THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: Families and aging
Gathering around the Thanksgiving table families often find themselves discussing tough issues around aging. Maybe the family's elders suddenly appear to be more frail, and in need of assistance. Or the aging parents feel like their kids are overbearing and trying to run their lives. How can families navigate issues such as independence, assistance, or sharing the care responsibilities among relatives? How do older adults envision their lives as they age, how do they stay connected, and what's important to them?

Join our conversation – tell us what has worked for you, your family, or what you are struggling with.

When: 12:00 noon Tues, November 24th.

Where: Right here. Click the blue button in the right sidebar to join the chat.

Moderator: Maiken Scott

This weeks guests:

Brian M. Duke, Brian M. Duke is Director of the Bucks County Area Agency on Aging. He has worked in the field of aging for many years, and also has personal experience as a caregiver; he cared for his mother during the last years of her life.

Dr. Dan Gottlieb is a therapist and psychologist, and the host of WHYY's weekly radio program "Voices in the Family".

Dr. Adam Davey Dr. Adam Davey is a Developmental Psychologist with a Research Interest in Aging. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health at Temple University.
 

[Note: We've put the questions below to all the representatives listed, and will update this page as we receive their responses.]

Pennsylvania

Robert Brady (PA-01, D)
Vote: Yes
Statement

What items are non-negotiable in a final bill?

The final bill must increase coverage for the currently uninsured, must end insurance company abuses, such as denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, and must offer choice in insurance to Americans.

What are your feelings on a public option for purchasing health insurance that was part of the bill?

I support single payer health care for Americans and was willing to accept a public option in order to get a bill that can pass. The public option will give Americans the choice of insurance that we deserve and will give insurance companies the competition they need to control the rising costs of health care.

Charles Dent (PA-15, R)
Vote: No
Statement

What items are non-negotiable in a final bill?

What must be present — effective medical liability reform; insurance market reforms that provide consumer protections and transparency; a system to offer coverage to those with pre-existing conditions; prevention and wellness initiatives; flexibility to allow small businesses and the self-employed to pool risk and obtain lower health insurance costs; provisions for consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; equalized tax treatment for individuals buying health insurance; stronger mechanisms to fight waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare/Medicaid.

What must be absent — half a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare benefits; 34 billion dollars in additional Medicaid costs passed down to the States; a job-killing tax on medical devices; the elimination of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a government plan that will force people out of their employer-provided insurance and compound our federal government's unsustainable health care spending.

What are your feelings on a public option for purchasing health insurance that was part of the bill?

The government option does not lower costs and it will force millions of Americans out of their existing health care plans, leading toward an unsustainable single-payer system. The proponents of this system greatly understate the number of Americans who will not be able to "keep what they have if they like it" and the long term cost that it will place on our federal government. Only in Washington can someone say with a straight face that spending more than one trillion dollars and creating a new entitlement program will not add a dime to the deficit now or in the future.

Chaka Fattah (PA-02, D)
Vote: Yes
Statement

What items are non-negotiable in a final bill?

While I am proud of the unprecedented changes H.R. 3962 includes to provide women of all ages and incomes better access to comprehensive healthcare, I would have serious reservations about a final version of the Health Care bill that is more restrictive than current law in terms of a woman's right to choose a legal medical procedure such as abortion. And the final bill must contain a strong public insurance option.

What are your feelings on a public option for purchasing health insurance that was part of the bill?

I support a strong public insurance option and believe that it must be part of final legislation approved in Congress.

Jim Gerlach (PA-06, R)
Vote: No
Statement

Patrick Murphy (PA-08, D)
Vote: Yes
Statement

What items are non-negotiable in a final bill?

Any bill I vote for must end the abusive practices that insurance companies have gotten away with for decades, like denying people coverage for “pre-existing conditions,” which includes things like pregnancy, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Reform must stop insurers from terminating plans when people get sick and from putting caps on the lifetime benefits people can get, since no one has control over how sick or injured they could get. Reform must also provide families affordability credits to purchase insurance if they can’t afford it, and must strengthen benefits for our seniors by, among other things, closing the Medicare “donut hole” and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
 
What are your feelings on a public option for purchasing health insurance that was part of the bill?
 
