Local group to look at China’s health plan
By HEATHER McCLENAGHAN
Of the Emerald
If a city dweller in revolutionary China
needs medical aid, he or she can step out in
the street, call for help and receive medical
attention within minutes.
Decentralized community health care
and its success in the People’s Republic of
China will be the topic of a symposium on
Chinese medicine at the University Tues
day night at 7:30 in the EMU.
Three local men who have toured China
will take part in a panel discussion. Sandor
Boysen, a practical nurse who was a dele
gate to China on a nationally selected tour
of health workers, will discuss community
health and health education in China.
Dr. Glenn Gordon, a Eugene surgeon
who visited China in March, will speak on
Western medicine and its use in the
People's Republic.
Ralph McDonald, a mycologist who
toured China with the U.S.-China People’s
Friendship Association’s 1976 activist
group, will speak on Chinese traditional and
herbal medicine.
A 30-minute color film, “Barefoot Doctors
in Rurai China,” will be shown. Slides show
ing fully conscious patients undergoing
major surgery, acupuncture, moxibustion
and a display of herbal drugs will be in
cluded in the presentation.
In pre-revolutionary China a ratio of
150,000 patients to every physician was the
national norm. Today, urban medical care
is free or offered to rural residents at 16
cents a month. Medical workers exist at
every level of society to reach China’s 800
million citizens.
In the countryside, the “barefoot doctors"
distribute medicine, care and advice to
peasants. The barefoot doctors are chosen
by members of their production brigades to
receive several months of health training in
acupuncture, minor surgery and herbal re
medies.
Boysen calls the barefoot doctors pro
gram “tremendously successful.”
In the cities, the strategy of mass health
care is even more integrated into daily life
than in the rural areas, Boysen said.
“I saw retired people and housewives
who were trained to deliver medical care at
the courtyard level. These people do family
planning work, preliminary health
screening...they even lead their neighbors
into the mountains to gather herbs. It’s just
one example of their incredible neighbor
hood organization.”
In addition to actual treatment, the
Chinese health system includes periodic
mass health campaigns to rid the popula
tion of specific parasites and diseases,
tJoysen saia.
Boysen observed the giant human effort
necessary to eliminate “snail fever” — a
lethal liver disease transmitted by snails
through the toes of peasants working in rice
paddies. In order to kill the snails, the
Chinese had to mobilize thousands of peo
ple to suffocate them. Boysen said he saw
hundreds of miles of river covered with the
fresh dirt used to smother the parasites.
In Shanghai, Boysen said the entire
population sets aside every Thursday as a
clean up day in a dramatic effort of com
munity sanitation and public health indoc
trination.
“All the people are mobilized,” Boysen
said. “Little children bang drums, blow
horns and carry signs saying “Don’t sneeze
on anyone' or ‘Don’t spit in the street.' It's all
part of the plan to involve everyone and
make them aware that they’re a vital part of
the health care system.”
Day care
(Continued from Page 1)
of their testimony was that provid
ing day care services will make
higher education more accessible
to low-income parents, thus ena
bling them to secure good-paying
jobs and become productive,
tax-paying citizens.
Without an education, said wit
nesses, low-income parents —
who are often single mothers —
are restricted to low-skill, low
paying jobs and often end up rely
ing on welfare.
The current law, which restricts
day care eligibility to juniors and
seniors in four-year schools and
community college students in
vocational training programs, was
criticized by several witnesses,
who said it steers community col
lege day care recipients into voca
tional jobs, which are often low
paying.
Witnesses also charged that
withholding eligibility from
graduate students prevents stu
dent parents from pursuing pro
fessional careers.
Commented Susan Swanberg,
a third-year law student and
The Bug Cunic, Inc.
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mother of a three-year old, "Equal
opportunity will only be achieved
when we find a significant number
of women in professional fields
such as medicine and law.”
Many of the student parents
who testified were single mothers
who described the financial and
emotional hardship involved in
raising children, working and at
tending school at the same time.
Perhaps the most moving tes
timony came from Mary Anne
Colby, 25, a Portland State
economics major and a mother of
two.
“At age 18,1 bought the Ameri
can dream for women," said
Colby. "The dream was that hap
piness is making your husband
happy, keeping a clean house and
having babies. At age 22, my
dream collapsed. I found myself
divorced, with very little job ex
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perience, no training and two
young children.”
Three years later, Colby is now
one year away from her B.A., but
in financial debt and struggling to
find a way to pay her last year of
tuition.
“Allow me the opportunity to
become a taxpaying citizen," she
asked the subcommittee, "so I
won’t have to turn to the welfare
dole."
The subcommittee will probably
act on the bill later this month or
early June.
Transportation
seminar begins
A seminar on "Regional Trans
portation Planning’’ featuring
Robert Burco, director of the
Oregon Department of Transpor
tation, is scheduled for Wednes
day and May 25.
The first session will consider
the services provided by various
transportation systems and units
of government, the concepts of
new project development versus
management of existing transpor
tation resources and the transpor
tation impacts in terms of land
use, environmental quality,
energy and economics.
The second seminar will deal
with the policies of the Oregon
Transportation Commission and
discuss questions regarding
statewide transportation and land
use planning. Case studies will be
used in both seminars.
The seminars will last from 7:30
to 9:30 p.m. and the Department
of Urban and Regional Planning
will give one credit for the course.
Students ma> sign up at the
registrar’s office up to the first
class meeting. Other interested
persons may take the seminar on
a non-credit basis.
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