DAILY LOBO new mexico
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thursday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
April 29, 2010
Safety walk set aside for sake of panties by Kallie Red-Horse Daily Lobo
Attention UNM: Erase the Take Back the Campus event from your agenda. It has been postponed to make room for the Undie Run. The campus safety walk, organized in response to the Feb. 15 stabbing on campus, will now take place next semester, possibly in October, said ASUNM Senator Zoila Alvarez. “When it came down to the wire there was just a lot of other events that we did not want to conflict with their attendance, and we didn’t want them to conflict with our attendance,” she said. “The administration responded to the situation quite quickly. We feel it’s OK to just go ahead and postpone it for the fall when we can get a good turnout and reach out to new students.” The Women’s Resource Center and ASUNM organized the event, Alvarez said. “I thought that it was important to raise awareness among the students about how to be safe and about what safety precautions were already available on campus,” Alvarez said. “A lot of times students don’t know about the services that are available to them,” she said. The UNM Collegiate Chapter of the American Marketing Association is hosting the second Undie Rock ‘n’ Run today at Johnson Field. The Undie Rock ‘n’ Run is an event where participants shed their clothes and run one mile through main campus in their underwear to help collect clothing for charity. The postponement is for the best, said Sandrea Gonzales, WRC director, because it allows for more planning and ensures a greater turnout. “We are focused on continuing
see Undie Run page 2
Sean Gordon / Daily Lobo Students Dylan Coonce, center and Samantha Lujan, right, crowd into the ABQRide line that runs from Yale Boulevard to Downtown on Wednesday. Roughly 1 million passengers used the service in March.
Increased bus traffic attributable to poor economy by Leah Valencia Daily Lobo
The City of Albuquerque Transit Department reported a 15.4 percent increase in ridership compared with last year, reaching a 1 million rider high for the month of March. According to a press release, since January 2.8 million passengers have taken some sort of ABQ Ride public transportation. Mayor Richard Berry said in a statement he was glad to see Albuquerque residents relying on public transit. “These numbers are impressive,” Berry said. “It is clear that ABQ Ride is an important part of
Albuquerque’s transportation system, as people are relying on our services every day.” Veronica Valencia, spokeswoman for ABQ Ride, said the Department of Transportation hopes to serve 11 million riders by the end of the year. UNM student Tricia Archuleta said she rides the bus to campus every day and has noticed more congested buses recently. “Usually when you get to the Alvarado transportation center it is packed. There is not any seats, but then everyone gets off here at UNM,” she said. “It has definitely started to be more crowded.” Valencia said the transit has not tried to increase ridership, but
hard economic times and high gas prices have been driving people to public transportation. “I would not attribute our increased ridership to our ad campaigns,” she said. “I believe more people are just finding it is more economical to use public transportation.” Valencia said ABQ Ride, which includes Local Routes, Rapid Rides, Commuter Routes and SunVan usually serves about 800,000 passengers a month, but adding new and more convenient routes has made the bus system more appealing. “The inception of the rapid ride in general has helped increase ridership,” she said. “It offers frequent
services, with fewer stops that connect the east and west sides.” Student Christian Martinez said the Blue Line to Rio Rancho is what got him riding. “I save on gas and don’t have to own a car,” he said. “Some days it is kind of crowded and other days it is pretty normal. It’s a different kind of transportation, but I like it.” Archuleta agreed that dealing with a crowded bus is better than driving. “It saves gas and you don’t have to pay for a parking permit or wait for the shuttle,” she said. “I think that’s why people are starting to do it.”
see ABQ Ride page 5
Health care workers must start adapting to system changes by Jeremy Faulkner Daily Lobo
Even by the admission of its drafters, the new health insurance reform law is complex, but two members of UNM’s health and medical community are here to explain it. Beverly Kloeppel, director of UNM’s Student Health and Counseling, and Nancy Ridenour, dean of the College of Nursing, agree that the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will have a significant impact on young adults. The most immediate impact will be on young adults, who now have the ability to stay
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on their parents’ health insurance until the age of 26, Kloeppel said. People aged 19-29 make up one-third of the uninsured population in the United States, Kloeppel said. Starting in September young people will be able to remain on their parents’ health plan, creating a larger pool of people accessing the health care system, she said. This has implications for student health centers like the SHAC because they may see more demand from the newly insured population. As Ridenour said, the law dramatically increases funding for providers in “primary care
services” — or services such as care of minor illnesses, management of stable chronic diseases and disease prevention. The SHAC, for the most part, specializes in primary care services. Ridenour said one mechanism for broadening access to primary care services was to require, as the new law does, that health insurance companies cover certain preventative primary care services. “Prevention benefits won’t be charged for. They’re part of your insurance package,” Ridenour said. “That’s a big step forward because many times prevention things are an extra charge and so people don’t routinely
get them.” Ridenour said it’s critical that young adults routinely receive preventative health care services for the sake of their health and finances. “If we can help with prevention and early intervention then we can improve their health overall and then certainly decrease costs because they don’t need the more specialist intervention,” she said. Still, it is unclear whether a group of newly insured students will access primary care services offered at places like the SHAC; nor is it clear the extent to which insurers will cover services not considered primary care
see Health care page 3
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