secon “banned rents i gm Bright Lights. 5 me Crossword. | gp Home & Garder { me Mailbox. jm Mitchel. 7 ae Neighborhoods. 5 a North Shore Alert | ax Morth Shore This Week...19 | a Real Estate | gg Tatking Personals | gm Television. Home care for Lucas a health team effort From pane from the chemotherapy treatments. In addition, precious hospital funds would be saved. She proposed the idea to Lucas’s care team in September last year, but not until Feb. 6 did Lucas receive his first home hydration treat- ment. Now, Lucas receives his chemotherapy at Children's and then is taken home by ambulance, accompanied by a registered nurse. Nursing continues for 24 hours in the home. So that's why Lucas was lying down in a bright bedroom at home hooked up to an IV with a nurse at his side, instead of a hospital room, last week. Flushing the cancer-fighting agents from his body to protect it from the chemicals’ corrosive effects is still nor an easy task. During this time, Lucas is monitored for temperature, blood pres- sure, and all vital signs. Afso, nurses make sure the amount of fluids leaving Lucas’s body equals the amount he takes in. When nausea overcomes him, the tired little boy slides to the side of the bed and occasionally vomits into a disposable tray. But less stress, more sleep, less tomirng, faster recovery and bet:er eating go along with home hydration, said his parents. “We're convinced that this is such a grear thing other kids have to take advantage of it,” Sharen said. Lucas*s father James said that when a child gets cancer his whole world changes. It gets very small, so having the ability to stay home makes a big difference. The North Shore Home Support’s Pat Byrne said a lot of planning went into setting up the in-home treatment. A collaborative effort between the North Shore Child and Adolescent Program’s Wendy Eaves, Byrne, and Children’s hospital nurses and physicians provided the planning and delivery of the com- prehensive service, she said. Organizers of Lucas’s home hydration service had to ensure Children’s Hospital protocols are followed, staff are appropriately trained, care by fleuble nurses would be continuous depending on blood counts, and appropriate equipment is supplied. Although Byrne did not have specific figures to compare the costs of home care with hospital care, she said home care generally saves the government moncy. In Lucas’s case, James’s extended benefits are paying for the home hydration. Also, a hospital bed is freed up, said Byrne. Byrne said home hydration has been very successful in the United States and could benefit other children in the Lower Mainland. “Getting them into the home setting seems to be so beneficial for the child. Lucas is a prime example,” she said. “If there’s another fam- ily that prefers the home to hospital setting, now we know how to do it. A lot of planning went into it.” A trust fund called The Lucas Family Trust Fund has been set up at the North Shore Credit Union in the Dollarton shopping centre. Because Lucas can only see a 20-degrec spot in his one functioning eye, he needs special computer equipment for learning. ito, 7: # Killerexits through fire door," oa ea witness follows and wafches-th ’ fst. THAL HOUSE [9% RESTAURANT |e NEWS graphic Powell A killer ran down a Lower Lonsdale lane at 11:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28. Police seek witnesses. shooter‘run west.on the nort PON aT E er PU Sc noe hae ae AR Yam Witness follows but losés Bete, sight gf shooter When he’ Rese rw, reaches Semisch Ave." ff 7’. Witness however does, see fr may.and worhan having if a conversation. in-the j Underground parking-tot of 4 Sailor Hagar’s Pub ‘side of the lane. Tartana darabelsencbtd Police check video evidence From page 1 fatality in cight months of escalating violence involving a small number of young North Vancouver men of Iranian descent. The men all knew cach other growing up on the North Shore where they had run-ins with the law as youths. Some of the men are associated with the Persian Pride gang from the North Shore. Recent violent acts include: @ a BMW convertible blown up on Roche Point Drive on Jan. 25. The car owner was Mirhadi’s friend; ® Mani Rezaci, 20, of North Van, shot in the head on Station Street on Nov. 30, 1996. Rezaci survived and is in police custody; ) Ali Alamdari’s residence was sprayed with bullets on Oct. 9, 1996 in the 100-block of East 17th Street in North Van; Siamak Zahedi, 24, was shot several times on June 25, 1996 in his home in the 300-block of West 21st Street in North Vancouver. Zahedi is paralyzed. Rezaci and 20-year- old Kamran Gafarhorbani, of North Vancouver, are charged in connection with the shooting. Alamdari was also charged with attempting to murder Zahedi, burt North Vancouver Crown counsel dropped the charge shortly after it was laid. Although Mirhadi did not have an adult criminal record, he did have a record for: . Gia 1994 assault with a weapon in North Vancouver; Ma 1993 burglary in Port uitlam; Wa 1991 armed robbery in North Vancouver. The North Vancouver Mounties play down the gang connection relating to the recent violence. “These fellows were criminals. They were it: close association with each other, you could go as far as saying that. To call them that well organized, I arn not going to go as far as that. I don’t think they were that at what they did,” said Seaman.. Another witness to the killing contacted by the News said the shooter wore a black ski mask and white painter’s disposable clothing. Witness information indicates that at -. least two other people in the movie theater were involved in the planned killing. Police believe the shooter likely got into a vehicle that may have been left running near Semisch Avenue and the lane behind v/1¢ cinema. “He is not going to run forever,” said Seaman. Police are reviewing the security videotape of the theatre lobby where all paying movie patrons were filmed. The North Vancouver RCMP have 12 officers investigating the murder. Chip-hungry thieve . By lan Noble aa lnquiring Reporter... 10 | News Reporter ga Insights. :) ms Lautens...................... at them. Computers gutted for Pentium parts at Neighbourhood House A small gain for thieves meant a big headache for North Shore Neighbourhood House last week. Criminals took rwo computer chips, but put holes in walls between five offices to get Neighbourhood House executive director Don Ruthe ford said the thieves were well prepared. They smashed 40-centimetre-wide (16-inch-wide) holes in the office wells above desks and climbed chrough the holes. The robbers were after the Pentium chips found in new computers. puter losses and damage. we Sports. gold coins. to remove the Pentium chips. North Shore News, founded in 1969 ax an inde- pendent suburban newapapes and qualified under Schedule 121, Pasagraph 12) of the Excise Tan Act. ws published cach Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by Nuri Share Free Press Lid: and disarrb- uted tz every dewr on the Narth Shore Canada Po 1 Canadiana Publicapons Mail Sales Product Agreement Na GOSTIIs Mfarhny cater avartanie eration of computer chips. them. on request for below cost. ree SE He added pawn shops are not supposed to buy the chips withour getting proper iden- tification from the seller. But in downtown Vancouver, someone wid buy a chip being sold “As a community service organization we don’t have a lot of Pentiums hanging around,” said Rutherford of the pricey high-end computers. “But they did a lot of dam- age en route by going through walls instead of doors. “We don’t have a lot of resources and this sets us back a biz.” Rutherford estimates the damage at as much as $20,000. Insurance will cover the com- Although he said Neighbourhood House's fourth break-in in two years was frustrat- ing, he didn’t lose his sense of humour. “We have a very unique form of air conditioning at the moment and we get to talk to each other quite freely now ... We just might leave it that way.” . RCMP spokesman Tom Seaman said Pentium chips can be pawned off as quickly as Thieves, he added, go right after Pentiums and take the hard drives or take them apart “If they see a 486 on the desk, they ignore it,” he said, referring to the previous gen- Seaman said he has no idea where the chips go to after the pawn shop gets hold of NEWS phota Terry Peters NEIGHBOURHOOD House executive director Don Rutherford inspects the new air conditioning and communication system thieves le?t behind.