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By Griff Wigley, on June 13, 2009, 6:52 am
 This article in the NY Times last week caught my eye: If All Doctors Had More Time to Listen. Are there are any doctors in the Northfield area who are practicing this way?
By stepping off the big-clinic treadmill, where doctors are sometimes asked to see a different patient every 15 minutes, Dr. Batlle has joined the vanguard of physicians trying to redefine health care. These doctors spend more time with patients, emphasize prevention and education to keep them healthy and can handle many medical problems without referrals to specialists.
By Bonnie Obremski, on January 13, 2009, 3:50 pm
 Dr. Charles Reznikoff In this 8-minute video, Dr. Charles “Charlie” Reznikoff, addiction medicine specialist, answered my questions after talking to an audience of about 24 people on the subject of heroin addiction during a public presentation at the Northfield Hospital on Monday night. Continue reading Video: Northfield Hospital specialist talks about heroin addiction
By Griff Wigley, on December 6, 2008, 7:40 am
Kathy Cooper, Rice County Safe Communities, alerted me to the new DWI task force, called the MOD-Squad (“Modifying Driving Behavior”).
Griff, as you probably remember from last year, Rice County was number 11 of the top 15 deadliest counties for alcohol-related deaths and injuries. Unfortunately, we are on the list again… There will be a briefing in Northfield on Friday, December 5 at 2030 hrs.
I blogged last year at this time about Rice County’s dubious distinction of being among the deadliest counties in the state for DWI-related deaths and serious injuries. I guess it didn’t do any good because…
We’re now 8th deadliest. See the poster (PDF).
 
So I attended the Mod Squad briefing last night at the Northfield Law Enforcement Center. (Click thumbnails to enlarge photos.)
  
Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Nancy Silkey and Rice County Deputy Blaine Smith did the presentation. Sgt. Mark Murphy is the coordinator for the Northfield Police Department. I captured the audio:
Click play to listen. 20 minutes.
 
After the briefing, I watched Deputy Smith place a DWI Arrest Zone sign on N. Hwy 3 by the Dairy Queen.
We’re planning to have Silkey and Smith on next week’s Locally Grown radio show/podcast.
See the Rice County 11/22 press release High Visibility Enforcement Scheduled and the press release of arrests made on Thanksgiving eve titled Coming Soon . . . To A City Near You: Rice County MOD Squad Initial DWI Enforcement Effort Successful in Making the Rice County Roads Safer by Arresting 8 Impaired Drivers.
11:30am update: I’ve added the poster above, as the announcement was just made that Rice County went from 11th to 8th deadliest county in the state.
Here’s the email from Deputy Smith explaining the program:
Continue reading The Mod Squad now has DWI arrest zones here in Northfield
By Griff Wigley, on November 16, 2008, 8:26 pm
Amy Gohdes-Luhman, pastor of the Main Street Moravian Church, organized and hosted a town hall forum on heroin today. Panelists included:
Cick play to listen or download the MP3.
- Podium presentations: 0 to 1 hr, 24 minutes.
- Panelist Q&A: 1:24:00 to 2 hr 42 min.
See the Rice County Chemical Health Coalition’s Chemical Health Resource Directory on the Northfield HCI site for a huge listing of area services.
See the album of 10 photos or this slideshow:
By Bonnie Obremski, on November 5, 2008, 10:59 pm
Last week, I spoke to a friend of one of Northfield’s alleged heroin dealers. Since she is 15 years old and talking about a sensitive matter, I decided to keep her name and the name of her friend anonymous, even though she gave me permission to use her name.
Click play to listen. 1 minute, 22 seconds.
By Tracy Davis, on October 31, 2008, 4:00 pm
 Freeway CF An recent op-ed the Sacramento Bee had an interesting angle on some of the traffic and transportation issues facing many parts of the U.S., including Northfield.
We’re stuck with the landscape we’ve built over the past 60 years, much of which is literally uninhabitable without a car. Trying to make our communities less car-dependent simply by adding more buses, streetcars and light rail is like trying to make a bowl of chicken soup vegan simply by picking the chicken out.
The author goes on to explain how our built environment has stacked the deck in favor of the individual automobile, at the expense of community, human health, and the environment. He points out, “Cities and suburbs throughout Western Europe have proven for decades that people will choose walking, bicycling and public transit over personal cars if the price is right and the trip is pleasant.”
But unlike more militant voices, he doesn’t take a hard line against cars per se, instead focusing what we can regain by re-thinking the design of our cities and towns.
… how we use cars, how we plan our economies and communities around cars, and even how we build cars, all have to change. . . Millions upon millions of Europeans are living rich, modern lives without requiring a private car to meet their most basic needs. They’re in communities that function perfectly well with gasoline three times the price as at our pumps, and with the resilience to continue thriving if prices doubled tomorrow. How many places in America can say the same?
He concludes with the point that the way things were built prior to the mid-20th century may also make good sense in how we handle the increasing cost of oil and the fact that it’s a finite resource which is running out.
