HPH NOW, Jun 23, 2006, Around the School

HSPH Community Helps Flood Victims in Lawrence, MA

Volunteer Lydia Sullivan takes donations to a car headed for Lawrence.

Approximately 80 bags of food, clothes, and toiletries were donated by HSPH members to help victims of flooding in Lawrence, MA, which experienced flood emergencies this May.

The donations were sent to Lazarus House, an organization in Lawrence that provides hot meals, temporary shelter, job training, child care, emergency food, clothing, outreach, and advocacy for the poor and homeless. The food and clothing drive ran from May 22 to June 16, although further donations can be made directly to Lazarus House.

MariaElena Rubio, assistant director of development and communications at the Division of Public Health Practice, helped spearhead the effort with Milagro Grullon of the Mayor's Health Task Force in Lawrence. The Division is a partner in a cancer disparities reduction effort called MassCONECT that includes Lawrence, Boston, and Worcester.

"The support that has been given by HSPH has been phenomenal," said Rubio, who is a project manager for MassCONECT. "From the first day, people have wanted to know how to help."

Building One Elevator Project

The three elevators in Building 1 will undergo modernization to make them faster and more energy efficient starting on July 1. The elevators will be modernized one at a time, with the affected car being offline for approximately four months. The remaining cars will continue to run, so that there will always be two operating elevators. The first elevator to be modernized will be SPH-1 Car 2-the single elevator, scheduled for an October completion.

The new equipment will have "green accepted" AC current-driven motors, eliminating the old-style, energy gluttonous AC-to-DC conversion generators. The new equipment will produce an approximate annual electrical savings of 25 percent consumption per car.

The logic systems that control the elevators are state of the art and will help ensure swift call response and smooth speed, load weighting, and thrust. The new equipment will also perform internal diagnostics that will eliminate much down time for major repairs.