a recently released study by the CDC, co-authored with Pima County, showed K-12 schools without mask requirements were 3.5 times more likely to experience a COVID outbreak. Data was taken from 999 public schools in Pima and Maricopa County.

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 

Splendido: Making it through pandemic days Continued from P1

The faculty at Splendido started rolling out new activities to keep residents engaged.

They delivered meals and groceries. A traveling bar cart brought signature cocktails to residents at their doorsteps.

“We even did virtual art classes where we delivered an art kit to their door and then turned to the virtual to paint or they learn to write poetry,” Morgan said.

If residents felt uneasy about their technological skills, Splendido faculty made it their mission to teach residents how to use Zoom for virtual activities. Art classes were also offered outdoors, although it was challenging in the summer heat.

As the pandemic continued, Morgan said Splendido quickly realized mental health needed to be considered when providing services during the pandemic.

Quarantine left residents physically and mentally

isolated. Splendido tried to combat isolation by connecting with residents through technology on a regular basis. Faculty would check on residents through weekly calls and keep the community informed of COVID developments.

“The other thing we learned was to be hyper transparent,” Morgan said. “If we got a COVID case, we posted it on the website, we sent a letter to every resident, and to every staff.”

When COVID vaccines were approved and distributed in Arizona for at-risk individuals, Splendido was quick to implement vaccine mandates. Splendido opened a free on-site vaccination clinic for residents and required staff to be vaccinated.

“They were like ‘Just let us be with each other’ more than anything, so we opened the restaurants for happy hour and the events,” Morgan said.

“They felt like they could reconnect with each other by being kind of in a

bubble.”

With a fully vaccinated community, Splendido was one of the first to reopen its facilities and begin offering in-person services again.

Despite the pandemic, Splendido is now opening all-new villas installed with smart-home capabilities and new on-site services.

Simply ask Google to turn on the kitchen lights or program the shower to match personal settings with remote control.

Homes at Splendido are built with the residents’ physical capabilities in mind as well, such as showers without thresholds to reduce the risk of falling and low-placed microwaves to protect residents from dropping hot food.

Splendido is planning on doubling the on-site spa by the end of the year. The spa will offer traditional services along with full-body treatments like Tibetan singing bowl sound therapy, wave massage, crystal therapy and aromatherapy at an extra

cost.

Splendido has also expanded the wellness center to include a space for a nutritionist, meditation and mindfulness.

Morgan said in a community that is transitioning post-COVID, the new wellness programs will help people shed unhealthy habits they may have developed during the shutdown.

To prevent future coronavirus cases, Splendido will offer booster shoots of the COVID vaccine and asks outside visitors to wear a mask in community spaces, regardless of vaccination status.

BUSINESS CALENDAR Tuesday, Oct. 12 • The Tucson Metro Chambers holds a ribbon cutting at Antsy Nancy, LLC. Details: 9-10 a.m.; 5655 E. River Road, #101; free; rsvp info@antsy-nancy. com or 639-6458.

Thursday, Oct. 14 • The Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce offers a webinar with Blue Cross Blue Shield Arizona on health plans for chamber members.

Details: 9-10 a.m.; pre-registration required; Azhcc.com.

• Southern Arizona SCORE offers webinar Franchise Cre• The Arizona Small Busiator. Details: 4:30 p.m.; south- ness Association (ASBA) ofernarizona.score.org. fers startup funding webinar Angel Investing: Disruption Creates New Opportunities.

Details: 9-10:30 a.m.; free but required; • The Arizona Small Busi- pre-registration asba.com or 480-784-0725. ness Association (ASBA) offers a webinar on Small • Southern Arizona SCORE Business Payroll with guest offers a webinar on Marketspeaker CPA Tanya Luken.

Find more information Details: 9-11 a.m.; free ing 101 – Create Your Roadmabout the new Villa floor pre-registration required; ap to Success. Details: 11 a.m.; plans and entrance pricing asba.com or 480-784-0725. southernarizona.score.org.

Wednesday, Oct. 13

at the Splendido website: splendidotucson.com/ter• The Oro Valley Business race-villa-floor-plans/ Club luncheon features motivational speaker Jessica Cox. Details: 11 a.m. (networking), noon-1 p.m. (lunch and program); Oro Valley Community Center Sunset Room, 10555 N. La Cañada Know Us Drive; $30, $25 members; Know Your Community orovalleybusinessclub.com.

• The Greater Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce holds a customer development mixer at Pima Federal Credit Union. Details: 5-7 p.m.; Corporate Plaza, 6850 N. Oracle Road; $10, $5 members; 297-2191.

Send your biz events to calendar editor Sheryl Kocher at sheryl@tucsonlocalmedia.com.

Explorer and Marana News, Oct 6, 2021

Picture Rocks RV park plans withdrawn Jeff Gardner Tucson Local Media

P

icket signs reading “No RVs!” have been replaced with a sign reading “Hallelujah” after plans for a 200-lot RV park in Picture Rocks were scrapped due to substantial community opposition.

T and T Engineering, which submitted the plans for an RV park on an undeveloped parcel less than a mile from the Saguaro National Park border, withdrew their plans in the wake of a community meeting that overflowed with dissension.

On Tuesday, Sept. 14, more than 100 residents filled the Picture Rocks Community Center to voice their opposition to the proposed RV park on 75 acres near Saguaro Na-

tional Park West. The RV park would have been located on Tula Lane, between Picture Rocks and Rudasill roads.

The Planning and Zoning meeting came after Pima County Development Services recommended approval of the RV park’s initial plans for rezoning. Neighbors and concerned residents crowded inside the Community Center with picket signs like “No No No to Rezone” and “No RVs!” The residents’ main concerns included the environmental impact of an RV park, crowding of the small adjacent streets, and noise and light pollution.

In the public Planning and Zoning Commission staff report, Saguaro National Park chief of science Jeff Conn stated that three areas of focus for the park are light pollution,

noise pollution and invasive species.

Local residents stated they were not against any and all development on the property.

Alternate suggestions included subdividing the parcel, building a community park or simply building out the 48 houses without the need for rezoning.

“This would be a disaster to the wildlife and the community. I’ve never seen people go to an RV park that is so far off the interstate,” said Bob Musgrave, who lives near the proposed park. “The housing market is so lively in Tucson, and it makes me wonder why they’d give up 50 housing lots to turn them into 200 RV lots. That doesn’t make sense to me.”

After the cancelled plans, the lot is still zoned and planned for 48 residential lots.

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct 6, 2021

EN INGS HAPP EN

Visit www.tucsonlocalmedia.com/livenup/calendar to submit your free calendar listing.

For event advertising, contact us (520) 797-4384 or tlmsales@tucsonlocalmedia.com

THEATER FRIDAY, OCT. 8 • Bring the entire family to Marana Laughs for clean, family-friendly comedy featuring “An Intimate Evening with Paul Green.”Details: 7:30 p.m.; Coyote Trail Stage, 8000 N. Silverbell Road; $10$20, $30/family; maranalaughs.com.

FRIDAY TO SATURDAY, OCT. 8-9 • See a variety of puppet styles with acts that span comedic, musical, philosophical and satirical recommended for adults and older teens at Puppet Cabaret: A Grownup Puppet Slam presented by Red Herring Puppets. Details: 7:30 p.m.; Tucson Mall, 4500 N. Oracle Rd.; Suite 421; $12; redherringpuppets.com.

WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THROUGH NOV. 7

THURSDAY TO SUNDAY THROUGH OCT. 9

• Comedy comes alive at the spoof Frankenstein with the classic story of a scientist who brings his experiment to life. Details: 7 p.m.

Wednesday-Thursday, 6 and 8:30 p.m.

Friday-Saturday, 3 and 6 p.m. Sunday; Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway Blvd.; $21.95-$23.95; $13.95 children; 886-9428 or thegaslighttheatre.com.

• Catch a performance of the time-traveling Irish love story Bloomsday dancing backwards through time as an older couple retraces their steps to discover their younger selves. Details: 7:30 p.m.

Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; Live Theatre Workshop, 3322 E. Fort Lowell Rd.; $15-$20; 327-4242.

THURSDAY TO SUNDAY, OCT. 14-17

5 p.m. Sunday; Tucson Arena, 260 S. Church Ave.; ticketmaster.com.

• Share magical moments filled with breathtaking ice skating, beloved Disney songs and characters with inspiring stories at Disney on Ice Dream Big. Details: 7 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday, 1 and

TUESDAY TO SUNDAY THROUGH OCT. 16 • Catch a performance of the delightful award-winning musical My 80-Year-Old Boyfriend about

the magic that happens when we throw aside our fears and cross generational barriers based on the true story of a Broadway performer.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday; Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave.; $40-$73; arizonatheatre.org.

WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY, NOV. 17-DEC. 5 • It’s not too early to get tickets for the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Hamilton that created a revolutionary moment in theatre featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B and Broadway. Details: 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday;

2 and 8 pm. Saturday; 1 and 7 p.m.

Sunday; UA Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd.; broadwayintucson.com.

MUSIC THURSDAY, OCT. 7 • Hear your favorite rock and roll tunes from Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins to Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles with Alex Mack and his red-hot band at Rockin’ the Night Away. Details: 6 p.m.; Gaslight Music Hall, 13005 N. Oracle Road; $31; 529-1000 or gaslightmusichall.com.

FRIDAY, OCT. 8 • Take a fun-filled visit back to those formative days when Baby Boomers were discovering how good rock and roll could really be at the Rockin’ Me Baby

Desert Star offers virtual programming and telehealth options for all of our services.

Call for a free consultation!

520-638-6000 www.desertstararc.com information@desertstararc.com

• Established 2009 • Locally owned and operated • In-Network with most insurance providers Intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization treatment for addiction issues, disordered eating, relationship and intimacy issues and mental health concerns.

The Desert Star Addiction Recovery Center 7493 N. Oracle Rd. #203 Tucson AZ 85704

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct 6, 2021

Dance Party with Five Way Street.

Details: 7 p.m.; Gaslight Music Hall, 13005 N. Oracle Road; $20; 5291000 or gaslightmusichall.com.

• Celebrate 50 years of music with the Grammy-winning Americana group Asleep at the Wheel performing original songs as well as a fresh new lineup. Details: 7:30 p.m.; Fox Theatre, 17 W. Congress St.; $28-$48; foxtucson.com.

• Listen to award-winning, longtime country favorite Midland.

Details: 8 p.m.; Casino del Sol AVA Amphitheater, 5655 W. Valencia Road; $25-$75; casinodelsol.com.

SATURDAY, OCT. 9 • Listen to the music of a multi-genre band and its funky contemporaries at You’re the One, A Tribute to Blood, Sweat & Tears. Details: 6 p.m.; Gaslight Music Hall, 13005 N. Oracle Road; $27; 529-1000 or gaslightmusichall.com.

• Enjoy the award-winning John Coinman Band at the Outdoor Plaza of Hotel Congress. Details: 7:30 p.m.; 311 E. Congress St.; $20-$24; 6228848 or rhythmandroots.org.

• Take a musical tour of classic songs with VOYAGER – The Rockin’ Tribute to Journey featuring extraordinary musicians and vocalists who have toured nationally and internationally. Details: 7:30 p.m.; DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive; $30; 825-2818.

SATURDAY TO SUNDAY, OCT. 9-10 • Enjoy the Tucson Symphony Orchestra presenting Till Eulenspiegel ReWorked featuring artist in residence Martin Kuuskmann and bassoonist Tõnu Kõrvits. Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; Tucson Symphony Center, 2175 N. 6th Ave.; $16; 882-8585.

SUNDAY, OCT. 10 • Journey back to the greatest hits of 50 years ago at Class of 71 featuring Crystal Stark and Alex Mack singing all the chart toppers of the day. Details: 6 p.m.; Gaslight Music Hall, 13005 N. Oracle Road; $31; 529-1000 or gaslightmusichall.com.

SUNDAYS, OCT. 10, 17 AND 24

reidparkzoo.org.

• Treat yourself to the Sundays in the Garden Fall Concert Series with local artists featuring folkloric music from Latin America and the Caribbean by Grupo Riken this week. Details: 1:30-3 p.m.; Tohono Chul Park, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte; included with $15 park admission; 742-6455.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13 • Enjoy a great tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers by The PettyBreakers. Details: 6 p.m.; Gaslight Music Hall, 13005 N. Oracle Road; $27; 529-1000 or gaslightmusichall.com.

SPECIAL EVENTS FRIDAY, OCT. 8 • Don’t miss the popular gala ZOOcson featuring local restaurants, auctions, animal ambassador presentations and live music by Jovert. Details: 6 p.m.; Reid Park Zoo, 3400 Zoo Ct.; $130, $110 members; 791-4204 or

FRIDAY TO SUNDAY, OCT. 8-10 • Don’t miss everyone’s favorite festival Tucson Meet Yourself - Reconnect featuring oral history, dance, musical performances, authentic multi-cultural food and more. Details: 11 a.m-10 p.m.

Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday; downtown Tucson; free admission; 6214046 or tucsonmeetyourself.org.

SATURDAY, OCT. 9 • Help raise funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson and Southern Arizona at the Big Luau Gala Dinner and Auction. Details: 5:30 p.m.; Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, 7000 N. Resort Dr.; $175; soazbigs.org.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS FRIDAY, OCT. 8 • Learn how to create a haven for

CHILDREN

butterflies outside your door with tips from Noelle Johnson ‘AZ Plant Lady’ at the online Botanical Gardens class Butterfly Gardening in the Desert. FRIDAY, OCT. 8 Details: 10 a.m.-noon; Zoom link provided; $30, discount for members; • Bring the entire family to the Halloween-themed fun and spooky tucsonbotanical.org.

Monster Mash featuring jumping castles, crafts, a maze and scavenger WEDNESDAY, OCT. 13 hunt. Details: 5-8 p.m.; Steam Pump Ranch, 10901 N. Oracle Road; $5, free • Explore the fascinating new science 3 and under; orovalleyaz.gov. of compassion at the UA College of Social & Behavioral Sciences lecture series featuring “Are Our Brains Wired SATURDAYS, OCT. 9, 16, 23 AND 30 for Compassion?” this week. Details: 6 p.m.; Fox Theatre, 17 W. Congress • Take a creepy Haunted Hayride St.; free but pre-registration required; uniquely themed to Arizona’s sbsdowntown.arizona.edu. haunts, scary stories and spooky lore. Details: 7-9:30 p.m.; Steam THROUGH FRIDAY, NOV. 5 Pump Ranch, 10901 N. Oracle Road; $5, free 3 and under (tickets must be • Check out the 12th annual Tucson purchased in advance); PlayOV.com.

