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O ctober 11, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
H ea
Kaiser Forms Pact With Unions
Kaiser Permanente has reached
agreements with five unions repre­
senting employees who work at Bess
Kaiser Medical Center in north Port­
land.
According to Kaiser officials,
the agreements make it possible for
those employees affected by the
closure o f the hospital to take ad­
vantage o f preferential hiring ar­
rangements with Providence Health
System and Oregon Health Scienc­
es University as well as broader
incentive-severance benefits.
The unions ratifying the agree­
ments include the United Food and
Commercial Workers, Local 555;
Operating Engineers, Local 701;
the Oregon Nurses Association; the
Service Employees International
Union, Local 49; and the G uild o f
Professional Pharmacists.
The labor organizations repre­
sent 7,600 employees or about h a lf
o f Kaiser Permanente’s work force
in northwest Oregon and southwest
Washington. There are about 1,300
employees at Bess Kaiser o f which
about 960 are represented by a
union, officials said.
Kaiser representatives said the
pharmac ists also ratified a new three-
year agreement, which calls for no
changes in benefits and wages during
the term o f the agreement. The Phar­
macist Guild represents 210 Kaiser
Permanente employees who work at
20 locations in the Northwest.
The nurses association, which
represents about 400 nurses at Bess
Kaiser, ratified a one-year contract
extension, maintaining current sala­
ries and benefits through A p ril I,
1997, hospital officials said.
“ These contracts and the sev­
erance and re-em ploym ent bene­
fits we developed fo r employees
affected by the closure o f Bess
Kaiser, re fle c t our goal o f b a l­
ancing the need o f our customers
w h ile m eeting the needs o f em­
p lo y e e s ,”
s a id
Thom as
W illia m s o n , Kaiser Permanente
human resources manager.
The Oregon Federation o f
Nurses and Health P rofession­
als, w hich represents a v a rie ty o f
jo b classifica tion s, in c lu d in g res­
p ira to ry thera-pists, surgical as­
sistants and operating room tech-
nicians, turned down the o ffe r
o f the effects o f the closure.
Employees represented by the
federation w ill not be able to take
full advantage o f the re-employ­
ment opportunities arranged with
Providence and OHSU as well as
the broader incentive-severance
package, Kaiser officials said.
Providence St Vincent recent­
ly posted the first set o f jobs created
as a result o f Kaiser’s plan to use St
Vincent as one o f its health plan
hospitals beginning March 3 1 ,1996
Earlier this year, Kaiser an­
nounced that it w ill close inpatient
care at Bess Kaiser Medical Center
in tw o phases. Around March 31,
1996, the hospital w ill be scaled
down to about 55 beds. Hospital
admissions w ill be prim arily for
emergencies and low-risk obstetri­
cal care.
O u tp atie nt services, such as
u rg e n t and e m e rg en cy care,
pharm acy, lab and X -ra y , w ill
continue to be o ffe re d. But in
1997, in patie nt services at Bess
K a iser w ill be phased out en­
tire ly .
B r e a st C a n c e r D r u g B e n e fits E x a m in e d
A recent study provides more
evidence that the drug tamoxifen
can help prevent a breast cancer’s
patient’s disease from spreading to
the second breast.
It also found no association
between use o f the drug and devel­
oping uterine or ovarian cancer.
That possible link has been a con­
troversy in determining whether
women at risk for breast cancer
should use tamoxifen as a preven­
tive therapy.
There is wide acceptance that
tamoxifen, which has been used in
the United States since the 1970s, is
beneficial for women who already
have breast cancer, but studies are
still underway to determine which
women would benefit from a preven­
tive regimen.
The study led by Linda Cook, a
researcher at the Fred Hutchinson
Research Center in Seattle, found up
to a 60 percent reduction in risk for
cancer in the opposite breast. Aver­
age treatment was less than two years.
Her study ana ly zed data on more
than 12,500 breast cancer cases from
1978 to 1990. The results appear in
Wednesday’s edition o f the Journal
o f the National Cancer Institute.
In an accompanying editorial,
Trevor Powles and Tamas Hickish
o f B rita in ’s Royal Marsden Hospi­
tal in Sutton, Surrey, recommended
that tamoxifen be used as a preven­
tive medication only in high-risk
women enrolled in clinical trials
until more is known about whether
it can increase the risk o f cancer in
other organs.
