Taylor’s machine behind the
effort they prevailed. That’s
what politics is all about,” Kun-
selman said.
While the votes were not in his
favor, Kunselman found a silver
lining to his loss.
“You know, when you’re a poli-
tician as long as I’ve been, it feels
good actually to be free from the
responsibility, so either way it’s
been a good run,” Kunselman
said.
In the race to represent Ward
5, Chip Smith won by 55.26 per-
cent,
defeating
Mike
Anglin
(D– Ward 5), who has served on
Council for the past eight years.
Smith has been an Ann Arbor
resident for the past 20 years,
and this was his second cam-
paign. A write-in candidate at
the 2013 general election, Smith
declared 13 days before election
and lost.
“I didn’t knock any doors– just
ran a social media campaign and
got 917 votes. I still got throt-
tled pretty good but honestly I
thought I’d get 100 votes on that
election,” Smith said. “So to get
900 was pretty unheard of for a
write-in candidate.”
Smith said he was proud of
his campaign, highlighting the
importance of his focus on main-
taining an inclusive environ-
ment.
“The voters really responded
to a different approach, which is
to stress inclusivity– how do we
build a positive vision together,”
Smith said.
Yet amid expressions of con-
gratulations, Smith was already
focused on his next steps.
“I’m really excited to get to
work now — it’s time to go to
work.”
Smith,
an
urban
planner
who has lived in Ann Arbor for
the last fifteen years, was also
endorsed by Mayor Christopher
Taylor.
“I’ve very much enjoyed work-
ing alongside Mike Anglin at
City Council and I very much
look forward to working with
Chip Smith. Chip and I see issues
very similarly. We focus on basic
services and real positive steps
to improve residents’ quality of
life,” Taylor said.
In the Ward 1 election, City
Council veteran Sabra Briere (D–
Ward 1) defeated newcomer Will
Leaf in the primary with 70.84
percent of the vote.
A After winning the primary
election, Briere, who ran as a
longtime
community
member
and volunteer, expressed grati-
tude for the opportunity to serve
on council for a sixth term.
Despite the success of the eve-
ning, Briere acknowledged areas
that were challenging.
“I felt very fortunate with the
campaign. A lot of support — a lot
of people greeted me at the door
saying, ‘Go away. I’ve already
voted for you,’” Briere said. “ I
tend to be very pragmatic and
have this very tiny level of revo-
lutionary, which is fine. I’m an
incumbent and I’ve had the abil-
ity to move the needle a lot in
the past almost 8 years. So in a
way, I bear the burden of all the
decisions that have been made
in those 8 years whether I liked
them or not, and all the decisions
that didn’t get made whether I
wanted something to happen or
not.”
In the race for a spot to rep-
resent Ward 4 on City Coun-
cil, incumbent Jack Eaton won
over newcomer Jamie Magiera,
a technology consultant at the
University, with 60.31 percent of
the vote.
Eaton said he was thank-
ful Ann Arbor residents chose
to reelect him to City Council,
pointing to his history on Coun-
cil as explanation for his re-elec-
tion.
“Obviously I’m really pleased.
I’m humbled that the voters have
decided to return me to office,”
said Eaton. “I mean I did have a
record and so they look at that
record and decided that I deserve
another term. I’m really grateful
that they have that confidence.”
As for his upcoming plans for
City Council, Eaton stressed his
concern for Ann Arbor’s environ-
ment as well as the city’s pedes-
trians.
“We’re trying to fill in some of
the gaps in our border-to-border
trail for pedestrians and bicy-
clists,” Eaton said. We’re try-
ing to move forward the Allens’
creek greenway. You know, there
are some environmental things
that I think that the city has to
do in conducting its own busi-
ness. I’d like to see solar panels
on top of our parking structures
and on top of our buildings.”
Magiera spoke positively of
his time while running for office,
saying his experience disproved
traditional stigmas associated
with electioneering as a whole.
“It shows that someone can be
effective in politics without a lot
of money, with a small group of
people, and a grassroots move-
ment,” Magiera said.
While the election’s outcome
was not favorable to Magiera,
he insisted that changes made
by the future Council would be
largely beneficial.
“I’m convinced that this is
the beginning of something sig-
nificant — not just for myself
in terms of politics, and getting
involved in the political arena,
but I think it’s a new step for Ann
Arbor,” Magiera said.
Voter turnout in this election
was 10.46 percent.
Daily
Staff
Reporter
Alex
Juntti contributed to this report.
The VA Hospital has addition-
al partnerships with the Ross
Business School and the College
of Engineering.
Eric Young, Chief of Staff of
the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare
System, said the hospital pro-
vides not only primary and men-
tal health care for veterans, but
also special care cases.
“When people are sicker — as
anywhere else — they tend to
need specialty care or special-
ized care, and that’s where I
think we stand out a bit,” Young
said. “We are really the specialty
care providers for the region.”
The hospital is currently the
largest VA hospital in Michigan,
with 65,000 veterans treated at
its extended facilities during the
2014 fiscal year.
The hospital serves 15 coun-
ties in the state of Michigan
in addition to various parts of
Northwest Ohio.
Improvements to the facili-
ties were also made in the form
of renovations to the hospital’s
patient centers, such as the
oncology center and the Hybrid
Cath Lab and Operating Room
for the conduction of less-inva-
sive heart surgery.
Refurbishments to the hos-
pital were spearheaded by the
Planetree program, a nonprofit
that works with healthcare pro-
viders in an effort to improve the
way in which care is adminis-
tered.
New
decor,
including
an
enhanced color palate, more
artwork and embellishments to
patient rooms, serves to make
the hospital appear more wel-
coming.
One such upgrade was the ren-
ovation of an operating room to
include a catheterization labora-
tory. The Hybrid operating room,
containing diagnosting imaging
equipment which allows for bet-
ter visualization of the arteries
of the heart, is the location for an
innovative surgery.
This new technique, imple-
mented last year, replaces defec-
tive heart valves without having
to crack open the chest cavity.
Performed by University doc-
tors, the procedure involves
threading a catheter through the
lower abdomen up to the heart
valve. Bypassing the aorta, the
replacement valve is pushed by
the force of an inflating balloon,
pushing aside the defective valve
to swiftly replace it with the
prosthetic.
“That’s an example of some-
thing that we offer here that most
other VA’s don’t have. There’s a
handful around the country who
offer this other than us,” Young
said.
Young shared the impact tech-
nology has had on patient care at
the VA, including a state-of-the-
art radiation machine. He also
stressed the impact of telehealth,
a video-conferencing method of
patient care utilized to decrease
travel time for patients. Addi-
tionally, two TrueBeam radiation
systems were added to the oncol-
ogy wing. At $3 million apiece,
the machines are an important
addition to the hospital.
The hospital has a chief oper-
ating budget of $440 million.
Ease of access is a challenge
for most veterans when apply-
ing for benefits, a problem which
is being eased by technological
innovations.
According to McDivitt, over
89,000 more appointments are
3
Thursday, August 6, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS
COUNCIL
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AMANDA ALLEN /Daily
Cardiology Nurse Manager Barb Clarke describes how heart stents are
inserted at the VA Hospital on Monday.