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By Sarah McKenzie
Minneapolis Aquatennial
In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Minneapolis Aquatennial, there all kinds of events lined up for this year’s festivities.
Aquatennial organizers are working hard to make the festivities greener this year with a special emphasis on recycling. The Star Tribune Beach Bash on July 19 will be a “zero waste” event and recycling bins will be prominent at other signature events.
Here’s a rundown of Aquatennial highlights:
— The Labor Neighborhood Block Party presented by the Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council is the official kickoff of the Aquatennial. The Gin Blossoms will headline the event (July 17, 5–11 p.m. on Nicollet Mall between 3rd & 4th streets).
— The Star Tribune Beach Bash will feature the Land O’Lakes Sandcastle competition, the milk carton boat races, a Memorial Blood Center Drive and Wilderness Inquiry’s Voyageur Canoe Paddling, among other activities (July 19, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. at Lake Calhoun’s Thomas Beach). — The CenterPoint Energy Torchlight Parade will feature the DeLaSoulja Steppers from DeLaSalle High School (July 22, starts at 8:30 p.m. and runs along Hennepin).
— The Target Fireworks Show is one of the largest fireworks display in the nation (10 p.m. July 25).
When: July 17–25
Where: For event locations and more information, visit aquatennial.com.
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Bicycle Film Festival
The ninth annual Bicycle Film Festival celebrates the wonders of biking through film, art and music.
There are festivals in 39 cities all over the world.
The Minneapolis festival kicks off with the “Bikes Rock!” concert at the new 501 Club on July 8. The concert will feature performances by the punk/noise duo No Age and local bands Knife World and Gay Witch Abortion.
The film festival will showcase 36 shorts and six feature films, including the Minneapolis premier of “Down By the Weep Hole: The Story of the Stupor Bowl.” The film highlights the history of the Minneapolis Stupor Bowl alley cat race, which has grown from a 20-person event in 1997 to one featuring more than 400 competitors this year on the frozen streets of the Twin Cities.
Film screenings will be held at the Riverview Theater on July 9 and the Cedar Cultural Center on July 10 & 11.
The festival will conclude with the city’s first ever bike polo tournament at McRae Park on Sunday, July 12.
When: July 8–12
Where: At sites throughout the city
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Bastille Day Celebration
Alliance Francais of Minneapolis/St. Paul is planning a special Bastille Day Celebration called “Storming the Opera.”
The event will feature French food from Patrick’s Bakery and Thyme to Entertain; a performance by Café Accordion Orchestra; a vintage French auto show; children activities and mimes.
Mayor R.T. Rybak has also proclaimed July 11 as Minneapolis Bastille Day. The proclamation, created by the Alliance Francaise of Minneapolis-St. Paul, notes that “the very land beneath the city of Minneapolis was one part of the French colony of Louisiana, and in its heart of hearts still longs to be part of France.”
When: July 11, 4–10 p.m.
Where: Minnesota Opera Center, 620 N. 1st St.
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One Man Minneapolis
Soon the hunt for one man who represents the best of the Twin Cities will be over.
The organizers of ONE MAN MINNEAPOLIS will unveil the winner of the competition at the Pantages Theatre on July 18.
Twenty candidates have been selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants. Soon, the field will be narrowed down to five men. You can vote online at OneManMinneapolis.com through July 15.
“Since voting started on May 26, there has been more than 20,000 votes registered,” said Scott Mayer, producer of the contest.
The winner of the contest will get $5,000 in cash, a Tag Heuer watch and $1,000 for a charity of his choosing.
When: July 18, 8 p.m.
Where: Pantages Theatre, 710 Hennepin Ave.
