transportation, not SSD,” Segal said. 
“Our only role in Paratransit is that 
students sort of register with us.”

Farmer 
took 
advantage 
of 

Paratransit, but found it difficult to 
use on short notice.

“(Paratransit) was good,” Farmer 

said. “It was easy to know that’s my 
bus, or that’s my Blue Cab, and it’s 
convenient to get to and from Bursley, 
where I lived. It was kind of a pain to 
call 30 minutes in advance if I wanted 
to go to lunch with my friends.”

LSA freshman Shelby Young, who 

broke her ankle in the fall of 2016, 
disagreed with Farmer about Blue 
Cab in an email interview.

“The drivers were always rude 

and often were reckless drivers, cars 
often had cigarette butts scattered 

3-News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, January 23, 2017 — 3A

The initiative was implemented in 
the national, integrated health care 
system of the Veterans Association 
and provided support to physicians 
monitoring patients using opioids.

According to the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, 
patients who take opioids may 
develop tolerance over time and 
the effectiveness of the drug 
may decrease. Overdose related 
to opioids is associated with the 
dosage given. The higher the dose 
of opioids, the increased likelihood 
of an overdose.

Michael 
Clay, 
an 
assistant 

professor of internal medicine at 
University’s Medical School who 
worked on the study, emphasized 
that 
opioids 
generally 
have 

minimal benefit for chronic pain 
and are traditionally used for acute 
pain. He highlighted the central 
responsibilities of a prescriber if 
opioids are considered for chronic 
pain relief.

“The prescriber needs try all 

other options for chronic pain 
management — physical therapy, 
injections, psychology, ‘alternative’ 

therapies like acupuncture — 
before 
considering 
prescribing 

opioids,” Clay said. “The provider 
needs to then weigh all of the 
risks 
of 
opioids 
(addiction, 

death, depression, constipation, 
decreased testosterone in men and 
many others) and make sure that 
patients understand these risks.”

The Medical School evaluated 

the effectiveness of the OSI used 
in 
Veterans 
Affairs 
hospitals 

nationwide. The Institute for 
Healthcare Policy and Innovation, 
the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor 
Healthcare 
System 
and 
Yale 

University also collaborated on the 
project.

Lewei Lin, the study’s first 

author and an addiction fellow 
in the University’s Department 
of Psychiatry, emphasized how 
this study is one of the first to 
look at a health care system’s 
role in risky opioid prescriptions 
at a national level.

“What I am hoping is that this 

would give further support to 
other health care systems, for 
example, University of Michigan 
or other health care systems 
around the country in thinking 
about, within the health care 
system, how to help providers 

prescribe more safely,” Lin said.

The OSI was designed to 

be used in different settings, 
including urban and rural VA 
hospitals as well as local clinics. 
Because of this, there was 
variation in the ways the OSI 
was implemented.

Clay highlighted the quality 

and quantity of resources may 
help explain the distinction 
between 
rural 
and 
urban 

hospitals.

“For 
example, 
the 
Ann 

Arbor VA has many national 
experts in the field and they 
were able to help out with our 
OSI 
implementation,” 
Clay 

said. “We used a variety of 
professions to help implement 
OSI: physicians, pharmacists, 
psychologists, 
physical 

therapists. 
As 
a 
primary 

care physician, I was the 
lead for our facility. Other 
facilities used psychologists 
or pharmacists as the lead and 
did not have as many resources 
as VA hospitals with strong 
university affiliations.”

VETERAN
From Page 1A

CAROLYN GEARIG/Daily

Protestors for the Women’s March walk through Washington D.C on Saturday. 

Interested in 
news? Design? 

Coding? 

Photography?

Come to a 

mass meeting in 

the 

Michigan Daily 

newsroom! 

@ 420 Maynard 
January 23, 26, 

30 at 7 p.m.

to 25 mph during hours of heavy 
student traffic.

There still is no general cost 

estimate, 
but 
Councilmember 

Julie Grand (D–Ward 3) noted “it 
will be expensive.”

“I think that’s part of it, you 

know, you can’t budget for what 
you don’t know, so getting that 
baseline is critical,” she said. 
“Because we’re always going 
to have to make decisions that 
involve 
tradeoffs, 
and 
this 

gives us –– you can’t make the 
decisions without having that 
information.”

Money is tight right now in 

city government; in an earlier 
City Council planning session, 
Tom 
Crawford, 
the 
Chief 

Financial Officer for the city, said 
he expected budget deficits of 
$318,000 in fiscal year 2017-18, 
starting in July 2017, and $992,000 
in fiscal year 2018-19. According 
to Smith, Crawford also made 
recommendations 
during 
the 

last two budget cycles that the 
city set aside $700,000 annually 
to go toward the inspection and 
repair of streetlights, but that 
the full recommendation was 
not completed. Neither Smith 
nor City Administrator Howard 
Lazarus were sure how much was 
actually set aside.

