patient safety.
“While recognizing you are can-
celling and moving surgeries to
ensure no veterans are being put at
risk, this situation is still concern-
ing and raises questions about the
source of this particulate matter
and what actions are being taken
to correct the problem,” she wrote.
Dingell told the Daily she does
believe the hospital both cares
about its patients and is trying to
handle the situation appropriately,
but at the same time, it is her job to
investigate the concerns of her con-
stituents.
She is currently awaiting a
response to the questions she
posed in her letter Monday.
“I have an obligation to make
sure that the veterans are being
taken care of and that the hospital
has the resources they need,” she
said.
Atkinson said patient safety is
the hospital’s utmost priority, and
it is currently operating on a lim-
ited surgery schedule while work-
ing to resolve the issue. He said
any patient currently scheduled for
surgery is being given the option to
have their procedures done with
any of the Healthcare System’s
community partners, such as the
University, though the stand-down
period is over.
During the stand-down period,
the Healthcare System invited
national and regional experts to
help identify what could be causing
the particulate matter to appear
on sterilized equipment. Atkinson
said they concluded the particu-
late matter likely originated from a
water main break in the area.
However, Dingell said Tuesday
afternoon the hospital had not
identified a specific cause of the
problem when she last spoke with
the director on Monday. In the let-
ter, she probes the hospital to deter-
mine the cause of the problem.
“As of (Monday) at 12:30, they
didn’t know what was causing it,”
she said. “We just need to find out
the problem, we’ve got to make
sure they’ve got the resources …
and it’s our responsibility to raise
awareness.”
If the complication was in fact
caused by a water issue, Dingell
discussed looking into whether
there is a problem with the hos-
pital’s pipes. She also mentioned
constituents were wondering if the
presence of the particulates could
be related to construction on site.
In the letter, Dingell also specifi-
cally asked what steps the hospital
has taken to protect patient safety.
Atkinson said since Monday the
system has replaced some pieces of
equipment and installed more fil-
ters in the water system that serves
the sterilizers.
He also stressed that no veter-
ans have been put in harm’s way:
whenever a nurse would spot par-
ticulate matter near equipment,
the Healthcare System would use a
different set of equipment and send
the potentially contaminated case
back to be re-sterilized.
“I think we (have) made a lot of
progress, but we’re still working to
completely resolve the situation,”
he said. “We see this as a proac-
tive measure, and we applaud our
nurses — they do a diligent job of
inspecting the cases to make sure
they are prepped and ready to go
for surgery.”
3A — Wednesday, November 25, 2015
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
VA
From Page 1A
restrictions on smoking traditional
cigarettes, would include labeling
these cigarettes with warning signs
of potential health hazards, and
would also include some restric-
tions on the advertising and mar-
keting of e-cigarettes,” Davis said.
Results from the 2014 National
Youth Tobacco Survey indicated
that more than 4.6 million students
under the age of 18 reported being
current tobacco users, and of those,
2.4 million reported using e-ciga-
rettes.
They survey also revealed that
e-cigarette use is trending steep-
ly upward. From 2011 to 2014,
e-cigarette use among high school
students increased by nearly 800
percent, and e-cigarette use among
young adults has increased as well.
Data released in October of this
year by the National Center for
Health Statistics National Health
Interview Survey indicated that
nearly 22 percent of adults ages 18
to 24 years old have tried an e-ciga-
rette at least once.
Davis said many states are
considering additional e-ciga-
rette restrictions, though every
U.S. state except Michigan and
Pennsylvania already prohibits
the sale of e-cigarretes to minors.
Davis was specifically interested
in what the level of public sup-
port would be for those addition-
al restrictions or — in the case of
e-cigarettes — taxes.
Despite the Ann Arbor City
Council’s April 2014 ordinance to
restrict outdoor smoking — includ-
ing with e-cigarettes — in certain
locations, a complete ban on e-cig-
arette use on campus has not yet
followed suit.