Humanities Festival presented by the UA College of Humanities themed storytelling featuring author Walter Isaacson appearing at Centennial Hall www.tucsonlocalmedia.com on Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. Details: various days, Your online source for times and locations (some online); news in the Northwest humanitiesfestival.arizona.edu.

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 

FIT IN THE OV

Get ready for a spooky fun time in Oro Valley Lynanne DellermanSilverthorn Special to Tucson Local Media

H

ere in the desert southwest we are always very excited when the weather cools down and we can go back to enjoying nature in the comfort of cooler temperatures. Oro Valley is no exception; we have many wonderful activities, the majority of which take place in the great outdoors.

The month of events

starts off Friday night, Oct. 8, with a spooky good time at the Oro Valley Monster Mash.

This event takes place at Steam Pump Ranch and includes, games, crafts, music, pumpkin decorating, jumping castles, food trucks and more! On Your Left Fitness is also a part of the festivities, putting on a costume-themed 5K. There will also be many carnival style booths, including one provided by the Children’s Museum, popcorn provided by the Youth Advisory Coun-

cil and a booth provided by the Oro Valley Rotary Club. You are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance at PlayOV.com for only $5.

The very next day we return to Steam Pump Ranch to kick off the weekend on Saturday with the return of our full Second Saturday at Steam Pump Ranch. This event includes country and Americana art and antique vendors as well as tours of the property hosted by the Oro Valley Historical Society. These tours will be guided and

include the Pusch House Museum and other buildings on the property. Live music will be provided by “Cowboy at Heart” and an educational archaeology presentation will be provided by Archaeology Southwest. As with each Second Saturday a free children’s craft project will also be provided to those who are interested. All activities are in conjunction with the Heirloom Farmers Market, which makes the Ranch home every Saturday morning.

When the sun sets

things get really spooky.

Beginning at 7 p.m., the night of Oct. 9 will be the kickoff to this year’s Haunted Hayride. These wonderful hayrides tour you around “Arizona,” or the back field of the Ranch, to share with you all of the fun spooky lore that exists within our state.

It’s a trip down memory lane and history lane, with a little bit of fun folklore mixed in. Don’t miss this great fun way to enjoy the Halloween season. These hayrides then continue every Saturday through-

out the month of October.

Tickets must be purchased in advance at PlayOV.com The Halloween month closes with the return of our annual Spooktacular event on Oct. 29 at the Oro Valley Community and Recreation Center. Spooktacular event hours are 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will include music, food trucks, photo opportunities, contests and games, a craft area, hayrides and trick or treating. Local businesses decorate golf carts and provide candy for children in a safe and festive

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•Gift certificates to local vets for spay and neuter •Quart size and sandwich ziplock bags, paper towels, disinfectant spray, hand sanitizer, glass cleaner, disposable gloves and masks •Postage stamps, white copy paper •Volunteers at store or events

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 

environment. This is a free event that will have food as well as alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available for purchase. The Oro Valley Community & Recreation Center is one of Oro Valley’s gems and this is a great way for your little ones to enjoy the Halloween season in a safe environment.

It has been quite a while since we have all been able to get together, and the Parks and Recreation Department is thrilled to be providing events again, and we hope to see you out and about this October. Happy trick or treating!

Road work at Saguaro Natl. Park this month Alexandra Pere Tucson Local Media

V

isitors to Saguaro National Park West can expect to see scenic road closures from Oct. 4 to Oct. 30 for new construction.

Access to Bajada Loop Drive from the Hugh Norris Trail Head to Golden Gate Road will be closed from Oct. 4 to Oct. 15. After those improvements have been finished, the Bajada Loop and its amenities such as the Sus Picnic Area, Hugh Norris Trailhead, Valley View Lynanne DellermanOverlook Trail, Bajada Wash Silverthorn is Oro Valley’s Trail, and all of Golden Gate Recreation and Cultural Road (Signal Hill, Ez-KimServices manager.

In-Zin, Sendero Esperanza)

will be closed from Oct. 16 to Oct. 30.

“This will help ensure the safety of the crew working on the one-lane road, as well as any visitor who may not be aware of the closure notice,” Saguaro’s Facility Manager Richard Goepfrich said.

All traffic to these locations will be prohibited, including pedestrians and bicyclists. Park officials say there will be heavy machinery in these areas and will be dangerous for all traffic.

Large construction vehicles will need to use the entire one-lane road for easy transportation.

Visit nps.gov/sagu/planyourvisit/conditions.htm for updates.

READER PHOTO OF THE WEEK Reader Denise DelFranco captured a photo of this stunning double rainbow near Dove Mountain after an evening rainstorm. Who needs a pot of gold when you have a view like this? Send your photos to readerphotos@tucsonlocalmedia.com. Include your name, contact information and details about the photo, including who took it, where it was taken and the subject. Not all photos can be printed, see other photos online at www.tucsonlocalmedia.com.

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 

AGING WELL

Sponsored content

Listen Up! Science Supports Sound Wellness

By William Wesley Meyers, Director of Wellness, Mather

H

ow do you Age Well?

There are so many avenues for pursuing personal wellness, it can be overwhelming.

Yet it’s so fulfilling to try something—whether an exercise class or a new habit—that instantly “rings true” with you. That’s why Splendido offers this Aging Well column, with the goal of sparking new ideas and suggesting outlets for wellness, from running a 5K to meditating to expressing yourself through a creative outlet.

I oversee wellness programming, spaces, and initiatives for Mather, one of the parent companies of Splendido, an all-inclusive community for those 55 and better in Oro Valley. In my work, I occasionally come across refreshingly new ideas and scientific breakthroughs that can enhance our wellness repertoire.

Recently, I sat in on a presentation on trends from the Global Wellness Summit. The Summit is made up of hundreds of doctors, academics, executives, and other professionals across all types of wellness, from all over the world, who provide input on an annual list of trends that will impact the wellness industry, which of course trickles down to consumers.

The top trend announced is sound wellness, a new term to many, but it’s something spiritual gurus, healers, and shamans have known for thousands of years. In a nutshell, sound wellness refers to using

audio—including music, acoustic resonance, and/ or vibration—to boost our well-being. You might play a specific song to change your mood, take in a crystal singing bowls experience virtually or in-person, or use a smartphone app like Endel on the Apple Watch to create a personalized, neuroscience-based playlist of sounds customized Splendido residents enjoyed the opportunity to create and experience different to your biofeedback and sounds and rhythms in a recent program on African rhythms more, designed to optimize your day. All of these are ex- • to promote creativity or percussion instruments in a variety of ways. (Research amples of sound wellness. boost productivity • to trigger rest, recovery, indicates that drumming Grounded in Science has its own list of health or sleep benefits, including boost• to manage pain Science has shown that • and more. Researchers ing the immune system and sound has a profound ef- are even studying the ef- having a positive effect on fect on our physical health, fects of sound on cancer anxiety, grief, and fatigue.) mood, mental health, and cells!

Residents created different overall well-being. Much of rhythms together and inWe Sounded It Out this has to do with how our dependently using different brains respond to sound, percussion instruments.

