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BUSINESS PROFILE
First Black Woman Chiropractic
Physician In The State Of Oregon
Dr. M arcelitte Gallian-Failla
recieved her Bachelors degree from
Rutgers University in New Jersey
and her Doctorate from Western
States Chiropractic here in Portland
Dr. Gallian-Failla's Family orig­
inates from Lafayette and New Ibe­
ria Lousiana o f which she is pleased
to see a large community o f people
from her family's roots. In her prac­
tice she strives to reach the N.E.
community to deliver quality care
and respect to her patients.
She is presentely located at 2 124
Hancock Street and can be reached
at 287-5504 for an appointment.
Dr. Marcelitte Gallian Failla
Electric Heart Brings
Hope To Sufferers
A British man was given an
electric heart last week in an opera­
tion that could bring hope to hun­
dreds o f heart disease sufferers.
Abe! Goodman, a 64-year-old
retired film producer who suffered
from heart failure, received the im­
plant at the John Radcliffe Hospital
in Oxford in the first operation o f its
kind.
The electric heart, developed
by scientists at the Texas Heart In­
stitute, is battery-operated and un­
like heart assist devices designed to
keep patients alive until they re­
ceive a transplant, it should work
indefinitely.
The Texas Heart Institute was
unable to carry out the operation in
the United States because the de­
vice has not been approved by the
Rood and Drug Administration.
■Goodman, who had been given
just six months to live and had been
ruled too old to receive a heart
transplant paid for by B ritain’s
National Health Service, decided
that he had nothing to lose from the
operation.
“ I w eighed up the o p tio n s
My life was se rio u sly at risk
and th is seem ed the only way
fo rw a rd .” he told a n ew spaper,
w hose front p ag e-sh o w ed him
stan d in g a fte rth e operation with
the aid o f tw o nurses.
For the rest ofhis life, Goodman
will have to wear a harness carrying
the two 1.5 pound batteries that
operate the heart. These must be
changed every eight hours. Theelec-
tric heart, stitched into the left ven­
tricle ofGoodm an’s own heart, gives
o ff a just audible whirr as it pumps
oxygenated blood around the body,
the newspaper said.
Kaiser Permanente Offers Health
Education Classes In North Portland
Several classes open to the pub­
lic are being offered in North Port­
land this fall th ro u g h K aiser
Permanente. For registration infor­
mation, call Kaiser Permanente’s
Health Education Department at
(503)286-6816.
Ending a love relationship can
be difficult. Kaiser Permanente’s
“Divorce Adju stm ent "program fo­
cuses on adjustments to make di­
vorce less painful. The eight ses­
sions will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
on Wednesday, from now through
Dec. 20, at Kaiser Permanent’s Ed­
ucation & C o n feren ce C en ter
(Town Hall), 3704 N. Interstate
Ave., Portland. Cost is $80 for
Kaiser Permanente members, $140
for the general public (fee includes
textbook). Please register at least 10
days before the class starts.
Kaiser Permanente's “M anag­
ing Stress and A n x ie ty ” program
can help manage stress which ac-
com paniesthepressuresoflife. The
eight sessions will be from 6:30 to
8.30 p.m. on Thursdays, from now
th ro u g h D ec. 2 1 , at K aiser
Permanente’s North Interstate Ser­
vices Building, 7201 N. Interstate
ave., Portland. Cost is $80 for Kai­
ser Permanente members, $140 for
the general public (fee includes text­
book). Please register at least 10
days before the class starts.
Protect
Your Child
Minority and low-income eld­
erly face greater barriers to care
than other older Americans, despite
almost universal Medicare cover­
age for individuals over 65, accord­
ing to a report released by HHS
Secretary Donna E. Shalala.
Secretary Shalala said new
studies by the Health Care Financ­
ing Administration show that ac­
cess to health services remains high
overall for Medicare beneficiaries.
However, the studies also make clear
that lower socioeconomic status and
race remain risk factors for reduced
use o f certain services paid for by
Medicare.
The report is the fifth in an
annual series. It continues analyses
in previous reports o f racial dispar­
ities in the medical services used by
Medicare beneficiaries. In addition,
this year’s report looks at effects o f
socioeconomic status, independent
o f race.
The report finds higher mortal­
ity and hospitalization rates for black
Medicare beneficiaries, indicating
that health status is lower among
black beneficiaries than for whites.
But in spite o f lower health status,
the data show that the rate o f physi­
cian visits was lower for black ben­
eficiaries than white beneficiaries.
HHS Deputy Secretary Walter
Broadnax, speaking at a conference
with representatives o f Historically
Black Colleges and Universities,
invited researchers at HBCUs to
make use o f Medicare and M edic­
aid data to help better understand
Free Immunizations
Offered In Northeast
Portland Community
Kaiser Permanente, the N eigh­
borhood Health Clinics, Inc., and
Multnomah County Health Depart­
ment, are providing immunizations
at nocost for children living in North/
Northeast Portland.
