The Perfect Pathogen (2 page)

CHAPTER 2

With the kids ready and
packed into the 2006 Chrysler Pacifica, Rob began his drop-off routine. Sam,
the youngest, was in 9
^th
grade at Huntingtown High School; Brett was
in 12
^th
grade and would graduate with the Class of 2016 next summer.
Hope was attending morning classes at the College of Southern Maryland to
improve her business, administrative, and office management skills. Once they
had all been safely delivered, Rob would then make his way to his office.

The kids loved their dad taking them to school. It
allowed them to sleep an extra half hour, skipping the wait at the bus stop in
the mornings. But the bus was a good option for getting home, since Rob’s work
normally kept him at the office until late afternoon. Hope would finish school
late morning and then take county transportation from the community college to
the County Offices in Prince Frederick where she was serving an internship. She
expected to be living on her own by the New Year, if everything worked out as
planned. One of her co-workers at the county was looking into two-bedroom
apartments in the center of town that they could share for a reasonable price.
Hope’s life was on track.

When Rob arrived at work, a couple of his staff
greeted him. They currently had about seventy-five students enrolled at the
Center. Some were in training courses for basic life skills which could last
several years. Others were involved in advanced training, which was reserved
for those who were getting close to graduation. Living alone was hard enough
for any young adult, let alone those with special needs. These kids, with their
varying degree of disabilities, faced even greater challenges. Yet, with hard
work and encouragement from their families and the staff, they were able to
show steady improvement until they reached the goal of being self-sufficient.

Rob’s number two was Marjorie Kline -- called
Marge by everyone -- and she had been with the Center from its inception. She
had an incredible knack for understanding the needs of the students, and was
known for her loving care and unlimited patience. She had graduated from the
University of Maryland with a degree in Clinical Social Work. Shortly after
graduation, her parents were in a serious car accident. Her father died at the
scene and her mother was paralyzed from the neck down. As an only child, her
reaction to this curve ball was to spend the next five years caring for her
mother until her mother finally lost her will to live and passed away.

Following her mother’s death, she was sifting
through family documents during the settling of the estate and discovered that
she was adopted. Her parents had taken her home as a newborn directly from the
hospital. She suspected she was the result of an unwanted teen pregnancy, and
her heart was never really into trying to find her real parents, though she did
try. But the reality was that she had just wanted to move on with her life.

The job at the Center came up at exactly the right
time for her, and she threw herself fully into the work, drawing on the
experience of her own feelings of helplessness as she watched her mother
deteriorate, to help these young adults find their way in the world. She had
found her calling and immersed herself in this labor of love. Rob was happy
Marge was here, for without her, his job would be infinitely more difficult.

It was almost 10 a.m. and the developer was due
any time. Rob could hardly wait to get started on this new project. The Center
was located on the Charles County side of the Patuxent River, just over the
Route 231 Bridge. He had accumulated about 1200 acres of land over the years.
Some purchased, some donated. One section reached all the way down to the
river. Overall, there were around fifteen buildings. The main building was the
schoolhouse and dining facility. The remainder were out-buildings that served
to teach teamwork using agricultural skills. About twenty acres of land were
currently under cultivation.

The site also had twelve green houses that were
able to grow all the food the Center used, and the students ran a farm stand on
the main road to sell much of the excess. Students were taught to manage all
aspects of agricultural projects, including the accounting, sales, inventory,
and planning. Rob thought these skills brought everyone back to basics and that
they were necessary for everyday living, whether you worked in an office, on a
farm, or on an assembly line in a factory.

The one thing missing from this facility was an
onsite living experience. All students were day students. Rob knew from
discussion with other Centers and professionals in the area of independent
living, that giving these young adults the “on your own” experience in a
controlled environment could greatly enhance their probability of success later
on. Creating housing units to board the students -- or housing pods, as Rob
called them -- would do just that.

At 10 a.m. sharp, Mr. Shaw, the Lead Engineer for
the housing project,  pulled up to the main building. Rob met him with a wide
smile. “Good morning Mr. Shaw.”

“Hi Rob. Please call me Bill. It is a pleasure to
be here and working with you on such an innovative and important project.”

“Well, Bill, I am ready to get started. The
funding is just about in place. At any rate we have enough to start, and all we
need now are the final plans and permits. I have been talking to the County
engineers at Planning and Zoning, and Inspection and Permits. They assure me
they understand the project. It took some work but I also have all of the
County Commissioners on board. I expect to be able to start the project in a
few weeks. Because of the prefabricated living pods we’ve decided to use, I
think we can be up and running by Christmas.”

