CONTACT: Marguerite Beck



                                STORY IDEAS

% Benign Breast Disease Clinic: At least 30 percent of women in this country 
have benign breast disease characterized by chronic lumpy, painful breasts. 
U.Va.'s new clinic is one of only about five in the country that specializes 
in diagnosing and treating women with this condition.
Contact: Dr. Richard Santen, 804-924-2207

% Shared Decision-Making Program: An interactive educational video for women 
with newly diagnosed breast cancer is available at U.Va.'s Cancer Center. 
Information on the various surgical options is included, as well as 
interviews with cancer patients and photographs of surgical results and 
computer graphics to illustrate treatment choices. 
Contact: Dr. Marcia Moore, 804-924-9479 or Diane Cole, 804-243-6015

% Merci Project: A nurse in the operating room, Barbara Deetz, started the 
project at U.Va. in 1991. She and her colleagues gather unused sterile 
surgical supplies -- sutures, ace bandages, drape sheets and rubber gloves -- 
to send to third world hospitals. The U.Va. program is part of a national 
effort to help provide medical supplies to poor countries. (See article)
Contact: Barbara Deetz, 804-982-0664

% Vestibular and Balance Clinic: Dizziness, vertigo, balance disorders -- 
medical problems experienced by one in three people at some point in their 
lives. According to Jonathan Spindel, head of the new clinic at U.Va., these 
kinds of disorders are the number one medical complaint for people over 65 
and the number three complaint for people under 65. 
	Since balance involves vision, the inner ear, the proprioceptive 
system (how body knows its position in space -- sitting, standing, etc.) and 
the central nervous system, diagnosing the specific physiologic cause of a 
balance disorder can be difficult without the appropriate tests. U.Va.'s 
Vestibular and Balance Clinic is equipped with the most up-to-date medical 
testing equipment: computerized electronystagmography (ENG); posturography; 
and rotational chair testing. 
(*The testing equipment is fascinating and would make great visuals. Think 
orgasmatron in Woody Allen's Sleeper  crossed with tilt-a-whirl and you get 
the picture for rotational chair test -- of course with medical benefits.)
Contact: Jonathan Spindel, 804-924-2050 
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                                                         April 5, 1996