Surprise School One of About 60 Businesses Recognized Last Week at Awards Ceremony

From the moment it opened its doors, Arizona Charter Academy has been focused on providing a supportive, positive and embracing culture for both its students and staff members.

Last week, the school was recognized for its ability to consistently meet this goal as well as others when it was named as one of “Arizona’s Most Admired Companies.” The award ceremony was held on September 7 at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. This marks the second consecutive year that the Surprise school received this prestigious honor.

Arizona Business Magazine and Best Companies AZ teamed up to recognize the contributions and impact that local companies bring to the state. Award categories included Workplace Culture, Leadership Experience, Corporate and Social Responsibility and Customer Opinion.

Chief Operations Officer Melissa Holdaway said the award is based on employee, customer and community opinions and focuses on companies with more than 25 employees.

“We are so proud to have been chosen as one of the most admired companies for the second year in a row,” she said. “Since the beginning, we have worked hard to build a positive culture that embraces racial and economic diversity in a safe and welcoming environment.  To be recognized for that with such a wonderful award is really very gratifying to everyone who works here.”

Examples of the school’s outstanding community atmosphere, Holdaway said, include a strong commitment to the community through projects like hosting blood drives and building a house from the ground up for a family in need every year along with shared decision making and leadership opportunities for staff.

For more information about Arizona Charter Academy and the “Arizona’s Most Admired Companies” award, or to speak with a student or staff member about what makes the school special to them, contact Melissa Holdaway at 623-974-4959 or 602-478-8793.

The Buckeye Union High School District will have an M&O Override Election on the November 8, 2011 ballot. The override provides funding that assist the district in preserving lower class sizes, hiring and retaining highly qualified teachers, maintaining extracurricular and co-curricular programs for our students and keeping the campus clean and safe. With the failure of the override last November and the budget cuts passed  down from the State of Arizona over the past four years, the district has lost $3,000,000 of critical funding for our students. In that same four-year period, this loss in funding has directly resulted in the district-wide reduction of 34 teachers (47 positions in total) and the implementation of a fee for students to participate in after school activities. If the override election fails again, the district will have to reduce the operating budget by an additional $600,000 for fiscal year 2012-13. This may result in similar cuts like the loss of 3 teachers, the elimination of the teacher mentor and testing coordinator positions, the implementation of an activity fee and the rise in the ID and parking fees experienced at Estrella Foothills High School for the 2011-12 school year. In an effort to “tighten the belt” during these tough economic times, the district has implemented a number of money saving programs including energy management, department reorganization and coming soon, a large solar project at Estrella Foothills High School. As far as the financial impact on the residential taxpayer, a home with an assessed value of $100,000 would generate $27 in override property taxes for fiscal year 2012-13. To learn more about the M&O Override, register to vote of obtain early ballot, visit the district’s website at www.buhsd.org.

As president of the Arizona Holistic Chamber of Commerce, I was moved to write a column in our current newsletter about Congressman Anthony Weiner’s recent “sexting” scandal and subsequent resignation under intense media and public scrutiny.

In the column I asked, “Could we not have found a better response than a campaign of public humiliation?”

From the one-liner, dirty-joke headlines and tweets, to the profane questions reporters felt justified in shouting at him as he publicly announced his resignation, I have found myself wondering how we can hope to set a powerful example for our children and teens while acting like juvenile delinquents ourselves.

Many of our Chamber members responded that they felt the same way. I suspect there are other people who also agree that the media debacle served to spotlight our lowest human behaviors ⎯ and I speak not just of the Congressman’s own reckless, dishonest, and self-destructive actions, but also of the media and public response to them.

His treatment in the press reminds me, disturbingly, of the exponential increase of bullying we hear about in schools and on the Internet between classmates. One can’t help but make a connection between such behavior of adults abusing other adults, with consensus, and the cruelty we see in teen-on-teen behavior.

However, let me be clear Wiener is not the victim here. What he did was deplorable. The true victims are young people who see adults like Wiener and sports figures and celebrities sexting and believe their example is approval for youngsters to do the same.

Ultimately, Wiener accepted responsibility for his actions. Only by accepting responsibility for our actions can we forgive ourselves for them. Only then can the healing process begin.

But we as a society must ask ourselves the questions: As this one man begins the long road to recovery, how will we adults model forgiveness to our children? How do we demonstrate tolerance for another’s mistakes and avoid demeaning the natural process of that person’s evolutionary journey? Most important, how do we model positive actions?

