Frost Nips Ochoa for Derby One Pocket Title As evening fell on Elizabeth, IN at the Derby City Classic there was talk of an upcoming storm and how cold the air felt outside. According to the National Weather Service, the storm is scheduled to hit Friday, but nobody watching the final day of action cared [...]

During a video call Wednesday, Kohler Elementary first-graders greet Eskaton Village residents, including Roland Evans, at left on-screen and Betty MacKinnon, center. The kids celebrated their 100th day of school by interviewing Evans while the centenarian wore a hat they made for him. Teacher Bobbi Donovan sits with the kids, and Principal Kelly Grashoff, far right, watches on a laptop.

It didn't take long for Bobbi Donovan's first-grade students to shed their hesitation and greet their new pen pals.

Within minutes of meeting, kids from Kohler Elementary School in North Highlands were climbing into the laps of residents at Eskaton Village, a retirement community in Carmichael.

In October, each of Donovan's 26 students was assigned a resident in the assisted living unit at Eskaton. The kids now call them "buddies."

The kids met with their buddies at Eskaton in December and over the course of the school year have used Skype, an Internet video calling service, to stay in touch.

"I think it's a great program," said Betty MacKinnon, 92, who has two buddies in Donovan's class. "All my grandchildren are grown, so I love it."

Besides forging relationships, the program has been a teaching tool for Donovan and Adam Hill, Eskaton's assisted living activity coordinator.

The children practice their reading and writing by sending letters, e-mails and Christmas cards – and by reading books – to the Eskaton residents. Eskaton residents, meanwhile, are learning to use computers.

On Wednesday, Donovan's students celebrated the 100th day of school. They interviewed 100-year-old Roland Evans on Skype and wore handmade hats with 100 things drawn on them. They made a hat for Evans.

Kids took turns asking Evans questions. They asked him what it feels like to be 100.

"You feel quite old," he answered.

Students asked what kinds of things Evans did when he was in first grade.

"I paid attention to the teacher and learned to spell words."

The class also read a book about the 100th day of school to Eskaton residents.

The kids will visit again Feb. 9, to present stories they wrote about Eskaton residents. The Kohler kids and Eskaton residents hope to arrange several more visits before the end of the school year.

"They are very curious," said Evans, who worked for the Franchise Tax Board before retiring. "They are very impressed that I've lived to be 100. I'm less impressed."

Donovan's sister, Betsy Donovan, is the executive director at Eskaton Village. The two came up with the idea for the exchange, hoping it would become a learning tool and teach the kids about aging. Neither expected it would be so fruitful.

Eskaton is "focused on people getting a better understanding of the aging process," Bobbi Donovan said. "This has been wonderful for all of us to learn."

Eskaton sponsors the outings, providing a bus, T-shirts and lunch. Betsy Donovan said the outings are worth the $250 price tag.

"That's really the only way we are able to do this," Bobbi Donovan said.

What surprised the sisters was how quickly the kids' hesitation disappeared. Bobbi Donovan said she had talked to her class about being gentle with the residents.

"On the first day, the kids were walking up hesitant, thinking 'You're an older person, I'm not sure,' " Betsy Donovan said. "Then in 10 minutes they were on their laps, hugging them. It was just amazing."

Many of Eskaton's 400 residents had successful careers. The 15 assisted living residents participating in the Kohler Elementary exchange are retired physicians, teachers, state workers and others. During the visits, they tell kids how important it is to try hard in school.

"We want this to be a prototype for Eskaton and senior communities generally," Betsy Donovan said.

"Already, in a short amount of time it has gone beyond what I could have imagined."

Eskaton has 35 communities from Sacramento to the Oregon border.

The residents have been excited to learn computer programs like Skype and are finding other uses for it outside the Kohler program.

"They never knew that the capability of being able to talk with their son that lives in Alaska was there," Hill said. "Especially, for free."

From front left, Savana Clark, Luz Martinez Lopez and Jessamine Taylor and their North Highlands classmates shout goodbye to the retirees in Carmichael.

Using Skype, an Internet video calling service, a computer links Kohler Elementary students with residents of Eskaton Village in Carmichael. The Eskaton residents are finding other uses for Skype, too, such as talking long-distance with relatives – for free.

Text this message: Your cell phone could be sending you the latest identity theft scam.

At least two Sacramento-area residents have recently been targeted by text messages that promised $200 gift cards or alerted them to bank account problems.

In both cases, the texts were nothing more than tech-savvy attempts to steal financial information, say consumer experts.

"It's the first time they've used texting (here)," said Barry Goggin, president of the West Sacramento-based Better Business Bureau of Northeast California. "Traditional 'phishing' for financial information has been by telephone or e-mails. Now, crooks have found a way to use text messages."

It's even got a name: "smishing." That's a blending of "phishing" and SMS, the acronym for short message service, or texting.

Shirena Parker, a 20-year-old newlywed in Elk Grove, said she fell for it when she picked up a text message on her Sprint phone last Friday.

"Hi, Shirena," she says it read. "Congratulations. You've won a $200 Wal-Mart card."

