- The ARC - California Edition -

Food for Preventive Thought

Genetics Conference - The Pacific Southwest Regional Genetics Network will be holding their annual conference on Monday, August 14, 2000 in beautiful San Diego, CA. The conference will be an “exploration of non-directiveness in genetic counseling”, according to their brochure. 

The session will be at the Sheraton Harbor Island Hotel, 1380 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego, CA., 92101-1092. The hotel may be reached by phone at 619-291-2900, or by fax at 619-692-2337. For further program information, contact Kathleen Fergus at Kfergus@dhs.ca.gov or by phone at 510-540-2852. More information is available on their website: www.psrgn.org.

Medical and Dental Treatment – People with mental retardation frequently are not able to obtain appropriate medical or dental treatment because some professional refuses to serve or treat them. The Arc has a position statement which argues that all people with mental retardation have the same rights to medical and dental treatment as other citizens. You can obtain a copy of this position statement on-line at www.thearc.org/posits/medtx.html. 

Drowning – Drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional injury and death among children nationally, and is the leading cause of unintentional injury and death among 1- and 2-year-olds in California. In the April issue of the Pediatrics journal there is the policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) which has been written to discourage parents from teaching their baby to swim until the child is 5-years or older.

According to the AAP, their concern is that swimming lessons for very young children often make their parents less vigilant and make the baby more interested in going into the pool.
The AAP position statement may be obtained on-line at: www.aap.org/policy/re9940.html

(Swimming Programs for Infants and Toddlers; Pediatrics; April 2000)

Epsilon Sigma Alpha— At their annual meeting in Sacramento, the delegates attending the Epsilon Sigma Alpha state conference again selected Arc-California to receive the net proceeds from their state project for the next five years. ESA immediatepast President Judie Cheesebrough will be the chairperson for the state project during the year 2000-2001.

The ESA is an association of women devoted to leadership training, educational programs and community service. There are ESA chapters in communities across California whose members serve the less fortunate of their communities.

Each local chapter chooses its own philanthropic project to which members may volunteer their time, energy and resources. In addition to local community service projects, ESA members also work to benefit designated state and national programs.