checking for org.omg.CORBA.OBJECT_NOT_EXIST

Hi,

I'm writing a java CORBA client, using the Visibroker ORB. Sometimes
when I call methods on the remote object references I get the following
exception

org.omg.CORBA.OBJECT_NOT_EXIST:   vmcid: OMG  minor code: 0  completed:
No

Is there some way that I can check beforehand whether this exception
will be thrown, i.e. whether the remote object still exists? I thought
that I could do it like this:

    if (myRef._non_existent()) {

    	// get a new myRef
    }

    myRef.doRemoteMethod();


But I've found that _non_existent() throws exceptions. Is there a
better way to check for the state that causes an OBJECT_NOT_EXIST
exception?

Regards,
Dan