“That sounds great,” said Bill. “Here are the
final plans. I’ve shared these with Roger Mitchell, the construction foremen
for Charles County Construction and Homebuilders. He thinks this will be a
piece of cake once the foundations, wells, and septic fields are in place.
He’ll handle all the utility subcontracting, and he is working closely with
Southern Maryland Solar so they’re ready to put on the solar panels as soon as
the roofs are in place. The Solar Energy Engineer at SMS thinks you’ll be
breaking even, or making money, on your electricity bill each month, based on
the load study he did for these units.”

“I know the plan is for fifty units. That is five
pods of ten. If the money doesn’t come in, is there any issue with scaling back
to four pods?” asked Rob.

“Well, you won’t save any money on the utility
installations. Each set of infrastructure supports three pods, so to save you’d
have to scale back to three pods. If you had the money, you could put in an
extra pod with the planned infrastructure. You actually have the space to build
fifteen . We’d just have to put in five sets of utilities. The incremental
increase to install it all at once isn’t that much, but I know you’re looking
at spending less money, not more. That’s why I haven’t suggested this up to
now. You might consider looking into a Federal grant. That could bridge the
difference for you.”

“I have a meeting later in the week with the
Tri-County Council of Churches and hope I can get them to come up with the
additional money. I’ll mention possibly installing the infrastructure with
future expansion in mind. That may peak their interest.”

“I wish you well,” said Bill. “If I can get your
signature here, I’ll get the ball rolling with Inspections and Permits and we
can have a ground breaking in the near future.”

“Excellent! Have a great week Bill,” exclaimed Rob
as he signed the document.

As Bill drove away, Rob wondered if he could get
Mr. Walters - the primary donor for the Center’s expansion - to increase his
donation for the project. He thought that if he explained the economics of the
deal to him, as an accomplished businessman he just might have an idea on how
best to work this out. Mr. Walters had helped to build many community service
projects throughout the Tri-Counties over the last ten years. Pitching for
extra money was worth a try, even if the approach only resulted in getting some
good business advice. He resolved to schedule an appointment with Mr. Walters
before the meeting with the Council of Churches so he knew how to plan moving
forward and he would also explore the Federal grants idea. Things were looking
up.

Shortly before noon, he gathered the staff and
students together to brief them on the plans for the Living Center. Excitement
filled the air, and everyone could see how much better this would make the
program, if the funding could be found.

Rob kept thinking about how to staff the pods.
Marge was urging him to use previous graduates who were living on their own to
supervise and train in the pods, but Rob didn’t know if that would meet his
objectives of speeding up the process. Maybe speed was not needed. Maybe it
would be best if the new students learned from someone who had persevered and
grown from a similar experience. He would have to give it some thought, but
right now there was no rush, but he wondered if a mix of some graduates and
some skilled professionals would be more effective. In any event, he knew he
would have the next several years to figure out the correct formula.

CHAPTER 3

It took Katie a little
longer than she had imagined to get to the conference center at the University.
Luckily, she had given herself plenty of time and there would be opening
administrative remarks ahead of time from the staff anyway. As she approached
the breakfast buffet, she noticed an old colleague from her college days, James
Akira. He was now the Director of Medical Studies at Tokyo’s prestigious Noguchi
Memorial Institute for Medical Research. As she approached, he saw her out of
the corner of his eyes and pivoted toward her with a subtle bow and extension
of his hand, mixing his country’s customs with those of hers.

“Hello my good friend Kathleen. I always look
forward to seeing you at these events. It is great to know you are in good
health and that you are thriving in your position at the CDC. You are looking
especially young and beautiful today.”

“Oh Jimmy. You always flatter me. Keep it up, I
love it!” said Katie while accepting his hand.

Katie had dated Jimmy for about a month when they
first met, but they were both smart enough to know that their personalities
were too much alike, and that there would be too much competition between them
for things to get more serious. As it stood, they were both working on cutting
edge ideas about the aging of the human race, and the development of Homo sapiens
over the ages was an endless topic of discussion for the two.

“I have to grab some quick nourishment – I’m on in
about fifteen minutes. I love kicking off these events. I can see some of our
special guests are perusing the pastries at the next table. I wonder if any of
them would claim that eating a doughnut a day is why they have made it to 100,”
she said laughing.

Jimmy responded, “They would probably tell you
they made it to 100 in spite of the doughnut. Good genes is the theory I hear
from most of my subjects, and good family relations. And maybe a doughnut a day
makes you a happier, friendlier person. I will have to test that hypothesis
myself during the conference. Let me know if you see any change in me,” Jimmy
said with a smile.

