Law of Attraction/Karma

This is a true story that had happened in 1892 at Stanford University . Its moral is still relevant today.

A young, 18-year-old student was struggling to pay his fees. He was an orphan, and not know­ing where to turn for money, he came up with a bright idea. A friend and he decided to host a musical concert on campus to raise money for their education.

They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2000 for the piano recital. A deal was struck. And the boys began to work to make the concert a success.

The big day arrived. Paderewski performed at Stanford. But unfortunately, they had not managed to sell enough tickets. The total col­lection was only $1600. Disappointed, they went to Paderewski and explained their plight. They gave him the entire $1600, plus a cheque for the balance $400. They promised to honour the cheque soonest possible.

An Act of Generosity

A touching story from CCTV …Bai Fang Li, died 93 years old, lived in poverty. Yet, he donated an aggregate sum of RMB 350,000 (US $ 54,000) to universities and schools in Tianjin to help 300 poor children in need.

For almost twenty years, he paddled his tricycle earning Yuan by Yuan to save up for his donations. His lunch was two buns and plain water. Luxury to him was the sauce he put into the water. Dinner was a piece of meat or an egg. What he wore was what he picked from the dump. Any extra piece was luxury.

He paddled 365 days a year every year, in the snow and in the soaring heat of 50 degrees C. He started at 6 in the morning and finished at 7 or 8 at night.

“It’s alright I suffer,” he said, “But let the poor kids go to school.”
90 years old, he arranged his last saving of RMB500 ($76) neatly in a box and handed to Yao Hua School, saying, “I cannot paddle any more. I am not able to donate any more. This shall be my last …”

All teachers in the School wept …

The last image people had of him was his photo inscribed, “A special Love for a special you.” (last photo shown)

Vision: Making Inroads in Macular Degeneration

In 2004, scientists at the National Eye Institute predicted that as the population aged, the rate of macular degeneration, an incurable eye disease with no known cause, would increase substantially. They appear to have been wrong.

Via The New York Times: Vision: Making Inroads in Macular Degeneration

There have been tremendous research efforts in treating the blinding condition of macular degeneration. Currently, there are good treatments to stabilize the wet macular degenration and the treatments of dry macular degeneration are within horizons. It is encouraging that the trend of the disease prevalence has decreased by 9% over the past decade. Healthy lifestyle, smoking cessation and blood pressure control seem to have contributed to the reversing trend.

TCOM class 2010 residency match

Following are the names and residency appointments of the TCOM Class of 2010.

Internal Medicine

1. Celine Abraham – Kettering Medical Center, Dayton, OH
2. Kimberley Paige Ackerman – Texas A&M/Scott & White – Temple, TX
3. Nirav Amin –Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
4. Vinay Antin – Plaza Medical Center, Fort Worth, TX
5. Venessa Marie Martinez Beckman – University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX
6. Stephen Asante Boateng –University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, IL
7. Michael Hayden Bubis –University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX
8. Rachel Clark Villegas –Plaza Medical Center, Fort Worth, TX
9. Kari Kathryn-Guinn Clark –Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic medicine/North Broward Hospital District, Fort Lauderdale, FL
10. Christina Thu Doan –St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis, IN
11. Angela Rebecca Benedict Dunn –University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM
12. Lingling Gao –Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, D.C.
13. Jeffrey C. Fletcher –University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX
14. Kevin G. Garnepudi –Methodist Health System, Dallas, TX
15. Allison Heinen –Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
16. Khawer Khadimally –Methodist Health System, Dallas, TX
17. Faiza Nazir Khan –University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX
18. Tho Minh Luong –Summa Health/Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, Akron, OH
19. Drew Lupton –Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital, Parkersburg, WV
20. Jennifer Ozan –University Hospitals Richmond, Richmond Heights, OH 

A Call for Action to protect the foundations of TCOM

The Following Letter from Jim Froelich, DO, TOMA TCOM Task Force Chair.

To Friends of Osteopathic Medicine and Defenders of TCOM

Thank you so much for sending letters to Texas elected officials warning them about the dangers to the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the osteopathic profession in general, if the University of North Texas is allowed to literally "plop" an M.D. Medical school right on top of our Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.  The damage to one of the best Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine in the nation is already apparent to those who are willing to recognize the truth.  The potential for additional degradation and damages to TCOM are staggering.

I cannot tell you how appreciative we are for all of your letters and support.  You have been effective! The Governor and many Texas Legislators now know about and support our side of the issue.  It is wonderful to be a part of an osteopathic family that understands the situation and has pulled together across the nation.  Because of dedicated members like you, we will win.

As a follow up to the first round of letters (in which you participated), we have prepared new letters to send to Texas officials.  The Governor's office has received about 250 letters so far (we hear that in order to have any issue noticed, it takes at least 200 letters). We would like to increase that number to 500.  Also, we need to jog the memory of our supporters (and others) in the Legislature; that's where you come in. We are asking all of you, as stalwart supporters, to go back to the TOMA website and participate in a second intense salvo of letters.

Please take a few minutes to send follow-up letters by going to the TOMA website, which now has an "Easy" button right on the home page.  Go to http://www.txosteo.org/  and click the "Easy" button; that will take you to a menu (http://capwiz.com/txosteo/home/) where you can select the second letter on the list, which is a new follow up letter.  Be sure to PRINT THE LETTER AND SEND IT AS SNAIL MAIL with your signature. 

For out-of-state supporters, just print the Governor’s letter; it is also a new version.  We want Governor Perry to know that we as a profession are opposed to the narrow-minded goals of some motivated by their own interests.

In-state stalwarts, please print all 4 letters to Gov. Perry, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and your Senator and Representative.

Thank you all for your time and your love of osteopathic medicine.

                     Fraternally,

                     Jim Froelich, D.O.

                     Chair, TOMA TCOM Task Force