Friday, April 27, 2018

Kin staffer takes breast pump innovation to hackathon

By Natalie Quinlan. This is an excerpt of an article that originally appeared on Waterloo Stories.

Research Technology Specialist with the Department of Kinesiology Melanie Scholz is heading to Massachusetts.

The mother-of-two will compete and showcase her product, the Breastbowl, during the “Make the Breast Pump Not Suck” Hackathon, an event hosted at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and dedicated to improving the practice of breastfeeding.

Over a three-day period (April 27 – April 29), more than 275 participants, 150 hackers and approximately 25 teams will focus on equity and inclusive innovation in breastfeeding, catalyzing the development of tech products, spaces, clothing, programs and services.  Attendees will also emphasize the importance of creating affordable, accessible, and culturally diverse solutions.

For Scholz, she’s confident her non-electric method, the Breastbowl, checks all of those boxes.  Here’s why:

Like most women, Scholz didn’t think much about breastfeeding until she had her own children.  And even then, it wasn’t until Scholz headed back to work that she began to question her routine.  Could a breastfeeding relationship with her six-month-old be sustained?

By default, many moms rely on electric breast pumps, but for Scholz, the device wasn’t for her.

“I hated it,” said Scholz.  “I found it unreliable and uncomfortable.  I remember one time when I wanted to pump some milk and the pump ran dry.  I became worried that my milk had dried up.”

A fear all-too common for Canadian women, with many citing that “not enough breast milk” and “difficulty with breastfeeding technique” were the main reasons for stopping breastfeeding before six months, according to Statistics Canada.

Taking advice from her Doula, also known as a birth coach, Scholz tried “hand expression,” a method where hands are used to stimulate and activate breast glands. 

“And guess what, there was plenty of milk,” exclaimed Scholz. 

The revelation wasn’t a coincidence either.

Research shows that women can remove about 50 per cent more milk when using their hands compared to hospital grade electrical breast pumps, and that expressed milk contains twice as much fat than pumped milk. 

“I looked on the Internet to see what people recommended for catching the milk, as hand expression can be messy, but the only recommendation I found involved immersing my chest in a big salad bowl.  I did not see myself returning to work with a big salad bowl.”

The success with hand expression was the boost Scholz needed and inspired her to design a product that was mess-free, comfortable, and created out of clean material — glass.

Read the rest of the article on Waterloo Stories.

Waterloo student wins community impact award

University of Waterloo student Chloe Jang has won Waterloo Region's Outstanding Youth Award. Jang, a third-year biomedical sciences student, received the award at the Volunteer Impact Awards ceremony on April 19 at the Waterloo Region Museum.

Jang was recognized for her volunteerism efforts at the University Gates Senior Residence, Grand River Hospital, Sanctuary Refugee Health Centre, and the Student Success Office's International Peer Community Program.

Jang also founded the Association Supporting Children's Educational Nurturing and Development (ASCEND), a unique summer camp initiative that helps Syrian refugee children adjust to Canadian society and culture. The program has expanded to offer an integrated ESL program aimed at helping immigrant families.

Jang was among fourteen individuals, teams and organizations honoured with the Volunteer Impact Awards, which are presented by the Volunteer Action Centre.

Decanal nominating committees seek staff reps

The Secretariat has put out a call for nominations for two nominating committees that will assist in the transitions of leadership in two faculties:

• Doug Peers’ second term as Dean of Arts expires June 30, 2019; and
• Earlier this year, Jim Rush was appointed as the next Vice-President, Academic & Provost. More recently, Paul Stolee has been named interim Dean of Applied Health Sciences, term ending June 30, 2019 or until such time as a new dean is appointed.  

As required by Policy 45, The Dean of a Faculty, the Secretariat is preparing to constitute two nominating committees, one for the Dean of Arts and one for the Dean of Applied Health Sciences.

For each committee, nominations are requested for one staff member elected by and from the regular staff of the Faculty. Staff in the Faculty of Arts and staff in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences are eligible to stand for nomination to the applicable committee.

The call for nominations opens today, and will close at 3:00 p.m. on
Thursday, May 10, 2018.

Nomination forms are available on the Secretariat's website (there are separate forms for each faculty) and when completed should be submitted to Emily Schroeder in the Secretariat, Needles Hall, room 3060. At least three nominators are required for each nominee. An election will follow if necessary. A brief candidate statement (100 words maximum) should accompany all nomination forms to appear with the ballot, and should be sent to Emily Schroeder, eschroeder@uwaterloo.ca.

For more information, see Policy 45, or contact Emily Schroeder, ext. 32749.

Mobile phone plan migration and other notes

IST is in the process of changing cellular plans for all Rogers Corporate accounts. The new plans will take effect May 1 and will provide lower monthly pricing for data/voice plans and new flex roaming plans when travelling. During the migration period, April 27 to May 1 inclusive, users may experience interruptions in service, according to a notice from IST.

“Given the magnitude of change we have been advised that there is a remote possibility that some users might experience temporary data discontinuity during the process,” says the note from IST. “However, chances of this happening are very low.”

All or a subset of the users might may also lose their voicemail feature temporarily, which will result in a complete reset of the voicemail box, wiping out all the saved/unheard voice messages, including the voicemail greeting.

“Even though it is a remote possibility, we encourage everyone to make note of all the required information from your voicemail messages as a precaution. Please be advised that messages (if) once lost cannot be retrieved.”

If the voicemail box is reset, users will receive a text message with instructions on how to set up their voicemail. Rogers also has step-by-step instructions on their website.

Human Resources has reported that two retirees have died recently:

• Gerard (Gerry) Dupuis, who died March 26. Gerry started at the University in December 1990 and retired in 2012 as Building Serviceperson II (Painter) in Plant Operations. He is survived by his spouse Florence.

• Shirley Toews died March 27. Toews joined the University in February 1973 and retired in September 1990 as Accounting and Operations Manager in the Bookstore. She was predeceased by her spouse Arthur.

The Waterloo Warriors Twitter account tweeted this image of the Physical Activities Complex's Red North door header (lintel? joist? beam? School of Architecture, I'm looking in your direction for some help here) being removed by a crane as part of the SLC/PAC expansion project. Red North was one of four building access points that used to be coded red or blue: Red South, now known as South (the closest entrance to the SLC/Ring Road), Blue South, now know as West (the entrance closest to the University Club/Ring Road), and Blue North, now known as North (the entrance closest to the M lot staircase). Red North was renamed East, but has been closed due to SLC/PAC construction.

To keep up with the construction updates, check the SLC/PAC expansion project website.

Red North, we hardly knew ye.