According to the Tobacco Free
College Campus Initiative, as of
October, 769 college campuses
across America prohibit the use
of e-cigarettes anywhere on their
campus. However, only the Uni-
versity of Michigan Health System
and the School of Dentistry have
banned the use of e-cigarettes so
far.
Though teens and parents noto-
riously disagree on many topics,
Davis said when it comes to e-cig-
arettes, it seems that teens and
parents agree about what should
be done.
“I’m impressed by the high
level of support for restrictions on
e-cigarettes among these younger
teens today, and even if that sup-
port decreased somewhat (when
students go off to college), the level
of support for restriction would still
be quite high,” he said.
Along with support for restric-
tions, Davis’ research also found
that upwards of 80 percent of teens
and parents believe allowing the
use of e-cigarettes could instigate
use of other tobacco products. He
also noted that, despite popular
belief, using an e-cigarette is not
necessarily less harmful than using
other tobacco products.
Though potential long-term
risks associated with e-cigarette
use are unknown, exposure to
nicotine at a young age can harm
brain development, encourage
addiction and lead to further use
of tobacco products, according to
the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
“The manufacturers of e-ciga-
rettes say that their products are
safer than traditional cigarettes
because they have fewer different
types of chemicals that traditional
cigarettes have,” Davis said. “How-
ever, no long term testing on health
is available for e-cigarettes because
they are still a fairly new product
and we don’t know what long term
use may do in terms of any health
problems.”
E-CIG
From Page 1A
coming to the University, said
she thinks the setup of the res-
taurant will appeal to college
students.
“I love the setup of Piada
because it is similar to Chipotle
in the sense that people call it the
‘Italian Chipotle’ when you stand
in line and order, the ingredients
are right in front of you and the
team members walk you down
the line and make the food fresh
in front of you,” Ngo said. “I
think people would enjoy Piada
a lot because it’s like wraps, sal-
ads and pasta bowls to go and it
is relatively cheaper than other
casual
fast-food
restaurants.
Piada is also one of those res-
taurants you can never have too
much of, so I think it’ll fare well
with the budget-conscious col-
lege students here in Ann Arbor.”
Several
other
fast-casual
restaurants have also opened
in Ann Arbor recently, such as
Pieology and Salads Up on East
Liberty Street.
For students interested in
working at the new Piada, the
company offers a tuition assis-
tance program for employees.
“For supervisors and above —
there’s three levels that we have
of supervision here at our res-
taurants — we offer $1,000 back
per quarter with a maximum of
$2,000 per year,” Eisenacher
said.
Though the opening is months
away, people can sign up as a
pre-opening VIP member by fol-
lowing the restaurant on social
media or signing up on their
website. Piada will choose about
1,500 people to eat for free the
week before the opening.
ITALIAN
From Page 1A
vas Ann Arbor looking for cans
and bottles that they can recycle
for a 10-cent deposit. They call
themselves “canners,” and prac-
tice “canning.” Each game day,
the cycle takes place — thousands
of cans are discarded by fans and
canners pick them up, clean them
off and collect their deposit. For
a whole season’s worth of home
games, I followed canners around
Ann Arbor. All have their own
reason for canning, their own suc-
cesses and strategies, their own
struggles with the system, their
own story.
I met 73-year-old Jerry Quig-
ley, an Ann Arbor resident, out-
side the Big House during the
Michigan State game on Oct. 17.
As clouds loomed overhead, he
dragged a folding shopping cart
behind him as he picked through
the recycling bins, sometimes
waiting for a fan to chuck a can
into the bin before removing it.
Short and lumbering, his wide
smile shone through a dense gray
beard and black stumps where
several teeth had once been. He
wore a crushed baseball cap bear-
ing the name of the ship he fought
on during the Vietnam War and
yellow-tinted sunglasses. Born
and raised in Chelsea, Mich., after
the war he returned to Ann Arbor
and hasn’t left.
Quigley now just cans for the
exercise and to help pay the rent
for his small apartment — he
makes the rest of the payment by
doing odd-jobs for his landlord.