I’ve said for months that I believe a public option is the best way to inject much-needed competition into the insurance market, increase consumer choice and access, and reduce the cost of coverage for Bucks County families, seniors, and small business owners.  If a public option passes in the final bill and becomes law, I will enroll myself and my family in it.

Joseph Pitts (PA-16, R)
Vote: No
Statement (pdf link)

What items are non-negotiable in a final bill?

We need to have real medical malpractice reform. Junk lawsuits and defensive medicine are costing up to $125 billion dollars every year. We need portability so that people can take their insurance with them when they leave their job. We also need competition across state lines to drive down prices.

What are your feelings on a public option for purchasing health insurance that was part of the bill?

The public option will compete with private insurance on an unlevel playing field that could drive many private insurers out of business. This plan won't be subject to taxes, lawsuits, or state mandates and regulations. I'm concerned that the public option will lead us towards a single-payer, government-run healthcare system.

Allyson Schwartz (PA-13, D)
Vote: Yes
Statement

What items are non-negotiable in a final bill?

One is I think it has to be paid for. That's important to make sure we are not adding to the annual deficit or the national debt. That's important to me. I also think that it is going to be important to – as we require individuals to have health insurance – that there are adequate subsidies for those who are lower income working folks, and that includes a public option along with private insurers. We've added some new provisions in the house bill that will work to bring down premiums for those who buy insurance on their own or for all businesses but particularly small businesses. So what we do for those who already have insurance to make sure that they have those consumer protections and control the rising growth of premiums is going to be important.

What are your feelings on a public option for purchasing health insurance that was part of the bill?
The public option I believe is an important aspect of the healthcare reform legislation because it provides a choice for Americans and if we're requiring Americans to have insurance, insuring that there is competition and choice and greater affordability is important.

Joe Sestak (PA-07, D)
Vote: Yes
Statement

New Jersey

John Adler (NJ-03, D)
Vote: No
Statement

Robert Andrews (NJ-01, D)
Vote: Yes
Statement

What is non-negotiable in the final bill to get your approval?

The only thing that's non-negotiable for me is that the plan make the health care system better. And for me better means slower growth in costs for businesses and families, it means covering everyone, and it means real quality coverage, not just phony coverage. So there are a lot of different ways we can get there, but I don't want to see something that's half baked.

What about the public option for purchasing health insurance that was part of the bill?

I think that a public option is the best way to encourage competition and competition is the best way to lower costs for everyone and the economy. But I'm not going to issue any ultimatums or draw lines in the sand. I want to work with the president and get the best bill we can for the American people after decades and decades of failure.

Rush Holt (NJ-12, D)
Vote: Yes
Statement

What items are non-negotiable in a final bill?

There has to be something that will exert downward pressure on prices. There has to be equitable access to healthcare – it has to be equitable both in access and in paying for that healthcare. It has to have as close to a universal application as possible. So that if you are in America, you can expect to have healthcare coverage.

What about the public option for purchasing health insurance that was part of the bill?

I've said all along that having a government-administered policy that would be an option for people to choose is one of the few parts of the bill that actually does exert a downward pressure on escalating costs. I think if you took that away, the other cost containment measures such as removing the anti-trust provision and some of these other things wouldn't be sufficient. I think you really need that in there.

Frank Lobiando (NJ-02, R)
Vote: No
Statement

Delaware

Michael Castle (At-Large, R)
Vote: No
Statement

On Oct. 15, about 35 people gathered in WHYY's Civic Space for a followup town meeting. Those participants, working with moderators from the Penn Project for Civic Engagement, dug more deeply into three of the issues raised by the program and the earlier dialogues at the June 18 session.

The issues:

• How should we incorporate the "recovery model" into the regional behavioral health system?

• How can the regional behavior health system address issues of uneven quality of care?

• Given federal, state and county budget problems, how can we best prioritize behavioral health services?

To learn more about what they found, see video and photos from the events, and watch the seminar for yourself, explore the links below.

Minds on the Edge: a closer look
October 15, 2009
Once again, mental health professionals from the area gathered to dig more deeply into three of the issues raised by the program and by dialogue at the June 18 session. View the reports on what they found, watch the Fred Friendly seminar "Minds on the Edge: Facing Mental Illness" and comment on your experiences.