At Splendido, we recently vibration, and rhythm. “sounded out” the science I’m excited to add more Developers and manufac- of sound wellness in a res- sound wellness to programs turers are using this science ident program. In “Body and services at Splendido, to develop apps, products, Spark: Rhythmic Adven- such as adding music to and programs to harness ture; Movement, Music a meditation class to imsound therapies for a vari- & Connection,” residents prove focus, or including explored sound rhythm an audio component to spa ety of uses, including and texture as they played treatments. And I trust that • to relieve stress

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Breast Cancer Awareness 2021

Tucson Cancer Conquerors provide community and direction

The Northwest’s Newspaper

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Breast Cancer Awareness 2021

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Breast Cancer Awareness 2021

Breast Cancer Awareness month:

Screening, survival and support

E

very October, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, all of our papers in the Tucson Local Media group—The Explorer, Marana News, Foothills News, Desert Times, Inside Tucson Business and Tucson Weekly—bring a special focus to a disease that will affect nearly 6,000 Arizona women and their families in 2021.

Fortunately, the treatment for breast cancer has come a long way, although the American Cancer Society estimates the cancer will kill nearly 900 women this year.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, being treated for cancer has been even more challenging than usual. Contributor Emily Dieckman talks with women who had to be extra-cautious during chemotherapy because the procedure takes such a toll on their immune system. Plus, at times, they couldn’t bring family to the appointments for sup-

To do list: Self-Check Get Mammogram Shop at Goose

Courtesy photo

port. But they nonetheless found help thanks to Cancer Conquerors, a support group that lets women share their stories and work out to rebuild their strength.

As one cancer survivor in the group explains, “Without a group like this, especially during this time, I mean, where you do you get the answers? How do you get perspective? How do you see someone who’s been through it, and they’re doing great, and they’re happy? And they’re happier than they were before because they’re more grateful from everything they’ve been through?”

Another important key to fighting breast cancer is early detection through screening. But with the novel coronavirus outbreak, many people have put off those screenings.

This March, the National Cancer Institute reported that the pandemic initially led to sharp decreases in the use

of recommended cancer screening tests, and due to cancer’s generally slow growth, the impact of the pandemic on overall cancer deaths will not be clear for many years.

In these pages, Carol Roder of the American Cancer Society explains why it’s so important to catch the disease early and start treatment.

Finally, Tucson Local Media health columnist Mia Smitt examines the different kinds of breast cancer as well as various treatment options. She even shares an inspriring story about how it’s never too late or hopeless to recover from the disease.

While it’s easy to put off medical appointments, especially during a pandemic, be sure to schedule an appointment with your doctor for a breast cancer screening if you’ve put it off. It could make the difference in your survival.

Jim Nintzel Executive Editor

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Golden Goose Thrift Shop 15970 N. Oracle Road, Catalina, AZ 85739 goldengooseaz.com 520-825-9101

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Breast Cancer Awareness 2021

Cancer and COVID: ‘Two Things That Can Kill Me’ Breast cancer patients face treatment and isolation and amid the pandemic Emily Dieckman

Special to Tucson Local Media

T

he doctor said it was probably nothing.

Fatty tissue, if anything. Nina Shelton said she’d like to get a mammogram anyway. The lump didn’t feel like nothing to her, and it didn’t feel normal. She passed the time waiting for her mammogram results with fastidious, furious researching. It was March 2020, and COVID-19 had turned the world into a whirlwind of case infection updates, while also making it feel

eerily still.

Shelton had just moved to Tucson a few months earlier, so she didn’t have anyone to bring to her appointment with her. She dialed her sister and brought her to the appointment on speaker phone. She’d researched so much that her cancer diagnosis didn’t come as a surprise, but her bad news felt almost like screaming into a void. She wrote later that, though it felt selfish to say so, it was almost like COVID-19 stole her thunder.

“I felt a little selfish thinking that, but at the same time, I just thought,

‘This is a big deal.’ And my friends and family were so sympathetic and comforting from miles away,” she says. “But it was at the same time thousands of people were dying at a daily rate, and people were in panic mode and wearing masks.

It felt like it just diminished my issue a little bit.”

Shelton is the first to acknowledge that, in a lot of ways, she was fortunate.

The pandemic made it easy for her to work from home with her suppressed immune system, since almost everyone in her office was working from home as well. She had a friend drive

out to stay with her for the first two weeks of chemotherapy, and then her sister came to visit. In another sense, it was just good she’d noticed the lump at all. Institutions across the country are publishing research showing that the number of people coming in for routine annual screenings, including mammograms, declined during the pandemic.

But, in another sense, having cancer during a pandemic meant facing a unique sort of isolation.

Shelton didn’t have family in town, but even if she did, they wouldn’t be allowed to accompany her to appointments. Sometimes she would go into work, masked up and sitting far from her coworkers, just to be around other people. Some of her coworkers would bring her meals, or check in on her periodically. It meant a lot.

“I think a lot of people were experiencing loneliness, and the sting, was, I think, a little bit lessened because a lot of people were experiencing it,” she said.

“There were people going through their own trauma with their own pandemic issues and they were stepping up to help me in the ways that they could. It was always this back and forth of feeling incredibly grateful and feeling a little pity and anger.”

At the same time that

she felt steeped in loneliness, cancer also became something of a constant companion, living with her, telling her what to do and feel, trying to control her. And Shelton felt compelled to learn everything she could about this new shadow following her everywhere. When she read stories about how people with the same diagnosis as her had fared, she says it felt almost like looking up the exes of a person she was now dating.

“Is cancer still affecting them? Has he left? Have they gotten over cancer?” she wondered.

She says one of her biggest tools to fight against the cancer, and against the potential for inadequate medical care, was using her voice. So, when her doctor told her the lump was probably benign fatty tissue, she insisted on a test.

When she was having lung problems during chemotherapy, doctors thought it might be COVID-19, or maybe allergies. Shelton suspected she had a temporary, rare condition in which the chemotherapy was attacking her lungs.

Her doctors said it was unlikely, but Shelton insisted on a test. She was right.

“I had to learn to be more vocal about my care,” she says. “I had to learn to be a bigger advocate. That was trial and error: When do I listen to my doctor

and where do I push back?

But when I spoke up, I pushed back [about the initial mammogram], that literally saved my life.”

Lisa Yiu: “It was very scary.”

Lisa Yiu’s particular flavor of struggle was closer to denial. She felt a breast lump in the shower in November 2020, and mentioned it to her husband, even though she was sure it would be fine. She ate healthily, she’d been exercising regularly since she was a teenager and she only drank the occasional glass of wine at dinner. Still, her husband wanted her to get it looked at right away. She got the call that it was cancer on Thanksgiving Day. She kept asking herself—and she keeps asking herself—what she did wrong? Was it the hysterectomy she’d had in her 40s? Or the stress from the pandemic? Was it that she’d been drinking a little more than usual (adding a martini into the dinner rotation here and there) to cope with the stress? She’d been on a safari in Africa in early 2020, and arrived home to self-quarantine and COVID-19 chaos. The months of stay-at-home orders threw the whole world out of whack.

See Cancer Conquerors, P5

Cancer Conquerors

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Breast Cancer Awareness 2021

Photo courtesy Tucson Cancer Conquerors

Cancer Conquerors founder and president Liz Amli (second from left) with Dawn Messer, Ken Harvey, Mary SpecioBoyer and Deb Helig .

Continued from P4

“I didn’t think about doing health visits, mammograms,” she says. “All I could think about was, ‘Do I have enough toilet paper? Am I stocked up on canned foods?’”

After they found the cancer, and as the pandemic raged on, Yiu started chemotherapy, and having a weak immune system made social distancing more critical than ever. Now, she says, it felt like there were two things that could kill her: cancer and COVID-19. Going to the store felt dangerous, because other people felt dangerous, like potential sources of infection.

“My husband couldn’t go to appointments with me, my parents couldn’t go to appointments with me,” she says. “I was really in this alone. It was very scary.”