I strolled along with him as he
made his rounds of the bright blue
bins. Fans occasionally glanced
at him, but no one intervened. I
asked a poncho-clad usher if he
cared that Quigley was canning
right in front of the entrance.
“Hey, it’s a public space, you
know,” he replied with a shrug.
Michigan has an unusually
generous deposit system. Since
the Michigan Beverage Container
Act was enacted in 1978, Michi-
gan has charged a 10-cent deposit
on carbonated beverage contain-
ers, compared to the usual 5-cent
deposit in the 10 other states with
bottle bills. The containers can
then be exchanged for the deposit
at many grocery and liquor stores.
The only catch is that the contain-
ers must be purchased in state.
“I’ve had times when I col-
lected a bunch of cans from Ohio
State fans and then had them
rejected when I tried to return
them,” Quigley said.
Some people do “can” simply
as a hobby. I met Ann Arbor resi-
dents Tim, Brian and Pat as they
were scavenging the sidewalks
of East University Avenue during
the Northwestern game Oct. 10,
all of them 40-something men,
scruffy, dressed in dirty T-shirts,
jeans, sturdy work boots and can-
vas gloves. All three declined to
give their last names.
“We’re just in it for some ciga-
rette and sandwich money,” Pat
said.
“It’s just about good company
and some extra money in the
pocket,” Tim added.
I was not expecting this. I had
assumed that all canners must
be homeless or desperate. But
these guys are just friends out
for a jaunt. They all have day jobs
doing construction and carpentry.
They’re all from the city — Tim’s
house is actually just about a mile
down Packard Street. They clear-
ly regard themselves as a different
breed of canner
“None of us drink,” Pat said.
While there are some small
timers, for sure, many canners are
also, by necessity, after larger pay-
checks. I met Ann Arbor resident
Anthony Taylor after he drove
past me in a beat-up sedan during
the Northwestern game. Strapped
to every square inch of the car’s
exterior were bulging bags of
cans. The trunk was propped
open to accommodate more bags.
Thin, with a close-cropped
beard, Taylor is decked out in
Michigan gear: blue sweatpants,
Wolverine zip up, block ‘M’ hat.
He is 46 years old. He has a regular
job at a chain restaurant in town,
but regularly cans for money to
support his seven children. His
strategy is to raid various frater-
nity pregames after everyone has
left and haul away hundreds of
cans and bottles. In the hierarchy
of “canners,” he considers himself
a notch above guys like Tim and
Pat, who can only carry a light
load.
“I’ll let guys on foot clean up
the cans — aluminum is lighter
than glass, you know?” he said
with a slight smirk. “I’m in it to
win it.”
I walked with him into back-
yard of the house, through a giant
blue tarp acting as a curtain. It’s a
swamp — the ground has turned
to mud from so much spilled alco-
hol and crushed cans float on it
like lilypads. Taylor was trying
to break his record of $245. He
always starts by gathering any
intact cans and bottles that he can
find, ones that the foot soldiers
haven’t scavenged yet.
He digs through the trash bins
the fraternity had set out, picking
out half-full cans and pouring out
the contents before stuffing them
in his bag. These will get depos-
ited at Lucky’s Market on South
Industrial Highway, where he can
deposit $25 worth of containers
per day, per the store’s policy. He
claimed that he’ll get hassled if he
hauls this much into Meijer.
I asked him whether this is,
technically, stealing.
“Students aren’t going to go get
the deposit — they’re too busy,” he
replied. He notes that he leaves
behind any unopened beers he
finds.
As a canner with a vehicle,
Taylor can not only deposit more
intact cans, but also make money
off scrap aluminum. Crushed cans
are not redeemable for deposit.
However, many local junk yards
will pay for scrap aluminum by
the pound. Anthony picks out
the good cans from the bins, and
then takes the whole garbage bag,
which now contains mangled
cans and bits of trash that he’ll
have to pick out later.
Sometimes, he said, he gets
hassled by residents for pick-
ing through their garbage, even
though sidewalk bins are techni-
cally in the public domain.
