4 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Bayside coding school to open on Bell Boulevard
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
A Silicon Valley-based coding school
is expanding its reach to Bayside this fall.
In early September, theCoderSchool
franchise owner Noreen Kazi will open up
a new location at 36-35 Bell Blvd., Suite
104. Th e school is one of three New York
locations Kazi operates, including ones in
Syosset and Roslyn on Long Island.
Th e Long Island resident spent over 20
years creating educational curriculums
and running programs focused on developing
the next generation of leaders.
“I’m thrilled to build on the success
of our two existing locations,” Kazi said.
“Learning how to program computers
is an incredibly valuable skill, and one
that’s demand is steadily increasing exponentially
in every industry. Th rough the-
CoderSchool’s project-based approach we
strive to improve kids’ logic, ideation and
creative thinking skills while preparing
them for a successful future.”
Hansel Lynn founded theCoderSchool
in 2014 in Silicon Valley and incubated
the program with the help of his best
friend Wayne Teng. Th e pair aimed to
“show the next generation of kids how
inspiring and exciting technology can be.”
Lynn and Teng wanted to provide children
ages 7 to 18 with a welcoming
environment wherein they could develop
their computer programming skills.
Students learn several coding languages
including HTML, CSS, Python and
Javascript.
Th eCoderSchool philosophy of teaching
relies less on soft ware and “one-size-fi tsall
curriculums.” Instead, Code Coaches
use a two-on-one teaching approach in
which experienced coders act as mentors
to small groups of students.
“As we continue to expand our presence
throughout the country, it’s critical
to fi nd the right franchise partners
who are truly passionate about setting
kids up with a positive, lifelong relationship
with technology and coding,” added
Lynn. “Th is is why we couldn’t be more
excited about our continuing partnership
with Noreen and Nisha. Th ey have shown
how passionate they are about our mission,
and we are confi dent the new communities
will see just how fun learning to
code can be.”
Nisha Bhalla will continue her partnership
with Kazi as the senior adviser for
the Bayside school. Th e Harvard Business
School graduate has extensive experience
launching and scaling new products at
Fortune 500 companies and healthcare
startups. Bhalla is also the senior adviser
for the Syosset and Roslyn locations.
“I couldn’t be more excited to continue
to partner and work with Noreen,” Bhalla
said. “We’ve built a great partnership over
the years in Syosset and Roslyn, and it’s
been incredibly rewarding to watch our
vision continue to grow. We’ve received
such a positive response from the communities
we are already in and hope to
bring the same positivity towards learning
about technology in our three new communities.”
For more information, visit thecoderschool.
com.
Jamaica and Bayside patients on years-long kidney donor list 7-8 years long
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
For 3 1/2 hours a day, three times
a week, Jamaica resident Christopher
Caines receives dialysis at a medical facility.
He was diagnosed with polycystic kidney
disease over four years ago, and has
been on the waiting list for a kidney transplant
ever since.
In New York state, for someone with
type O blood type — the one most commonly
associated with kidney disease —
it can take from seven to eight years to
receive a kidney donor.
Th e U.S. has an epidemic of kidney disease.
High rates of obesity, diabetes and
hypertension contribute to kidney failure.
About 80 percent people on the waitlist
for an organ transplant in the country
are looking for kidney. About 7 percent of
the national waitlist for organs–a disproportionately
high level of the populace–
are located in New York City, according
to LiveOnNY.
Th ere are about 8,000 people in this area
waiting for a kidney, while there are only
about 300 organ donors each year, according
to Helen Irving, president and CEO
of the organ procurement organizations
LiveOnNY and a former clinical nurse.
Despite the odds, Caines is hopeful that
he will climb to the top of the heap. Not
only is he on the list in New York state, but
in Florida, too. Caines said that he saves
money so that can travel down to Miami
regularly to renew his spot on the transplant
list in that area as well.
In her role as CEO of LiveOnNY, Irving
said that she advocates for people not just
to join the organ donor registry, but also
considering whether they would want to
be a living donor as well.
Bayside resident Stuart Weiss is one
patient hoping to fi nd such a donor. Aft er
40 years of living diabetes, he recently
received the news that he was going to
need a kidney transplant. Since then he’s
been campaigning around the area with
fl yers baring his medical problems in the
hopes that he might fi nd someone who will
make the sacrifi ce to give him a kidney.
“I’m putting fl yers into stores. I gotta
get the maximum amount of people to be
aware. Not only me — I’m only one person,
but there are thousands and thousands
of people that suff er from the same
thing,” said Weiss.
Caines and Weiss are among the more
than 113,000 people across the country
waiting for an organ transplant. Kidney
disease is expensive. When and if they
do secure a kidney transplants, the men
would incur the costs of regular doctor
visits and anti-rejection medication.
While the expenses are daunting, Irving
said that it’s actually cheaper to actually
cheaper to the health care system to give
someone a transplant rather than continue
to give them dialysis three times a week.
“We’re actually costing the healthcare system
a lot less money over time to actually
transplant as many patients as we possibly
can. From an organ donation perspective,
those costs are not borne by the patient,”
said Irving. “All of those costs would be
borne by the patient’s insurance and that
also includes Medicare and Medicaid.”
As of 2018, the total Medicare spending
on both chronic kidney disease and endstage
renal disease patients was in excess
of $114 billion, according to the United
States Renal Data System.
To reach Weiss about becoming a donor,
email kidney2019@aol.com.
Flickr/Tareq Salahuddin
Left: Stuart Weiss. Right: kidney transplant surgery.
Photos courtesy of theCoderSchool
A new theCoderSchool location is set to open up in Bayside this September
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