Minds on the Edge: Facing Mental Illness
Watch an introductory video, see the panel discussion and view video testimonials from the June 18th event.

View "Minds on the Edge" moderator's reports
View the moderator's reports from the panel discussions held during the June 18th event.

"Minds on the Edge" debuts at WHYY
June 18, 2009
100 people working in the field of mental health gathered at WHYY to screen the latest installment in the Fred Friendly Seminar series, "Minds on the Edge". View photos, learn about the event, and listen to Maiken Scott's interview with Dr. Arthur Evans, director of the Philadelphia department of behavioral health and mental retardation services.

H1N1 vaccines for high risk groups in Delaware
Mark Eichmann – November 18, 2009
All appointments to get the vaccine are booked in New Castle County, but there are some slots still available in southern Delaware.

PA offers free swine flu vaccine clinics
Taunya English – November 18, 2009
Pennsylvania is holding a series of vaccine clinics to immunize people who are at risk of suffering serious complications from the H1N1 virus. Stacy Kriedeman is spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Enough H1N1 vaccine to share
Taunya English – November 18, 2009
Vaccine shortages and the seemingly random distribution of the swine flu shot has some people stumped. But one Montgomery County school has more than enough vaccine.

5th Delaware death from H1N1
Mark Eichmann – November 16, 2009
The latest victim of H1N1 in Delaware is a 60-year-old New Castle County man who died Monday morning.

N.J. hospitals may limit visits to prevent flu
Phil Gregory – November 11, 2009
Hospitals in New Jersey are being urged to restrict visitors to prevent the spread of swine flu.

4th H1N1 death in Delaware
Mark Eichmann – November 9, 2009

Few Delaware students get H1N1 vaccine on day one
Mark Eichmann – November 3, 2009

Vaccine scarcity worries pregnant women
Taunya English – November 3, 2009

Delaware students start getting H1N1 vaccine
Mark Eichmann – November 2, 2009

H1N1 flu cases rise, vaccine difficult to find
Scott Detrow – October 30, 2009

More than 1,000 H1N1 cases in Delaware this month
Mark Eichmann – October 29, 2009

Flu causes spike in ER visits
Kerry Grens – October 28, 2009

2nd Delawarean dies of H1N1 complications
Mark Eichmann – October 28, 2009

H1N1 vaccine arrives slowly
Taunya English – October 22, 2009

First Delawarean dies of H1N1
Mark Eichmann – October 22, 2009

Dwindling flu shots in Delaware
Mark Eichmann – October 20, 2009

CDC recommends H1N1 vaccine for children
Taunya English – October 16, 2009

Making vaccines faster
Kerry Grens – October 14, 2009

69 new H1N1 cases in Delaware
Mark Eichmann – October 8, 2009

H1N1 vaccine arrives
Kerry Grens – October 8, 2009
Swine flu vaccine is coming to a doctor's office or health clinic near you.

Phila schools to give out H1N1 vaccine
Kerry Grens – October 8, 2009
School nurses in Philadelphia gathered yesterday to receive training for something they usually don't do: Give kids vaccines.

Officials: avoid ER for flu
Kerry Grens – October 5, 2009

Doctors urge pregnant women to take the H1N1 flu shot
Taunya English – October 1, 2009

Flu vaccine is mandatory for CHOP, Penn Medicine workers
Taunya English – September 29, 2009

Do hand sanitizers work?
Kerry Grens – September 25, 2009

Working with a pandemic
Kerry Grens – September 24, 2009

Distributing the swine flu vaccine
Taunya English – September 10, 2009

Health officials say use anti-flu meds judiciously
Taunya English – September 4, 2009

