Toole Avenue will have an extreme make-over consisting of the installation of more than 100 plants and trees and creative contributions from local artists, arts organizations, and businesses this weekend.

On Saturday, October 22, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Tucson community will come together on National Make a Difference Day to completely transform the street at the heart of the Historic Warehouse Arts District.

During the past several months, Toole Avenue between 6th and Stone avenues has been getting spruced up here and fixed up there. Now, the community will finish the transformation in a day packed full of arts activities and performances that highlight the artists, art spaces and businesses along the refurbished Toole Avenue Artwalk and throughout the Tucson Historic Warehouse Arts District.

“We have pulled together a committed group, including the City of Tucson, Warehouse Arts Management Organization, property owners and community partners, to rehabilitate this important part of the Historic Warehouse Arts District,” says Michael Keith, CEO of the Downtown Tucson Partnership, which helped organize the event. “This kind of collaborative effort can be utilized to contribute to other infrastructure projects that are key to downtown.”

When completed, Toole Avenue improvements will include decorated planters with trees and shrubs, sidewalk repairs, the addition of ADA-compliant crosswalk ramps, installation of a bus shelter and bike racks, new fencing, and patio, lighting upgrades, and public artworks on both public and private spaces.

“The Toole Avenue Streetscape Project is the culmination of years of work by many people to preserve historic warehouses as spaces for the arts,” says Elizabeth Burden, president of WAMO. “The October 22 event is an opportunity for all Tucsonans to make a difference in this part of downtown, and to learn more about all that is happening in the Warehouse Arts District.”

For more information about the Toole Avenue Streetscape Project, visit www.DowntownTucson.org, contact the Downtown Tucson Partnership at (520) 837-6504 or info@downtucson.org.  For more information about the Tucson Historic Warehouse Arts District, visit TheWarehouseArtsDistrict.com.

Note: Groups participating in the Streetscape Project include:  Downtown Tucson Partnership, Office of Mayor, Ward 1 Council Office, Ward 6 Council Office, ParkWise, Dunn Edwards, Pima County, Warehouse Arts Management Organization, Norris-Design, Peach Properties, Fenton Investments, Arizona Autoparks, Skrappys, Providence Corporation, AAA Landscape, Cox Communications, Santa Teresa Tile Works, Poster Frost Mirto, Bens Bells, BICAS, Borealis Arts, Borderlands Brewery, Citizens Artists Collective, Dinnerware Art Space, Solar Culture, Mat Bevel Institute, Siobhan Clothing, Toole Shed Art Studios, Trees for Tucson, Tucson Arts Brigade.

Participating Warehouse District Artists include:  Elizabeth Albert, Ariel Diaz, Simon Donovan, Salvador Duran, Steven Eye, Susan Gamble, Jorge Gonzalez, Susan Kay Johnson, Carolyn King, Sally Krommes, Jodi Netzer, Joe Pagac, Michael Ritzenthaler, Ned Schaper, Paul Schwam, Marvin Shaver, Charlie Spillar, Paco Velez, Wilson, and Liz Weibler.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

This article  may help you discover the greatest hope for people suffering from PTSD that you have ever read.  Today there are literally hundreds of thousands of returning veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from their combat experiences. There are also hundreds of thousands of average Americans suffering from some traumatic experience in their lives resulting in PTSD.

Today people suffering from this terrific illness have new hope with the “drug free” therapy of NEUROFEEDBACK.  Unfortunately, only a very few Veterans’ hospitals utilize this treatment for returning veterans.  The main therapy used today in the military is cognitive therapy (talk therapy) and drugs.  THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE! Further down in this article you will see 37 YEARS TO RECOVERY FOR A VIETNAM VETERAN! that will really open your eyes to the new hope these revolutionary treatments offer.

In my opinion if a pharmaceutical drug had proven the same benefits that neurofeedback has demonstrated it would be a front-page story all over the world. Why neurofeedback is not accepted now as standard treatment for a slew of illnesses still amazes me and shows the power of the drug companies.  Once the health insurance companies realize the benefits and start paying for these life-changing treatments PTSD sufferers will experience a rapid change in their lives.  Neurofeedback is definitely NOT a quick fix, but offers some of the greatest hope to our returning heroes who have put their lives on the line to protect our freedom.

Many of our returning veterans also suffer from TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and in some cases severe depression.  If any of you have read my previous articles you will realize that neurofeedback in many instances CAN help reverse those maladies as well.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/tc-off-topic/2011/02/01/miraculous-recovery-from-traumatic-brain-injury-with-neurofeedback-therapy/

http://tucsoncitizen.com/art/2010/09/22/neurofeedback-a-revolutionary-new-drug-free-treatment-for-ptsd-add-adhd-traumatic-brain-injury-depression-and-other-maladies/

After researching this subject for several months I am totally convinced that neurofeedback WILL give many people suffering from PTSD their lives back.  PTSD not only affects the returning veteran but also has a dramatic effect on the lives of those that love them such as their wives, children and parents. Often our veterans turn to alcohol to help them cope. With proper neurofeedback treatments, alcoholism  too can be healed.

There are several neurofeedback companies and practitioners that have a proven tract record in PTSD treatment.  Please view their websites to inform yourself of just how effective these treatments have resolved PTSD problems. (more…)

The revolutionary new non-drug treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury, neurofeedback, has once again proven highly effective. Local Tucson resident, Ken Willingham, is a new testimonial of the benefits of neurofeedback therapy.

Picture of human brain

On December 29, 2003, while on vacation, Ken rode his Ducati motorcycle into a K-Mart parking lot when suddenly a speeding automobile crashed into his motorcycle, crushing his helmet and knocking him unconscious before speeding off. The hit and run driver has never been found.  The accident happened about 12:30 p.m. that day.

Fortunately someone saw Mr. Willingham and the wreckage of his motorcycle and called an emergency ambulance rushing him to the University Medical Center to save his life. His wife did not find out about the accident until after 6:30 p.m. that evening. He was unconscious for a long period and when able to gain consciousness he could not remember anything about the accident. He was diagnosed with moderate to severe Traumatic Brain Injury. The top-of-the-line helmet he was wearing at the time of the accident was badly damaged.

At the hospital he had zero memory for several weeks and was eventually moved to Health South for rehabilitation. He was there for three weeks and eventually after 40 days gained some memory back.  His wife Barbara Stahura has written a journal on the entire experience as it happened. Besides the TBI he was diagnosed with a stable occipital condyle of the spine and was fitted with a neck brace.  He had to wear the brace for 5 ½ months. Mr. Willingham was retired from I. B.M. as a computer programmer and had taken a job at Raytheon as a programmer at the time of the accident.  He eventually was able to go back to work for about 2 hours a day and in time worked up to 4 hours. Unfortunately even though he could work a few hours a day he suffered working memory problems. Returning to his old occupation was extremely difficult.

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