PVW * * • 9 ' • . .• » • • . } ‘ . • f r •*•>• » - « e r ♦ • < r v ^ T r v v v w » » • ’*’ * ’ August 25. 1993 Serving the community through cultural diversity Volumn XXIII. Number 35 Growing Old With Dignity Former Leader Of Hemlock Society To Address City Club Two experts on assisted suicide and director of the Center for Ethics in will explain their points ofview to the Health Care at Oregon Health Sci- City Club at the Club’s weekly Friday ences University, will clarify the ethi- program at 12:15 pm, August 27, in cal and legal diflerencesbetween with- the Rose Ballroom of the Portland drawal of life support and euthanasia. Hilton, 921 SW 6th Ave. The press Toile will explain the impact of Sen and public are welcome at this event. ate Bill 286, the Health Care D eci W riter Derek Humphry, best- sions Act, on patients and families known as founder of the Hemlock who wish to refuse life-sustainingtreat- Society, at right-to-die advocacy ment and be comfortable with their group, and currently vice president of decision. The speakers’ presentations will Americans for Dearth W ith Dignity, be followed by a question and answer will talk about the battle to create a session for City Club members. legal right in the U S. for every com For more information call: 222- petent adult to choose “a physician- 2582. Limited free seating in back assisted, humane and dignified’’ death available on a first-come, first-serv ed when he or she becomes terminally ill. basis. Doors open 11:30am. Susan Toile, M.D., an internist by Jim W ilson Oregon is the national leader in providing community-based care to senior citizens, offering a range o f less costly care from helping people stay in their own homes to adult foster care and assisted living facilities. This is a true story: A 62-year- old M arion County’ woman lives w ith a congenital heart condition, has u n dergone two open-heart surgeries, and lives with her 73-year-old husband on lus Social Security earnings. Her heart condition prevents her from vacuuming, scrubbing and do ing many other household chores. Yet the couple are able to con tinue living in their owu home be cause the state pay s for two hours of housekeeping a week. " It’s better to be here in our owu home together than to have to be put into a home that would take care o f us,’’ the woman says. T hat has been O regon’s th in k ing for a decade, and it is draw ing renewed national attention because it works for sen io rs-an d it saves tax dollars. In recent weeks, we’ve greeted or scheduled visitors from the NBC a n d ABC n e tw o rk s, M a c N e il/ Lehrer NewsHour, AARP, the Alli ance for the Aging, and Texas and Japan. They understand that, like Ben F ranklin’s death and taxes, growing old is a virtual certainty that prompts us to think about our own futures and often to worry about those of our parents. This couple who receive weekly housekeeping services are among more than 25,000 Medicaid-eligible seniors statewide whom the state helps. Fewer o f them are in nursing facilities today than 10 years ago; more are m aintaining their dignity, independence and quality o f life by staying in their own homes or living in the relative freedom of adult foster homes or assisted living facilities These people usually are poor. and the odds are 3-to-l that they are niors is what manufacturers have of women. They receive services such as ten done for consumer products--built nursing, housekeeping, cooking or better products and brought them to laundry. The need is growing. Con market at a lower price The sav ings add up We figure sider the numbers. • The state’s 75-plus population that, since we began emphasizing grows more than 4 percent annually , community-based care in 1981, O r and Oregon’s over-65 population in egon Taxpayers have saved $225 creased 30 percent in the 1980s. By million. If the Oregon system had contrast, the statewide population is been in place nationwide, the savings would have been $20 billion. growing about 1.5 percent a year. Ask your parent or other senior if • Curry County has the state’s they’d prefer to live at home, getting largest percentage of over-65 resi the assistance they need, or in a nurs d e n ts, fo llo w e d by W h e e le r, ing home. You won’t have to wait Tillamook, Josephine and Lincoln counties. In the 1980s, Deschutes long for the answer. Supporting that response are County experienced the fastest growth studies in Oregon by the federal gov of people over 65. ernment and the University of M in • Forty percent of seniors live in nesota which showed that seniors in metropolitan Portland. community care are happier and more Serving elderly people in com satisfied, lived longer, and received munity-based care is even more at tractive because we can care for three care that cost less. InOregon, we’ve prov ed the merit people for the cost of one who is of helping seniors continue living placed in a nursing facility. where they most want to be. What Oregon has done for se- PCC Announces Harold Williams As Chair Of College Board Of Directors meeting. W illiams represents Zone 2 or the PCC district, an area which in cludes portions of north and north east Portland. Zone 2 is one of seven seats in the five-county, 1,500 square- mile PCC district. W illiams most recently served as the 1992-93 vice-chair of the PCC M arcia A tkinson, who represents Zone 6 which is composed o f portions of Beaverton, Aloha, and Northwest and Southwest Portland Her interest in PCC comes from her experience as a community college student and in PORTLAND OBSERVER 1 O llicc: (503) 200-0033 • \ Fax«; (503)200-0015 Saturday Academy Saturday Academy is pleased to announce the appointment of W illiam C. Crane as special assis tant to the director of the academy. Creators of extraordinary learning circumstances for highly motivated children in grades 6 through 12, Saturday Academy is based at the Oregon Graduate Institute of Sci ence and Technology. Crane joins the Academy staff after many years as a teacher and administrator of not-for-profit cor porations. A musician by training, he has taught many ages a wide range of topics, including musi cology, medical ethics, and French. His responsibilities at Saturday Academy vvil 1 include development and curriculum expansion in the arts and humanities The growth of Saturday Academy has been im pressive in recent years. Having just celebrated its tenth anniver sary, the academy enters its second decade with a significant variety of programs. Among them are: the Apprenticeships in Science and E n gineering, an intensive mentoring program one-on one between young students and distinguished scien tists, the Student W atershed Re search Project, a water-quality as sessment training program utiliz ing actual research by young people; the Women in Science and Tech nology Lecture and Banquet, an annual event, designed to encour age girls and young women toward professions in science and technol ogy; and, a broadly diverse pro gram of classes av ailable through out the year. Saturday Academy operates in eight sites around Oregon in addi tion to the Portland area program. Seeking to serve motivated young people from all circumstances, the A cadem y provides sch o larship funds to students for its activities requiring tuition. Saturday Academy invites in quiries about its programs at tele phone 503-690-1190. 