The Alzheimer’s Association is seeking volunteers to help with reception and telephones at its 5900 Wilshire Blvd. office.

“Reception is an important part of what we do,” says Judy Wunsch, director of volunteers. 

“This is often the first voice our families hear and the first person they meet, so a warm, welcoming presence is vital. Our volunteers set their own schedules and range in age from 39 to 99.  They enjoy camaraderie with other volunteers,” Wunsch said.

Last Friday, 9-year-old Isabel Morris, and her sister Estelle, 5, visited the Children's Hospital Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit, where Isabel was rushed just five hours after her birth because of a serious heart defect. She was joined By Alan Lewis, M.D., her pediatric cardiologist

Isabel brought baby blankets and booties she collected with her third grade class.

Isabel wanted to do something for the young heart and lung patients in the CTICU, where she spent several weeks as a child.  Diagnosed with Truncus Arteriosis, she underwent heart surgery from cardiothoracic surgeons Vaughn Starnes and Winfield Wells.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is celebrating 25 years of the T.J. Martell Foundation’s continued commitment to the hospital’s Pediatric Cancer and Leukemia Research Program, which conducts leukemia and cancer research for infants, children and adolescents.

The foundation's support helps CHLA investigate childhood malignancies of the nervous system (brain tumors and neuroblastoma), the eye (retinoblastoma) muscle and bone (sarcomas) and blood cells (leukemias).

Beverly Hills ophthalmic surgeon Dr. Kerry K. Assil has been named to the medical advisory board of Presbia, the Amsterdam-based developer of a new surgical solution for presbyopia, the age-related inability to read or focus on near objects.  

Dr. Jorge L. Alio of Madrid will join him on the board, which is chaired by Prof. Ioannis Pallikaris, M.D., widely regarded as the “father” of LASIK surgery.

Children Uniting Nations (CUN), a nonprofit working with foster and at-risk youth, was recently named the lead agency for National Mentoring Month (NMM) in Los Angeles this month.

CUN has partnered with four leading nonprofits, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater LA, Los Angeles Cares Mentoring Movement, Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters and Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters to raise awareness, recruit mentors and increase fundraising.

NMM will launch a “Multi Faith Movement” in collaboration with churches and synagogues across Los Angeles Jan. 15-17 by passing out literature, showcasing videos, signing up potential mentors (within each respective religious guidelines) throughout Los Angeles.

Resident  Estelle Branden is a survivor.

She was among the more than 100 who  attended the recent Women’s Guild Lung Institute Lung Cancer Survivor Celebra-tion at Cedars-Sinai  Medical Center.

Branden, who attended for her second year, had BAC Cancer. Bronchioalveolar cancer, sometimes called the “mystery” lung cancer, accounts for 2 to 14 percent of all lung cancers and less is known about this type of cancer than other non-small cell lung cancers.
The World Health Organiza-tion has classified BAC as a type of acenocarcinoma, a form of lung cancer that is more common in non-smokers.

Thom E. Lobe, MD, FAACS, FAAP, founder/director of Bev-erly Hills-based Beneveda Medical Group, hosted a reception Monday in honor of his being bestowed with a knighthood, by Knights Hospitalier of the Order of St. John, one of the oldest orders of healers in the world.  The order, which was established in 1099 during the first Crusade is historically known for its worldwide humanitarian efforts to care for the sick and the poor. Their focus is now caring for the community and their needs.  

Dr. Lobe is, in fact, the only B.H. doctor to receive this prestigious honor.

Carolina Larios gently cradled her 3-day-old daughter Millie, smoothing the wings of a hand-made butterfly costume. The two celebrated Millie’s first Halloween at the Cedars-Sinai Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) last week.

 The butterfly costume, complete with wings and a tiny cap adorned with antennae, was one of more than 50 hand-made for NICU patients by volunteers for Cedars-Sinai’s Good Beginnings organization.

Several Beverly Hills luminaries including David Solomon, Carrie Brillstein, Laurie Grad will be among some 4,000 joining in the 17th annual Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk,  sponsored by Wells Fargo.

The downtown 5k walk is Sunday, Nov. 1, and starts at the California Plaza (350 S. Grand Ave.

The sponsors goal is to raise more than $750,000 to support research and programs in the fight against Alzheimer’s.   

This year Maria Shriver, wife of California Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger, is making a personal commitment to the walk with “Maria’s A-Team,” created to honor her father, Sargent Shriver, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease. 

The West Coast premiere of  The Long Bright at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 11, at UCLA’s Royce Hall will be a concert of hope benefiting the Israel Cancer Research Fund.

The ICRF is a “non-bricks and mortar” foundation that has raised more than $40 million since its inception in 1975, directly supporting the most innovative and effective research scientists who share their groundbreaking knowledge globally.

Some of the work ICRF has funded includes discoveries that have garnered two Nobel Prizes. In particular, one of the greatest revelations of this century has been the discovery by ICRF grant researchers of the p53 gene responsible for tumor suppression.

A Night at Sardi’s,” the annual benefit for the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org/californiasouthland) at The Beverly Hilton on March 18, will honor four people who lost their mothers to Alzheimer’s—the Marshall family (Penny, Garry and Ronny) and producer Susan Dietz.  

The Marshalls will receive the Champions Award for their involvement with the association’s Champions campaign.  Garry Marshall is a director/pro- ducer/actor/playwright; his sister Penny, an actress/director; and sister Ronny Hallin a producer.  Dietz receives the Humanitarian Award for her  support to the association.

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recently honored the Pediatric Critical Care Unit at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) with its “2009-2010 Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence.” The award recognizes the nation’s top pediatric, progressive and adult critical-care units across a multitude of hospitals.

“As a nursing department dedicated to research, education, leadership and clinical care, the Beacon Award validates our intense commitment in the PICU to provide the best care possible to our most fragile young patients and their families,” said Mary Dee Hacker, R.N., MBA, CHLA vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer.

The Los Angeles County chapter of Childhelp will hold its annual Wonderland fund-raiser beginning at 10 a.m., Monday, Dec 7 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, 506 South Grand Ave.

The organization’s largest fundraiser of the year, the event will feature more than 20 vendors with holiday gifts for sale. There will also be treats from Santa’s Kitchen.

In his Beverly Hills practice, facial cosmetic surgeon Dr. Robert Kotler encounters many patients who can’t breathe.

This can be because of allergies, sleep apnea, unfixed broken noses, deviated septum or nasal blockage.

Often a problem, like a deviated septum, combines with enlarged turbinates (the narrow and curled bone shelf—shaped like an elongated sea-shell—which protrudes into the breathing passage of the nose) to block air passages. Or colds or allergy cause swelling that completely shuts the airway.

Several Beverly Hills luminaries including David Solomon, Carrie Brillstein, Laurie Grad will be among some 4,000 joining in the 17th annual Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk,  sponsored by Wells Fargo.

The downtown 5k walk is Sunday, Nov. 1, and starts at the California Plaza (350 S. Grand Ave.

The sponsors goal is to raise more than $750,000 to support research and programs in the fight against Alzheimer’s.  

“Beverly Hills: Be Healthy! Be Safe!” is the theme for this year’s Health and Safety week to be held Oct. 26-Nov. 1.  

Events and programs will take place  throughout the week, culminating in the Health and Safety Expo on Sunday, Nov. 1 in conjunction with the Farmers’ Market.