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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1981)
Portland Obaarvar Juna 2 8 .1M1 Paga 3 From the Capitol Congressman Ron Wyden Q Congressman Wyden, this week the House voted to reauthorize the Legal Services C orporation. H ow do you fe e l about the b ill as finally approved? A. It certainly is not everything I would have hoped for. The b ill as approved reduces funding for Legal Services by 25 percent and includes severe restrictions on the kinds o f cases attorneys can handle. For example, under the b ill ap proved, a group o f nursing home patients could not bring a class ac tion suit against a government agency for abuses in the homefs). The im portant thing to remem ber, however, is that the C o r poration is still alive -- that the poor will still have at least some access to justice. Assuming the President does not veto the bill, as he has in timated he might, we can come back next year and fig h t to remove the restrictive provisions. Given the current political climate, however, if the Legal Services Corporation was com pletely elim inated, we w ould have little or no chance o f restoring it. Q. This week you wrote a letter to president Reagan asking him to defer action on legislation to impose Waterway User Taxes. Why is this significant f o r Oregonians? A. Because passage o f the tax could devastate the Pacific N o rth west economy. For example, the Port o f P o rt land has estimated that the tax could result in a loss o f $750 m illio n in commerce to communities along the river system, and a potential loss of 15,000 jobs. For a region already reeling with D ick The U.S. Census Bureau has made public statistics that indicate more than a third o f all American households quality for at least one government aid program. But before we assume that means one third o f all families are poverty level, a closer look must be taken. O f an estimated 79.1 m illio n households at the time, the Bureau found that 27.2 m illion were reach ed by one or more o f the programs studied. More than half o f the 79.1 million households studied qualified only for medicare, which is based on age or disability rather than income. According to the report, 90 per cent o f the people covered by Medicare were w hite, 9 percent Black and the rest listed as Hispanic. The Census Bureau says it counted people eligible fo r the program and did not com pile figures on how many o f them ac tually received benefits during 1979. The median income of households with someone covered by Medicare was $8,584, compared with $16,533 fo r all households in the country. It was noted however that most Medicare recipients are over age 65 and living on retirement income. Medicaid is a different story. It's based on income and tries to help needy fam ilies and those w ith dependent children. It covered 18.1 m illio n people in 8 m illio n house holds under rules which vary from state to state. The median income o f house holds with medicaid coverage was only $5,990. O f them, 68 percent had a white double-digit unemployment because o f what high interest rates have done to housing and tim ber in dustries, this additional blow would be staggering. What we need to do is come up w ith proposals that w ill prom ote development o f the river system and create more jobs — not retard development and reduce jobs. That’ s also why I w ill continue to push for adoption o f a new National Jobs Policy that w ill promote jobs, a healthier economy — and a better life for Oregonians. Q. What do you th in k o f the A d m in is tra tio n 's D ra ft Proposal f o r Amendments to the Clean A ir Act? A. I think it has disastrous im plications fo r O regon’ s clean air tradition. I f approved, this proposal would Blacks has increased 26 percent and in whites only five percent. To date, there is no evidence o f a genetic cause for the differences in survival between the races. It is believed also that the middle class and affluent Black Americans have a cancer sur vival rate sim ilar to that o f white Americans. A bout one quarter o f the American population is considered as living “ below the threshold o f poverty,” having the equivalent o f a yearly income o f $5,500 fo r a fa m ily p f fo u r. It is known that approxim ately tw o -th ird s o f the poor are white and the remaining third are predominantly Black and hispanic. The rate o f cancer in cidence among the poor population of America is estimated to be about 30 percent higher than in middle and upper class Am ericans. Black Americans have a five year survival rate from cancer which is 25 percent less than Americans as a whole. There is no evidence to support the fact that race itself is a cause o f in creased cancer death. However, historical denial o f education and job opportunities to Blacks, and to other m inorities, contributes sub stantially to low economic status. In this sense, racial injustice creates conditions which lead to poverty and thereby such injustice is in itself sig nificant underlying cause o f death due to cancer. C u ltu ra l factors common to a given ethnic group which give rise to distinct life styles may have an im pact on cancer incidence and sur vival. As an example, note that Black male Americans smoke cigarettes more than any other sex race group; 55 percent o f adult Black males are known to be smokers, compared to 45 percent o f adult white males. Black males have the highest m o rta lity from lung cancer o f any othei sex race group. A startling fact is that two-thirds o f all cancer deaths in Black male Americans is due to lung cancer. It would appear that this group would represent an im portant target pop ulation for public education. In Am erica ten percent o f the gross national product, or 210 billio n dollars a year, is said to be spent on medical care. The current annual budget o f the National Can cer Institute is approxim ately 1.2 For Oregonians, one o f the most disturbing provisions o f the d ra ft proposal is one that would double the am ount o f allow able auto emissions. In essence, that means that if this proposal becomes law, Oregonians can look forw ard to breathing d irtier exhaust fumes in the future. As the only Northw est House member in a position to play on ac tive role in reauthorizing the Clean A ir Act, 1 am committed to seeing that we not roll back standards that are important to the good health o f our citizens. ogle householder, 30 percent were Black and 9 percent Hispanic. That may add up to more than 100 percent