“Well, I’ve got to get ready,” said Katie. “Wish
me luck.” 

Katie headed into the large conference room. The
overview of the conference had not yet started, but the crowd was already seated.
The front tables on the left side of the room were reserved for those over 100 years
old, and the front table on the right was reserved for the Conference chairman,
the keynote speaker, Surgeon General Bradford Kinsey, and the guests of honor,
the three super centenarians:  Fannie Bell Stewart, Esther Mahota Burrus, and
Bertha Mae Jones. These three were all Americans and Katie had known them for
the last five years. She always marveled at how creative the names seemed to be
for those who had walked the earth for over 110 years. There was one missing
however, Margaret Ann Smith. She was supposed to be in attendance but passed
the previous week. Katie had known her for fifteen years and her absence dulled
Katie’s excitement for the conference a bit.

Nevertheless, Katie walked over and greeted each
of the ladies, and they all smiled when they saw her coming. Katie made a habit
of calling each of them at least once a month to see how they were doing and to
find out what new projects they were working on. They always had something to
say and something new to report. Katie thought maybe that was what aided their
longevity. Their minds were always active, always up to something:  they were all
life-long learners.

Katie took her seat alongside the distinguished
guests just as the Master of Ceremonies started her introduction, flashing the
schedule for the next three days on the screen. The organizers prided
themselves on making the three days as interactive and inclusive as possible,
and every moment was filled with lectures, presentations, demonstrations on the
latest gadgets to help the elderly, mixers, and panel discussions.

A highlight of each conference for the last five
years was a private visit to one of the Smithsonian Museums, hosted and lead by
the resident curator. This year’s treat would be a visit to the recently
rehabilitated Museum of Natural History, with many of the old exhibits updated.
There was a special exhibition of the latest mammoth artifacts found in Siberia,
and the feature was a perfectly preserved baby mammoth.

At the tables reserved for those over 100 years
old there was much chatter about the taking of good pictures so that when they
returned home they could share a slide show presentation of their trip with their
neighbors at the senior center. Katie smiled, musing that it seems it doesn’t
matter how old you are, you still like to brag about what you did for your
friends. “One of the most consistent characteristics of the human race,” Katie
whispered under her breath.

It was soon time for Katie to take  her place on
the stage. She took a deep breath, and began.

“Good morning my friends. Today I have the honor
of presenting you with data and analysis that says the state of your heath is
excellent. The world’s population of centenarians continues to increase as we
find new cures for disease, learn more about what helps the body and mind
thrive, and learn how to feed our bodies to maximize its performance.”

Katie continued with statistical slides that
showed the number of centenarians was holding its own, and that the outlook for
the future looked bright, especially for Japan and the United States. The fact
that the Japanese had by far the highest percentage of centenarians as compared
to population, and that the U.S. had the largest number of centenarians
overall, was a source of great pride for both countries.

After her brief introduction, Katie introduced the
“Super Cent” guests of honor, and as they were introduced, they all stood with
ocean-wide smiles. Those who were rapidly approaching the 110-year mark looked
on in awe, relishing the thought of joining this group in the years to come.

As Katie glanced around the room, she wasn’t
surprised at the number of eyes that were closed, particularly among the
elderly. She had a theory that these “cat naps” helped them preserve the energy
that sustained them each day.

Suddenly, there was a commotion at one of the
tables as a woman shouted, “Get a doctor.” From Katie’s angle it appeared that
one of the attendees, an elderly lady, had passed out. Luckily, knowing that
there would be a large elderly crowd attending this conference, there were two
Emergency Medical Services vehicles with advance life support standing by with
four staff.

The paramedics rushed in with a gurney, quickly
assessed and treated the lady, then wheeled her off the floor, all within a
short period of time. She would now spend the next day in the hospital while
her friends toured the Museum of Natural History, enjoying the company of the
many participants at the conference. “Damn the luck,” Katie thought.

Composing herself, Katie went on with her opening
remarks for a few more minutes, closing with her best wishes for the woman who
EMS had taken away.

As soon as Katie completed her presentation, she
called the hospital to check on the lady that had been whisked away by the
ambulance. The news was not good. The lady, a 103-year-old from Oklahoma, had
suffered a stroke and was having difficulty breathing. This evening on the way
home, Katie would have to make a trip to the hospital, which was located close
to the University. The last thing she wanted to see was someone pass away
during the conference. It had only happened once before, eight years earlier,
and it was already like a little black cloud hanging over the event. Crossing
her fingers, she hoped to get good news this evening.