Many may refuse the flu shot
Kerry Grens – August 28, 2009

Swine flu vaccine due in October
Taunya English – August 27, 2009

NJ health officials plan for swine flu
Phil Gregory – July 14, 2009

Feds dish out flu preparedness money
Kerry Grens – July 10, 2009

States to split $350M for flu prep
Kerry Grens – July 9, 2009

Sanofi will donate H1N1 vaccine
Kerry Grens – June 18, 2009

Surge in local flu cases
Kerry Grens – June 12, 2009

World Health Org declares flu outbreak a pandemic
Kerry Grens – June 11, 2009

First swine flu death in Pennsylvania
Taunya English – June 5, 2009

N.J. reports more swine flu cases
Phil Gregory – May 28, 2009

Flu outbreaks continue
Kerry Grens – May 15, 2009

Swine flu sinks pork sales
Taunya English – May 14, 2009

How the flu kills
Kerry Grens – May 7, 2009

Sanofi to ramp up flu shot production
Kerry Grens – May 6, 2009

Tracking H1N1 in PA
Taunya English – May 6, 2009

Q & A on H1N1 (swine) flu with Dr. Marla Gold
Kerry Grens – May 4, 2009

Anxiety spreads along with swine flu
Maiken Scott – May 4, 2009

Schools are on watch for swine flu
Bill Cook – May 1, 2009

Docs reassure the “worried well”
Taunya English – May 1, 2009

Naming the new flu
Taunya English – May 1, 2009

H1N1 vaccine production in earliest stages
Kerry Grens – May 1, 2009

H1N1 flu confirmed locally
Kerry Grens – May 1, 2009

Conserving the anti-flu supplies
Taunya English – May 1, 2009

Flu meds en route
Kerry Grens – April 29, 2009

Testing technology coming to states
Taunya English – April 29, 2009

Flu pursuit a “marathon”
Kerry Grens – April 29, 2009

Del. beefs up Swine Flu efforts
Bill Cook – April 28, 2009

Preparing for swine flu
Taunya English – April 27, 2009

Docs looking for swine flu signs
Taunya English – April 27, 2009

Delaware Valley ready with antiviral meds
Taunya English – April 27, 2009

Hospitals prep for swine flu
Kerry Grens – April 27, 2009

What you should do:
Health officials urge people to wash their hands frequently, contact a doctor if they feel ill, and avoid contact with people who are sick.
P.J. Brennan, chief medical officer of Penn Health System and an infectious disease doctor, recommends against the emergency room if a person has the sniffles.

Hear why:

Track the health care votes
November 10, 2009
Democratic leadership in the U.S. House considers the passage of the House health care overhaul bill a victory — but the votes didn't fall strictly along party lines. Track how Congressional Representatives from this region voted, and why.

Health bill foes see trouble in senate
Scott Detrow – November 10, 2009
The two Pennsylvania Democrats who voted against the House health care package this weekend say the legislation is "dead on arrival" in the Senate.

Public health experts debate House health plan
Taunya English – November 10, 2009
Policy experts say the health overhaul bill passed by the House this weekend faces lots of resistance – and many revisions – once it moves to the Senate.

House approves health care bill
Kerry Grens – November 9, 2009
The House version of a health care overhaul bill narrowly passed in the House of Representatives this weekend. Next, Senators will have to decide on their iteration of the bill.

Could health reform relieve "job lock"?
Kerry Grens – November 2, 2009

Non-profits seek help in health reform
Kerry Grens – October 27, 2009

Public option supporters keep hope alive
Taunya English – October 2, 2009

Congress considers health insurance cooperatives
Taunya English – September 29, 2009

Evidence based treatments in mental health
Maiken Scott – September 25, 2009

Health reform proponents rally at Cigna
Tom MacDonald – September 23, 2009

Pelosi visits Jeff Hospital to push health overhaul
Taunya English – September 22, 2009

Paying docs to save costs
Kerry Grens – September 22, 2009

Health insurance insider speaks out
Taunya English – September 18, 2009

Senate presents health reform proposal
Kerry Grens – September 17, 2009

WEB CHAT: Searching for what works in medicine
Taunya English – September 15, 2009

Is the healthcare you want worth paying for?
Taunya English – September 15, 2009

"There is some chance for bipartisanship but at the end of the day, unfortunately you cannot sacrifice good policy at the altar of bipartisanship." – Congressman Joe Sestak (D)

Health plan may lack bipartisan support
Susan Phillips – September 11, 2009

Obama praises Central PA health system
Taunya English – September 11, 2009

Pharmaceutical industry welcomes reform
Kerry Grens – September 10, 2009

"I think the likelihood that the savings would come even close to insuring the millions of people that we're talking about here is unlikely." – Dr. Richard Stefanacci