One of the things I’ve always appreciated about Northfield is the fact that most of it was built to what has come to be called “human scale”, without the speed and enclosure of automobiles to skew our sense of distance. This community is geographically compact, which gives us several advantages IF we make wise decisions about transportation and land use going forward.
What do you think of this whole idea? How is Northfield better or less prepared than other parts of the country to embrace changes like this?
Read the full article here, and come back to comment.
By Bonnie Obremski, on October 29, 2008, 1:47 pm
 Hi, my name’s Ben Haynor. I’m a math and physics major at Carleton College. I ended up in a journalism class this semester and began looking at Northfield’s opiate problem. I met Bonnie on Friday and we decided to collaborate on a story. We had already been gathering information, conducting interviews and looking at the history of Northfield’s opiate problem this month. When seven were arraigned on drug charges on Monday, we felt prepared to cover the news and we were glad to have a team of two to do so.
In the coming week we’ll be talking with the authorities to learn more about the arrests, get a better sense of what problems our community still faces, and learn how police intend to continue combating problems with heroin. We’ll be speaking with police in other towns that have had similar bouts with heroin dealing to gain perspective on how a community can fight the problem. If you know more about Northfield’s opiate scene, and are willing to speak, please contact Bonnie or me at RepJNorthfield@gmail.com or haynorb@carleton.edu.
By Tracy Davis, on September 30, 2008, 6:15 am
 As a logical followup to my earlier post on the “Eat Local” challenge, I was reading a report of the Slow Food Nation conference in San Francisco earlier this month.
The “slow food” movement, which started in Italy in 1986 to protest a McDonald’s in central Rome, has picked up momentum, with foodie notables like Michael Pollan and Alice Waters actively involved.
In the United States, members of Slow Food USA’s 200 chapters celebrate the amazing bounty of food that is available and work to strengthen the connection between the food on our plates and the health of our planet. Our members are involved in activities such as:
- Raising public awareness, improving access and encouraging the enjoyment of foods that are local, seasonal and sustainably grown
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Caring for the land and protecting biodiversity for today’s communities and future generations
- Performing educational outreach within their communities and working with children in schools and through public programs
- Identifying, promoting and protecting fruits, vegetables, grains, animal breeds, wild foods and cooking traditions at risk of disappearance
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Advocating for farmers and artisans who grow, produce, market, prepare and serve wholesome food
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Promoting the celebration of food as a cornerstone of pleasure, culture and community
That’s a very large vision, but I’ll drink to that.
There’s a local chapter in Northfield, started last year by students at Carleton College. There could be a great town-and-gown opportunity here!
(Minnesota also has Slow Food chapters in Minneapolis, Rochester, and Duluth.) Any LoGro readers have any experience with any of these chapters?
By Tracy Davis, on September 24, 2008, 5:01 am
 A recent article in the Chicago Tribune about the rising trend of “co-working” space (shared space where the self-employed or telecommuting employee can plug in to work) got me thinking again about the benefits of such a space for Northfield. Is there a market?
The local coffeehouses are serving this function now, but I believe there may be an additional need for a place more conducive to work which still provides the social benefits. Shared work sites across the country have similar features – generally an open room with desks, some meeting rooms, maybe a kitchen; most are in the $150-300/month range.
From the Sept. 8 article:
…co-workers have included computer programmers and Web site developers, road-warrior salesmen who need a quiet place to make sales calls, a graduate student writing his doctoral dissertation and even a woman who runs a dog-walking business.
That’s a typically broad cross section of the people who use coworking sites, part of what author Daniel Pink calls “Free Agent Nation,” the independent contractors and freelance workers who can work anywhere as long as they can plug in a laptop, use their cell phones and hook up to the Internet.
As an indication of how big that nation is becoming, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the number of single-person businesses increased from 16.5 million in 2000 to 20.4 million in 2005.
For more details on this trend, see coworking.info.
Let’s pretend that we had an appropriately configured space here in Northfield. Are there those who would sign up at $150/month? Is there even a need for such a space? I think yes, knowing a large number of self-employed and entrepreneurial types who don’t have dedicated office space.
By Tracy Davis, on September 9, 2008, 8:48 am
 Just Food Co-op featured their third annual “Eat Local” challenge, running from Aug. 15 to Sept. 15.
Just Food Co-op is challenging community members to eat 80 percent of their diet –that’s four out of five ingredients–from food produced in the five-state region for four weeks. Those taking the 80% challenge are Leading Locavores. Folks not quite ready to do 80% can still take the Challenge by becoming Local Learners. Local Learners pledge to eat five local meals per week.
Just Food had some great handouts available to help with meal planning and menu ideas, as well as an easy-to-read chart highlighting the peak harvest for various types of produce.
I’m a very strong theoretical supporter of eating local, especially with such a generous definition of “local”, but I wasn’t up to the challenge this year. The timing of the challenge coincided with a lot of travel and some additional complications to meal planning. However, it would be very interesting to hear from others who took the challenge. Was this the first year you’d done it? What did you find to be the most difficult aspect of eating local, if any? What made the most impact? Will this make any difference in your long-term eating and shopping plans?