Excited by the news, she immediately called the 877 number listed and was told that in order to get her $200 gift card, she would have to sign up for two magazine subscriptions, which she could promptly cancel. She was asked for her billing address, then credit card information for "shipping charges." That's when her first doubts crept in.

Nevertheless, lured by the promise of a $200 gift card, she gave her financial details, "which I know now is very, very bad."

Ever since, she's been getting daily calls from the purported Wal-Mart gift broker, who started pestering her to share phone numbers of girlfriends or family. That's when she had that "aha!" moment and realized "I'd totally been played," she said.

She called the local BBB, which in turn contacted Wal-Mart. "They had no connection with any kind of texting promotion. Ever. Period," said Goggin.

He urges consumers to contact the store or bank directly to verify a suspicious text.

And just Googling the texted phone number pops up numerous references to Wal-Mart gift card scams.

"Do your research first, because that would have saved me," said Parker, who says she and her husband found only one suspicious $30 charge on their debit card before they canceled it. "We got lucky. Some people have been scammed for hundreds of dollars."

The state attorney general's office late Tuesday said it had not received any recent calls about texting scams.

In Lincoln, Michelle Starr, a 43-year-old stay-at-home mother, got a text message saying that her U.S. Bank account was "frozen." Suspicious, she called the bank herself, rather than the 888 number sent in the text. "From reading newspapers and watching TV, I knew you had to be alert." Sure enough, Starr's bank said there was no problem with her account.

On their Web sites, some cell-phone carriers advise customers to be wary. Sprint, for instance, specifically warns about text messages that claim to be from your bank or financial institution.

"Sprint strongly recommends that its customers never share personal information with a third party unless they can verify that the request came from a trusted source," says the company's Web site.

That's the same tip from the BBB's Goggin: "Don't give out any personal financial information under any circumstances, unless you know for sure who's asking and how they're going to use it."

Starr, who got the phony bank text, said she wants to share her experience as a heads-up to others. "Even if it affects just one person, then that makes my day."

If you believe you've been a victim of a text-message scam, you can file a complaint on the state Attorney General's office Web site or call (800) 952-5225.

Editor's Note: This story was changed Jan. 27 to include contact information for the state Attorney General's office.

One Pocket Hall of Fame Inducts Latest Members The ambassadors, dignitaries and superstars of billiards gathered Tuesday, January 26, 2010 to induct Jose Parica, Rudolf “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone, Glenn Rogers, and Harry Plattis into the One Pocket Hall of Fame. The ceremony, held at Legends in the Horseshoe Casino, was hosted by OnePocket.org. The ceremony kicked [...]

Another data center is coming to the Sacramento area.

SunGard Availability Services of Wayne, Pa., said Tuesday it will open a 69,000-square-foot center in Rancho Cordova on May 1.

The center at 11085 Sun Center Drive will provide data storage and other information-technology services to companies primarily in the Bay Area.

Like others of its kind in the Sacramento region, the SunGard center will market itself as a safe, reliable place for data operations, far removed from the Bay Area's earthquake zone.

Despite the weak economy, the company was ready to expand in California at the time the Rancho Cordova location became available, said Lance Hanchey, SunGard vice president for operations.

"We strategically look to enter new markets all the time," Hanchey said. "Aside from the recession, it was a good time to expand our footprint in California."

The company already operates facilities in San Ramon, Cypress and San Diego. The privately held firm says it generates more than $5 billion a year in revenue.

The Rancho Cordova center will employ eight workers, plus security guards and other contract employees, Hanchey said.

SunGard joins a growing industry in Sacramento. Other significant data centers in the region include RagingWire Enterprise Solutions, Herakles Data and Advanced Data Centers.

Data centers, also known as server farms, are large buildings that provide much of the information-technology backbone for banks, health-care companies, dot-coms and other clients.

Brumback Repeats as Derby City Classic Banks Champ After four days of competition at the Derby City Classic, the Bank 9-Ball division ended Monday night with John Brumback successfully defending his title as Derby City Classic Bank Champion by defeating Filipino billiards legend Efren Reyes. In addition to being the defending Banks Division champion, Brumback [...]

Patient Joel Thomas, left, of Lincoln discusses his shoulder injury with Dr. Stephen Weber, an orthopedic surgeon. Weber conducted a study using platelet-rich plasma in a group of patients recovering from torn rotator cuffs; he concluded that the treatment didn't make a difference.

With Tiger Woods and Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward providing star-powered proof, demand boomed in recent years for injections of "concentrated" blood rich in platelets to relieve hard-to-heal joint and tendon injuries.

But Dr. Stephen Weber, a Sacramento orthopedic surgeon, was not convinced that the new therapies involving so-called platelet-rich plasma would speed recovery. So he conducted a study.

When he compared the outcomes among patients who used the blood product to help mend torn rotator cuffs and those who didn't, Weber concluded that it didn't make a difference and wasn't worth the extra hundreds of dollars in expense.

"My advice to patients: Be skeptical," he said.

The country as a whole could use a dose of such skepticism when it comes to expensive new therapies, critics say.