Our group of entrepreneurs isn’t just about profits, but often started businesses because we collectively recognize our evolving consciousness and striving to reach our highest human potential.

Let us all ⎯ individuals, politicians, media ⎯ be conscious of the example we set for our children and for each other. The younger generation will become what they see from us. This example includes holding the space for healing for anyone who has wandered off the path of wisdom. Those of us who see ourselves as conscious and loving — as we all are at our deeper levels ⎯ have a great responsibility to support compassion for all of us.

Janet Gangl is president of the Arizona Holistic Chamber of Commerce.

The 2010 Festival of Cheer will be held at the Peoria Sports Complex on Saturday, December 11 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  The event, hosted by Benevilla, will be focused on “celebrating cultures, families, and holidays around the world.” Tickets are only $5 for children, $7 for adults and $20 for a family pass of four. Children six and younger may enter for free.

The Festival of Cheer is designed to bring together all aspects of the community, both residents and businesses, to learn, share, and have fun while celebrating our different cultures, holidays, and backgrounds. Countries and cultures will have different stations set-up throughout the Peoria Sports Complex for attendees to visit with a provided passport. There will be a separate “Play Land” for children ages 12 and under with crafts, complimentary pictures with Santa, and, of course, SNOW!

Included in the admission:

•            Free food tastings

•            Free photos with Santa

•            Kids’ Play Land with twenty tons of snow

•            Cultural performances, dance and songs

Benevilla is the new face of Interfaith Community Care. Started by the community and for the community in 1981, Benevilla is a not-for-profit human services agency dedicated to enhancing the lives of Northwest Valley residents by providing care services for seniors, adults with disabilities, children and families. For more information on services call 623-584-4999 or visit www.benevilla.org Tours of Benevilla’s main campus are available the second Monday and Friday of each month at 10 a.m.

Brought to you by West Valley Magazine

An interesting fact…What’s longer? The average American lunch break or the average time that cancer patients spend with their oncologist?

The United States Department of Labor mandates that a lunch break be 30 minutes or more, yet according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, the average time that cancer patients spend with their oncologist is just 24.5 minutes. Just 24.5 minutes. That’s less than a lunch break.

Despite today’s “stop watch” healthcare environment, CTCA has successfully piloted a cancer care model to break the cycle. At CTCA:

· Patients embrace a seamless experience in one visit with a fully focused core Empowerment Team that includes a medical oncologist, naturopathic oncology provider, registered dietitian, nurse care manager, clinic nurse and others dedicated to helping them fight their specific cancer.

· Patients receive a total time ranging between 2 and 3 hours with their full Empowerment Team for every visit, depending on their individual needs.

· All Empowerment Team members come to the patient in one comfortable room, one right after another, for a focused and uninterrupted visit that ensures the entire care team and the patient are on the same page throughout treatment.

At CTCA, this “Patient Empowered Care” model is an advancement in the patient treatment delivery process. Patient Empowered Care helps advance care through health literacy – whereby patients receive the information and communication needed to clearly understand their condition and make educated decisions about their cancer care. This time and greater access to all team members for more responsive, personalized care ultimately leads to a greater patient understanding of their condition and the plan for treatment.

www.cancertreatmentcenter.com

Roxanne McIntyre with Patient – Care Manager Roxanne McIntyre offers a warm welcome to Blas Ruiz, a CTCA patient who shared the story of how his Patient Empowerment Team is helping him through his journey with cancer, during the launch event.

PEC Team – President and Founder of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Richard J Stephenson is joined by David Veillette, CEO of CTCA’s Goodyear hospital, in recognizing members of one of CTCA’s Patient Empowerment Teams. Pictured from left to right are: Richard J Stephenson, Danielle Bach – Nutritionist, Julie Smith – Care Manager, Dr. Jeffrey Sager – Naturopathic Physician, Nurse – Amy Malensek – Heckathorne and Daniel Nixon, MD – Medical Oncologist.

9:15am-10:00am

Sunrise Mountain Library

Library.peoriaaz.gov

Attention caregivers, help your baby step in to reading! This program is for caregivers and newborns to 24 months. Have fun sharing books, songs, fingerplays, and more. Playtime follows the program.

West Valley Magazine is featuring young, up and coming athletes in the August issue.  The deadline is July 6th, so please hurry with your submissions. If you know of a young athlete excelling in their chosen sport, I’d like to hear about it. Please send your submissions by email to editor@westvalleymagazine.com and include the athlete’s name, school, age and accomplishments along with a .jpg or .pdf photo if you have one.  Please include your name so I can verify the information. I look forward to hearing from you!