The Best and the Worst of the Week
Dr. John York, owner of the San Francisco 49ers, and his staff donated $35,000 to Warren Easton High School and helped paint students' lockers as part of the school's 95th anniversary celebration. The donation will be used for Warren Easton's new school-based health clinic, which is set to open in 2009. The clinic will allow students in need to receive adequate medical care, including routine checkups and vaccinations. Warren Easton is New Orleans' oldest public high school.
J.W. Carmichael,
director of Xavier University's premed program, was presented an honorary degree by Meharry Medical College, which is located in Nashville, Tenn. Carmichael was recognized for his more than 30 years as the driving force behind Xavier's premed curriculum, which is considered one of the nation's leaders in getting its graduates accepted into medical schools. In the past 15 years, Xavier has sent more African-American students to medical school than any other university in the nation.
Drs. Lynn Besch and Ronald Wilcox
received awards from the U.S. Department of Health for their efforts to re-establish HIV services after Hurricane Katrina. Besch, director of the LSU HIV Outpatient Program (HOP), oversaw restoration of the clinic, which serves more than 1,700 patients a year. In the immediate aftermath of the levee failures, Wilcox traveled Louisiana training staff at multiple HIV clinics, which saw an influx of displaced New Orleans patients.
Jerome Ticker
was sentenced to one year of house arrest for falsely wearing military medals at his wedding. Ticker, who has never served in any of the armed services, told his fiancée that he was a war hero and wore a Navy captain's uniform, which was festooned with numerous decorations — including the Navy Cross, Silver Star and Purple Heart — for the wedding ceremony. This is Ticker's second marriage. He told his first wife that he was a Navy lieutenant, but promoted himself to captain for his most recent nuptials.