Health care reform's impact on seniors
Kerry Grens – September 10, 2009

Specter gets support for health reform
Tom MacDonald – September 9, 2009

Fitting mental health into the health care equation
Maiken Scott – September 9, 2009

Healthcare reform – WEB CHAT
September 3, 2009

Challengers debate health care
Kerry Grens – September 2, 2009

Rep. Castle calls for health reform 'time-out'
Mark Eichmann – August 26, 2009

Congressional delegates for public option
Tom MacDonald – August 26, 2009

Help for hospitals switching to electronic health records
Taunya English – August 25, 2009

First-stop docs could get a pay raise
Taunya English – August 24, 2009

Medical cost-savings pilot
Kerry Grens – August 20, 2009

Advocates pitch health reform to middle-income Americans
Taunya English – August 20, 2009

Delaware health care costs rise faster than earnings
Mark Eichmann – August 20, 2009

Christian co-op shares health costs
Taunya English – August 19, 2009

Everyone is passionate about healthcare reform, but does everyone know the facts?
Chris Satullo – August 16, 2009

"Death panels" get the axe
Kerry Grens – August 14, 2009

Sestak discusses healthcare at local church
Susan Phillips – August 14, 2009

Sestak faces concern with "public option"
Susan Phillips – August 13, 2009

Drugs companies at odds
Kerry Grens – August 12, 2009

Arlen Specter booed at town hall meeting
Susan Phillips – August 12, 2009

Congress on recess, no healthcare plan
Phil Gregory – August 11, 2009

PA targeted to support Obama health plan
Susan Phillips – August 10, 2009

Lawmakers hold healthcare reform forums
Shai Ben-Yaacov – August 5, 2009

Health care still priority during break
Stephanie Aldrich – August 3, 2009

Healthcare reform materializes in Congress
Kerry Grens – July 16, 2009

The squeaky wheels of healthcare reform
Kerry Grens – July 15, 2009

In June, WHYY was the site of the first public screening of the program. That was followed by a civic dialogue that used the program as a springboard to discuss the Philadelphia-area behavioral health picture. More than 100 stakeholders from the region took part, including top state and county officials in the field. The conversation now continues online.

Be part of the discussion: Join the online conversation at onlinetownhalls.com.

[Video] Lucas Cioffi of onlinetownhalls.com explains how the online conversation works.

View the moderator's reports.

View excerpts of the seminar "Minds on the Edge" on Fred Friendly Seminars' site

More info:
Visit the Minds on the Edge main page

Other sites discussing this story:
Media dis&dat

Participants broke into two breakout groups for discussion.

Their task: To work together to come up with specific ideas to help protect the sector from those challenges, and to help it seize those opportunities.

The forum was designed and led by WHYY's partner in civic dialogue, the Penn Project for Civic Engagement.

The second breakout group

Then they were asked to imagine a Philadelphia region which, in the year 2020, was home to the healthiest, most active "eds-meds" sector in America. First, from the point of view of that imagined future, they tried to describe in vivid detail what that success looked like. Then they jointly wrote the "history" of that future, explaining what steps were taken, what problems overcome, what challenges met to achieve that good result. They were led in the effort by pairs of PPCE-trained moderators.

>>Join the discussion<< at onlinetownhall.org.

Read the prompt used by the two breakout groups.

A list of the participants can be found here.

Detailed reports on the work of the two groups can be found here: Group 1 report (pdf link), Group 2 report (pdf link)

Read the blog report on the session by WHYY's Alan Tu.

Hear Chris Satullo's audio commentary about the eds-meds issue.

To highlight a few recurring themes from the evening's dialogue:

* That ideal Philadelphia of 2020 would be a place with many fewer silos, secrets and divisions, a place where a young entrepreneur with talent and an idea would not have to jump through so many hoops and learn so many secret codes to get a foothold.

* It would be a place that had taken dramatic steps to reform its K-12 education.

* The young students in that K-12 system would have a much clearer idea of the "career paths" and "talent paths" available to them in the region's thriving eds-meds sector. And they would have teachers and other adult mentors who knew exactly what the opportunities were, and knew how to point young people in the right direction to grasp those options.

