Two Cherished NCDD Members in Critical Condition
We thought the community should know that two long-time NCDD members were struck by a bus in London this past weekend and remain in critical condition in separate London hospitals. As of yesterday, Terry Amsler and Lisa Bingham remain in critical but stable condition in medically induced comas and are on respirators.
It goes without saying that this is a horrible situation and a blow to our field. Terry and Lisa are a wonderful couple — two of the kindest and most accomplished people in our field. NCDD may not actually exist if if weren’t for Terry; he was directing the Conflict Resolution program at the Hewlett Foundation when a group of us were planning the first conference back in 2002. He made sure we got grant funds to support the conference and then helped us secure Hewlett support for NCDD for several years after that.
I just saw this update on Lisa this morning, which seems to provide some hope for Terry as well:
Lisa has multiple bruises to her head and a fractured skull but minimal swelling. Doctors will do more tests and then may begin preparing to take her off the ventilator. Terry’s condition is similar although appears less serious.
I’ll share what I’ve seen below, and I’ll use the comments field of this post to share updates on Terry and Lisa’s condition as I see them. Updates are being shared on the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs Facebook page here (primarily on Lisa, as she’s a faculty member there), and the ABA Dispute Resolution section has created a space here to allow people to share wishes and notes for Lisa and Terry. You can also of course share your wishes via the comments here if you’d like. I’ll make sure they get to others who are in touch with Terry and Lisa’s family.
Lisa is active in the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, and here is the message section director David Moora shared on the section listserv yesterday:
Our Section staff learned that earlier this week long-time Section member Lisa Bingham and her partner Terry Amsler, both beloved members of the ADR community, were critically injured in an accident in London. I’m sure many of you know Lisa and Terry well. Lisa is a past council member of the Section, has chaired a number of Section committees and projects, and of course her research and writings are very well known. Terry works for the Institute for Local Government’s Public Engagement Program. Terry formerly worked for San Francisco’s Community Board Program and as a program officer and program director for the Hewlett Foundation. Terry is also the author of the lead article for the Winter issue of Dispute Resolution Magazine on the theme of Community Dispute Resolution.
Lisa is a professor at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Education. The IU-SPEA facebook page (www.facebook.com/iuspea) is posting updates on her and Terry’s recovery.
The Section has created a web page where we can all post our good thoughts for Lisa and Terry. We have created a posting board here: https://americanbar.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_56JsoXZ5Bolctox
We will pass these thoughts along to Terry, Lisa, and their families.
And please be assured that if we have any word from IU-SPEA or the families on anything Lisa and Terry’s worldwide network can do to help, we will pass it along.
And here’s the text from an article published Monday on the Herald Times Online about the accident…
Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) Long-time Indiana University professor and a colleague were hit by a bus this past weekend in London and are in serious condition, according to faculty with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Associate Dean David Reingold sent a letter Sunday night to faculty and staff saying Professor Lisa Bingham, the Keller-Runden Chair in Public Service, was in “critical but stable” condition in a London-area hospital. Bingham, who was speaking at conferences overseas when the accident occurred, is in a separate hospital from her colleague, Terry Amsler. It is believed that neither has been conscious since the accident, Reingold said.
“There’s pain, because this is someone you care for who is in a bad way, but you can’t drive down the street and help them,” he said Monday.
Reingold said Bingham’s prognosis is “fuzzy,” because he has been collecting information from relatives of Bingham, relayed through the United Kingdom’s U.S. Embassy. Bingham has brain swelling, according to what Reingold has heard, and is in a medically induced coma. Her children have joined her in London.
The professor had left Bloomington Friday and was in London on her way to attend the Economic and Social Research Council’s Thursday seminar on “Mediation and alternative dispute resolution” at Swansea University. Days earlier, Bingham had been quoted by multiple news agencies, including The Herald-Times, about the United State Postal Service’s plans to cut Saturday service.
Amsler is program director for the Collaborative Governance Initiative at the Institute For Local Government in Sacramento, Calif.
Dear Terry and Lisa,
We are all wishing you a speedy recovery. Love from Priscilla Prutzman and all of us at CRC.
Lisa and Terry are the heart and soul of what we do. Thank you, Sandy, for letting us know so we can keep them in our thoughts.