“I 
know 
that 
the 
CFO 

Tom 
Crawford 
has 
made 

recommendations during the 
last two budget cycles that we 
set aside $700,000 annually 
to go into that, but that was 
not done in the last two-year 
cycle,” he said. “There was some 
money set aside, but not the full 
recommendation.”

LIGHTING
From Page 1A

Despite this, Segal said his 

area of knowledge and day-to-
day work revolved more around 
accommodating 
students 
with 

learning disabilities. Segal said 
Dan Measel, an SSD coordinator 
for students with chronic health 
conditions and visual and mobility 
impairments, oversees students 
with temporary disabilities within 
the office; however, Measel could 
not be reached for comment at the 
time of publication.

In some cases, SSD services 

were inadequate to meet the needs 
of students. Greeley struggled to do 
laundry and she and Farmer had 
trouble into the dining hall. SSD 
does not assist students with these 
tasks, according to their website.

“You can’t hold any plates,” 

Greeley said. “There were days if 
my roommate or my friends didn’t 
have a break where they could 
come back to the dining hall and 
help me out … there were days that 
I didn’t eat until seven o’clock at 
night.”

Farmer agreed, saying the 

University 
could 
provide 
an 

alternative dining experience.

“I really wish I would’ve been 

able to have unlimited to-go meals 

and have someone actually bring 
them to my dorm,” Farmer said. “It 
would’ve been a 10-minute process 
instead of a 45-minute process to 
get a bowl of cereal.”

To access the dining hall in 

Bursley, Farmer had to take an 
unconventional route.

“I had to go to the service 

elevator, where people would drop 
food deliveries, which took me up 
through the kitchen and then I 
had to go through the kitchen to 
get to the dining hall,” Famer said. 
“Which, I mean, when you’re on 
crutches, seems a little dangerous 
because you don’t know if the floor 
is wet.”

Farmer included that she had a 

tough time showering and eating 
due to a lack of handicap access to 
the dining hall.

“I actually ended up sitting 

on my longboard and my friends 
pushed me across the entire 
building to get to the handicap 
shower,” Farmer said.

Transportation
A foot injury leading to an ankle 

boot confined LSA freshman Gabi 
de Coster the first week of the fall 
semester while living in Mary 
Markley Residence Hall. Once 
winter began, de Coster worked 
with 
housing 
and 
eventually 

moved to South Quad to avoid the 
long walk from the hill while she 
was still in a boot. At this point, 

de Coster took advantage of the 
Paratransit services offered by 
SSD.

“I never met with anyone 

physically, but I did make a phone 
call asking about my options 
… so I could get in touch with 
Paratransit,” de Coster said.

For 
many 
students 
with 

temporary 
disabilities, 
once 

they reached out to SSD, many 
of their needs were met. Simply 
receiving a ride around campus at 
students’ convenience made their 
experience much better.

LSA 
sophomore 
Natalie 

Jackson, who broke her leg in 
November 2015, wrote in an email 
interview 
Paratransit 
services 

helped her get around to almost 
everywhere she went during the 
winter.

“I had to go to physical therapy 

and every morning there was a 
car that picked me up and took me 
there,” Jackson wrote.

Due to the high demand of 

Paratransit services, Blue Cab, a 
private taxi service which services 
Ann Arbor and surrounding areas, 
is often used in place of Paratransit 
when there aren’t enough cars to 
get students to where they need to 
be.

Segal said SSD only coordinates 

rides 
between 
students 
and 

Paratransit.

“Paratransit is run through 

DISABILITY
From Page 1A

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

The pair originally had enough 

students signed up to take two 
buses, though not enough paid in 
time to book the second — “and we 
can’t front $5,000,” Rivkin said. 
Many on the bus knew Rivkin or 
Ramaswamy, but others came after 
catching wind of the Facebook 
event or through friends. Some, 
like LSA sophomore Renae Lyons, 
even came on their own.

“I signed up for this by myself; 

I just heard that the bus was 
going and I felt really compelled 
to go,” Lyons, who was upset with 
Trump’s election, said. “I have 
the privilege to go and I felt like it 
would be a total waste if I didn’t 
take advantage of that.”

Now, riding down State Street 

in Ann Arbor on the single bus, 
the women asked the riders to say 
their reasons for marching, along 
with the answer to one of three 
questions: Who would you want 
to perform at your inauguration? 
What is your favorite Barack 
Obama moment? Or: If you could 
have anyone, from history or 
present, march alongside you, who 
would it be?

The passengers gave reasons 

ranging from health care and 
misogynistic rhetoric to climate 
change 
and 
immigration 
for 

attending. Laura Vicinanza, an 
LSA junior who enjoys Obama 
and Biden memes, marched for 
everyone 
whose 
rights 
could 

be under attack under the new 
administration.

“I was really devastated with the 

election results — it’s been a lot; it’s 
taken me so long to process — but I 
really want to go out and march and 
stand up for women’s rights and all 
of these other marginalized groups 
that the Trump administration had 
not really addressed,” Vicinanza 

said to the bus.

Many 
women, 
like 
LSA 

sophomore 
Megan 
Burns, 

cited privilege as a reason for 
attending — believing if they can 
go, they should, to march for both 
themselves and others who may 
not be able to.

