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AUTO TRIM CUSTOM WALL MIRRORS TIRES & ACCESSORIES SOUTHFIELD: 24777 Telegraph -353-2500 Other locations: Wayne and Lincoln Park 'Suggested List Price • % oct & Im ag ai t I Too. es • CARDS • GIFTS • PHOTO • FINE COLLECTABLES • • RIEDEL CRYSTAL, AUSTRIA • • PARTY SUPPLIES, GAMES • • DANKIN PLUSH TOYS • • SWEATSHIRTS & T-SHIRTS • r , - . ii - a . , J I -1 10% OFF - , - _ COUPON TOTAL PURCHASES OVER $10.00 See Clerk For Details L J PROCESSING & PRINTING BY IMAGES PHOTO LAB OR KODAK — U.P.S. SHIPPING AVAILABLE — COUNTRY RIDGE COMMONS 31150 HAGGERTY RD. AT 14 MILE RD. FARMINGTON HILLS 661-9100 28 FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1988 throw a laser dot on an object that he wants the monkey to fetch; the second is a candy dispenser, which Herscu will be able to activate in order to reward the monkey for a task well done — in psycho- logical terms, to reinforce appropriate behavior. Achieving the stage when a monkey will respond to commands and rewards is a long and arduous process. It takes about three years to domesticate and socialize the animals, and a further six months to train them to perform the necessary tasks. The adaptation of a particular monkey to a particular paraplegic is relatively short — a matter of weeks. But the time and effort required to prepare the monkeys for their new roles is considered to be well worthwhile. For although the monkeys do not begin their work until they are almost four, they have a life expectancy of between 30 and 40 years. Carmella Burke had reservations about just one aspect of the project: before the monkeys are placed with quadriplegics, their teeth are extracted so that they will never be able to harm their charges. She accepted the need for this because a monkey could, for example, bite the back of a quadriplegic without him being aware of it and the injury might not be discovered until it is dangerously infected. Despite her initial qualms, however, she found that within two hours of their teeth being extracted,the monkeys were eating a specially prepared soft food, which is im- ported from the United States. There was no apparent discomfort, nor did they appear to suffer any long-term ef- fects. It was, says Carmella Burke in the jargon of her trade, "minimally distress- ful." In addition to assisting quadriplegics, the monkeys have been found to perform one unexpected function of immense im- portance. For Sorin Herscu, the new monkey-companion will provide something he has craved — and been denied — for the past 11 years: solitude. From the instant of his injury, he has not been left alone for a moment. Even when he is asleep, an attendant is just outside his door. Now he is able to contemplate the prospect of being "alone" for about three hours a day. Not that the monkeys will replace the human attendants, says Carmella Burke, but they will enable quadriplegics to be left to themselves. "These few hours can be incredibly im- portant," she says. "Sorin makes the point that he has completely lost the ability to be alone and that the constant companion- ship is overwhelming." Sorin Herscu's needs — and his atten- dants — are all provided by the Israeli Defense Ministry, but for those who do not have such a framework of support, the burden of caring for a quadriplegic can be Photo By Hanoch Gu thmann. Continued from preceding page Carmella Burke trains capucine monkeys as com- panions for quadriplegics in Israel. all-consuming and an utterly exhausting drain on their families. Carmella Burke believes that the use of a domesticated, trained monkey in such circumstances would relieve the families of a tremendous load, providing a few precious hours a day when the level of human attention can be reduced. In the United States, where nine monkeys are already "in service" and more are in training, paraplegics with their monkey aides are now being left alone for up to nine hours a day. Similar projects are also underway in Canada, Germany and Argentina, but Carmella Burke's project is rated second to the United States in terms of the prog- ress that has already been achieved. Carmella Burke, herself a woman of un- bounded vitality and acute vision, now has a new dream: to set up such a project in her native Australia. So far, her "monkey business" has been aimed exclusively at injured army veterans (because the Defense Ministry is picking up the tab), but she is convinced that there would be a great demand among the wider public. She acknowledges that there might be some initial resistance to the idea of en- trusting a quadriplegic to the care of a monkey, but she points out that it took years for people to accept the idea that dogs could guide the blind. Just as she is making a significant con- tribution to improving the quality of life for Israelis whose world has become ex- tremely confined, Carmella Burke is now determined to export the revolution. ❑