Dear Lisa and Terry,
While we don’t know each other, I want to wish you both a speedy and complete recovery and let you know you are in my thoughts. You both sound like extraordinary people and I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you in the future.
Mallory Stevens
(Volunteer mediator with the New York Peace Institute and member ACR-GNY)
Sending you both warmth and good wishes for a speed recovery.
Like the others I am so shocked by this! Sending you warmth and hopes for a speedy recovery.
Dear Terry and Lisa
I was shocked and saddened to hear of your accident.
It seems like we just talked. I send hope and prayers
for a speedy and complete recovery. You shall be in my
thoughts everyday until you recover and return. All good wishes and
blessings, Marcia Greenbaum
Terry – hopefully all the good karma you have stored up will get you through this and help you recover fully. Give a call if you get to Denver.
Tom Quinn
Here’s an update on Terry and Lisa that was just posted a few minutes ago on Lisa’s department’s facebook page…
An update on SPEA’s Lisa Blomgren Bingham as she recovers from injuries suffered in an accident in London. She was there to deliver a presentation on her academic research and was accompanied by her friend, Terry Amsler. Lisa’s doctors are seeing signs of stabilization and healing. The full extent of Terry’s injuries is still being determined. Both Lisa’s and Terry’s doctors strongly emphasize that recovery from these injuries is typically very gradual. They say progress appears to be tracking with expectations.
Terry and Lisa –
I’m so sorry to hear of this terrible accident. Sending warm wishes for a fast and complete recovery to both of you.
Here’s an update from yesterday via Matt Leighninger (Deliberative Democracy Consortium) and David Reingold (Bloomington School of Public & Environmental Affairs, Indiana University)…
The news today on Lisa is status quo. The doctors stopped giving her sedatives about 48 hours ago and they expect it to take up to five days for her to wake up. Terry is at a similar point in the process. We are told they are receiving outstanding medical care and Lisa has her own dedicated nurse around the clock. We will continue to send updates as they become available.
Lisa is my cousin, Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes.
Thank you so much for posting here, Fran. I can only imagine what your family must be going through.
Do you know if Lisa and Terry have family members at the hospital with them? And why are they in separate hospitals? Terry and Lisa are both very dear to us. We’re all pulling for them and hoping for their full recoveries.
Today’s update from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) facebook page:
There was no major change over the weekend in the condition of SPEA faculty member Lisa Bingham as she recovers from injuries suffered in an accident in London. She remains in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a London hospital. We’re hoping for a more detailed report sometime today but her medical team cautions that the extent of her injuries makes this a very slow process while noting that her recovery is tracking with their expectations. The condition of her companion, Terry Amsler, is also largely unchanged although doctors are seeing signs that he is slowly regaining consciousness.
What terrible news! Wishing a good recovery and the comforts of home in the near future.
Thank you for the updates Sandy. I am so worried about them. Terry and Lisa are wonderful people and hugely important to this movement. Please keep us informed if there is anything we can do to help.
Here’s the latest I’ve seen about Terry and Lisa… “We have updates on SPEA faculty member Lisa Bingham and her friend Terry Amsler. Lisa and Terry suffered serious injuries in an accident in London about a month ago. Lisa looked at a few pictures yesterday and in small ways interacted with visitors to her room. She is still unable to speak but appears to be attempting to take the first steps toward communicating. Terry is said by his nurses to be starting to respond to commands. Family and friends, including some of our SPEA colleagues, continue to be with Lisa and Terry as much as possible. As their recoveries progress, they will certainly know they are loved. We’ll have another update when we get new information.”
Here’s an update from March 19th from the IU SPEA Facebook page:
SPEA Executive Associate Dean David Reingold offered this update on the condition of Prof. Lisa Bingham:
As we return from the break there is much good news to share about the progress SPEA faculty member Lisa Bingham and her friend Terry Amsler are making in London as they recover from serious injuries suffered in an accident. Foremost, there is a good chance Lisa could return to Indiana later this week to continue her rehabilitation at a facility in Indianapolis. Terry isn’t ready yet for that step but his recovery is on pace, as well. Lisa is now able to sit up and speak and is nearing the time when she can breathe entirely without assistance. She is smiling, listening, processing information and asking cogent questions. We should have a better idea about the timeline for Lisa’s return to Indiana in the next day or so and will share that information with you.