* It would be a place that truly knew all the good things it had going for it, all the fine work being done inside its borders – and would celebrate and promote those successes to the world – instead of burying them beneath a pall of negativity and fear.

* It would be a place that had big dreams, and was unafraid to ask state and federal government for help in reaching for those dreams.

* It would be a place with rich, supple, active social networks, connecting people of talent and enthusiasm who might never have met in the old, siloed Philadelphia.

>>Join the discussion<< at onlinetownhall.org and participate in the dialog!

The event was supported by a grant from the Scattergood Foundation. Learn more about the event here.

Participants in the civic forum were mostly involved in behavioral health in some way, as a practitioner, provider, advocate, government official, consumer or family member. A sprinkling of citizens with no professional or personal involvement in the sector was invited by the organizers, culled from the mailing list of the Great Expectations civic dialogue project.

These structured conversations were led by moderators trained by the Penn Project for Civic Engagement. The names of the moderators who teamed up to lead each group are listed at the top of these reports.

The groups began by listing the moments in the "Minds on the Edge" program that had the greatest impact on them. Looking jointly at that data, they teased out a list of underlying issues raised by those key moments. They supplemented with other issues they felt were important to behavioral health in the Philadelphia region, but which were not raised directly by "Minds on the Edge."

Each breakout group's members then voted for the issue that they most wanted to delve into in greater depth. Small working groups of three to five people were set up to do a detailed analysis of each chosen issue.

For each issue, these small teams drafted a definition of success, listed key obstacles to success, key assets that could be used to achieve success, then a list of useful actions that could either help overcome obstacles or exploit assets.

Each report presented here has a similar structure, reflecting that process.

These reports offer numerous insights into what goes right and what doesn't go well in the behavioral health system in this region, and what could be done to improve it.

Many people left WHYY's Civic Space that night with an understanding that, whatever their multiple frustrations with the quality of behavioral health services in and around Philadelphia, the region handles some of the issues raised by "Minds on the Edge" better than many other areas of the country. And they left with a better sense of the many assets the region has that could help it attain the ideals of success defined by the breakout groups.

We hope you find the reports useful and revealing. To join in the conversation, check out the continuing online dialogue about Minds on the Edge at onlinetownhalls.org.

Chris Satullo
Executive Director of News and Civic Dialogue
WHYY

Dr. Harris Sokoloff
Director
Penn Project for Civic Engagement

View the moderator's reports of the breakout groups discussions (.pdf links)

Participants viewing moderator's notes from the breakout groups

Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Group 7
Group 8
Group 9

More info:
Visit the Minds on the Edge main page

Despite the traffic, little is known about what lies at the depths of this well-worn waterway.

Health and science reporter Kerry Grens joined some scientists on a mapping expedition, and filed this report.

Listen to the audio report:

With just a single metal clip, a small motor boat – a zodiak – dangles from a crane overhead, blocking out the mid-day sun. The crane is mounted to a 146-foot research vessel, idling in the Delaware Bay, near Cape May. University of Delaware professor Art Trembanis is a little bit nervous.

Trembanis: Half million dollar robot is sitting up in the air. It's fine in the water, it's not meant to be in the air.

Scanning the bottom: These images, taken on other expeditions, show a shipwreck off New Jersey and an artificial reef and characteristic hard bottom habitat in Broadkill Slough. Courtesy Art Trembanis

Trembanis and the other scientists are looking for unusual places in the bottom of the Bay that defy the stereotype of a continuous bowl of muck. Doug Miller is another UD professor leading the study.

Miller: Most of the bay is mud and sand. We call those soft bottoms because they're squishy and wouldn't support your weight. But there are places in the bay that are actually what we call hard bottom communities. They might be worm tube and reefs, they might be sponges.

Hard bottoms attract fish, conch, crabs, and other animals, some of which are harvested by commercial fisheries. Miller says the hard bottoms may be important to the health of those populations – and the industries as well. Yet Miller says very little is known about these habitats– where they are, why they appear in certain places, and whether they are sensitive to fishing or dredging.

The team on the zodiak radios in to prepare the AUV's launch. It will spend an hour and a half taking images of the seafloor. Miller keeps vigil from the main vessel's cabin.