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Combating cancer
UPDATED August 30, 2010, 11:42am
By Dylan Thomas
Decorated in neutral tones and blond wood flooring, the infusion room at the Hennepin Comprehensive Cancer Center was designed to feel calm and welcoming to the roughly 500 patients who receive chemotherapy treatments there each year. Center Manager Kelly Porter said one session may run up to six hours, so patients — who receive their infusions in recliners in one of 11 small patient bays ringing the room — are made to feel comfortable. They read, watch TV or, like 48-year-old Desiree Jackson of Minneapolis, three months into chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer in March, simply relax as much as possible. “I just try to nod off a little,” Jackson said. “I just like to get it done and over with.” From his desk in the center of
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The poison patrol
UPDATED August 30, 2010, 11:39am
By Dylan Thomas
A typical call to the Hennepin Regional Poison Center begins at a home on laundry day. A parent pours out a cup of bleach, preparing to add it to the wash. The phone rings and the parent leaves to answer it. A child reaches up for cup of the clear liquid. We’ll let poison center Managing Director Debbie Anderson take over from here: “A child takes a swig [and] they immediately throw up. So, what do parents do? They panic; they call 911.” Anderson said that call would be patched through to her call center in HCMC, where a staff of specially trained pharmacists and pharmacy students take calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The staffer would assure the parent vomiting was
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Savvy about sleep
By jake weyer
There’s little question that folks today are hooked on finding ways to stay awake. The massive collection of energy drinks on display in a room at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center is a testament to that. Voluntary sleep deprivation, not surprisingly, is the most common cause of drowsiness during the day. Neurologist Mark Mahowald, director of the center, sees it all the time. “People always ask, ‘well how do you know if you’re sleep deprived?’ Our first question is, ‘do you use an alarm clock to wake up in the morning?’ If you use an alarm clock, you are by definition sleep deprived because if your brain had collected as much sleep as it needed, you would have awakened before the alarm went off,” he said.
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Triage time
By Sarah McKenzie
No one wants to end up here. But if you do end up in HCMC’s Emergency Department, you’re in place that has a long and successful track record in trauma care. The department, housed in the hospital’s Red Building, 730 S. 8th St., takes up an entire city block and has six specialized team centers. In 1989, HCMC became the first hospital in the state certified as a Level I Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons. The distinction means that the hospital has significant operating room capacity and surgeons available to deliver emergency medical care trained in a variety of specialties. The hospital’s Emergency Department is the busiest in the state with more than 100,000 visits a year, said Michelle Noltimier, director
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Fruit-themed hallways and anti-smoking posters
By Cristof Traudes
Welcome to the part of HCMC that handles severe accidents but also cuts, scrapes and bruises, the part that deals with burn victims and pregnancy but also tonsil trouble and literacy. This is “peeds” — as staffers of pediatrics call it — where health care is only half of the story. Anybody up to age 18 is sent to the department and sometimes 21-year-olds are, too. As a result, peeds is set up much like a tentative parent — to entertain and educate wee ones but steer clear (as much as possible) from stepping on the toes of teens. It’s a department with yellow walls and fruit-themed hallways in one section and sleek grey walls and self esteem-boosting posters in another. Every child that walks through the door is given a
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Politics. Change. Prevention.
By Cristof Traudes
// Art Gonzalez talks about the health care landscape, General Assistance Medical Care and the future //
Art Gonzalez, CEO of Hennepin County Medical Center, sees change on the horizon. More than just health insurance is getting an overhaul; the way hospitals will be graded on success is, too. In the second and final part of his interview with the Downtown Journal, he talks about what that means for HCMC right now and what it will mean down the road.
Downtown Journal: What’s your sense of state leaders’ views of HCMC?
Gonzalez: I get the impression that we’re well known and well regarded. They recognize the impact that we provide in the region.
Obviously, the
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More than one way to give birth
By Sarah McKenzie
Hennepin County Medical Center is home to the state’s first Nurse-Midwife Service. Since 1971, midwives at the hospital have been helping women have natural birth experiences. Rita O’Reilly, director of the hospital’s Nurse Midwife Service, said HCMC practices the “true midwifery philosophy.” “We believe in the normal birth process; keeping birth as natural as possible,” she said. “We discourage elective inductions of labor without a medical indication. We encourage families to be participants in the decision making affecting their pregnancy, labor and births.” The hospital’s nurse midwives deliver more than 800 babies each year. The nine-bed unit’s cesarean section rate is 12.7
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