Page 2 -The Portland Observer May 1, 1991
Guest Editorial
E R S P E C T IV E S
(A new agenda for Oregon’s seniors)
BY SENATOR WILLIAM MCCOY
W hen I first entered the Legisla­
ture in 1973, O reg o n ’s aging poor
population had only the federal-state
old age assistance program to look to
for help.
A new day for seniors began in that
1973 session with the creation o f a
special C om m ittee on aging co-chaired
by then-Senator Betty Roberts and
myself, a freshman Representative from
Portland w ith a background in working
w ith senior citizens and formal training
at the A ndrus C enter at the University
o f Southern California.
W ith strong help and support from
Committee members and a federal grant,
we developed a com prehensive assess­
m ent o f the needs and desires o f O re­
g o n ’s aging residents-rural and urban.
O u t o f this assessm ent, we designed
and implemented many of the programs,
w hich now offer services to seniors.
T he intent behind our efforts was
to see that all seniors had decent levels
o f health care, nutrition and housing
and that seniors had option for living as
long as possible in their own homes and
com m unities. Program s like Oregon
P roject Independence have helped re­
alize these goals for m any seniors.
O ver time the force o f our original
intent has gotten lost. The present pro­
gram structure for providing services
to seniors is fragmented: responsibili­
ties are divided am ong levels o f gov­
ernm ent. A t each level-federal, state
and local-there are a confusing array o f
program s intended to meet some real
needs o f seniors.
This division o f responsibilities and
proliferation of programs has some troub­
ling consequences. First o f all, it allows
som e seniors to fall through the cracks.
T his happens to seniors who do not
know they are eligible for a service and
to seniors who c a n ’t find a ready access
to the service they need. O ther seniors
“ fall through our service cracks” be­
cause program s lack the capacity to
identify potential “ clients” and reach
out to offer them assistance.
A nother problem with the present
fragm ented system it that is inefficient
and uneconom ical. W e find gaps in
service, overlapping and duplication of
efforts and public agencies competing
for scarce resources. These issues de­
tract from gelling on with the jo b of
providing needed support to seniors.
M easure 5 is cutting back human
services to many populations-children,
medically needy, hom eless, hungry,
m igrants, welfare recipients, alcohol
and drug patients, mentally ill, dis­
abled, seniors and others. Right now,
M easure 5 forces us to find alternative
revenues. Those among us dependent
on public services for survival will have
to live with a lot of pain for the next few
years if long-term solutions are not
found.
As we look for new revenues, we
are also exploring other ways of buffer­
ing the hurtful impacts o f M easure 5.
O ur Senate Human Resources C om ­
mittee is taking a leading role in this
process. Com m ittee sponsored bills,
which could take som e o f the sting out
o f M easure 5, include:
The “ P E P ” bill takes its name
from * 'T he People Em pow ering People
Fund” which will provide grants to
assist communities to develop innova­
tive programs for delivery o f human
services to residents. The underlying
philosophy of PEP is that com m unities
are where the “ action” is in helping
people in need. Com m unities must take
the lead-first, to find new, innovative
ways to care for residents-and, second
to operate programs and deliver serv­
ices to residents. If PEP works there
will still be a need for federal and state
funding support, but every dollar would,
in effect, stretch further than under the
present system. This bill appropriates
$20 million from the state general fund
for grants for com m unity-based pro­
grams, which will produce savings many
times that amount.
Another Com m ittee bill changes
the human service case m anagem ent
system. The current piecem eal, unco­
ordinated delivery system for human
services will becom e a client-centered
service delivery system at the com m u­
nity level. The new system will provide
more efficient and responsive services
driven by the needs o f individuals and
fam ilies and not by the processes cre­
ated to serve the bureaucratic demands
o f traditional, categorical funding pro­
grams.
Health care costs keep rising, de-
fying every effort to bring them under
control. O regon, like many other slates,
is trying to im prove the health care situ­
ation. I believe the lesson we are learn­
ing from our efforts is that the ultimate
solution is a national Health Care plan.
The C om m ittee’s bill creating “ The
Oregon Task Force for a National Health
Services P lan” would enlist other states
to serve as partners in a cooperative e f­
fort with Oregon to design and im ple­
m ent a pilot project program. In this pro­
gram selected states, with federal coop­
eration and support, would act as pilot
projects to test alternative approaches
for extending basic health services to all
residents o f a stale. W e hope this bill
will prod Congress to action leading to a
National Health Plan.
In support of this Task Force bill, I
am sponsoring a Senate Joint Memorial
calling on congress to enact a National
Health Plan.
A fourth Com m ittee bill to soften
the effects of measure 5 creates the Oregon
State G overnm ent Reorganization C om ­
m ission. The Commission will be re­
sponsible for exam ining every operation
o f state governm ent to find ways to cut
the costs o f governm ent w ithout reduc­
ing the quality or quantity o f services
necessary top the basic well-being o f
Oregons people.