“Everyone has their own crim-
inals,” he said.
I help him drag a few grimy
bags out to his car and ask if he’s
OK with me including him in the
story. He replies that he’s fine
with it as long as it won’t prevent
him from canning.
“This is a good hustle,” he said.
“A legitimate hustle.”
That same day, I met one of the
on-foot canners. Brian, 50 years
old, has been canning on and off
for four years. He asked that his
last name not be used.
For most of his adult life, he
worked a string of odd jobs. He
has been plagued with health
problems for much of that time:
peripheral artery disease, diabe-
tes, glaucoma and, most recently,
right forearm and left shoulder
injuries from a slip on an icy side-
walk in Ann Arbor.
“I don’t want to have to collect
disability, but there’s a limit to
what I can do,” he tells me.
The problem, Brian said, is that
he’s been rejected for disability
support multiple times. He’s too
ill to work a normal job, so he has
to make do with canning.
“This is my sole source of
income,” he said.
He lives in subsidized housing
on North Main Street and cans
most days and every football game
day. He needs $300 per month to
pay for rent and food. He has no
car, so he needs to make regular
bus trips to Meijer and Kroger
every evening to drop off his cans.
Through the getDowntown
Program, the Ann Arbor Transit
Authority offers something called
a “go!pass,” which employers in
downtown Ann Arbor can buy
in bulk and distribute to their
employees. According to the get-
Downtown website, the pass
gives holders unlimited access to
fixed bus routes and discounts on
other commuting services, as well
as many downtown stores.
But Brian, being unemployed,
isn’t eligible for a go!pass, which
he said frustrates him. Later on,
I would explain his situation to
getDowntown program director
Nancy Shore. She said though he
couldn’t get a go!pass, he might
be eligible for “Fare Deal,” which
cuts the normal $1.50 bus fare in
half for low-income individuals.
Until then, he must pay $3
every day for a pass — an equiva-
lent to 30 cans Brian has to find
and lug around before he can
make any money that day.
He spotted a can in my garbage,
lifted it out, and looked disap-
pointed.
“All these Arizona Iced Tea
cans lying around — it drives me
crazy,” he says.
In Michigan, only carbonated
beverage containers — beer cans,
soda bottles, etc. — have a deposit
on it. Every day, Brian finds hun-
dreds of wine bottles, iced tea
cans and milk cartons, but can’t
use them.
Brian said he was anxiously
following a bill introduced in the
Michigan Legislature in March
by state Sen. Rebekah Warren
(D–Ann Arbor), currently await-
ing hearing in the Senate Natural
Resources Committee. The bill,
Senate Bill 199, would amend the
original bottle bill to include non-
carbonated beverage containers
eligible for deposit as well.
In a interview, Warren said
the bill has received consider-
able support from environmental
groups, but also some opposition
from smaller retailers who lack
the resources to handle and clean
more containers.
“Our bottle bill is almost 40
years old now, so we’re just trying
to modernize,” Warren said. “The
original bill only included car-
bonated beverages because that’s
what people were drinking back
then. Now, people drink lots of
bottled water and energy drinks,
and I wanted to find a way to get
those recycled.”
Warren said she did not intro-
duce the bill with canners in mind.
However, she added that she was
happy to learn that it could have a
positive effect on them.
“If there are folks out there
who can supplement or make
an income by returning more of
these containers and getting them
out of landfills, that’s wonderful,”
she said.
But there are also some can-
ners, unlike Brian, who just need
to make some quick money. I met
Ann Arbor residents Amanda
James and Felicia Hamilton dur-
ing the Michigan State game Oct.
17. They had a shopping cart filled
with cans, and were weaving in
and out of pregamers like run-
ning backs, picking up any can
that someone dropped. Occasion-
ally, the students would just hand
the cans, freshly drained, to the
women. Electro-soul blasted from
the speakers, and Felicia occa-
sionally stopped canning to dance
along to the music. They asked me
if they could bum a cigarette, and
we got to talking. Both women
grew up in the city.
