Page 8, Portland Observer, September 11, 1986
Healthwatch
by Steven Bailey N. D.
Nicaraguan health
by Cheryl Smalley, N.D.
II‘an Two o f a two-part senes)
Wlien I arrived in Managua on May
4 of this year, the U.S. blockade
against Nicaragua was set to take ef
fect in just three days. The sense of
emergency that 1 had expected to find
was not apparent in the places I first
visited I he hotels and rctaurants were
still full of international tourists and
press people with all the usual concerns
of foreigners away from home. In fact,
the second night there I went to a per
formance of Appalachian music and
dance co-sponsored by the U.S. eni-
embassy and the Nicaraguan Ministry
ot Culture and C ultural W orkers’
I 'nion. It was only alter a tew days of
speaking with Nicaraguans that I be
gan to understand the sadness and
frustration they felt at the prospect of
severed relations with the U.S.
Although the Keagan Administra
tion lias encouraged an informal block
ade lor the past five years, the official
blockade will cut off the last vestiges
ol supplies flowing from the U.S. (Her
the years Nicaragua has become less
and less dependent on the U.S. for
medicines, but American companies
still do supply some drugs, and arc the
only source ot replacement parts for
most U.S.-made medical equipment.
Because of a long history of complete
dependence on U.S. technology, in
cluding medical technology, much of
tfie older equipment is U.S. made
While visiting the port town of Co-
rinlo, Portland's sister city in Nica
ragua, I toured the municipal hospital
and spoke with its director, Dr. Jose
I rancisco Bustamante. T he hospital is
a sprawling, old, one-story, wooden
biiildmgn with unglassed, shuttered
windows opening o n to the ocean.
I our doctors, including one surgeon
from Cuba, form the medical staff.
I hey treat patients in two dozen beds
using equipment (hat is often outdated
and the limited drugs available to
them. Dr. Bustamante spoke about the
blockade as a very harmful and un
fortunate development, but added, "It
is important to turn a negative thing
into a positive one, and making better
relations with other countries may be a
result of the blockade." He feels that
other sources can be found for medi
cines, and even equipment parts, but
that will take time. In the meantime,
hospitals and clinics will simply do
without He spoke with emotion about
the moral support and strength that
people there feel as a result of the
pcople-to-people aid arriving from
other countries. Because of the short
ages and lack of money, he said, doc
tors are realizing (he need to focus
more effort on preventive medicine,
realizing that prevention is indeed
much cheaper than treatment of dis
ease.
Another approach to the shortages is
being pursued by the National Wo
men's Organization of Nicaragua
(AMNI AE, Realizing the need to
develop a health care system that will
increase independence from foreign
suppliers, they have begun to look into
the fields of natural and preventive
health care. AMNL.AE, together wit
the Center for Access to Health Infor
mation and Services (CISAS), is work
ing with communities all over the
country to gather and distribute infor
mation about alternative approaches
to health care, including herbal medi
cine, acupuncture, midwifery and pre
ventive medicine. One Scottish nuryf
working in the south of Nicaragua (old
me that he had helped AMNI AE with
workshops to train people in the man
ufacture and uses of herbal medicinal
tinctures from local plants.
Mana dc /uniga, director of CISAS,
told me that much of the medical
establishment is still uncomfortable
with the idea of alternative therapies
But the need to develop new ways of
meeting the demand for health care is
so great, she said, that good alterna
lives cannot be ignored for long.
Cheryl Smalley is a naturopathic
physician practicing in Portland who
recently returned fro m a one month
trip to Nicaragua
Open House
S h a k in g a can o f c re a m e d soup can help k eep
out lum ps.
Lola "f-ed Up” Woodland, of Gladstone. Oregon. »how» how aha faal»
passage of Ballot Measure 1 would affect Oregonians during Oragon Fair
Share rally against the state sales tax at the Pine Street Theater last
Friday
(Photo Richard J Brown)
NAACP meeting
The Portland Branch of the Na
tional Association tor the Advance
merit of Colored People (NAACP) is
resuming its regular blanch meetings
(suspended in July and August) held at
4:00 p.m. on the third Sunday ol each
month. Hie meeting on Sunday, Sep
tember 15, will be at the Vancouver
Avenue first Baptist Church, J1JS N
Vancouver Avenue Reverend () If
Williams is the host pastor
Reports will be made by the Pres
ident, Mrs. Ora Nunley’, and others on
the National NAACP convention field
in Dallas this summer 1 he first-place
Chief Harrington
continues ban
on sleeper hold
by Jerry Garner
(. fuel Penny Harrington announced
last Friday that she would continue
to ban the use of the sleeper hold. Har
rington said the hold would be banned
for 12 to IK months because she had
not received enough information on
this important decision.
Anemia Foundation
Sunday, Sept. 29,1 - 3 P.M.
3802 N.E. Union
The ban of the hold followed the
death of I loyd D. Stevenson, who
died after police applied the hold on
him at a convenience store on Apnl 19.
The hold has been banned by some po
lice departments in tlx: U.S. and is lim
ited in its use by others. Since 1975, 16
people have died in Los Angeles from
the use of the carotid hold. A poll
taken in May by Bardslcy and Has-
lacher lor ttie Oregonian indicated that
56 percent of the .100 adults inter
viewed stated the sleeper hold used by
the police should be banned in the City
of Portland.
In other police related news, an arbi
trator ruled against Portland Police
Union President, Stan Peters, in his
bid to get the City of Portland to pay
half of his salary without performing
any work for the City. Peters was
ordered relieved of all police duties
more than three years ago by former
Police Chief Ron Still, even though
the City continued paying Peters a
half-time patrolman's salarv
The order b> former Chief Still took
effect September 16. I9KI Harnngton
signed an order June 28, 1985 assign
ing Peters, 51, to the Bureau's tele
phone report unit for maximum half
time work H arrington said budget
cuts forced her to use all available
resources within the Bureau and it
made no sense to pay Peters if he
wasn't working
winner of the Portland Branch ACT-
SO (Afro-American Cultural, Scien
tific-Technical Olympics) Donna Ea
son, will tell the branch her impres
sions of tlx- A t TSO contest and of the
young people competing. Donna is a
Junior at Jefferson High School. All
NAACP meetings are open to the
public.
Flying fish can glide a t speeds up to 30 m iles an
hour fo r as m uch as a quarter of a mile.
A tasty w a y to extend ham burger m eat is to add
one grated raw potato per pound of m eat.
e
All doors are open to courtesy.” —Thom as Fuller
W o d o ,io t d o business w ith S o u th A fric a
American State
Bank
AN INDEPENDENT BANK
Head Office
2737 N. E. Union
Portand, Oregon 97212