These bills are change vehicles. They
call on us to rethink-from the ground up-
our present ways o f “ doing government”
and providing care to our com m unities
and their residents. The bills contain
exciting and challenging concepts, and I
am convinced they contain the seeds
from which grow a new, stronger and
more vigorous system for meeting the
needs o f seniors and other Oregonians.
It will take a lot o f support from a lot
o f people and organizations to get these
measures enacted during this session o f
the Legislative Assembly. I am urging
seniors and all others concerned with
human services to become fam iliar with
the C om m ittee’s bills and help develop
a strong base o f support.
(Senator McCoy, (D) Portland, is
serving his fifth term as a State Senator.
He is Chairm an o f the Human resources
Committee, Vice-chairman of the Trans­
portation and Education committees, and
a m em ber o f the Revenue and School
Financing Com m ittee.)
To The Editor:
Now that Vera K atz’s School Re­
form Bill has been introduced in the
S tate Legislature I hope it will get some
close scrutiny and not be rushed through
w ith little debate. Representative Katz
states in the O regonian 4/5/91 “ the
stars and m oon are all lined up to make
it happen’ ’ but a lot more than that will
have to happen if we are to successfully
sort through this mixed bag o f propos­
als.
For exam ple an expanded Head
Start Program is clearly a positive and
w elcom e step but it is to be followed by
the “ elim ination of Grades K -3rd.” If
students are to be in school at all during
this tim e, one has to assum e that all
four grades w ill be funneled into one
large ungraded classroom . Ungraded
classes have a long way to go to prove
their worth.
“ School Choice programs that
allow students to transfer from one
school to another’ ’ has nothing good to
be said about it. W e are a transient
society as it is and a recent report showed
that more than 70% o f school drop-outs
had been at their last school for less
than 1 year. It would seem that this
proposal is the last thing needed at this
time.
The suggested plan also appears to
have no general education after the
10th grade. This will go a long way
towards ensuring a two class society.
Education should be more than good
em ployees for corporations. We need
citizens with the interest and ability to
understand and improve their world.
Expanded and improved vocational
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«
and apprentice program s are welcome
steps but in today’s rapidly changing
market, today’s expert w elder can
quickly become tomorrow’s unemploy­
m ent statistic with only 2 years o f high
school education as a background. A
vocational skill and, at least, some quality
in education should not be mutually ex­
clusive as this plan seems to advocate.
It still rem ains a fact that the most
educated are least apt to be unemployed
and the least educated are m ost apt to
be unemployed. Some educational im ­
provem ents m ight be achieved by R ep­
resentative K atz’s School plan but it
could be mostly a builder’s and adm in­
istrators delight with a reshuffling of
furniture the only result.
Betty W alker
N ortheast Portland
[ by Professor McKinley Burt \
Brake; Beard (illiterate), the Automatic
Railcar Coupler.
The patent application read” ... will
enable a fireman to enter a house filled
with thick suffocating gases and smoke
and to breathe freely for some time
there...enabling him to perform his duties
of saving life and valuables without
danger to him self from suffocation."
It was a tragic event on July 24,
1916 that thrust Morgan into worldwide
prominence. A massive explosion in a
tunnel of the Cleveland W ater works,
250 feet down beneath Lake Erie, trapped
32 men amid clouds o f poison gases.
The inventor and his brother used the
new gas masks to enter the area and save
many o f the men. Newspapers around
the nation carried the story and the city
of Cleveland aw arded a medal to” ...our
m ost honored an bravest citizen.” This
was after an initial response to refrain
from giving him a medal because he
was a “ N egro” .
Morgan also received a letter of
com m endation and a medal from the
“ International A ssociation o f Fire
Engineers” . However, he suffered sev­
eral ugly racial affronts beyond the earlier
incident. The fire departm ent o f Shre-
vesport, Louisianan wanted to give him
a medal but hesitated when it was dis­
covered that he was an African A m eri­
can. The issue was resolved by calling
Morgan an “ Indian” and giving him
the award. He also was injured finan­
cially by racial boycotts o f his manufac-
tuing firm. W hile a number of fire de­
partments and other groups ordered his
gas masks, many cancelled their orders
when they found he was an African
American.
Our space here does not perm it us
to present our second brilliant an pio­
neering ‘dropout’ this week, so look
Those Dropouts
May Be a
Priceless Asset
As prom ised, we cite here two
brilliant African A m ericans who never
saw the inside o f a university as stu­
dents, but who, never the less, became
world-renowned for their contribution
to science and technology.