“Born and raised!” James
shouted.
They paused to gently heckle
a few MSU fans who passed by,
and then explained their motives.
Neither of them is a habitual can-
ner, but they said they needed
money to help Hamilton rent a
U-Haul and pay a $1,350 secu-
rity deposit. She has to move to a
cheaper house in Ann Arbor, she
said, because she was expecting to
receive a Section 8 voucher from
the city that fell through.
“Housing access, and you can
print this, is full of shit,” Hamil-
ton said.
I spoke with Weneshia Brand, a
manager at the Ann Arbor Hous-
ing Commission, about that issue.
She said the city issues Section 8
vouchers to help low-income resi-
dents pay rent with money comes
from the federal government.
Funding is scarce right now,
and the voucher waitlist is about
five years. Until then, James and
Hamilton said, they have to make
ends meet in whatever way they
can.
“And this is free money,” James
added of canning. “The best free
money.”
Most of the canners I met
had a scrappy pride in what they
were doing, even if it often seems
tedious and grimy. But their work
is simultaneously a symptom of
economic and political shortcom-
ings and a cure for the massive
amount of waste Ann Arbor pro-
duces on football game days. It is
“free money” for those without
more conventional means. But
given the amount of recycling and
cleaning that gets done by can-
ners, we should at least ask our-
selves: Who is it really “free” for?
CANNING
From Page 1A
for your fellow students, many of
you are part of student organiza-
tions that support amazing causes
here at U-M and beyond.”
Last year, the University sur-
passed its goal of raising $1 mil-
lion from at least 1,000 donors
— amassing about $3.2 million
from 5,437 donors, half of whom
were new. Judy Malcolm, senior
director of executive communi-
cations in the Office of University
Development, said the goal this
year is to surpass that amount.
“We went way beyond it in
terms of dollars and donors,” she
said. “Introducing new donors
was really fabulous … many of
them students, and that was really
fantastic.”
The outstanding support from
donors, Malcolm said, means that
they understand the spirit of phi-
lanthropy.
“We are often surprised by how
many people don’t realize that the
University is a public institution,”
she said. “It is nonprofit. Often,
the students ask why the Univer-
sity would raise money and we
really take our great success to
mean that people understand the
power of philanthropy and sup-
port the University and what it’s
doing.”
To increase donations this
year,Malcolm said the University
is working closely with student
groups to help them with fun-
draising tactics and spreading
awareness about the event. The
University is currently collabo-
rating with 108 student organiza-
tions for Giving Blueday.
“One thing we found in the
past we’re delighted with is that
students get a better idea of phi-
lanthropy,” Malcolm said. “We
think it’s important that they
understand that fundraising isn’t
just throwing money mindlessly
in a bucket. They learn by being
donors on Giving Blueday or by
fundraising. They learn that they
can accomplish things, make an
impact by fundraising or by being
a donor with a gift of any size.”
Last year, students donors
raised $157,000 out of the $3.2 mil-
lion total. In her e-mail, Harper
encouraged even greater student
participation this year, noting
that each student donation will be
matched through a $40,000 dona-
tion made by alumni and parents.
Any area of the University, such
as the health system, or programs
like Semester in Detroit, are eli-
gable to recieve donations.
Organizers are also encourag-
ing students to promote the fund-
raiser and thank donors for their
contributions via social media.
Leading up to the event, the
University and student organiza-
tions have sent out regular e-mail
blasts to notify potential donors
about Giving Blueday, as well as
used social media challenges to
encourage student participation.
“We’ve really put the word out
all over campus,” Malcolm said.
“All the colleges at the University
are participating.”
GIVING BLUE
From Page 1A
RITA MORRIS/Daily
“I’m originally form Ohio, but since coming
to U of M I’m a total convert to Michigan
sports and I love the school. My parents
are coming up to visit. My dad has never
been to a football game and I’m going to
take him to the Ohio State game.”
—School of Education Ph.D. candidate
Katie Shoemaker
THOUGHT BUBBLE