When vaccinations started rolling out, she was relieved, and her doctor recommended she get one, but it was nerve wracking. How would her weakened immune system respond? Would the vaccine affect the effectiveness of her chemotherapy?

There weren’t yet studies on how the vaccine affected cancer patients, though University of Arizona Health Sciences released one last week that found the Pfizer vaccine is less effective for patients actively undergoing chemotherapy. The first round wasn’t bad, but the second shot had her down for four days—after the week she was already down due to chemotherapy.

Now, she’s on the upand-up, having recently got her booster shot and finished with her treatments. She’s trying to exercise every day, and en-

joying that she now finds herself craving organic vegetables. As she watches her daughter in her first year of college at the University of Arizona, she’s filled with hope for the future.

Tucson Cancer Conquerors Shelton, Yiu and dozens of other cancer survivors can be found most Saturday mornings at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park, exercising with Tucson Cancer Conquerors, a local nonprofit established in 2014 and dedicated to empowering cancer survivors by promoting healthy survivorship.

Liz Almli, the organization’s president and one of its founders, is a physician.

When she went through breast cancer diagnosis and treatment more than 14 years ago, she says she

Breast Cancer Screening can save your life.

It saved mine! ...sur v ivor for 8 year s !

—Lisa Bayless Long Realty

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Breast Cancer Awareness 2021

had a large support network and plenty of resources. But after her treatment was over, she felt unsure about what to do next.

“I remember getting in my car kind of sitting there in the silence thinking, ‘Now what? Do I just wait for it to come back?’” she says. “At least when you’re going through treatment, you’re there every other week. You know you’re doing something to kill the cancer. But when you stop treatment, you feel like you’re waiting for it to come back, and I needed to have a way to do something proactive. And what can you do? Exercise, nutrition, education.”

The group started as a small group of survivors getting together to exercise at the park, but has grown into an organization of more than 100 cancer survivors and “buddies,” who come along for support.

They’ve got a book club, a gardening group, retreats and monthly birthday dinners. As Almli likes to

put it, they’re not a “sit-inthe-circle-with-a-tissuebox” kind of group.

“TCC is just such a beautiful thing,” Shelton says. “They were such a godsend for me…. You’ve got this whole group of people who understand you in a way none of your friends or family do.”

On Saturday mornings, there are three separate workout groups: The “Get Fit” classes, led by certified personal trainers, are suitable for all levels and take into consideration the healing process of cancer patients. There’s also a “Get Started” group with lower impact exercises, and a third group of people who walk around the park together. Almli, decked out in a TCC shirt, hat and even socks, explains that they encourage people to change walking partners every 10 minutes, so they can get to know more of their fellow survivors.

On Saturday morning, the workouts are all winding down, and we smile

and wave at Shelton as she comes back with the walking group. Most everyone is chatty and high-spirited as they begin making their way over to a plaza area near the butterfly sanctuary for morning coffee and announcements.

A woman named Jennifer Moulton, another breast cancer survivor, bounds up to Almli and says she’s thinking about bringing a new person to the group – a friend of a friend who was just diagnosed with breast cancer.

They’d met up at Starbucks last week to talk, and Moulton even offered to show the woman how her own reconstructed breasts looked.

“I’ve never met you before—you’re a friend of a friend, and that makes you a friend of mine,” she says. “Let’s go in the bathroom, lock the door.

I stripped down. I’m like you can touch ’em, you can look at ’em. Side view, under view.”

Shelton and Almli laugh along knowingly.

This fearless sharing of experiences is very much in the spirit of the group, because many of the members recall what it was like to feel clueless and scared at the beginning of their own journeys. Now that they’re further along, they’re happy to tell others a little bit about what they can expect. Almli says its’s not uncommon for people at meetings to ask, “Is anyone here willing to show me their scars?” or, “Is anyone here with implants willing to show me what they look like?” At least a few women raise their hands yes for the offer.

“Without a group like Photo courtesy Tucson Cancer Conquerors this, especially during this time, I mean, where you Dawn Messer and Jean Thomas found support with Tucson Cancer Conquerors. do you get the answers?”

Yiu says. “How do you get perspective? How do you count themselves in the strengthened her relationsee someone who’s been camp of people who are ship with her siblings. through it, and they’re now more grateful for “I’m not going to be doing great, and they’re the little things. Yiu jokes here forever,” Yiu tells her happy? And they’re hap- that when her arms get daughter sometimes. “But pier than they were be- sore during a workout, I’m going to be here for a fore because they’re more she remembers she’s lucky long time. We can enjoy grateful from everything to have arms at all. Shel- what we have, and just be they’ve been through?” ton says the isolation of happy—pandemic or not, Shelton and Yiu both the pandemic and cancer cancer or not.”

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Breast Cancer Awareness 2021

Health & Wellness: Breast cancer can affect anyone at any age Mia Smitt

Special to Tucson Local Media

O

ctober is breast cancer awareness month, an annual campaign to raise both awareness and money for research and treatment. Many organizations participate with fund raising activities such as the Susan G. Komen march, the Association of Flight Attendants “get your pink on,” and Avon cosmetics “Pink Yourself.”

Even the National Football League has its “A Critical Catch –Annual Screening” and Dick’s Sporting Goods decorates its stores in pink and donates $250,000 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation every year.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women (skin cancer is first). While the vast majority of those who develop breast cancer are women, this disease also can affect men. The most recent stats available, from 2017, show that 42,000 women and 510 men died of breast cancer that year. It is estimated that there will be 284,200 new cases diagnosed this year.

According to the National Cancer Institute, 12% of women in the United States (that’s one in eight) will develop breast cancer during their lifetimes. One in 800 men, .12%, will be diagnosed. While most breast cancer occurs in women over age 55, young women are not immune and 12% occur in women under 45.

So what is cancer? It is the rapid growth of abnormal cells when the DNA in normal cells somehow

becomes damaged. Sometimes the body can destroy these aberrant cells, but more often they proliferate and divide more quickly than healthy cells. They form a mass or lump and can spread to other parts of the body invading healthy tissue. There are several types of breast cancer depending on where it is located in the breast.

• Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) is an early form of breast cancer. The abnormal cells inside a milk duct have not spread to other parts of the breast or adjacent lymph nodes. Treatment may include surgery and radiation therapy.

• Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) is the most common type of breast cancer and starts in those cells that line a milk duct.

Cancer cells break through the duct wall and spread in to adjoining breast tissue and can then spread to other parts of the body though the bloodstream or lymph system.

• Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) starts in the milk producing glands, or lobules. This too can spread to other parts of the body.

Of interest is that this form of breast cancer will affect both breasts in about 20% of women.

What can be confusing is Lobular Carcinoma in Situ.

This is not actually cancer but the precursor and is often found on biopsy or imaging studies other than mammograms for another suspicious lump or mass.

There are other, less common, breast cancers also.

Treatment of invasive breast cancers will depend

on the type and “stage” of the cancer—how advanced it is and where it may have spread. Different surgeries include lumpectomy (just tumor removal), mastectomy (breast removal) and lymph node removal. Radiation treatment may be an external beam to target either just the cancer site or the entire breast. Systemic treatments include chemotherapy, anticancer drugs that may be given as intravenous medication on a scheduled basis or an oral pill taken daily depending on the particular cancer.

Hormonal therapy is used when the cancer cells have receptors for estrogen or progesterone (a receptor is a site on a cell surface that can bind with a particular substance). Hormone blockers help prevent cancer growth and may be taken for many years.

