Williston Observer

Social worker’s sweat will help fight blood cancer

By Kim Howard
Observer staff

The furthest Williston resident Michelle Pierce had run before August was eight miles.

Then she signed up to do her first marathon in January to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

As a past relay participant in the Vermont City Marathon, Pierce had seen runners wearing t-shirts supporting the organization which works to find cures for blood cancers — leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma.

“I just have always thought to myself that if I ever run a marathon I’m gonna do it for this cause,” said Pierce, 35, in a recent interview. “Because I could never run a marathon just for me. I had to have a mission and a reason to do one.”

Pierce lives off of River Cove Road with her husband of six years and their two toddlers. The Pierces moved to Williston five years ago because they “liked the sense of community here,” said Michelle Pierce, a Rutland native.

A colleague of Pierce’s lost her husband to lymphoma about seven years ago. Pierce also has worked with “a lot more than a handful” of people with blood cancers in her job as a social worker on the hospice and palliative care team with the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties.

“Sometimes the treatments are harder on people than the actual disease because there can be a lot of fatigue involved, nausea, and I think the fear of the unknown,” she explained of patients with blood cancers.

“I’ve seen the whole spectrum: people who are completely in despair and depressed and just can’t see how they’re gonna get through this,” Pierce elaborated. “And then I‘ve seen other people who are totally accepting.”

“The hardest is when we’re dealing with a middle aged person who has children,” Pierce said. “They need to find the way to talk to their children before they die and explain to them that they’re dying.”

These are some of the things Pierce thinks about as she prepares for the marathon. She must raise $3,500 in order to participate; she has raised $1,500 to date from family, friends, colleagues at the VNA and people through her kids’ daycare at Kids in Fitness.

There is a significant physical and time commitment as well. Pierce, who took up running for fitness six years ago, will log over 450 miles in training prior to the event at Walt Disney World in January. She gets up at 5:00 a.m. for weekday runs three or four days a week on her basement treadmill; weekend runs are with a volunteer coach for a Team in Training group.

Team in Training is an endurance sports training program for marathons, half-marathons, triathlons and 100-mile bicycle rides – all of which raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Robyn Haberman, program campaign manager for the Upstate New York/Vermont Society chapter, said that Pierce is one of about twenty Vermonters who will participate in a Team in Training event this year. The funds raised through these events make a difference to people right here in Vermont.

“I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the research the Team in Training raised funds for,” shared Dave Cranmer of Shelburne, a volunteer patient advocate for the Society.

Cranmer was diagnosed in October 1999 with CML – chronic myeloid leukemia – a relatively rarer form of blood cancer.

“Research advances very rapidly and now people who are diagnosed with the leukemia that I had are offered much less invasive treatment than what I had to go through – and that’s just in six years,” explained Cranmer.

A significant portion of funds raised by the LLS goes to research, though the organization also supports public and professional education and services to patients and their families.

“In the last 10-15 years, survival rates have gone from almost nothing to fifty percent,” Cranmer continued.

There are other improvements. Cranmer had to travel to Boston for treatment. Now, because of research breakthroughs, more treatment is available closer to home for Vermonters, he said.

Nearly three-quarters of a million Americans currently battle blood cancers. Vermont can expect to see an estimated 300 new cases of blood cancers diagnosed in 2006, said Haberman.

Cranmer, who has been in remission for four years, supported this.

“Vermont has a significant amount of leukemia & lymphoma throughout the state,” Cranmer said. “You don’t have to go very far before you meet someone whose life has been impacted.”

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By Kim Howard
Observer correspondent

When Dr. Gil Theriault returned from the Gulf Coast, he brought back a pen pal connection for his eleven-year-old daughter and dozens of digital pictures.

The pictures capture sporadic moments of two trips – one to Texas and one to Louisiana – during which Theriault provided primary medical care to evacuees of Hurricane Katrina.

“I had never done anything like this before. It was extremely rewarding,” said Theriault, 51, last Saturday at Thomas Chittenden Health Center, where he has worked for five years.

