EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
LETTERS
Letters are posted
and archived on JN Online:
www.detroitjewishnews.corn
A Woman Of Valor
y
ou don't often hear something so personal put so bluntly. "Much of my
heart," the caller said, "is badly damaged."
Susan Dubin had called to promote her participation in the 2001
Metro Detroit American Heart Walk on Sept. 22 at Oakland University
in Rochester Hills.
I didn't know what to say. Then it hit me. Hers is an important story — one of
pain, courage and hope. This is a woman of great inspiration.
The story begins Dec. 29, 1999.
The West Bloomfield resident was headed home from the downtown Farmington
eye clinic she managed and where she was beloved for caring about patients beyond
their need for eyewear frames. She was deciding what to do for dinner. Her hus-
yr— '
band, Dr. Howard Dubin, an optometrist and former clinic owner,
was away on business.
But thoughts of dinner soon turned to moments of fear.
The symptoms were obvious: a soaring body temperature, tin-
gling across her arms and back, pain in her left shoulder and heart.
It was a heart attack. The popular school and community volun-
teer, and former Women's American ORT Michigan Region presi-
dent, was just 53. "It felt like a volcano exploded inside," the native
Detroiter told the Farmington Observer a few weeks later.
ROBERT A.
Amazingly, she still had the presence to steer into a parking lot,
SKLAR
blare her horn and seek help to call for an ambulance. She asked
Editor
paramedics to take her to Providence Hospital in Southfield, where
family friend Dr. Jeffrey Zaks, a cardiologist, is on staff Ten days
later, following four days on the critical list, she went home.
She never did return to work. "In medical terms, I have about
80-percent muscle damage," Susan told me Monday.
Congestive heart failure is always a threat. She takes 21 pills a
day, keeps a strict diet, closely watches her fluid intake and
attends a cardiac therapy workout three times a week. "Rest is a
critical part of my day," she says.
Susan misses work, but enjoys the time she spends with family
and friends. She and Howard also travel more. They have two
sons, Art, 32, and Matt, 30.
"The pills keep me alive and a low-fat, low-salt diet are healthy Susan Dubin
for anyone," says Susan, whose high cholesterol (240) was a
warning signal for coronary artery disease.
"Of course, the best part of surviving was walking down the aisle last November
at Matt's wedding to his beloved Debbie (Weinstein)."
A Helping Heart
Heart problems account for 40 percent of all U.S. deaths, more than the next six
causes of death combined. Overall, cardiovascular disease kills more than 35,000
Michiganians every year.
A member of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Susan credits medical advances
inspired by the American Heart Association, plus Divine intervention, with keeping
her alive.
She says that 80 percent of the people who have a heart attack at age 53 die
instantly. "When people ask me how that makes me feel, I tell them terrific. That
means I'm a survivor, and this survivor has a cause — as a 'red cap' representative for
the American Heart Association."
"She really gives of herself," says her husband, a pillar of strength for his adoring
wife. "She's tough and doesn't take no for an answer. That's why she survived the
heart attack and why she's doing such a good job raising money for the Heart
Association now
Susan Dubin is an ordinary person with an extraordinary will to serve as an
ambassador in the fight against heart disease.
She's living proof that research and education do matter. As she put it: "God left
me here definitely for a purpose."
❑
To support the 2001 Metro Detroit American Heart Walk, call Priscilla Burch at the
American Heart Association office in Southfield. (248) 827-4214. Log on to the Al-IA
Web site at www.americanheartorg
One Size
Does Not
Fit All
Watch Your
Language Use
I wanted to point out that in the most
recent Editor's Notebook ("Plaza For
All," Aug. 31, page 5), you wrote "70
AD." I think that it is very important in
the Jewish community that you refer to
that year as 70 CE. AD stands for anno
domini, which means "in the year of
our lord," referring to Jesus.
Although it seems politically correct, I
firmly believe that we in the Jewish
community should refer to those years
as CE, Common Era. It is something
that I teach my students at Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit. I think
that it is important for our community
to know the meaning behind certain
words and abbreviations that are corn-
monly used.
Joel B. Davidson
Southfield
Forum's Lost Focus
Will Reverberate
I am saddened to read of the political
manipulations that have taken place
preceding the non-governmental organ-
izations' (NGO) forum and at the
World Conference Against Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance in Durban, South
Africa ("Losing Durban," Aug. 31, page
22).
A conference of such high ideals and
potential, one that should be looking at
ways to bring better understanding and
cooperation between races (and ethnic
groups by natural extension), seems to
have fallen victim to its worse night-
mare.
In a conference of this caliber, one
expects to see many who "march to a
different drummer" — who are clear
thinking enough to see, and brave
enough to stand up for, a set of princi-
ples that must be applied to their cause
and all others.
The NGO and U.N. conference dele-
gates' shameless behavior in the pres-
ence of one loud, manipulative and
politically astute group (the Palestine
Liberation Organization) is ignomin-
ious. History has seen many such
groups and their leaders take over the
thinking of others in the name of "a
good cause."
Be it on a large scale like Hitler or
deposed Serb leader Slobodan
Milosovitch, or on a smaller local scale,
it all amounts to the same thing: coer-
LETTERS on page 6
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