Outpatient treatment helps
alcoholics
f you have ever been hospitalized for
alcoholism you'll be pleased to discover that
you may have gotten equally effective treat
ment (at substantially less cost) at an outpatient
clinic.
That’s the finding of a study directed by Dr.
Motoi Hayashida at the Veterans Administra
tion Medical Center in Philadelphia, as reported
in the current issue of the New England Journal
o f Medicine.
/ . V . V .V .jr .V .V .V .V . V .V . V .V .V .V .S S V ,
• • • Between the Lines. . .
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Researchers found that those who went into
the hospital were more likely to get through the
initial program, but after six months, those
treated as outpatients were doing just as well.
“ We conclude that outpatient medical
detoxification is an effective, safe, and low-
cost treatment for patients with mild to
modeiate symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, ”
researchers wrote.
The study surveyed 164 men randomly
assigned to outpatient and inpatient programs.
The outpatients were given the drug oxazepam
and asked to report to a clinic each day, where
their blood alcohol levels were measured and
they were asked whether or not they had been
drinking.
The total cost for outpatients ranged from
$175 to $388, while for those hospitalized
prices ranged from $3,319 to $3,665. Treatment
took six-and-a-half days for outpatients and
about nine days for inpatients.
For every hotel room, a Valentine
erkeley, California is toying with a new
city ordinance that would require every
hotel room to have a “ safe sex kit' ’ of condoms
and educational literature about AIDS.
Naturally, some of “ Berserkeley’s” citizens
think that is going a bit too far.
Hotel operators, who realize that the town
has its own approach to normalcy, say they are
being unfairly singled out to convey the
message of safe sex education. Others,
including Marriott spokesman Nicholas Hill,
are concerned guests might get the wrong
impression. “ To have a mandate that these be
placed in a place of business is an infringement
on people’s constitutional rights,” Hill told the
New York Times. Hill’s local hotel does supply
the Book of Mormon in its rooms, incidentally,
and carries no Playboy magazines in its
gift shop.
The safe sex kit was proposed by nurse-
practitioner Leland Traiman, who is working
with city officials to develop policies to help
stop the spread of AIDS. The idea is not new.
B
however. Since early 1987, the Shangrila Hotel
in Montreal has placed one condom, in a box
with the company logo on it, next to the hair
conditioner and bubble bath bottles in the
bathroom.
Portland gets a new “ Video Bar”
*
he next time you walk into Flossies Bar
and Grill on Stark Street in Portland, be
sure to look up at the video camera and smile.
Your countenance is being recorded for
god-knows-what.
Sources say the camera is just for sur
veillance of unscrupulous customers who may
want to engage in a little illegal activity. Word
has it that management would like to train
another camera on the bar to “ keep an eye” on
its employees. Of course, the first time that
happens, they can expect to look for some new
employees.
Cameras in bars do not go over well — espe
cially in the gay community. Remember the
scanning camera at the Brig and Boxx’s last
year? If you are running a bank, casino, or late
night convenience store, video surveillance
makes perfectly good sense. But Flossie’s?
T
Cuba’s quarantine for AIDS:
police state experiment
uba has a very simple approach to AIDS.
If you test positive, you are quarantined.
And since there is no cure for AIDS in sight,
that isolation from the rest of society is
indefinite.
Although the state tries to make life comfort
able for the 240 people who have been found
infected so far (one-third of the country has
been tested), that unusual policy could be in for
some very controversial scrutiny now that many
of Cuba’s soldiers are returning from Africa.
Their reward for patriotic service is to be tested
and possibly incarcerated.
Though the detainees have color television
and air conditioning — luxurious by Cuban
standards — they have been separated from
their children, even though casual contact does
not spread the disease. No one leaves the
compound without a chaperone.
What is going on in Cuba is an experiment. If
it succeeds in stopping the spread of AIDS, then
government officials will justify what they have
been doing. But if the quarantine does not give
its people a unique protection, then hundreds
will have been deprived of liberty for absolutely
nothing.
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* | m / l uch of the future looks promising. We
X ▼ JL will eat better and live longer. We will
work less and stay home more. Technology will
befriend us . . .”
That’s Life magazine’s description of the
near future published in a 30-page photo essay.
“ Visions of Tomorrow” in the February issue.
Some other predictions:
By the year 2000, surgeons will have per
fected cheek, voicebox, blood vessel, tendon,
ligament, finger and toe joint implants — some
of them assisted by lasers, not knives.
Insulin-dependent diabetes, multiple
sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and 3,000
genetically-derived diseases will be eliminated.
And one final note: Life says the chance that
AIDS will be gone by the turn of the century
will be down to 50 percent.
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• 5 • March 1989