“I am here to march because I 

believe it’s our job to speak up for 
all of the people who don’t have a 
voice,” Burns told the bus.

Burns, who is an Opinion writer 

the Daily, said were she to be 
elected president, she would like 
Obama and former Vice President 
Joe Biden to do a “sister act” on 
stage.

LSA sophomore Tansy Massey-

Green was inspired by her mom 
to attend the march and saw it as 
a critical first step following the 
election.

“I march today because I 

remember 
how 
devastated 
I 

was after the election — my first 
election — how badly it went,” 
Massey-Green said. “Lots of tears 
were shed and I called my mom 
and talked to her so long — she was 
very politically active when she 
was here at U of M — she told me 
to get out there and do whatever I 
can, and I thought this was the first 
thing I could have done. I’m here 
marching for the people who are 
going to get her the hardest by the 
incoming administration.”

At its core, many came to the 

march in opposition to Trump’s 
policies, 
though 
Ramaswamy 

emphasized that the march was 
not anti-Trump.

“I think so many of the ones 

after the election were about 
getting rid of him and hating 
him,” Ramaswamy said. “The 
fact that this is more for unifying 
and including everybody and 
fighting 
for 
people’s 
rights, 

rather than trying to kick out 
the administration it’s trying to 
make them listen so I think that 
distinction is really important 

about this march.”

Additionally important to the 

organizers was emphasizing peace 
going into the protest. Entering 
D.C., Ramaswamy warned riders 
there were rumors of people 
attending the rally to purposely 
ignite others.

“They are not part of the official 

march, they are purely there to 
riot and to cause something not 
peaceful to happen,” Ramaswamy 
said. “Don’t be dissuaded by that, 
but please be careful.”

A woman on the bus expressed 

concerns 
with 
tear-gas 
after 

the 
D.C. 
police 
tear-gassed 

inauguration protesters.

The 
organizers 
explained 

what to do in the event and urged 
marchers to look over the safety 
guide that they had emailed out, 
as well as remember to remain 
peaceful and remember why they 
had come.

Ramaswamy and Rivkin left 

housing up to the marchers, so 
after nearly nine hours on the blue 
charter bus with the pink Planned 
Parenthood sign in the windshield, 
marchers dispersed from the bus 
at the Stadium-Armory metro stop 
outside of D.C. with the promise of 
meeting at Hancock Park with the 
rest of the Michigan marchers the 
following morning.

*****
When their ride fell through at 

the last minute, LSA sophomore 
Dana Nathanson and LSA senior 
Natalie Burr borrowed a car the 
Friday before the rally from a 
housemate of their co-op and drove 
it down. Then their housing fell 
through after George Washington 
University, a college in D.C.’s 
Foggy 
Bottom 
neighborhood, 

barred visitors for the weekend 
because of the festivities. Still, they 
were determined to march and 
parked their car in an RV camp in 
Maryland where they slept for one 
night.

“I’m 
marching 
for 
human 

rights,” Nathanson said. “I like 
that the march is after the Trump 
inauguration because I feel like 
we’re getting the last word. I’m 
marching for not giving up and 
for being resilient in the next four 
years; for not forgetting how this 
happened.”

Lacing her hiking boots before 

heading out to meet with the other 
Michiganders, Nathanson fell back 
on the couch.

“So who’s excited for this post-

march nap?”

Everyone.
The post-march nap was, in 

fact, great. And for the most part, 
the march lived up to people’s 
expectations. Both of Michigan’s 
U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D) 
and Gary Peters (D) along with U.S. 
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D–Mich.) 
spoke with about 200 marchers 
gathered at the Michigan meeting 
point before the rally, though 
staying together for the actual rally 
and march became impossible and 
most broke off into smaller groups. 
Though, not before the University 
of Michigan crew sang “Hail to the 
Victors.”

The march is being called the 

largest in human history with 
rallies being held on all seven 
continents and an estimated 3 

million participants. Despite the 
large crowds — in D.C. there being 
more than 600,000 marchers there 
were no instances of violence; 
something LSA senior Harry 
Freedman said he was thankful for 
afterward.

“My favorite part about the 

march was actually that no one was 
arrested,” Freedman said. “Of all of 
D.C. of all of the nearly 1 million 
people that were there, not a single 
person turned to violence enough 
to be arrested. No one protested 
in an unpatriotic, uncharacteristic 
manner that demeaned the march 
itself.”

Yet, issues still remained.
It was scheduled to start 

at 1:15 p.m. following a rally 
with a barrage of speakers and 
performers 
beginning 
at 
10 

a.m., but 1:15 p.m. rolled by, the 
speakers continued and ralliers 
became antsy. By 2:40 p.m., 
many began to march despite 
speakers such as Madonna and 
Amy Schumer still in queue. LSA 
junior Shanthi Veeramachaneni 
came to the march to show 
solidarity with others who do 
not support the president. 

MARCH
From Page 1A

Read more online at 

michigandaily.com