A Williston resident since 1998, Theriault said he was able to treat a wide range of problems while in the Gulf Coast. Chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes were common, according to Theriault. He also treated those with vomiting, diarrhea and skin infections.

Getting to the Gulf Coast required considerable effort. Like several colleagues at the health center, Theriault signed up on Web sites to volunteer. When he did not get any leads, he made about sixty phone calls to Louisiana to find out how to help.

“In most cases they said there was a need, but I would get six phone numbers and I’d make those six calls and it would bring me back to the beginning,” Theriault explained.

It wasn’t until he found a Web site posting by a Galveston, Texas physician that Theriault found his match. Theriault called her cell phone number and the doctor herself answered; the University of Texas at Galveston sponsored him; and within twenty-four hours he had a temporary Texas medical license. On Sept. 11, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit, Theriault was on his way to Houston’s George Brown Convention Center.

Theriault said he was “fairly overwhelmed” the first time he walked in. Five city blocks long, one city block wide, and three floors high, the convention center was one of three Houston locations housing approximately 25,000 evacuees in exhibit halls and ballrooms.

Theriault said he was impressed with the Red Cross. A phone bank enabled evacuees to attempt to reach loved ones. Showers were available in assigned 15-minute slots. Food, medicine, eye care, and dental care were provided free to all evacuees.

“I really appreciated the direct care that could be given to the people,” said Theriault, noting the absence of insurance and other paperwork.

Theriault worked twelve to fourteen hours each day, seeing fifty to sixty patients. “It was like being a resident again,” said Theriault of the pace.

Midweek, Theriault went to St. Agnes Church, located thirty minutes outside of Houston, where the Red Cross was distributing individual relief checks for $365 to between ten and fifteen thousand people a day. With temperatures in the high 90s, Theriault attended to many whose health worsened from standing in line in the heat.

Theriault returned from Houston on Sept. 18. Two days later, Louisiana called. On Sept. 27, Theriault was on his way again.

In Marksville, 30 miles outside of Alexandria, Theriault found a different kind of shelter than what he saw in Houston.

“The roof leaked. There was very little air. If you’ll notice, no windows,” he said, pointing to a picture of the cramped and condemned textile factory housing 600 people where Garanimals children’s clothing had once been manufactured.

“The place was infested with fire ants inside the building, lice, the sorts of things you get when people are in close quarters,” Theriault explained.

Theriault soon moved on to the Alexandria Riverfront Convention Center, where he was the only doctor for several days. He returned to Vermont on Oct. 2.

Regardless of shelter conditions, medical supplies were tight everywhere. Theriault had collected supplies from Thomas Chittenden Health Center. Williston Hannaford pharmacy manager Janet Goodell, and her husband, John Goodell, donated money to cover antibiotics that would have cost $400 retail.

“The medicine was well-dispensed; I came back with nothing,” said Theriault. “It was very gratifying to dispense the medicine with no strings attached.”

Theriault has four children, two of whom are students at Williston Central School. He has not talked with them about many details of his trips.

“I’m unable to share any of the evacuees’ stories yet. It’s been too hard. It’s really been too hard to talk about,” he said quietly. “Invariably, almost everybody I talked to lost everything they had. It was that story repeated over and over one hundred times.”

What he did share with his children was how much he liked the people he met.

“The people were just wonderful,” Theriault said. “Even though most of these people had lost everything…they just had a great spirit and a wonderful sense of humor.”

Theriault said he is glad to be home. Yet, he said, “and at the same time, I wish I could be back there helping.”

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Anti-Defamation League holds program at WCS for first time

By Ben Moger-Williams
Observer staff

In the cool, damp basement of the Old Brick Church last Thursday, Williston middle school students used laughter, honesty and open discussion to create their own warm and constructive environment. The students were in training to become “allies” for those in the school who are discriminated against or singled out by others.