I shared this on the NCDD Discussion list on March 21st…
Hi, everyone! I received some good news today about dear Terry Amsler. Along with an update on Terry’s recovery, there is a request from his colleagues at the Institute for Local Government to help keep the momentum he built through his hard work at ILG going strong.
I’ll be tweeting, sharing, posting, and so on via NCDD’s website and social media, and I encourage all of you to support Terry and ILG by doing so as well. Specific suggestions are below. One easy place to find some of the great resources Terry created at ILG is the NCDD Resource Center (just search for ILG, or go here for the search result: https://ncdd.org/rc/?s=ilg). The home base for Terry’s Public Engagement Program at ILG is http://www.ca-ilg.org/public-engagement.
Sandy Heierbacher
Director, National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation
sandy@ncdd.org • https://www.ncdd.org • @ncdd & @heierbacher
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Begin forwarded message:
TERRY IS BACK IN CALIFORNIA! Here’s an update from Cory Amsler from Terry’s CaringBridge site, which you can join at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/terryamsler
Terry’s Arrival in California
Written Apr 3, 2013 9:51pm
FYI – I heard from Cory this afternoon that they are trying to move Terry to a facility in San Francisco, possibly early this week. So hold onto any cards for a few more days!!
Here’s an update from Monday (April 8th) from Terry’s brother Cory…
On May 1st, Lisa updated us on Terry…
Here’s an awesome note from Lisa Bingham written a little before May 1st…
(sorry for the delay — I was traveling when this came in)
Thanks Lisa. Great to hear directly from you. Stay well.
Here’s a new message from Terry’s brother Cory from May 20th…
Great to hear both of you are doing so much better. You will continue to be in my and my family’s prayers. Look forward to learning more from both of you soon.
Hi Terry and Lisa,
Glad to hear that you are both getting healthier and stronger.
My sincerest and kindest thoughts are with you.
Fyi, I went to SUC @ New Paltz with Terry many long days ago,
where I benefited from his liaison work way back then.
Scott Gassman
Thanks for the updates. Please keep them coming!
GREAT news to hear of remarkable recovery and continued development for both Lisa and Terry! Prayers continue to surround you both and especially Terry this week for Friday’s surgery. Take care, godspeed, and God bless! Kim and Frank Spillers, Atlantic, Iowa
Dear Lisa and Terry,
My heart is warmed by the news of your amazing healing and recovery. This community continues to be enriched immeasurably by your presence.
I send you special healing thoughts for your surgery Friday, Terry. I will be thinking California “good vibe” thoughts for you.
Carolyn Penny
Davis, California
Dear Cory, Kyle, Greg, and Lisa,
My husband and I live just a few minutes south of Woodland and would like to be of help however we can – meals, visits, groceries, errands, etc. My email is clpenny@ucdavis.edu. Give me a holler and let me know the best way to be in touch.
Very best wishes,
Carolyn
Hi Dearest Lisa and Terry, So much love and good healing energy has been flowing to you from this community. So good to know that Lisa is stepping into her passions again. A blessing for the world. And we will all be beaming you our very best prayers and wishes, Terry, during this Friday’s surgery. Manju Bazzell, Ashland, OR
Holding you in our thoughts and wishing a speedy recovery.
Dear Terry and Lisa,
It is good to know you are both recovering well. All my best wishes for the upcoming surgery!
Talk to you soon,
Carolin (Public Agenda)
Have been following your progress and am so happy to know you’re both healing so well. Best wishes for your upcoming surgery and for speedy and complete recovery.
So good to know that you are recovering well. Your strength and courage are an inspiration. The NCDD community is cheering you on!
Sending best, BEST wishes for continued recuperation —
Thank you, everyone, for these wonderful wishes. There is good news! Terry’s surgery on Friday was a success and he was released from the hospital today and is back home in Woodland. His address there is 1974 Cook Court, Woodland, CA 95776. He sounds great in our phone calls, and I will be able to travel there next Tuesday. Warmest regards to you all, Lisa