BY IAN NOBLE News Reporter , DR. WAYNE Halstrom, a 55-year-old North Vancouver © N V d e nti st’ Ss Si H i e nN ce r: Snore no more with dentist, fell: asleep. and smashed into the Westmount _overpass on Upper Levels Highway at 100 kilometres (60 Miles) per hour.on‘a clear night in 1989.’ 'Haistrom broke his hand, ‘suffered facial contusions and . ; considers himself tucky to be alive. --Dtinking, speeding and careless driving didn’t cause | . ‘Halstrom’ 's accident. Instead, he pins‘ the blame on something : that: -is: often the butt of jokes — snoring. Halstrom’s heavy ; snoring ‘caused chronic sleep deprivation, which in tum caused : him to fall’ asleep at the wheel. ; "©! Fortunately, as a dentist, he found himself i in a position to . do something about his, and everyone else’s, snoring. ' Now, the invention he calls the Silencer brings peaceful “rests to: 1,000 snorers‘and their sleep partners in Canada, New + Zealand, the United States and Europe. 4 “Necess ity. was the mother. of invention here. 1 was a hor- . fific-snorer and I suffered dramatically from sleep apnea,” said profit since it began marketing the tongue-positioning devices in 1993, sales quadrupled in 1995 from the year. before. He's been logging countless kilometres promoting the product. Last week he spoke to a Long Istand dental association in New York and next week he’s off to speak toa dental conference i in Reno, : Nevada. Haistrom continues to harbor strong hopes for the product, noting a whopping 76 million’ souls’ suffer’ from’ snoring in North America. . ~ - “Snoring,” he said wryly, ‘ ‘is the universal language.” Forty percent of middle-aged men and 30% of middle-aged women snore, said Halstrom, who began snoring heavily at 45, Snoring occurs when air gets sucked through an airway nar- rowed by tongues, soft palate, or uvula, a fleshy lobe at the back of the soft palate... Sleep apnea, said Halstrom, occurs when the throat i is com- -'pletely blocked by tissue and the tongue and the snorer stops A Celebrity listing continues to grow BY SHANE GRAY . . Contributing Weiter. FASTER THAN a televi- ‘sion soap terminal illness. “Able “to: leap over tall . ‘movie sets. Stronger than ‘Jay Leno's punch. lines. iWe are Super Society. "As the first year draws toa ‘curtain and our first big check has: been handed to » Aids * ’ Yancauver, [ am often asked ‘about the incredible celebrity- packed. year The Robert Ferguson Society has enjoyed. “ft is a source of inspiration for. ‘éach column I submit to the “North Shore News, and boy , has it been an incredible year of: movie ‘stars, TV - stars, singers. models and more. ‘Some of the biggest names, ‘in’ Hollywood (north and south) have visited‘ our city during the past year and many others have provided the: . Robert Ferguson Society with items of all shapes and sizes. Jay Leno, Bill’ Cosby, Rick Moranis, Denzel Washington, . Adam - David Duchovney, Sandlez and even Bob Hope have got in on the act of sign- ‘ing photographs and donating them to assist us in raising funds for the fight against Aids. Unusual items stored in strange boxes and containers arrive on our door step each week in response to our movie and TV relationships built by myself and our board of direc- tors. One example came follow- ing the shooting of the film Celtic Pride, starring Damon Wayans, Dan Ackroyd and Daniel Stem. Federal Express came knecking at our door to deliver a green foam finger. Not just any foam finger but a “Boston Celtic — We're No. 1” finger signed by Celtic Prides’ all-star cast. Our numter one local singer Sarah McLachlan donated an unusual tour book and autographed photos. And if you're singing the blues or wanting’ to rap, Jim Bymes and LL Cooi J also participated. Lisa Hartman Black was in Vancouver film- ing last summer and when she returned home to LA, for- warded photos of her and country singer husband Clint Black. Sound like we got things covered? Diane Sawyer mailed in her autographs in which she *’, breathing for more than:10 seconds. In such cases, silence can was wearing considerably more then Playboy model Courtenay Taylor was in her donated snap-shots. The ever “don't hate me because 'm beautiful” commercial queen Kelly Lebrock looked like a million dollars while in town and so did Sheryl Lee, known from Twin Peaks as Laura Paimer. Many television shows endorsed us with entire casts signing scripts for our North Shore-based charity. Some include soaps All My Children and Another World, sitcom News Radio, Homicide, Sisters, and the cast of Frasier, Eddie the dog from - Frasier was nice enough to leave his inked paw print for the dog lovers of this world to remember him by. : We have seen some great support this year, and a num- ‘ ber of items from celebrities ., WAYNE HALSTROM dis- . plays his. snore-preven- tion invention — the Silencer. The device pre- “yents the elrway from - closing while the wearer . fon mn raotng the prod mow mai ing ca uct worldwide. : be potentially deadly. va . ‘The Silencer, which looks like a hockey mouth guard, ‘bat . at $1,200 to $1,500 costs cossiderably more, prevents snoring: 7 and sleep apnea, said Halstrom. ; : It works by. brining the snorer’s tongue forward, opening ; the throat air passage. ; Halstrom added there are other snoring appliances similar to the Silencer, but they don’t have ‘the patented Halstrom ~ Hinge, which allows the lower jaw to move comfortably whi le » the airway remains open. Snoring isn’t simply 2 health threat, Halstrom pointed out. It-also kills relationships a3 sleep-deprived snorers and spous- es become irritable. Pointing: to. the pliable: appliance, « Halstrom said: “Ever since I invented shat m wife can sleep: : with me.” ue ; — “His work on the Silencer received’ 2 boost D: 1991,when he quit working as a dentist after 31 years on the job due toa frac- - tured right index finger, ue : ° “Interestingly,” he. said, ‘that was, perhaps the. best thing ‘ that happened to me because it. gave. me time to. produce { the oO Silencer.” ; Halstrom, a Lions Bay resident, now works on | Broadway at the Vancouver Sleep Centre, which’ is billed asa ‘one-stop shopping centre for snorers. are still available. If you're interested, get in touch with me at the paper with questions, comments or through our info line at 878- 8877. e-mail, celeb@bctm.com or drop by. the Bellevue Cafe in West Vancouver - (210 West 16th St.). CELEBRITIES CON-. - “ TRIBUTING to the North « Shore-based Fiobert Ferguson Society in its | first year of operation - Include Jay Leno (above) and Shory! Lea (left).