The children were in their fourth and final day of “A World of Difference” diversity and anti-bias training, a program started by the Anti-Defamation League two decades ago. The training was led by facilitators Kathy Johnson, director of Equity Initiatives at Vermont Institutes; and independent consultant Robert Jones, and was coordinated by Williston Central School Guidance Counselor Carol Bick.

Johnson said the four days of workshops and training had covered a lot of ground. The discussions ranged from sexism, racism, and classism, to homophobia, discrimination, and harassment.

“This is life stuff,” Johnson said. “The kids respond very enthusiastically, and they’re curious. They want to talk about these issues.”

The 18-hour training is meant to prepare students to become Peer Trainers, who can be leaders in their school and help prevent discriminatory behavior. Central Valley Union High School has been holding the training sessions for five years, but this was the first year it was held for WCS students.

The seventh- and eighth-graders will eventually lead groups of fifth-grade students in discussions about topics most kids – not to mention adults – wouldn’t usually breach.

The training culminated in the children leading presentations they might use with the younger students.

One group led a discussion on exclusivity, by having the audience – mostly other kids – divide themselves up according to categories such as favorite ice cream flavor, birthday month or number of siblings. Then the audience was asked how they felt about being put into those groups. Some groups with only one person, such as one seventh-grader who said he has 23 siblings, felt isolated, and larger groups were generally more comfortable.

Johnson said the kids felt that adults in Williston schools were very conscientious of bullying, but there were still some issues when adults were not present.

“Part of the challenge is for these kids to become leaders by example within the school,” Johnson said. “So they refrain from bullying, and become allies instead of bystanders, … who will step forward when they see something.”

Bick stressed that the program was not just about bullying, which the school has worked hard to combat.

“We’ve done a really good job with bullying,” she said. “But there is still a lot of work to do around differences and acceptance of differences.”

Jones, who has been working with the ADL as a trainer and consultant for 15 years, said the Williston students had truly taken to the program.

“These kids, they’re open, smart, they’re grasping the theory and concepts,” Jones said. “I would say they are in the top five, of middle school kids, who grasp it.”

Jones said that Vermont poses unique challenges that are important to discuss, such as sexual orientation and class differences.

“I also see the challenges of the whole foster care system and adoptions,” Jones said. “Even though there might not be a whole lot of people of color up here, there’s a lot of families and couples who are adopting children from all over the world that are in schools.”

The kids themselves seemed to have become more aware of biases that others – and themselves – might have, and felt they were developing the tools to deal with them. A group of seventh-graders discussed their thoughts while munching on pizza during a lunch break.

“I’ve learned a lot of leadership skills,” Derek Goodwin said. “It’s taught me not to judge or stereotype as much, because I stereotype quite a bit.”

Evan Healy said he felt that the program would be useful at Williston Central School, and it would especially help students be more comfortable with the relative lack of diversity in Vermont.

“I’ve lived in three different states,” Healy said. “I really wish that this was going on when I was in fifth grade.”

Healy said the program has also helped him make a new friend, whom he may not have known how to approach before.

“When I first saw him I thought he was a little weird,” said Healy of fellow student and trainee Khanh Nguyen. “Now I think he’s really cool. And he’s really strong, too. He could lift up this whole couch with us three on it.”

“It gets me to talk more than I used to,” Nguyen said. “It’s helped me work with a group better.”

Bick, who organized the training, said she considered the training an initial success.

“The kids really got a lot out of it,” she said. “Everyone thought it was worthwhile and was glad they did it.”

The “A World of Difference Institute” training program was started by the Anti-Defamation League in 1985. The ADL is a nonprofit organization founded in 1913 to help stop discrimination against Jews.

Numerous academic studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of the training. A 2004-2005 study by the Yale University Institution for Social and Policy Studies on the World of Difference training found that the program was very successful in changing students’ behavior.

“One of the most exciting findings of the study was that Peer Trainers were recognized by their Friends and Peers as people who were most likely in the school to stand up for other students who were being teased or insulted,” the study says.

The study, which surveyed students from 10 U.S. schools, included data from Vermont’s Twinfield Union School in Plainfield, Johnson said.

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