The new system, called the Communicator! NXT, will use the internet to alert Search and Rescue (SAR) members of an emergency call wherever they are by sending a message to their cell phone, PDA, email, pager, fax, work and home phones.

"The Communicator! NXT is a real improvement because no matter where I am, at home or on vacation, I will be able to send the emergency messages from my phone to all the electronic devices that the SAR members use for communication," said Sgt. David Noland, 52, who has been a part of the posse since 1987 when the pager system was still new.

Tombstone Family Health clinic celebrated its grand opening Dec. 3. Tombstone Epitaph’s Julie Stupp caught up with the clinic’s physician and a nurse practitioner to discuss why they enjoy working in Tombstone and what challenges they foresee.

Patients will no longer wait because Tombstone Family Health Clinic finally opened its doors to the public last Thursday but questions about the delayed opening remain.

Only a few fliers were handed out to local businesses around town about the clinic’s opening and hours. Tombstone Family Health will be open on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. It also will be open the second and fourth Friday of each month and will see patients by appointment then.

A few years back, in a pair of bright white steel airplane hangers just off of the Old Bisbee Highway southeast of Tombstone, a study emerged that changed the way scientists and water managers alike thought about water runoff and the effects of urbanization.

Roughly five years in the making, the 2004 Goodrich et al. study probed the regional aquifer to determine what impact ephemeral, or temporary, water channels had on replenishing the area’s groundwater.

With flu season in swing and an H1N1 influenza scare sweeping the nation, Tombstone Unified School District shut down Huachuca City School for the week of Oct. 6 as a high number of students were out sick with flu-like symptoms.

“We had a large number of students, approximately 36 percent of the entire student body absent with flu like symptoms and about 10 staff members that were out,” said Tombstone Unified School District Superintendent Karl Uterhardt.

Tombstone has its own version of television’s “The Biggest Loser” through a local weight loss support group called Taking Off Pounds Sensibly.

Taking Off Pounds Sensibly, or TOPS, is a national organization that supports weight loss and encourages a healthy lifestyle through weight management support groups. Tombstone has a TOPS chapter that had its first anniversary on Sept. 28.

Tombstone has avoided having any confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza so far, but vaccines are expected to be hard to come by in the coming weeks.
Arizona is one of 21 states reporting widespread H1N1 influenza — commonly known as Swine Flu — activity during the second week in September, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The Sierra Vista Regional Health Center has yet to open the Tombstone Family Health Clinic, and there seems to be no timetable in sight.

The construction of Tombstone’s health clinic is complete. All of the furnishings are in place and the sign is up. The only things missing are open doors.

Every year thousands of people die from work-related accidents, and the world’s most dangerous job is fishing. In the industry, there are almost 112 fatalities per 100,000 workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

While Tombstone may not have to worry about drowning in a nearby ocean or other fishing-related accidents, the town has its own set of dangerous jobs. And some workers do not have health insurance to help cover costs in case of an accident.

“It’s a rule of thumb that you don’t touch or lean on anything holding the world above your head,” Carey Granger, senior tour guide at the Good Enough Mine, told customers as they began heading down into the mine.

Granger said his job as a tour guide for the mine tour is not very dangerous — he just has to make sure people use common sense while they are on the tour.

But there are other parts of Granger’s job that are less safe.

Leah Collins doesn’t remember anything that happened that Thursday afternoon.

March 19, on her daughter’s birthday, Collins’ heart valve gave out. At the same time, Tombstone’s emergency services fell short.

Collins, a 26-year-old Tombstone resident and server at Six Gun City, fell down and had a seizure in the  kitchen.

Johnny Ball, Collins’ boyfriend and coworker, gave her CPR with the help of a coworker as they waited for medical professionals to arrive.

“We couldn’t get hold of the Marshal’s office at all — nobody,” Ball said.

The volunteers at the fire department could not be contacted and Marshall Larry Tavly said he was busy on a different call.