First, there is G arrett A. M organ,
whom you may have heard of as the
inventor o f the GAS M ask-but did you
know that this self-taught grammar
school dropout also invented a friction
drive clutch, a hair-refining chem ical
and a w om an’s hat fastener? M organ, a
Cleveland businessm an and civic fig­
ure founded that famous black new spa­
per, “ The Cleveland Call and Post” .
And, o f course, there is perhaps his
most famous contribution, the A U TO ­
M ATIC TRA FFIC LIGHT-he sold the
patent to general Electric for $40,000.
The gas mask, invented in 1912,
was initially called a “ safety hood”
and a patent was issued in 1914. The
ingenious breathing device which has
saved hundreds o f thousands o f lives
around the world becam e a standard
item o f m ilitary gear as early as W orld
W ar I, when the hood was modified and
adopted by the U.S Army. M organ set
up the “ National Safety Device Corpo­
ration” to m anufacture and distribute
the device. It was featured in exhibits
around the country.
Like so many o f those early A fri­
can A merican inventors, M organ’s
inspiration sprang from a deep com pas­
sion for the safety and com fort of
mankind, ie, W oods, the Railway Air
forward to a rew arding experience in
the next Perspectives colum n (Vivien
T. Thom as was awarded an honary
doctorate by the Johns Hopkins Uni­
versity and was made A M EM BER O F
THE MEDICAL SCHOOL FACULTY.
His contribution to the developm ent of
CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY won
international recognition and he also
served on the staff o f V anderbilt U ni­
versity. Many o f today’s giants in the
field received training from Thomas:
Henry Bahnson, Denton Cooley, Rollo
Hanlon, Mark Ravitch, etal).
It is my fervent hope that parents,
teachers and students will retain these
two articles. It is becom ing increas­
ingly obvious that we are going to see
an even greater num ber o f high school
dropouts in the “ disadvantaged” com ­
munities. and w hat I see as a com ­
pounding disaster is the proposed for­
mal structuring of a DROPOUT TRACK
AT TH E TENTH GRA D E ! I have been
developing this thesis in my recent
’education’ articles, where I have con­
sistently deplored the deficient cur­
riculum o f both elem entary and high
school.
Please note that the both o f these
pioneering black contributors cited have
thoroughly documented the level of
their high school curriculum . As in my
case ( a drop out), there was com pul­
sory algebra, geom etry, general sci­
ence, biology, physics, chem istry,
A merican, modern and ancient his­
tory, English, geography, civics and a
choice o f latin or French. Vocational
training an music were electives. Mr.
Morgan and Mr. Thomas were able to
make their magnificent contribution
because they had exactly this back-
ground/foundation, In school o r self-
taught!
May Is Election Month In Southeast Portland
on volunteers. Each association has many
differentactivities including crime pre­
vention, land use and transportation,
park events and special projects.
Anyone who lives, works or owns
property in a neighborhood is auto­
matically a mem ber. The only qualifi­
cation for a board m ember is that he or
she is interested in the neighborhood
and has two to five hours per month to
spare. All volunteers get training and
Twenty southeast Portland neigh­
borhood associations are celebrating
America’s democratic heritage by hold­
ing elections during the month o f May.
N eighborhood associations are a long­
standing tradition in Portland and are
officially recognized by the city. Neigh­
borhood assoc iation board elections are
a great way for interested citizens to
improve their neighborhoods.
All neighborhood associations rely
support from the staff at Southeast Uplift.
For election month, many neigh­
borhood associations are offering spe­
cial programs of interest to neighbors.
For exam ple, Brentwood-Darlington
Neighborhood Association is hosting
police C hief Tom Potter on W ednes­
day, May 8. Contact Southeast U plift at
232-0010 for tim es and locations of
meetings in each neighborhood.
AMALGAMATED PUBLISHERS, INC.
PORTLA
Are • The • Proud • Sponsors • Of
Reinvestments
Community
NEARLY ONE-THIRD OF ALL BLACK AMERICANS WHO
DIED IN ’87 WOULD HAVE SURVIVED IF THEY HAD
SAME HEALTH CARE AS WHITES, NEW DATA REVEALS
Health Check-Ups
For Women
Offered
every other disease you can think o f hits things: First, we can point out the dispar­
blacks much' harder than w h ite s."
ity toour colleagues, and caution doctors
In addition to the great cost in human to be aware o f the problem. Second, we
suffering, this "g la rin g failure in one need to reform the M edicaid system, to
part o f our health care system ultim ately ensure appropriate and necessary care
affects the amount we all pay fo r m edi­ for all. And third, the A M A is trying to
cal care,: states the special report. “ A design parameters o f care fo r various
man w ith untreated hypertension who specialties that w ill be applicable to all
ends up on dialysis; a low -birth-w cight patients.”