Then there is “targeted therapy” which kills cancer cells by interfering with specific proteins in the cell that promote growth. Research has opened new avenues for successful treatment and continues to explore ways to treat breast cancer.

The five-year survival rates are approximately 99% for localized disease (breast tissue only), 86% for regional involvement (cancer affecting nearby lymph nodes) and 28% for distant reach (a farther spread such as to bones, lungs and liver). But these statistics change with improved treatment and should be individualized.

There are breast cancer symptoms that warrant evaluation. A lump that is

new and not associated with the menstrual cycle (but not all breast lumps are cancer!), changes in the appearance of the nipple, any change or puckering of breast skin, any nipple discharge, and changes in the size or appearance of a breast compared to the other need to be evaluated. Breast pain is NOT a common symptom of cancer.

Breast cancer cannot be prevented but there are ways to reduce the risk of any cancers. Not smoking, physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight and eating vegetables and fruits every day are healthy lifestyle choices.

As with many other illnesses, screening is essential. Monthly self breast

exam is recommended by some organizations and health care providers but has not been found to be as effective as clinical exams.

Routine mammograms, ultrasound imaging, and MRIs can detect the smallest cancers for earlier treatment. Screening rates vary by state, with Rhode Island taking the prize at 87% and Alaska the worst at 67.3%, as reported by the National Cancer Society. Arizona’s screening rate was 71%, not bad but we can do better.

Unfortunately the COVID pandemic halted or delayed many screening exams (and treatment) for numerous people and health care institutions across the country.

Hopefully we can get back on track in 2022.

If I may share a personal note: My dear grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 99. Yes, 99! She had a total mastectomy followed by oral chemotherapy, tolerated both and lived alone until she was 102. She had no cognitive decline when she died (not from breast cancer) just before her 104th birthday. So don’t let age stop you from following up on any suspicious symptoms and enjoying good health.

Mia Smitt is a nurse practitioner with a specialty in family practice. She recently retired and settled in Tucson. She is originally from San Francisco.

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Breast Cancer Awareness 2021

Guest Commentary: Cancer screening saves lives Carol Roder

Special to Tucson Local Media

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he American Cancer Society is urging women to talk to their doctors about the time and breast cancer screening that is best for them.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, elective medical procedures, including cancer screenings, were largely put on hold to prioritize urgent needs and reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19 in healthcare settings. One consequence of this has been a substantial decline in cancer screening. According to ACS Senior Development Manager Denis Cournoyer, “Health care facilities are providing cancer screening during the pandemic with many safety precautions in place so now, more than ever, it’s time to get back on track with screenings.”

For the American Cancer Society, the end of breast cancer begins with research. ACS’s research program has played a role in many of the prevention, screening, and treatment advances that help save lives from breast cancer today.

“Breast cancer mortality has declined in recent decades—31% between 1991 and 2018—due in

part to progress in screening technologies and an increase in screening services like mammograms.

That translates to approximately 3.2 million cancer deaths averted during that timeframe,” reports Cournoyer.

In Arizona, it is estimated that 5,850 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021; about 900 will die of the disease. Breast cancer is sometimes found after symptoms appear, but many women with breast cancer have no symptoms.

This is why regular breast cancer screening is so important.

Finding breast cancer early and getting state-ofthe-art cancer treatment are the most important strategies to prevent deaths from breast cancer. Breast cancer that’s found early, when it’s small and has not spread, is easier to treat successfully. Getting regular screening tests is the most reliable way to find breast cancer early. The American Cancer Society has screening guidelines for women at average risk of breast cancer, and for those at high risk for breast cancer.

The ACS guidelines are for women at average risk for breast cancer.

For screening purposes, a woman is considered to be at average risk if she doesn’t have a personal history of breast cancer, a strong fam-

ily history of breast cancer, or a genetic mutation known to increase risk of breast cancer (such as in a BRCA gene) and has not had chest radiation therapy before the age of 30. (See below for guidelines for women at high risk.)

• Women between 40 and 44 have the option to start screening with a mammogram every year.

• Women 45 to 54 should get mammograms every year.

• Women 55 and older can switch to a mammogram every other year, or they can choose to continue yearly mammograms.

Screening should continue as long as a woman is in good health and is expected to live at least 10 more years.

• All women should understand what to expect when getting a mammogram for breast cancer screening—what the test can and cannot do.

The American Cancer Society is on a mission to free the world from cancer. We invest in lifesaving research, provide 24/7 information and support, and work to ensure that individuals in every community have access to cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. For more information, visit cancer.org.

Carol Roder is with the American Cancer Society’s South Region.

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TRANSPARENCY?

L

et’s take a short trip in the time capsule back to mid-2018 in Oro Valley.

We were in the middle of an election where the incumbents were being attacked for their “lack of transparency.”

Challengers Joe Winfield and Melanie Barrett stood before the citizens of Oro Valley and pledged that their administration would be the most transparent council ever in Oro Valley.

On the front page of the Explorer (Sept. 29), Oro Valley residents discovered that their “transparent” Town Council had approved “$25 million in parks bonds.” Did you know anything about it? When I questioned the “official” public notice on the Town Council Agenda, I got a nasty response letter.

Here is the Winfield/Barrett brand of ‘transparency’: “PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING RESOLUTION NO.(R)21-47, AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF AN AGREEMENT, A TRUST AGREEMENT, A CONTINUING DISCLOSURE CERTIFICATE, AN OBLIGATION TO PURCHASE AGREEMENT AND FORMS OF RELATED OBLIGA-

TION DOCUMENTS; APPROVING A PRELIMINARY OFFICIAL STATEMENT, APPROVING THE SALE, EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF EXCISE TAX-EXEMPT REVENUE OBLIGATIONS , TAX –EXEMPT SERIES 2021, EVIDENCING A PROPORTIONATE INTEREST OF THE OWNERS THEREOF IN AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE TOWN OF ORO VALLEY AND A TRUSTEE;AND AUTHORIZING THE TAKING OF ALL OTHER ACTIONS NECESSARY TO THE CONNSUMATION OF THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED

BY THIS RESOLUTION, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY” Got that? Translation….

Joe and Melanie are about to put you, Mr & Mrs Oro Valley Resident, $34 million in debt.

Oh, and they put you another $17 million in debt a few short months ago. So that’s $51 million debt since April.

I suggest you keep a close eye on these folks as the next bit of “transparency” will probably be a proposal for an Oro Valley property tax, which will be equally clear on that agenda.

Don Cox Oro Valley

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he reconciliation legislation includes: • Funding to address forest fires, drought concerns, reducing carbon emissions • Investments in public housing, housing affordability, and community land trusts • Developing clean energy • Funding low-income solar and other climate-friendly technologies • Tax cuts for those making less than $400,000 a year, lowering the price of prescription drugs, and ensuring the 1% and large corporations actually pay taxes • Universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds, childcare for working families • Electrifying the federal vehicle fleet, electrifying and rehabbing federal buildings, improving cybersecurity infrastructure, reinforcing border management • Improving Native American health and education programs and facilities • Upgrading the VA I think all of these items benefit Arizonans and United States citizens.

Which of these items does Sen. Sinema not support? To be more clear, which of these items has Sen. Sinema accepted dark money to oppose? Arizonans deserve transparency.