By Griff Wigley, on July 9, 2008, 8:01 am
While visiting the bathroom at the Northfield Public Library last week, I noticed literacy signs and stickers scattered about.
  
Left: the use of car stickers with engaging signs
Center: urinal target practice. Hit that Early Literacy Spot!
Right: bladder control tactics. Red=stop. Green=go. Yellow=wait.
By Griff Wigley, on July 5, 2008, 8:16 am
Northfield News Managing Editor Jaci Smith’s column in today’s paper is titled Heroin is here and it is a problem.
And one thing I was never completely confident of was the breadth of the “problem.” I could never really get an answer, even after I began working here, on the veracity of Smith’s numbers. He said that as many as 250 young people were abusing opiates in Northfield. I’m pretty confident now that he was right.
Reporters Suzanne Rook, David Henke and I have interviewed dozens of individuals on both sides of the battle: those who either knew of someone or themselves took or sold heroin and OxyContin (a pharmaceutical opiate) and those who were trying to save the abusers. We’ve spoken with medical officials, school officials, state health officials, county health and public safety officials and statisticians.
Here are the links to the Northfield News ‘Heroin One year later’ series of stories (final six not yet published):
Here are the links to the drug-related blog posts and podcasts we’ve done here on Locally Grown in the past year:
- Heroin use among high school students in Northfield, Jun.22 2007, 294 comments
- Police press conference on Northfield’s heroin problem, Jul.3 2007
- Results: Northfield Community Straw Poll on Illegal Use of Drugs, Jul.11 2007
- Podcast: Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith and Northfield Schools Superintendent Chris Richardson, Jul.11 2007
- City Council and School Board meet in joint session to discuss drug abuse, Jul.17 2007
- Feedback wanted: our coverage of the heroin story, Jul.18 2007, 84 comments
- Podcast: The never-ending heroin/police chief story, Jul.18 2007
- Community response to drug abuse: What’s next?, Jul.24 2007, 26 comments
- Northfield’s heroin story revisited: a newspaper, a grandfather, a minister, Sep.23 2007, 40 comments
- The Northfield News interview with Police Chief Gary Smith, Oct.6 2007, 40 comments
- Police Chief Gary Smith responds, Oct.26 2007, 15 comments
- Carol Falkowski’s drug (presentation) bust: no recording or questions allowed; no mention of Northfield’s drug problem, Oct.30 2007, 40 comments
- Some questions about the implementation of D.A.R.E. in Northfield, Feb.26 2008, 170 comments
By Griff Wigley, on July 4, 2008, 9:14 am
I saw Northfield Hospital emperor Ken Bank this morning (we were both loading up on drugs at GBM) and told him I was going to blog my surgery experience yesterday at his house of pain. Not to worry, I told him. The staff who I had contact with were terrific.
It started the moment I walked into the Day Surgery unit at 6 am and met the nurse, Laurie LaMoore (from Cannon Falls, I later learned). After I changed into one of those flattering hospital gowns, she noticed I was cold and brought me a heated blanket. Heated! I should have asked for a hot toddy, now that I think of it.
Then anesthesiologist Jim Moy arrived and he spent probably 20 minutes carefully explaining all the details and rationale for everything he was about to do. It included a story of his own rotator cuff surgery, which I really appreciated. (His injury, like mine, can legitimately be blamed on our offspring.)
Since I have two shoulders, but only one in need of repair, every subsequent staffer I met subjected me to a line of questions, eg: who are you, why are you here, what’s your address, which shoulder, etc. All that, of course, to prevent surgical debacles like removing the wrong kidney. It was reassuring to know that these folks were following the guidelines to the T.
 I saw my surgeon, Bob Shepley (shown here with some babe he picked up at the Governor’s Ball) just before I faded into the sunset. Bob did my ACL a few years back and since that worked out well, I thought I give him some repeat business. My sweetie was there to greet me in recovery (she also had great things to say about the staff) and I was on my way home in a shoulder sling strapped to my body before noon. Piece o’ cake.
After a long nap, Robbie and I went to see Wall-E at the Southgate (hilarious). I hit the sack around midnight as the surgical block was wearing off (at the precise time Jim Moy predicted). A bag of ice and a Tylenol got me through the night and I was back blogging at my corner office at 6 am.
I do feel a nap coming on, tho. I better get one in before the kiddie parade begins. Photo duty left-handed today.
By Griff Wigley, on June 21, 2008, 7:49 am
 Now that Robbie and I have switched our Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance policy to a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) & Health Savings Accounts (HSA) called Options Blue, it’s in my interest to start thinking like an informed consumer.
I hurt my shoulder (landed on it while snowboarding a few months ago) and all the usual remedies have not worked. Next step, sayeth Dr. Bob Shepley, is a shoulder MRI.
It seems to me that a shoulder MRI is a commodity, like getting a throat culture. Price and convenience are primary factors.
I started shopping earlier this week, but rather than describing what I’ve been learning ahead of time, I thought I’d post it for discussion first.
As a Northfielder, how would you shop for a MRI?
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