Rabbi Sandra Wortzel It was easy for Sandra Wortzel to identify as Jewish growing up in New York City. It took years for her spiritual journey to sway her into becoming a rabbi. “I grew up completely secular,” Wortzel, 58, told the AJP. “My brother became a Bar Mitzvah but that’s it”… Read more »
Renee Gutman, Ph.D., has a thriving practice as a pediatric and adolescent neuropsychologist in Tucson, but her family’s relocation from Mamaroneck, N.Y., wasn’t for professional reasons. Their 2004 move depended on finding the right Orthodox shul for her grieving father. When Gutman’s mother lay dying in her arms, her… Read more »
Marian Salzman May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month. After having two brain tumors removed in the last four years, Tucsonan Marian Salzman, 53, is celebrating being alive. And she’s not just alive, she’s vibrant, creative and has a prominent role in the world of public relations and newscrafting. Salzman, the CEO… Read more »
Rachel Baumann Rachel Baumann, a University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson student, has won the Shandel Medical Endowment Scholarship from the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation. The merit-based, $20,000 biennial scholarship is awarded to Jewish second-year medical students attending the UA College of Medicine in either Tucson or Phoenix.… Read more »
Palestinian Authority Minister of Health Dr. Hani Abdeen visits 8-year-old Sarah Ghanem, from the village of Durah near Hebron, while she is treated at Hadassah Hospital’s pediatric oncology-hematology department in Jerusalem on Sunday, May 5. (Courtesy Hadassah) Palestinian Authority Minister of Health Dr. Hani Abdeen visited Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem on May 5. The hospital said Abdeen was the first P.A. health minister to visit the facility. Abdeen, accompanied by other senior officials from the Palestinian Authority, met some of the dozens of Palestinian physicians who… Read more »
Mayor Jonathan Rothschild will give the opening remarks at an all-day seminar sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association Desert Southwest Chapter at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Wednesday, March 13 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sessions at the 19th Annual Mayor’s Alzheimer’s Conference will include “Caregiving: Elder Law… Read more »
A view of human chromosomes under a microscope (Courtesy Memorial University of Newfoundland) Expectant mothers long have faced the choice of finding out the gender of their child while still in the womb. But what if parents could get a list of all the genes and chromosomes of their unborn children, forecasting everything from possible autism and future genetic diseases to intelligence… Read more »
Back in the ’70s I considered myself an ardent feminist. I displayed a bumper sticker on the back of my pale green Rambler that said “Sexism is a Social Disease.” Most of my closest friends at that time were women and my two older sisters were great influences on… Read more »
Stephanie Neidermyer, LMFT, in the lobby of the new northwest office of Jewish Family & Children’s Services Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona, a nonprofit agency that offers social and behavioral health services to the Jewish and greater Tucson community, recently opened an office on the Northwest side, at the corner of Oracle and Magee Roads. Shoshana Elkins, vice president of programs and services… Read more »
Wearing a tattered house robe and with a cigarette dangling from her hand, the pregnant woman in a low-income neighborhood opened the door. Would she cut down on smoking now that her first child was on the way, the expectant mother was asked by the visiting nurse? The response:… Read more »
Paul Adler On their 1964 honeymoon, Paul Adler and his bride, Clarise, went to Portuguese East Africa from Johannesburg, South Africa, where they met and courted. On that trip, “there was the usual fighting between two tribes,” says Adler. “I had a bit of a flu and went to the hospital.… Read more »
Tom Peled, founder of “Bike for the Fight,” with Israeli President Shimon Peres (Courtesy Tom Peled) Tom Peled has a goal: Livestrong for the Jewish world. The Israeli is finding inspiration in biking champion Lance Armstrong’s cancer awareness organization as he prepares for a 3,000-mile bike trek across the United States to raise money for his own Bike for the Fight to support cancer research… Read more »
HOUSTON — Sunscreen labels can be confusing or misleading. Dermatologists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center applaud new U.S. Food and Drug Administration label changes that help consumers understand exactly what they’re buying. Starting this month, sunscreen makers will be required to use labels with simpler… Read more »
Pam Bridgmon adjusts a cold cap, which reduces hair loss following chemotherapy, on Sharon Arkin. (Sheila Wilensky) Tucsonan Sharon Arkin, 72, leads an energetic life — and she has no intention of letting cancer set any limits. After missing her annual gynecological exam and Pap smear in 2011, she went in January. An examination by her doctor discovered cancer cells, or a thickening in the walls… Read more »
Alzheimer’s disease is a dreaded brain disease that afflicts an estimated 5 million Americans — mostly people over 65 — and half of people over 85. Feared more than cancer by most people, Alzheimer’s disease is expected to increase exponentially as the baby boomer generation swells the ranks of… Read more »
Purim and Passover, which both encourage drinking, may be behind us, but every Kiddush, every simcha is another opportunity to raise a glass and say l’chaim. And to seriously overdo things. In reality, abuse doesn’t need an excuse. And the problem doesn’t stop at alcohol. For a long time,… Read more »
Abraham Verghese, M.D. In this age of high-tech medicine compassion can often be neglected, but the annual Cindy Wool Memorial Seminar helps provide a remedy for healthcare professionals in Tucson. The third seminar and dinner on humanism in medicine, held March 28 at the Marriott University Park Hotel, sought to support physicians… Read more »
Interfaith Community Services will host a conference, “Faith Communities and Mental Illness: Tools for Response and Care,” on Friday, April 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church. Created in response to the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting tragedy in Tucson, this “first… Read more »
The new ramp makes it easy for wheelchair-bound members of the congregation to come up to the bimah for an aliyah. The dream of wheelchair-bound congregants at Congregation Anshei Israel — to ascend to the bimah like everyone else — has become reality. The congregation’s new wheelchair-accessible ramp, which bridges the previous divide, was dedicated at a Saturday morning Shabbat service on March 24. “I’ve been extremely frustrated that people… Read more »
Wood-burning fireplaces can be a pleasant source of comfort in winter months but for some people, burning wood in a fireplace can literally take their breath away. Wood smoke contains hundreds of chemical compounds and some of them can harm people with heart or respiratory disease, babies, young children… Read more »