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SPORTS EXTRA POINT WITH TOM DANEHY &RECREATION

Forget UA football and focus on these good sports stories Tom Danehy

Special to Tucson Local Media

O

K, so the University of Arizona football team is 0-4 and possibly heading for its second straight winless season (that’s actually hard to do). Wildcat basketball is on the horizon, but they have a new, untested coach, some serious NCAA punishment headed its way, and a lineup consisting of guys who inspire fans to blurt, “Are you sure that’s him? Let me see the program.”

But that doesn’t mean

that all is bleak. There are some really good things happening in local sports.

For example: • While the Wildcats haven’t won a game, the Marana Tigers haven’t lost a game. In fact, Coach Patrick Steward’s squad has been hammering people. After squeaking by in-District foe Mountain View, 13-12 in the opener, it has been pedal to the metal ever since. Heading into last week’s game with Desert View, Marana had outscored its three previous opponents by a combined score of 16514.

For unknown reasons,

the AIA won’t release their first set of Power Points rankings until next week, Oct. 12. (I personally think that it’s so people won’t see how flawed the Power Points system is, especially early in a season.) When those rankings are unveiled, look for the Tigers to be among the Top 5 teams in the state in the 5A. • Back in mid-August, FC Tucson (the Old Pueblo’s pro soccer team) had just suffered a humiliating owngoal loss and was listing badly, sitting in 11th place in the 12-team USL League One standings. Their record was

a dreadful 4-4-8. In soccer, it’s wins, then ties (draws), then losses. Why they do it that way is anybody’s guess.

It was probably invented in a country where chickens walk down the middle of the street.

Anyway, since that low point, FC Tucson has absolutely exploded. They haven’t lost a game since then, winning five times to go along with two draws. They have moved from 11th place up to third in the standings and, if the season were to end today, they would be hosting a playoff game. But the season isn’t ending today. They still

have four games to go, including three at home.

Last Saturday, they wore special “El Jefe” kits in honor of the elusive jaguar that has been spotted (no pun intended) in the Tucson Mountains. After home games on Oct. 13 and 16, they will wrap up the regular season with a wild night against Richmond on Oct. 30. The finale will be Fan Appreciation Night, with nods toward Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos thrown in for good measure.

If FC Tucson can hang on to the third spot (or even fourth), they will host

a first-round playoff game on Nov. 6. They are currently in a precarious position, sitting just one point ahead of the fourth-place team, two ahead of the fifth-place team, and just three points ahead of the six-place squad.

However, their final five games are against teams that are currently in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and 12th places. If they can hold serve, it will be a bright finish to what was once headed to being a dismal season.

• The Canyon Del Oro girls’ volleyball team is undefeated in the regular season, with a dazzling 12-0

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 

record. But that’s not all.

The Dorados have won all 12 best-of-five matches by scores of 3-0; no one has managed to even take one game from them. But, even THAT’s not all. Even great volleyball teams will give up double-digit points in a game, winning 25-15 or so.

Canyon Del Oro is winning games with scores of 25-4 and 25-6.

According to the AIA website, in only three of their 36 games has CDO’s opponent made it into the 20s. That’s domination.

(Tanque Verde lost a game

to CDO by the score of 3230, but then scored 17 and 14 points, respectively, in the other two games.)

Canyon Del Oro is currently ranked third in the State.

• Up at the higher level, the University of Arizona volleyball team is enjoying a return to prominence. The Wildcat women struggled last year, finishing 10-11, with a very-young team and under very cumbersome COVID restrictions.

So far this year, the UA is 10-3 overall and a perfect 2-0 in Pac-12 play. The

Cats lost to Notre Dame and UTEP by 3-2 scores. (UTEP is currently 11-2 and having its best season ever). The only other loss was by 3-1 to Texas, which is the Number 1 team in the entire country.

In those three losses, the UA scored 21, 22, and 22 points, respectively.

The conference season is always a grind, but unless the Cats completely fall apart, they should be heading back to the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season.

Now all we need is for the football team to win a game.

Athlete of the Week: Hanna Hartzell moving from football to basketball Tom Danehy

Special to Tucson Local Media

A

mong Hanna Hartzell’s duties as a team manager for the undefeated Marana Tigers football team are: Clean the uniforms, get water for the players, supervise pre-game meals, supervise post-game meals, serve as a timer during practice, set

up equipment needed for drills, and a bunch of other stuff that is even less-fun sounding.

Gee, where do we sign up?

“Actually, I really enjoy it.

There’s always something to do and it’s cool being a part of such an awesome team.”

During the winter season, Hartzell is a guard on the Tiger varsity basketball team. But when she first

transferred to Marana from Cienega, she was looking for a way to meet people and didn’t want to wait for hoop season.

“I love sports and I was looking for a way to be involved and maybe make some friends,” she said. “I know that may sound lame, but that’s the way I am.”

She’s really looking forContinued on P17

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct 6, 2021

Athlete of the Week Continued from P15

ward to basketball season.

Last year, as the pandemic droned on, basketball was a difficult proposition. Practices were strange and sterile activities. Everybody had to have her own basketball and there were no team activities or drills. Teams that had a high number of seniors and/ or players who had been together for two or three seasons fared much better than those that were trying to mold a team out of disparate parts.

“We really struggled,” Hartzell said. “I think we only won three games.” (Marana went 3-8 in the pandemic-shortened season.)

“We should be better this coming season.”

But right now, it’s football season and she’s all in.

She attacks her responsibilities with an unabashed enthusiasm.

“Why do something if you’re not going to do it all the way?” she said. “You should do your best. Besides, I love what I’m doing.”

Even the stinky uniforms?

“I love most of what I’m doing,” she said.

Her love of football is not limited to the prep scene.

She has been seen, in public, wearing a Green Bay Packers jersey. It’s like she lost a bet or something.

Why the Packers, she is asked?

“Well, my parents are both Chicago Bears fans…”

Ah, rebellious youth!

“No, it’s not that. My par-

Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 

ents have always been Bears fans, but the Bears haven’t been good in, like, forever.

When I started watching football, the Packers were really good. Plus, Aaron Rodgers is really cute.”

She’s got a full schedule, balancing her managing duties with a full load of AP classes. In what little spare time she has, she tries to get in some shooting on the basketball court and also does some volunteering. After graduation next spring, she plans on attending Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she will study mechanical and/or aeronautical engineering.

So what happens if the football team makes a deep run in the state playoffs and eats up the first month of basketball? What will you do?

Know Us Know Your Community

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HOROSCOPE By Holiday Mathis

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ACROSS Fire proof?

4 Midsection section, informally 7 Bad break 14 Pop singer known for performing in a faceobscuring wig 15 Sch. whose campus contains Washington Square Park 16 Core 17 “Lookout” signal, in brief 18 “Come now, it’ll be OK” 20 Carmichael who composed “Heart and Soul” 22 Letter after pi 23 Wallet items 24 Body feature for roughly 90% of people 25 McKellen who played Gandalf 26 Online help page, for short 28 Young newt

29 Health class subj.

30 Slip past 33 Anybody home?

35 This, in Spanish 36 Farm cry

Put numbers on the board 38 “Wowza!”

39 Nickname for the Miami Dolphins, with “the” 40 Certain recyclable 41 U.K. honour 42 ___ Stardust, alter ego of David Bowie 43 Rose Granger-Weasley, to Harry Potter 44 Word on either side of “à” 45 Rose of rock 46 Bench with a back 47 Main ingredient in the Japanese dish tamagoyaki 48 Requirements 51 Easy ___ 37

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on the Scoville scale 4“Nevertheless … look at our current situation” 5 Party invite inits.