Miller: I have absolutely no idea what we're going to find.

Miller and Trembanis are not the first to map the bay's floor – they are just doing it with more scrutiny and exploring less known areas, like the New Jersey side. The state of Delaware is wrapping up a six year project to broadly scan 80 percent of that state's portion of the Bay and River. Bart Wilson is an environmental scientist with that program.

Wilson: Before the survey that we conducted there wasn't really much out there. It was kind of piecemeal. The corps had done some surveys in select sites.

One of the prized finds of their survey was habitat hosting a reef building worm called Sabellaria vulgaris. The worm is a key component of hard bottoms. They make lava-rock-looking sand structures that create the nooks and crannies fish like to hang around.

Wilson: We really documented how we can locate the habitat of Sabellaria vulgaris. Not that we can find it in particular, but we know where the habitat looks like.

Wilson says the data are important for guiding the state in work like beach replenishment – and choosing sites to collect sand where there are no hard bottoms to potentially destroy. He says the AUV's analysis will help provide useful information on the importance of hard bottoms to the ecosystem of the bay as a whole.

After hours of bobbing in seaspray and chop on the zodiak, the team returns with the AUV safely retrieved. Graduate student Nicole Raineault — shivering and wet — is eager to get to her data.

Raineault: I was really excited. Because we were sitting in the little boat and radioing up to the guys that were controling the Gavia from the big boat in the tower and they were already processing the logs.

It's sundown by the time the images show up on Raineault's computer. Page after page of the scans show essentially the same thing — an even, flat bottom. Raineault and Doug Miller stare at the screen until they notice something different.

Miller: Definitely not a smooth bottom. That that's something interesting over there.

A subtle chunkiness appears in the otherwise uniform scan.

Miller: I can't tell you what it is, but I tell you I'm interested in it.

They instruct the captain to move the boat over to the spot. The crew drops overboard a rusty metal claw with a mesh basket. By now, the moon is out, the crew is exhausted. But the dredge gives Miller a second wind.

Miller: This is a male horseshoe crab. Lots of horseshoe crabs…There's a hermit crab in here…This is an egg case…

The claw dumps a cornucopia of sea critters on the deck. Conch. Flounder. Hair-like hydra.

Miller: This is what I came out here to find. A conch shell covered in Sabellaria.

One of them being Sabellaria vulgaris. It could be mistaken for a chunk of porous rock the size of a fist, but the nodule is actually a tiny worm city they've built out of sand — the pores their houses. Miller brings his treasure to the team.

Nicole: So exciting. We haven't seen these at any of the sites we've looked at so far.

Raineault says the find confirms that there are hard bottoms in this region of the bay.

Nicole: They're normally found off shore in courser sediments. So it's exciting to see these habitats.

Raineault says it gives her reason to come back and do more studies on this area. How extensive is the hard bottom, who else is living there, and do they matter to the health of the fish populations in the Bay? But at midnight on this trip, the boat heads back to Lewes, Delaware. The scientists' questions will have to wait till tomorrow, when they return to the sea.

Community services, education, treatment, research – get an update on the latest developments regarding Autism Spectrum Disorders, and interact with some of the region's leading researchers in the field. Maiken hosted a live web chat Wednesday afternoon, July 22nd, 3 – 4 PM which further explored the issues raised in her two part series. Our guests were:

Dr. Michelle Rowe, Executive Director of the Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support at St. Joseph's University, and
Dr. David Mandell, Associate Director of the Center for Autism Research at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and
Leslie Long, Public Policy Director for Autism New Jersey.

Click here to review the transcript of the chat.

About one in 150 people are diagnosed with an autism each year, and the incidence has increased dramatically in the last decade. Autism today is understood not as one diagnosis, but as a spectrum of disorders, with a wide array of symptoms, and varying degrees of disability. Families, communities, schools are searching for ways to serve people affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders, and researchers are looking at causes and therapies. There is a lot of money and interest around this topic right now both nationally and right in our region. The National Institutes of Health projects that funding for autism research will rise in the coming year by $19 million, more than 13 percent. In addition, advocacy groups like Autism Speaks have committed millions in new research funding. The Delaware Valley is home to several new autism centers that are making promising discoveries.