Newspapers / InterCom (Durham, N.C.) / March 19, 1976, edition 1 / Page 1
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ntGRcom duke univcusity mc6icM ccnteR VOLUME 23, NUMBER 11 MARCH 19,1976 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA By Durham GoodwUI Strombeck Named Worker of the Year Robert Strombeck, environmental' services worker in the hospital, has been named Goodwill Worker of the Year in Durham. Injured in 1970 while working for^ a logging company, Strombeck had to learn to talk, read and write again. After training by Goodwill, he was hired by Duke last October. He is responsible for the upkeep and appearance of all the entrances to the medical center. Getting hit in the head by a tree changed Strombeck's life, he said. “I don’t remember a thing about it. 1 don’t know how long I wasi unconscious —three or four weeks.” When his wife and mother took him home from the hospital, he was conscious but could not talk and didn’t know his family. Asked if speech therapy had helped him regain his language, he said, “No. Jesus Christ helped me.” “1 asked the preacher over and over why was I alive. Finally the answer came. Because Jesus loves me. Then 1 knew what I was going to do. 1 finally got saved and baptised. That’s when my J^ife started changing.” Little by little his speech returned. “I still can’t say words right. But I will. I’ve got to better myself. Jesus Christ wants me to do it. He wants everybody in the world to better himself." Referred to Goodwill by Vocational Rehabilitation, he was trained for four and a half months in maintenance and janitorial services. When he first visited Duke, he learned that new employees in environmental services usually begin by working at nights or on weekends. Neither schedule was attractive sincc he attends Fellowship Baptist Church on Sunday, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, and he goes to a Cub Scout meeting with his 10-year-old son on Tuesday night. “ That night 1 prayed to the Lord and it worked,” he said. The manager of environmental services at that time worked out a schedule that Strombeck could meet because Servicemaster, the company u KEEP SMILING—lh\s is the motto of Robert Strombeck, environmental services worker, who was named Goodwill Worker of the Year for Durham. Responsible for the upkeep of entrances to the medical center, he is pictured cleaning the windows at the entrance to the Davison Building. A logging accident that left him unable to speak, read or write changed his life, he said. "It changed my attitude over people and over things. I care now, and I didn't before." (Photo by Ina Fried) Carter Lecturer To Speak On 'Real Health Planner, Stand Up' LOU ANNE IRION A nurse involved in national health care planning will deliver the annual Harriet Cook Carter Lecture next Thursday. Her speech will begin the annual spring Nursing Program March 25-27. Lou Anne Irion will speak on “Will the Real Health Planner Please Stand L'p” at 4 p.m. in the Ann M. Jacobansky Auditorium of the School of Nursing. The lecture is open to the public at no charge. Miss Irion is special assistant to the associate administrator for planning, evaluation and legislation of the Health Resources Administration, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The Carter Lectureship was established in 19()9 to honoi' the late Mrs. (barter, a nurse who was co-f«>uiK!ei' of the Duke Hospital •Auxiliary and active in Dm ham civic affairs. She was the wife of Dr. Bax ard Cai ter, Duke's fii st chairman of the Dei)artmeni of Obstetiics and (ivnecology. Ms. Irion was director of tonipreiiensivc health services for the Office of Kconomic Opportiniity's Office of Health Affairs before OKO was |)hased out in 197;i. With a budget of S95 million, she was r e s ])) n s i 1) 1 e for all OKO neighborhood health centers and all grants funded i)y the Compi ehensive Health Sei vices division. From 1973 to 197") she was on the facults at the Stiiool of Public Health, University of Califoinia at Berkeley, aiul was senior consultaiu to Family Health Care, Inc., Washington, D.C.. She has setved as consultant to (Continued on page 4) that manages environmental services at Duke Hospital, has a commitment to develop people, especially those referred by rehabilitation agencies, explained Robert Willis, payroll/personnel manager for the department. “I think it was a real good thing," Willis said. “Bobby has done an excellent job. As far as I’m concerned, he’s one of the best employees in this division. ” “I would rather work than sit at home,” Strombeck commented. “I was glad I got this job. It feels good to work.” After working from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., he attends special reading classes at Duke until 5:30 p.m. four days a week. A native of Indiana, he joined the Navy when he was 18. He met his wife in Norfolk, Va., and married when he was 20. He worked as a fisherman before becoming a logger in Hyde County, N.C. He and his family moved to Durham about four years ago. In addition to their son, he and his wife have two daughters', aged five and six, and are expecting another baby soon. Shot of Whiskey Can Aid A Diver Drinking and driving don’t mix. But drinking and diving do. Deepwater diving, that is. Dr. Peter B. Bennett, director of diving research at the medical center, told the recent sixth annual International Diving Symposium in New Orleans that a healthy slug of whiskey can help a diver avoid High Pressuie Nervous Svndrome (HPNS). In the performance test referred to by Bennett, divers were given an (mnce and a half of 70-proof w hiskey. One diver drank only aijoiu half his ration, however, and he experienced trenioi s w hile the others showed little or no signs of HPNS. “Divers are probably relieved to hear that their old friend alcohol can be legitimately used at last,” Bennett cjuipped. C;aie should be taken though not to overdo it, he said, Ijecause hangover effects could cause problems, “and one would not wish to create the idea among divers that alcohol is necessarily the best agent” for coping w ith the stress of H PNS. Researchers believe that the syndrome is caused by a combination of water pressine and the rate of compression that a diver experiences in deepwater dives. It usually occurs at depths greater than 500 feet, and its symptoms include tremors, jerky movements, nausea, dizziness, fatigue and irregularities in brain waves. Bennett was in New Orleans as keynote speaker at the International Diving Symposium.
InterCom (Durham, N.C.)
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March 19, 1976, edition 1
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