European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 25, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday. Septum two 25, 1986 the stars and stripes Paga 9 recovering alcoholics help others treatment Center seeks is to work As Counselor b Jud Sarasohn medical writer bad Cannstatt. Germany there s no Mili tary specially called recovering but there Are Obs for soldiers who Are recovering alcoholics whether they arc infantrymen truck Drivers or Cooks. Seventh medical come is looking for soldiers who arc recovering alcoholics to be full Simc Counselor for alcoholic soldiers. An alcoholic who stays sober is considered a recovering alcoholic Over inc net year the alcoholism treatment facility at at bad Canna Lall expects to lose is of i eight recovering alcoholic Counselor because of retire ment or new assignments. In the past the facility depended on cont Cis in alcoholics Anonymous to find soldiers who would work out of their military mos to counsel alcoholics. We never had to get thai Many people Over such a relatively Short period of Lime said or. Coi Charles r. Hayes head of the at. He said lit personnel come and 7th medical come have been supportive of the facility s efforts to get and retain recovering alcoholics at Counselor. But he said it has been difficult for soldiers to get permission from their Chain of command to be released from their jobs. The two commands Are asking Field commanders for their support in passing the word that there s a need for the soldiers and for releasing the soldiers said col. Jack Drill 7lh medical come s assistant chief of is aft for personnel. Volunteers still would have to process their requests for reassignment through Normal personnel channels a 1st personnel Cornel spokeswoman said. The at treats officers and senior non commissioned officers for alcoholism in a six week residential program. Outer army hospitals in Germany operate residential pro Grams for alcoholism and drug abut for enlisted soldiers. The bad can sum fail ii of its therapy groups to be run by a team consisting of a recovering alcoholic and a behavioural science specialist. Requirements for candidates Hayes said include sobriety. The recovering alcoholic must have been sober far the past two years. Studies indicate that if an alcoholic has remained sober for two years there is a Good Chance he will continue sobriety. Hayes said t also idles although they May not be experienced Counselor recovering alcoholics have special skills that Are important. About to years for the recovering alcoholic to reach a level of maturity to work with others As individual. Rank. The at generally wants non commissioned officers staff sergeant and above because its patients Are officers or senior cos. It is important for patients to be Able to identify with the recovering alcoholic Counselor. A. Hayes said he wants soldiers who will to Active participants in a. A mainstay of the at pro Gram. Part of their Job will include leeching a train ing to the alcoholics. Prior treatment at a residential or outpatient facility is not required. Although they May not be experienced Counselor re covering alcoholics have special skills that Are important they re exceptionally astute at picking up the Deni Al and dishonesty of the alcoholic Hayes said. One of the recovering alcoholics who is leaving the at soon is Tim a military Cook for 13 years and a Counselor at the at for seven. He returns to the Stales in five months although he said promotion prospects for recovering alcoholic Counselor Are improving Tim believes his career was hurl. Me came to bad Canns Lall a ser Geant first class and that s How he s leaving. And yet he stayed with counselling. It s the most rewarding Job i be Ever had Tim said. I was willing to sacrifice promotions to work Here because my heart is with recovering Terry another sergeant first class has been a coun Selor for a year. He s due to leave in october 1987, although he s applied for an Extension. His career was t Hurt he was promoted. But his military specially is 91b a medic which is a related Field he noted. The Job in t easy Terry and Tim said. Terry said therapy sessions Are so emotionally Drain ing that sometimes he just has to gel away. And then there Are the alcoholics who Don t succeed at the facility or who regain Ihei sobriety Only to lose it later. It s hard to be on a Board and vote for the person to leave the facility. It s also a decision that has to be made Tim said i want to help them All but i know i can t help them unlike a which allows alcoholics to return to meet Ings even when they fail to remain sober he at some times requires a patient to leave if he continues to deny his problem. Condition of infant heart lung patient encouraging9 London a the father of the world s youngest heart lung transplant recipient was allowed on tuesday to touch his 2 month old son for inc first Lime since the operation three Days ear Lier. And with the baby s condition de scribed Al Hartfield Hospital in North West London As encouraging the breathing machine connected to him since the 6ft-hour operation was disconnected for the first time. At the request of the family the baby boy who received the Golf Ball sized heart and the lungs of a a Day old Bel Gian infant has not been identified a Hospital official told the associated press of behalf of Hospital manager David Thomson the father had recovered from a slight cold and was allowed to enter the room where inc boy is under 24-hour surveillance and in touch him. Hospital staff were delighted. So was his Mother who had to remain on inc other Side of a Glass partition because she has not quite gotten Over her cold official who requested anonymity described the baby s condition at pre sent As satisfactory. But she stressed that Britain s leading heart transplant sur Geon egyptian born Magdi Yacoub who a the world s youngest heart lung transplant patient in 1 Lares add Hospital London performed the operation has warned that ice first four to six weeks would be critical to the child s survival. The infant was born with a severely malformed heart said Yacoub on Mon Day and had been at the Hospital for three weeks. The surgeon said if the transplant organs had not become Avail Able the child would have died in a Mai Ler of weeks. Harefield Hospital has Given no de tails about the donor infant but inde pendent television news said he had been bom with incurable brain damage. Yacoub flew to Belgium the night be fore the operation to gel the organs. He said the lungs were each the size of a playing card but in spite of the age Dif Ference Between the infants the organs were a perfect match. The previous records for the youngest heart lung transplants recipients also be Long to Harefield Hospital Kirsty Vowles and Jamie Gavin who were both 3 when they underwent surgery last year. Both operations were performed by Yacoub and both children were Well enough this month to join a running event to raise Money for the Hospital. In 1984 Yacoub performed a heart transplant on a 10-Day-old girl but she did not live Long. Soviet youth More fit than . Kids coach says r Moscow Impi soviet children Are More fit than american youngsters probably because they Send less Lime watching television and eating junk food former Washington redskins coach George Allen said tuesday. I be been visiting schools from morning to night and i d say soviet youngsters Are in belter condition than american youngsters Allen chairman of the a midst s Council on physical fitness Lold a news conference. I be yet to see a soviet youth who is very much overweight they re in the kind of shape d like to see my is to be in very Little body fat said Allen who die coached the los Angeles rams and teams m the . Football league. The difference he said ii soviet tension programming ends Al 11 30 p.m., but american children can ail in front of the to eating Popcorn and other junk food until 3 or 4 . He cited a study that found american youngsters spend just Over seven hours a Day watching television or listening to the radio. Sitting in front of the television does t do much for your Muscles he said. Allen is in the soviet Union discussing .-soviet youth exchanges with Marat Ramov chairman of the soviet sport committee. He said they agreed soviet youngsters would Lake a . Physical fitness test and american youth would take a soviet lest which he said is similar but More rigorous. They also agreed to invite soviet youngsters to Cali fornia next year to participate in a sports Camp and a non competitive 5-Kilometer run. Six to eight children would attend the Camp an four would participate in the run he said. A plan to invite american youth to study sports in the soviet Union also is being discussed he said. Allen scheduled to visit Leningrad and Tallin Esto Nia called the results a historic achievement for the Council saying the sport Exchange will promote understanding Between the nations. He said he saw a Range of the soviets sports pro Grams during his visit because he would ask to see different programs on the Spur of the moment i was impressed and i m pretty hard to please he said. I m still a coach Al heart. If there bad been a football team i d apply for the
