Hands

I've had enough! I can no longer sit back and allow reporter Dennis McDougal and The Times to show total disregard for providing balanced information on USA for Africa/Hands Across America and the work we're doing ("Hands' Bills Paid in Full, But Homeless Still Waiting," Nov. 2). The following facts remain: We have consistently lived up to the promise we have made publicly regarding the handling and distribution of the funds we have raised. "Hands Across America" was a tremendously successful event.

Who knows, maybe Rollerblading got its start in Tibet. The local non-contact (breaking bones is not the object), non-sexist (girls can play too), non-commercial (no free Nikes, much less athletic scholarships) sports scene has long been open to multicultural additions. The latest is buka . Imported from Southeast Asia, buka is played a little like Hacky Sack.

An amputee who received a transplanted hand from a cadaver at a Kentucky hospital said that the joy of seeing his new left hand replaced the horror he had felt since waking from amputation surgery in 1985. "My first impression was, 'Wow, 13 years has just evaporated,' " Matthew Scott said at a news conference at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky., where the 15-hour operation to attach a new hand was completed Jan. 25.

Was Hands Across America a success? Yes and no. Yes, for those who can placate their consciences by paying $10 to hold hands and sing for 10 minutes. The participants got to feel good, but I don't. Next week I, too, will be homeless. Why am I becoming one of the homeless and hungry? I am one of the ignorant ones that our President was refering to. Sure, I receive food stamps while trying to live on $268 monthly, but those benefits were reduced when I lost my phone service because I couldn't pay the bill; $268 doesn't stretch to pay rent and utilities no matter how frugally I live.

Missing from James Flanagan's column, "Visual Media: the Big Picture" (Sept. 8), was even a hint of concern over the unprecedented concentration of media control in a handful of mostly foreign companies. Hollywood "artists" may congratulate themselves that they ultimately determine the content of the media, but how much creative control does a painter really have when his expenses are paid and his paints, brushes, canvas and even the art gallery are owned by a distant corporate giant pursuing its own agenda?

Matthew Scott--the first man in the U.S. to receive a hand transplant--moved a finger, and doctors said there are no signs of rejection or infection. Scott, 37, lost his left hand in the explosion of an M-80, a powerful and illegal firecracker, on Dec. 23, 1985. He was given a donor hand in 14 1/2 hours of surgery Sunday and Monday at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky. But lead surgeon Dr. Warren Breidenbach warned that any number of complications could arise.

Surgeons in Britain have amputated the hand of the world's first hand transplant patient after he failed to follow the correct treatment, an Australian doctor said. Clint Hallam's transplanted hand was removed at his own request after his body rejected it, said microsurgeon Earl Owen, part of a team that transplanted the hand more than two years ago in France. Hallam, a New Zealander, lost his hand in a sawing accident in prison.

The new Saudi king has ordered citizens not to kiss his hand, saying the traditional gesture of respect is degrading and violates Islam. "Kissing hands is alien to our values and morals, and is not accepted by free and noble souls," Abdullah told a delegation from Baha, in southwest Saudi Arabia, which came to the royal palace to offer congratulations on his accession. "It also leads to bowing, which is a violation of God's law. The faithful bow to no one but God."

So what's the first thing we do when we wash our dirty hands ("The Wash Cycle," Jan. 26)? We turn on the faucet, transferring germs to the handle, wash and then immediately recontaminate our clean hands by grabbing the previously touched handle to turn off the water. Surgeons know about this and use a foot pedal to turn the water on and off. What can we do to prevent this? The new faucets that turn the water on via an optical sensor solve the problem. When using regular faucets, I wash the handles while I'm washing my hands so that when I turn the water off, my hands aren't reinfected.