AIDS Drugs Cocktail Offers Hope
AIDS researchers and charities
welcomed the recent announcement
o f a drugs cocktail that offered a
significant breakthrough in treatment
for the deadly disease.
B rita in ’ s M edical Research
Council announced that combining
the com m on A ID S d ru g A Z T
(zidovudine or retrovir) with either
one o f two related drugs — ddl or
ddC — prolonged the lives o f up to
38 percent o f H IV sufferers over two
years.
“ This is very good news for peo­
ple with H IV and A ID S ,” said Nick
Partridge, spokesman for B rit­
a in ’ s A ID S charity the Terence
Higgins Trust. “ We are still a long
way from a cure but these results
renew hope.”
The results were so overwhelm­
ing the researchers rushed to publish
their findings while in the middle o f
the study.
“ Our independent ethics board
advised us to publicize the results,”
said Dr. Tim Peto, a specialist in
infectious diseases at John Radcliffe
Hospital in Oxford, England, and
one o f the coordinators o f the study.
Another coordinator. Dr Brian
Gazzard o f London’ s Chelsea and
Westminister Hospital, said H IV
patients starting drug treatment
should take the combination right
away.
“ We felt that in general doctors
should know and the public should
know this is true,” he said. “ I think
what’ s clear is that people now start­
ing therapy should start on combina­
tions.”
The so-called Delta trial, which
started in 1992, involved more than
3,000 people with H IV in Britain,
Ireland, Australia, France, Germa­
ny, Italy, the Netherlands and Swit­
zerland.
They were randomly assigned
one o f three different treatments —
A Z T alone, A Z T with didanosine
(dd l) or A Z T with zalcitabine (ddC)
all similar drugs that attack the
AIDS virus’s ability to work and
replicate itself.
O f the patients who had never
taken A Z T before, 17 percent who
took A Z T alone died, compared with
10 percent who took A Z T with ddl
and 12 percent who took A Z T with
ddC.
A second group o f patients had
been taking A Z T already. In this
group, death rates did not d iffe r sig­
nificantly.
“ The combined results...yield a
reduction in m ortality o f about 25
percent in favor o f combination
therapy,” the MRC said, adding that
the reason the second group did not
respond as well was not clear. Peto
said the researchers would be look­
ing urgently at why this should be.
“ A good analogy would be tu­
berculosis,” he said. “ Ify o u take one
drug alone it doesn’t work. You have
to take three drugs to get a good
result.”
Report Praises Wine's Health Benefits
So many b e n e fic ia l e ffects
have been found from d rin k in g
w ine in m oderation that its a l­
c o h o lic content may be better
defined as a n utrien t than a drug,
a researcher said last week.
“ Ethanol increases the le v ­
el o f the so-called ‘ g o o d ’ H D L
c h o le s te ro l,” L in d a Bisson o f
the U n iv e rs ity o f C a lifo rn ia at
D avis said. “ H ow e ver the e f­
fect o f ethanol on ch olesterol is
p redicted to account fo r o n ly a
fra c tio n o f the im p act on
c a rd io v a s c u la r h e a lth .”
In a report delivered
to the annual meeting o f
the American Chemical
Society, she said the eth­
anol in wine should be
considered a macronutri­
ent rather than a drug.
Both red and white wines,
particularly Chardonnay,
are beneficial to people
w ith high cholesterol lev­
els, she said.
“ The e ffe c t o f ethanol on
m e ta b o lis m o f o th e r e n e rg y
sources may in part e x p la in its
e ffe c t in the re d u c tio n o f
r - - - - \ co ro na ry heart disease,”
she said.
A separate re p o rt,
also fro m the U n iv e rs ity
o f C a lifo rn ia at D avis,
said red w ine appears to
delay the onset o f tum ors
in test anim als.
T
Looking For The Best Value In Advertising?
Minorities Face Greater
Health Care Risk
B lacks and H ispa nics face
greater risk than other p o p u la ­
tio n groups fo r ch ro n ic illness
and prem ature death due to a lack
o f access to health care, a new
study said.
The report released by the Joint
Center for Political Economic Stud­
ies found that nearly one in four
blacks and more than one in three
Hispanics did not have health insur­
ance in 1993, compared w ith about
one out o f six whites.
Low income blacks and Hispan­
ics were also less likely to get routine
medical care than whites in similar
income brackets.
