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