6 Grass-roots group focused on addressing climate change 7 Difficult to understand 8 G.I. entertainers 9 The Spartans of the N.C.A.A. 10 Letters on the “3” button 11 Performer known as the “King of Latin Pop” 12 Performed very well on 13 “I’m game” 19 Exclamation upon seeing this puzzle 21 Priceless keepsakes?

26 Mo. during which the N.B.A. All-Star Game is usually played 27 Good as new 31 “Shoot!”

32 Website with much customdesigned jewelry 33 Channel owned by Disney 34 Dark purple fruit 42 Most out there 49 Hunky-dory 50 Comedian Wanda 51 Open ___ (plan to pay later) 52 Like the majority of Iraqis and Bahrainis 56 Pull-up muscle, for short 57 Soft murmur

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You hold many beliefs you’re not aware of. These beliefs come part and parcel with being a person born in a particular place and time. Not all of them are true. This week presents you with a new awareness. Something will rub against a belief, offering you the chance to challenge and replace it with an improvement.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Trust can be a blanket term signaling submission. You trust someone ... but trust them to do (SET ITAL)what?(END ITAL) It is more valuable to know someone enough to predict their character; it takes time and is worth it. The nuances of relationships matter now, as there’s something in flux. The deciding moment will change everything.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Maybe it’s bad luck to believe in bad luck. This week, try striking the word “luck” from your thinking altogether.

There are actions and reactions, causes and effects, light and shadows. None of it is positive, negative, only useful to a particular goal or not applicable. Think in terms of “for me” and “not for me.”

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GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Metaphorically, this crosswalk of life you’re trying to use doesn’t seem to be responding to the button.

The sign is stuck on “don’t walk” and it’s not changing anytime soon. So, don’t wait for the signal to give you permission. Instead of going when you’re told, go when you see your break and it’s safe.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You’ll work with creative people who specialize in different areas from yours. Even so, do not hand over a job and walk away expecting stunning results.

The magic ingredient is your vision. Your encouragement will help others reach new heights or expand their territory.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Long ago, you learned the success equation. You show up, then deliver what you agreed to in the expected time frame. These aren’t easy rules, but they are simple, and you live by them this week. Someone new will learn what you’re all about. You’ll build your credibility and later bank on it.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Don’t let the tensed-out energy get to you. Your easygoing style will attract to you the exact people you need to keep things running smoothly. Some will have a different style, but don’t let anyone’s intensity deter you. Consider it instead to be a yin to your yang.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Before you act on your idea, give it a go through different filters. Pump the notion through your heart.

Send it up to our higher wisdom. Float it to your mentor, team and partner ... Ideas need multiple influences; they need to be checked for soundness! Ultimately, your action will be golden and confidently executed.

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Message often written in large letters 61 Suffix with Gator 62 Actress Angela of “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” 63Weed 64The “S” of iOS: Abbr.

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SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). What you see is never all that is. Magic shows are built on this premise, and so is drama, branding, dating and, to some extent, your approach to the week. You’ll show the world enough to hook them into what you’re doing while somehow keeping your mystery alive.

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Many are going for the same goal as you. Don’t be deterred! The like-minded make the journey easier. People are testing out a variety of methods, so you can see what’s working and avoid the bad fits.

Besides, competition brings out the best in you. You’ll be energized by the challenges of this week.

A C A I

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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). It’s a week to communicate yourself large. Keep friends informed about what you want and what you’re doing because they can help you. Also, tell people you don’t know. And while you’re at it, give a shoutout to all the unseen forces of nature and heaven, the mystical deities and anyone else you can think of.

A T A B

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ARIES (March 21-April 19). It is on brand for you to give your all. Anything less and people take notice. In one activity in particular, bringing your best attention to the situation feels like a challenge. It’s better to stop entirely and figure out the problem than to bring a distracted version of yourself. It’s not selfish to ask, “What’s in it for me?”

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he Celtic Fiddle Festival, organized by Kevin Burke, was of the best concerts that ever landed in Tucson Burke, the great player of Irish fiddle, had the idea to put together three fiddlers from three different nations to celebrate the varying Celtic music of Ireland, French Brittany and Quebec.

All three musicians were mesmerizing but the one I remember best is Andrés Brunet.

Brunet, born and bred in Quebec, represented French Celtic music in the new world. Not only did he play a dazzling fiddle, he sang and danced at the same time. He was like a jockey winning the triple crown, using every part of his body to deliver his extraordinary performance.

In a rare piece of luck in these sour COVID times, when many concerts have been canceled, Brunet is making a return appearance to Tucson. Now with the Quebec band Le Vent du Nord (Wind from the North), he will play with five other musicians this Friday night at Berger Performing Arts Center.

He’s still got the moves.

“Yes, I tap the feet when I play the fiddle, and I sing at the same time,” he says cheerily from his rural home in Saint-Sévère, Quebec, in eastern Canada. “There is no dance without the music and no music without the dance.”

Speaking English in a charming French accent,

Classifieds@tucsonlocalmedia.com Their new album, TerriBrunet points out that he’s not the only “tap the foot” toires, has an old song feaguy in Le Vent du Nord. Ol- turing a sorrowful soldier ivier Demers, a founder of mourning the 1758 defeat the 19-year-old group, taps of New France at the hands his feet and also manages to of the British. The tale, Bruwork both the mandolin and net says, reminds Quebecois that “we were strong one the fiddle.

Those without toes day.”

But the Le Vent’s music duty are still plenty busy. is jolly as well, especially The three lead singers also play multiple instruments. with all those instruments Besides singing, Nicolas and foot tapping going all at Boulerice wrangles both the once.

The Brunet brothers piano and the rarely seen hurdy-gurdy. Simon Beau- were “lucky to be born into dry plays guitar and Irish a family where music was bouzouki. And Réjean Bru- everywhere,” Andrés says. net, Andrés’s big brother by Their father, one of 11 chila year and a half, commands dren, sang and played guithe button accordion and tar, and their mother, from a family of 8, played organ. the guitar.

One of their father’s The band, which Andrés Brunet joined just four years brothers was a master fidago after a long gig with La dler and the two played Bottine Souriante (Smiling together constantly. Every Boot), has won Artist of the Sunday the giant clan gathYear in the Juno Awards, re- ered at the uncle’s home or garded as the Grammys of the grandma’s, and everyone sang.

Canada.

“It was a nice blend of The musicians are unabashed champions of the history and culture of Quebec, the only French-speaking province in an immense nation of mostly English speakers.

“All the singing is in French, absolutely,” Brunet says, though he cheerfully speaks in English to the audience. “Our traditional music is a big blend of French, Irish, Scottish and English.”

The band finds many of its songs in archives in Quebec City and Ottawa, the Canadian capital.

“We love the archives,” he says. “We listen to old songs recorded in the last century.

We are keeping alive the tradition of singing stories.”

Le Vent du Nord (Wind from the North) Concert by Traditional Québécois French band 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8 Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway Reserved seats $25 general, $23 seniors Door Tickets $28; $26 seniors Streaming tickets for viewing at home, $15. Can be watched live or during the 24 hours after the concert.

To buy tickets for-person show or for online, go to www. inconcerttucson.com

music and love,” he says. It also gave him his life’s work.

One Sunday when he was 3, he became aware of his uncle playing. He told his mother, “I will play fiddle one day.” He kept his promise and he’s still immersed in the music, “because of the joy my uncle had playing fiddle.”

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Explorer and Marana News, Oct , 