Family Support Around Mental Illness
Community, Legacy employees and clinical staff are invited to attend "Coping With Mental Illness in the Family," a series of 12 weekly classes is for support of families and caregivers of individuals with brain disorders and or mental illness, Thursdays, April 2 through June 18, 6-8 p.m. at Legacy Emanuel Hospital, 2801 N. Gantenbein Ave.; and Mount Hood Medical Center, 24800 SE Stark St. in Gresham.
Instructors for the class are specially trained National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) facilitators and family members of individuals with a mental illness.
Call NAMI at 503-203-3326 to register of for more information.
City and County Budget Input
The City of Portland and Multnomah County are collecting input on the 2009-10 budget using a new telephone and online survey process accompanied by an online survey you can fill out and send it at www.portlandonline.com/communitybudget.
The County Executive Budget will be released on April 23. Hearings on the County budget will take place in May. For the City, budget outreach will continue through late April, with several planned partnership events coproduced by the City and community groups.
The Mayor's Proposed Budget is expected to be available at the end of April and will be followed by a community hearing on May 21.
Red Cross Open House
The American Red Cross Portland Blood Donor Center hosts an open house celebration, Saturday, March 28, 10 a.m. –3 p.m. at 3131 N. Vancouver Ave.
The event features food by Burgerville during the afternoon while supplies last; giveaways and prizes; face-painting, meet Jolly Molly the Clown, and other fun activities for the kids; and an opportunity to learn about the Red Cross in your community including training and life saving skills.
Be a part of this special day by giving blood. A blood donation is not necessary to attend the event—all are welcome.
For more information or to schedule an appointment at this special drive, please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or visit nwblood.redcross.org
Free Mental Heath Lecture
Elyn R. Saks, author of the book, "The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness," speaks in a free public lecture sponsored by the Oregon Health & Science University Department of Psychiatry, Friday, April 3 at 6:30 p.m., in the OHSU Auditorium, Oregon Health & Science University.
Saks survived an intense struggle with schizophrenia and acute psychosis. She chronicled her struggles and success in her book in 2007. She is now in training to become a psychoanalyst and specializes in mental health law.
Elyn Saks currently teaches courses in mental health law at the University of Southern California and is an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.
Educators' Video Contest
The Oregon Education Association holds its the second-annual "Working Wonders Video Contest," as part of OEA's continued effort to highlight the great work of Oregon educators and encourage school employees, students and community members to learn about and use multimedia tools to support public education.
The OEA Working Wonders Video Contest gives everyone a chance to turn the spotlight on Oregon's public school teachers, support professionals, and community college faculty and earn some money for the educator, the school, and videographer, with $1,500, $3,000 or $6,000 prizes. Videos must run between 30 seconds and three minutes in length.
Enter by April 3, 2009. For contest rules, entry form, and to watch last year's contest winners visit oregoned.org/videocontest
Health Lectures at OHSU
The next lecture in the free OHSU Ask the Health Experts spring seminars series is Cancer in Adolescents and Young Adults: From Diagnosis Through Survivorship, Tuesday, April 5, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the OHSU Center for Health & Healing, third floor, 3303 S.W. Bond Ave., Portland.
Brandon Hayes-Lattin, M.D. talks about the unique needs of 15-to 40-year-old cancer patients, from their distinct set of cancer types and complications with diagnoses, and why their survival rates haven't improved since the 1970s, will be explored.
Maps and driving directions are available at www.ohsuhealth.com/maps
To attend the lecture, register online at www.ohsuhealth.com/seminar or by phone at 503-494-1122. Free parking is available on the street.
Columbia Crossing Protest Rally
A grassroots coalition of Portlanders and Vancouverites opposed to the current scope and direction of the Columbia River Crossing project will host an Opposition and Alternatives Rally at Waterfront Park, Sunday, April 5, at noon just north of the Hawthorne bridge.
Rally organizers call this the opening salvo in a sustained campaign to block funding for the project in its current form, and to offer alternatives that match the desires of a community to be fiscally responsible, address environmental challenges and tackle livability issues effecting the region.
So far, confirmed to speak are former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury (who give's Al Gore's climate change presentation all over the country), Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz (the only city council member who voted against moving forward on a 12-lane CRC bridge), and Metro Councilor Robert Liberty (who voted against the project in the past and has offered specific alternatives) and Bicycle Transportation Alliance advocate and educator Michelle Poyourow.