5-Year-Old Boy Injured Playing With Potato Cannon O n Friday, August 20, 1993, at approximately 9:42pm, East Precinct Uniform Officers, along with medi cal p e rso n n e l, responded to SE M itchell Street, regarding a 5-year- old boy suffering from severe bum s to his face and hands, which were the result of playing w ith a potato gun, also known as spudzookas The 5- year-old, A nthony Dale Robinson, was taken to Emanuel Hospital Bum Center, where he is being treated At the scene, officers spoke with the b o y s ’ f a th e r , S te v e n D e w a in e structor. A g ra d u a te o f G reen River C om m unity C o lleg e in A uburn W a s h , she also earned bachelor’s board. A Portland businessman, W il and m aster’s degrees from City Uni liams is president of CH2A Associ versity. Before her election to the ates, a contracting firm. He is active PCC board, she taught business man in Northeast community affairs and is agem ent courses at the college past chair of the Coalition of Black Atkinson is president and owner of Men and is a member o f the Urban HRGROUP, a hum an resources man Harold Williams League ofPortland W illiams received agement consulting firm. Her profes sional background includes human Harold W illiams, a member of bachelor and master degrees from resource and sales experience with Portland State University. He lives in the Portland Com m unity College northeast Portland and has three chil Intel, Sequent, Frito-Lay and NC Robinson. Board of Directors since 1990, was Machinery. She lives in northwest Reportedly, the father had con elected to chair the board for the dren. Portland. Assuming duties as vice chair is 1993-94 year at the directors’ July 15 structed a homemade potato cannon and was using gasoline as a propel lant While the father was preparing to launch the potato, his 5-vear-old son held a beaker containing gaso line. Upon igniting the cannon, there reportedly was an explosion and the boy was suddenly engulfed in flames, dropping the beaker Following ques tioning by detectives, the father was released, pending further investiga tion. According to medical officials, the boy sustained second and third degree bum s over his face, scalp and hands. It’s expected that the boy will be in the hospital for sev eral weeks. "People tend to forget how dan gerous these potato cannons can be and certainly young children should not be allowed to play with them ,” said Wayne Svilar, the investigating detective. Potato cannons or guns, as they are sometimes called, are usually con structed using a plastic pipe and hair spray as the propellant to launch the potato. Generally speaking, they are not regulated under the same restric tions as handguns or other firearms, which use gunpowder as it’s source of ignition. Support The NAACP’s National Black Dollar Days Demonstration (August 31 - September 8) by ShaRcc Rhone, Branch Presi dent The NAACP is conducting its Annual Black Dollar Days Demon stration August 31 - September 8, the Labor day week. Once again, we are asking black consumers to vote their economic in terest by spending $2 bills and Susan B A nt hony dol lar coi ns for thei r pur chases prior to, and during Labor day week. By participating in this national demonstration. Black Americans will tell white m erchants if they want to continue to enjoy black consumer sup port, we expect our fair share of the jobs and business opportuni ties. O u r m essage is p la in . Y ou c a n n o t c o u n t o u r m oney without counting us; either count us in, or count us out. We cannot continue to accept an economic rela tionship where black family income is 58% that o f white family income; 36% o f black Americans live below the poverty level; and black unem ployment is twice that o f white unem ployment In 1991 b lack America ns earned more than $200 billion and sp e n t m ore th a n $170 b illio n on various goods and se rv ic e s. T o ta l black incom e ex ceeds the gross na tional product o f all but nine nations i n the world We must spend our dollars wisely by doing business with those who do business with us Doing busi ness with the black community is hiring us, promoting us, and utilizing black businesses for a share o f pur chases o f goods and serv ices. Black Americans must also sup port, and help to build their own businesses Last year black Ameri cans spent more than $12 billion, over six percent, of our total black income, with black business We must keep a larger share of our money in our ow n communities We encourage blacks and others, who believe in economic equality. to support Black Dollar Days, August 31 - September 8 Minority Convention & Tourism Advisory Committee Planned Oregon Convention and Visitor Serv ices Netw ork announced plans to incorporate a Minority Convention and Tourism Advisory Committee within their current operating struc ture, according to Roy Jay, president and chief executive. Jay indicated that the formation of this committee was part o f the operations' long range plan to receive more input from ethnic minorities regarding visitor and convention ser vices. There is no other qualified agency within the state that has ever, effectively, addressed this category. said Jay. Jay cites that there is an esti mated $50 billion annual industry involving Blacks and other minority conventions and tourism. Jay stated that many hotels and other businesses have expressed interest in participat ing in the programs and projects, OCVSN, a private entity, which has been in operation since 1988, is responsible for providing num erous convention and visitor leads and re ferrals to Oregon businesses which has resulted in millions o f dollars in revenue