Nearly onc-third o f all black A m e ri­
cans who died in 1987 would have sur­
vived if they “ lived under (he same
health conditions as whites,’ ’ reveal new
calculations done for A M E R IC A N
H E A L T H magazine w orking w ith the
National Center For Health Statistics
(NCHS).
Harold Freeman, M .D ., who co­
authored a study o f black m ortality rates
in Harlem, agrees. He adds in a special
report in the current (November) issue o f
A M E R IC A N H E A L T H , “ And that’s on
top o f the fact that some o f the white
deaths shouldn’t occur, because there
arc a lot o f poor white people who arc
dying as w o ll.”
The fo llo w in g data, indicating the
degree by which the death rate for blacks
exceeds that o f whites for several lead­
ing causes o f death, was prepared by
A M E R IC A N H E A L T H w orking the
NCI IS:
Accidcnts.,.24%
higher
Stroke...82%
higher
Cancer...32%
higher
Diabetes...132%
higher
Heart Disease...38%
higher
Kidney failure... 176%
higher
live r disease...77%
higher
I lom icide/policc...500% higher
W hat’s k illin g the black population
A health check-up for women will
be given from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Satur­
day, May 18, 1991 at W estern States
Chiropractic College C linic, 2900 NE
132nd Avenue in Portland.
The $15 examination fee will cover
the cost of a pap sm ear, breast exam,
spinal examination, and urinary lab test.
The check-ups are adm inistered by
fourth-year interns under the supervi­
sion o f chiropractic physicians. A p­
pointm ents are necessary and may be
made by calling 255-6771.
Red Cross
Announces
Summer Youth
Festival
W ith summer just around the cor­
ner, kids will soon be out o f school with
lots o f free time. Find out how they can
spend their time in fun, positive ways at
the Red Cross Youth Festival. The Fes­
tival will be held at V ancouver Baptist
Church, 3138 N. Vancouver Avenue,
Portland, on W ednesday, May 29,3:00
to 6:00 p.m.
Nearly 20 non-profit youth organi­
zations will provide information to
students and their fam ilies about sum ­
mer activities, volunteering opportuni­
ties, and parks and recreation programs.
Special guests will include Profes­
sor Bodywise, Tears of Joy Puppet Show,
and ABC Kids. Free refreshm ents will
be provided. For more information
contact the American Red Cross 284-
0011, ext. 176,
baby placed in the neonatal intensive
care unit; a woman w ith poorly con­
trolled diabetes who beedmes blind-all
represent a great cost...in health care
do lla rs."
Before you can look for solutions,
slates Dr. Freeman, the director o f sur­
gery for Harlem Hospital, " I t ’s critical
to separate the meaning o f race, culture
and cla ss." He believes very little o f the
excess black m ortality rate is due to
genetic racial factors. However, he points
out. “ People o f the same race tend to
have a different diet, and a different
tendency to seek medical h e lp ." Then
there’s tlass. “ One-third o f black Am eri­
cans are poor, and one third o f A m e ri­
cans who arc poor arc black,” says Free­
man. "P o o r people tend to be less edu­
cated, have higher unemployment, live
in substandanl conditions. Race is a factor,
but the strongest indicator o f high m or­
tality and premature death is poverty.”
Dr. Richard M cM urray, chairman
o f the American medical Association
(A M A ) Council on Ethical and Judicial
A ffairs, notes, “ Surveys ofb lack A m e ri­
cans indicate that they feel they have
more d iffic u lty entering the health care
system. We, as physicians, can do three
in such numbers? The report notes the
“ hazards o f drugs and violence take an
aw ful toll on the young...Thc chief k ille r
o f young black men nationwide is gun­
fire. But these killers arc more than
matched by the fact that cancer, cardio­
vascular disease, diabetes and just about
Dr. Uwe Reinhardt, a political econo­
m ist at Princeton U n iversity’s W oodrow
W ilson School o f Public and Interna­
tional A ffa irs, believes providing decent
healthcare for all Americans " w o u ld be
c h ild ’ s play. The A M A itself now be­
moans a growing surplus o f physicians,
and our hospitals run at an average occu­
pancy rate o f 65%. Thus, the needed real
resources are already in place,” and are
largely financed by insured patients.
Dr. Lonnie Bristow , who was the
first black president o f the American
Society o f Internal M edicine and is now
a trustee o f the A M A , calls f o r " a three­
pronged effort. We need more m inority
physicians, well, trained, to provide health
care in m in ority communities...The
benefits o f such a program are obvious.
Second we need to improve efforts that
strengthened m inority fam ilies and
communities. "F inally,” he tells A M E R I­
C A N H EALTH , “ we need to make health
care more affordable fo r more A m eri­
cans." The federal government, he be­
lieves, should extend Medicaid programs
to cover all people below the poverty
level.
"Reinvestments in the Community" Is a weekly column appearing
in API publications throughout the USA.
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