The report “ underscores the
importance o f considering the needs
o f racial and ethnic m inority groups
as the nation’ s health care system
continues to undergo rapid change,”
said Eddie W illiam s, president ofthe
center.
“ On balance, it is as important to
increase access to care as it is to curb
costs,” he added.
The center drew on research by
the Commonwealth Fund and Johns
Hopkins School o f Hygiene and Pub­
lic Health to examine health prob­
lems and access to health care.
Pain may be
Human
eliminated Rights Award
for millions Recipient
(S P E C IA L ) - A new drug has been
approved that is exciting research­
ers in the treatment o f pain. This
material has been formulated into a
new product known as " A rth u r
Itis™" and is being called a "Medi­
c al M ira c le " by some, in the treat­
ment o f debilitating conditions such
as arthritis, bursitis, rheumatism,
painful muscle aches, joint aches,
simple backache, bruises, and more.
Although the mechanism o f action
is unclear, experiments indicate that
A rth u r Ids™ relieves pain by first
selectively attracting, and then de­
stroying the messenger chemical
which carries pain sensations to the
brain, thus eliminating pain in the
afTected area. A rth u r Ids™ is an
odorless, greaseless, non-staining
cream and is available immediately
without a prescription and is guar­
anteed to work.
•
IW 5 f t t l l v N n I» F r^ u rti t v
Currin’s for Drugs
8438 N. Lombard St. • 286-0207
Healthtek Pharmacy
1423 Lloyd C enter» 284-6978
GENERAL SAFETY HABITS
HHflT VOU CAM DO TO PHEVEHT
HOME FIRES...
___ Never smoke in bed.
Keep matches and lighters away from children
SM OKE DETECTORS
FIRE ESCAPE DRILLS
___ Install at least one smoke detector
outside every bedroom and on
every level of your home.
___ Check the batteries monthly and
replace them at least once a y ear.
PORTABLE
HEATERS
\JLZ
___ Keep blankets,
clothing, curtains,
i furniture and anything
r that could get hot and catch
fire away from portable heaters.
___ Plug heaters directly into the
wall socket and unplug them when they
are not in use.
Continued from M etro
▲
propriate treatments as w ell as tradi­
tional Western medical practices.
“ You have to provide medical care in
a way that fits in with a person’s
heritage and experience. I f a person
doesn’t take a medicine because they
don’t understand it, or because you
have lost their trust by discounting
treatments their culture has used for
centuries, then the medicine w on’t
do them any good.”
Mariah Taylor also serves on
the HeadsUul Advisory Committee,
and is on the board o f the Cultural
Recreation Band, which replaces the
weapons in gang members’ hands
with musical instruments. Over 125
children are currently enrolled in the
Cultural Recreation Band.
The awards w ill be presented at
the MHRC Awards Dinner, Thurs­
day, October 26, at the Beaumont
Middle School, 4043 NE Fremont,
from 6:30 P M . to 9.00 P M . Tickets
are $ 12, and reservations can be made
by calling 823-5136.
WHRT TO DO IN CASE OF fl FIRE...
SAFE C O O K IN G PRACTICES
U S IN G Y O U R ESCAPE PLAN
___ Keep items away from the stove that
could catch fire, such as towels,
clothing and curtains.
___ Keep a fire extinguisher in the
kitchen, and get training from the
fire department in how to use it.
ELECTRICITY
___ Use safety plugs in electrical outlets,
especially if you have small children
_Avoid overloading electrical outlets
and running cords under carpet and
furniture.
■y»
Federal Emergency
M anagem ent Agency
U n ited States
Fire Adm inistration
___ Plan and practice fire escape
routes and make sure everyone
knows two ways out of every
room.
___ Have a plan to escape if bars
cover windows.
___ Use a chain ladder to escape
from upper levels and practice
escaping with it.
___ Teach children that firefighters
are their friends, and they will
help in case of a fire.
___ Identify a place outside to meet in
case of a fire.
___ Know how to call for emergency assistance.
L
___ Crawl low, under the smoke.
___ Feel closed doors with the back of your hand.
If hot, use another exit. If not hot, open the door
slowly and check for smoke and fire.
___ Meet at the designated meeting
place outside, then ta ll for
help. Never return to a
burning building.
American
Red Cross
SAFE
KIDS
■ X -
AR< 5 < H 6
M a r l«P>»