More than $700 billion is spent annually on unproven medicine and procedures, a significant factor in the escalating cost of health care. Patients and doctors rush to adopt the latest and newest medical treatments – often without regard to whether they actually make sense from a cost-benefit standpoint.

Some members of Congress are taking aim at the problem by proposing research centers that could promote less expensive approaches in health care.

Such research centers could serve as libraries of best practices and proven medicine, gathering data that would better inform health care decisions made by physicians and their patients.

The health insurance industry, which blames escalating premiums on the high cost of dispensing medical care, supports the effort – in theory.

"Health plans certainly want this kind of information. Which treatment works best is really crucial information," said Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for the group America's Health Insurance Plans.

In the absence of such scrutiny, he added, "Patients aren't always getting the best medical treatment."

Because the proposal for comparative research centers is included in the massive health care bills now before Congress, its fate is uncertain.

If passed, it would build on the $1.1 billion allocated to so-called comparative effectiveness research approved in last year's economic stimulus package, which will fund programs at existing federal agencies and create a council to provide guidance.

Critics say establishing Comparative Effectiveness Research Centers, as they would be called, could lead to treatment being dictated by nonmedical oversight panels.

They've also raised the specter of rationing. Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin deepened the controversy last summer by referring to "death panels" that could make life-and-death decisions.

Pharmaceutical companies and medical device companies have been wary of comparative effectiveness panels that, they say, could be automatically dismissive of products deemed too expensive.

Advocates dismiss those concerns, saying the intent is much more benign: Reduce pain and suffering – and wasted expense – by educating doctors and consumers about medical care that is safe and effective.

In some cases, the research centers would weigh in, analyzing data or launching studies of their own.

Supporters say the proposals would in no way undermine the doctor-patient relationship. The House health bill states that it would not "authorize any federal officer or employee to exercise any supervision or control over the practice of medicine."

The idea, rather, is to provide information that health plans, hospitals and doctors could use to decide which treatments make sense. Health care costs have been steadily escalating and are now estimated at $2.3 trillion annually nationwide.

About a third of this money now goes to pay for health care products and services whose value is unproved, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.

More expensive doesn't always translate to more effective, according to researchers at the Dartmouth Atlas Project, which for the past two decades has been monitoring what it says are "glaring variations in how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States."

Regions that spend lots of money on health care don't necessarily get better results than other areas with lower expenditures, according to the researchers.

While some experts blame the high cost of medicine on expensive new technology, that's only part of the problem. In general, there are few incentives for doctors and patients to keep costs down – particularly when health insurers are picking up most of the tab.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves pharmaceuticals and medical devices for use, but it does little to inform the public about how truly effective a drug or device is – compared with other drugs or other treatments, said Maribeth Shannon, director of the market and policy monitor program for the California HealthCare Foundation.

"It's a common American phenomenon to jump on the new thing," she said. "But it may or may not be better than existing therapies."

That may be the case when it came to treating joint injuries, said Weber, the orthopedic surgeon.

Weber launched his study last year after noticing the increasing use of platelet-rich plasma therapies in repairing joints and torn tendons.

Some doctors believe that platelet-rich blood, when injected or surgically implanted into wounds, helps the body more quickly repair bone and tissue, particularly in hard-to-treat tendon injuries, such as tennis elbow.

Weber's small study compared two groups that had undergone rotator cuff surgery, 30 patients in each, who volunteered for the research. They showed no noticeable difference in healing and effectiveness whether or not they were treated with platelet-rich plasma material.

Another study on the use of platelet-rich blood in Achilles' tendon injuries, published in the Jan. 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, appears to corroborate Weber's conclusion that the blood therapy may have little value.

But Dr. Alan Hirahara, another Sacramento orthopedic surgeon, stands by the therapy. He offered a study he conducted himself last year showing improvements in recovery for his patients, 139 of whom received surgery with the platelet-rich blood and 39 who did not.

"There was a big difference in my patient outcomes. We're saving money; we're saving the system money," said Hirahara, who opposes comparative effectiveness panels.

"You should always justify why you're doing things. If it's not working, you shouldn't do it because it's wasting money," Hirahara said.

Weber doesn't quibble with that.

"We want to be the guys in the white hats – the good guys. If physicians aren't responsible, then the government is going to step in," said Weber.

He said he supports comparative effectiveness research but is wary of the proposed panels because they could take away decision-making authority from patients and their doctors.

"I prefer to do things that are supported by medical literature," he said. "You want to be in front of the pack, but at the same time you have to be careful."

The skeptic, he said, would seek out a second opinion.

In Dr. Stephen Weber's office, a magnetic resonance image shows a patient's shoulder. Knowing whether the newest therapy is the best one is a health care challenge.

Sansouci and Gonzalez Tops in Manhattan Ozone Billiards Predator Tour / Manhattan, NY by Jerry Tarantola, NYCGrind.com On January 23-24, the Ozone Billiards Predator 9-Ball Tour made its second stop of the 2010 season at Eastside Billiards in Manhattan, NY. Alex Gonzalez took home the gold in the amateur event, while George “Ginky” Sansoouci earned first place [...]