because people o f Hispanic origin may list their race as Black, white or other. Three percent o f all households lived in public or subsidized housing. T h a t’ s about two and a half m illion households. M edian income fo r that group was $4,980. T h irty -n in e percent were Black and 8 percent Hispanic. No exact figures were provided on the percentage o f whites but it must be in the neighborhood o f 60 per cent. M ore s ta tistics...th is tim e on racial attitudes in this country. The following came from an ABC poll taken this Spring. Here’ s one key question asked. "W hen asked if police treat Blacks as fa irly as Cancer deaths tied to status (Continued from Page 1 Col 6) among the poor, a factor which could lead to advanced stage o f disease. In 1977, Berg studied the relation o f economic status to sur vival for 39 kinds o f cancer seen at the U niversity o f Iowa H ospital during the years 1940 to 1969. Nearly all patients were white. For every cancer type, the indigent patients had poorer survival than the non-indigents. In this hospital, private and indigent patients were treated in the same way by the same team, v irtu a lly elim inating the possibility that quality o f care in the two patient groups affected the out come. In Berg’ s study, the survival o f the indigent patients was at least 10 percentage points lower than the non-indigent is essentially all categories. He also noted that indigency made the least difference when sur vival was either very good or very bad. It was the interm ediate prognostic range where the poor died more frequently than expected. Berg postulated that host differen ces in survival. He concluded that when cancer survival rates are studied in relationship to economic status o f the patient it is found that poor people do not do as well as af fluent patients. Freeman studied the survival o f patients with cancer at Harlem Hospital in New York City. The patients were all poor and Black. He noted that h a lf o f 165 patients with breast cancer were in curable on admission. The five year cure rate was 20 percent compared to 65 percent in white Am erican women. The impact on survival of indigent Americans by such factors as host resistance, aggressiveness o f tumor and quality o f medical care needs further investigation. Beginning w ith the 1972 report from Howard University Hospital, numerous studies have documented the high m o rta lity rate in Black compared to white Americans. The National Cancer Institute recently reported that the five year cancer survival rate o f all Americans is 41 percent. By contrast the five year survival rate o f BLack Americans is 30 percent. In (he past 25 years, the incidence of cancer has increased eight percent in Blacks and decreased three per cent in whites. During the same time period, the mortality from cancer in end a decade-long federal com m it ment to cleaning up this n a tio n ’ s air. It would mean that the millions o f people who live in highly polluted areas w ould be perm anently vic timized. b illio n dollars. Furtherm ore, the American Cancer Society, a volun tary organization, contributes sub stantially to education, research ser vice and rehabilitation in relation to cancer. Federal, state and local funding methods should be developed to provide diagnostic and treatment access to those patients with signs and symptoms suggestive of cancer, regardless o f their ability to pay. The pattern o f applicatio n o f federal, state and local funds allocated to all aspects o f cancer should be re-assessed. Such funds should be focused to a reasonable degree on education, diagnosis and treatment o f the nation’s poor who represent the largest group with highest risk fo r cancer m ortality. We w ould expect such a redistribution o f medical resources to result in dram atic improvement o f cancer survival in America. People in local communities must take on a m ajor role in health education. The in d ivid u a l o f any socio-economic status must share in the responsibility fo r maintaining his own health. (D r. Freeman is D irector o f Surgery at Harlem H ospital and Associate Professor o f C linical Surgery at C olum bia U niversity College o f Physicians and Surgeons. He is a graduate o f Howard Medical School and director at large o f the American Cancer Society.) NOTICE The Oregon Assoc, o f Colored W om en’ s Clubs w ill honor its 1980 scholarship recipients, Robin M arx and T erry Robertson, at a salad lunch Saturday at noon, at Dekum Commuity Center, 2513 NE Saratoga. M rs. M arie Sm ith w ill speak. The public is invited. “I’VE TRIED TO CALL, BUT YOUR whites, 60 percent o f Blacks say no, 56 percent of whites say yes. Regarding the statement, "Blacks are not achieving equality because whites don’ t want them to,” 74 per cent o f Blacks agree while only 47 percent o f whites agree. The poll docs, as you see, indicate some differences in the perceptions o f Blacks by Blacks and whites but it is mostly a matter o f degree and not one o f direction. Blacks and whites agree that things have improved tremendously for Blacks in the past 20 years, but Blacks don't see that its been nearly enough change. The poll also indicate a white in difference, with whites feeling that its up to Blacks to forge ahead on what has already been done fo r them. If yt jut callers are getting busy signals, you need a way to answer Gills that come in while you’re on the üne. Or when you’re out, a way to forward Gills automatically from your phtxie to another. ( )r an answering and reo urli ng s e t Come see diese and other pn »ducts at id services diat lietp y< »u avt »id missed Gills. It’s f< >r yt xl At your Hell PhoneCenter Store. *Cust(Wii Call services subject to availability. 1 1981 Pacific Northwest Bell a^day w ill save the Albina branch library from closin g, and: • Stop the closing o f 6 other branch libraries. • Reduce cuts in county health services, including Project Health, and reduce the number o f health clinics which will be closed. • Lessen cuts in services for senior citizens. • And reduce cuts in many other basic county services you depend on. 4'/.c a day or $15.50 a year is all it will cost, if you own a home assessed at $50,000. Passage of the June 30th county levy package will result in a total increase of just 31C per thousand dollars of assessed property value after state tax relief. June 30th Vote YES tw ic e (Measures #3 and #4) for the Multnomah County levy package Paid fc»r by Com mittee to Saw Basic County Services. PO Box 1396, R utland. OR 97207