Immunizations will be offered
on January 6, 1996, as the Mult­
nomah County NE Health Center,
5329 N.E. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Blvd. (park and enter at rearofbuild-
ing)
The immunizations are free to
all children. Parents should bring
th e ir c h ild r e n ’s im m u n iz a tio n
records, if available.
Immunization during the first
two y earso fach ild ’s life iso neofthe
most widely accepted and effective
strategies for improving public health.
The U.S. Public Health Service has
set a chi Idhood immunization goal o f
90% by the year 2000 for the entire
U.S. Population. In Oregon, immu­
nization rates are at 66%*. Immuni­
zation is a low-cost prevention that is
highly effective and vital in the fight
against diseases. By joining togeth­
er, Kaiser Permanente, the Neigh­
borhood Health Clinics, Inc., and
Multnomah County are helping to
improve the health o f children and
the community. For more informa­
tion call (503) 288-5995.
Join In
Celebrating
ahnrntnrv S
Çorrtinar’
Legacy 1/ I Laboratory
ervices’
MetroLab recentely won the con­
tract for substance abuse testing ser­
vices for several Washington state
abuse monitoring, treatment and pre­
vention programs. This is MetroLab’s
largest toxicology contract to date
and will mean a significant increase
in testing volume.
“One o f the main reasons we
obtained this contract is because
w e’re O regon’s largest, federally
certified reference laboratory,” says
Robert K. Velander, M etroL ab’s
Director.
The State o f W a sh in g to n ’s
Treatm ent A lternatives to Street
5|Jortlanù
(©bseruer’s
A N N IV E R S A R Y
Advertise In
(The
(Ob ser uev
Call 503-288-0033
the barriers to care faced by minority
beneficiaries and to aid in overcom­
ing them. Broadnax was speaking at
an HHS-supported conference on
expanding the availability o f data
from the Health Care Financing Ad­
ministration for HBCHs.
“The truth is that just about ev­
ery health care problem in this coun­
try is exacerbated in Black Ameri­
ca," Broadnax said. “ It is time not
only to understand these trends -- it is
time to reverse them, once and for
all.”
“To remove these obstacles to
care, all o f us need to work together
across disciplines and across the
country,” Broadnax said in his speech
to the conference. “ We need to tap
into the deep reservoir o f your expe­
rience and expertise, your ideas and
your insights, so that we can better
serve all Americans.”The conference,
being held today and Thursday in
Atlanta, Ga., is aimed at enhancing
research opportunities for faculty
members at HBCHs by improving
availability o f HHS data on health
care utilization, cost and other is­
sues.
The report also examined the
links between disparities in access
and income differences.
“The patterns o f health care use
which are documented in this report
continue to suggest that black bene­
ficiaries are facing more barriers to
comprehensive, continuous care than
white beneficiaries,” said HCFA
AdministratorBruceC. Vladeck, who
oversees the Medicare program. “Our
analysis also examines the role that
income plays with regard to access
to M edicare-provided services."
Looking at income factors, the
studies found that:
•
The rate o f physician vis­
its declines 18 percent for white
beneficiaries and 12 percent for
black beneficiaries as income de­
creases.
•
Among the lowest income
black beneficiaries, the rates o f use
o f certain procedures usually re­
quiring referrals from general phy­
sicians were lower than the rates for
black beneficiaries at the highest
income levels. These procedures
include coronary artery bypass sur­
gery and coronary angioplasty.
•
Among white beneficia­
ries in the lowest income level, the
rate o f hospitalization for high-
blood pressure was more than twice
as high as the rate for beneficiaries
at the highest income level.
The findings are contained in
HHS’ fifth annual report to Con­
gress on “ Monitoring the Impact of
Medicare Physician Payment Re­
form on Utilization and Access,”
submitted in response to the Omni­
bus Budget Reconciliation Act o f
1989.
Under the act, HHS is required
to monitor and report annually to
Congress on the impact of the imple­
mentation o f the Medicare fee sched­
ule on changes in utilization and ac­
cess, by population groups, geograph­
ic areas, types o f services and possi­
ble sources o f inappropriate care.
MetroLab Named Provider For Large SW
Washington Drug Testing Contract
Crime (TASC) drug abuse preven­
tion program will be one o f the larg­
est drug testing client for MetroLab
and will increase the monthly testing
volume by approximately 5,000 tox­
icology tests.
Says V elan d er, “ W e’ve re ­
cently acquired technical system s
and e q u ip m e n t w ith in c re a se d
c a p a c ity and te stin g s e n s itiv ity .”
T he c o n tra c t w as recen tly a w a rd ­
ed to Legacy w hich had to c o m ­
pete w ith both reg io n al and n a­
tio n al la b o ra to rie s.
MetroLab is part o f Legacy Lab­
oratory Services. MetroLab is ac­
credited for federally mandated drug
testing programs through the Sub­
stance Abuse and Mental Health Ser­
vices Administration’s NIDA certi­
fication. This designation allows the
lab to handle a large variety o f toxi­
cology and forensic urine drug test­
ing and services as well as emergen­
cy/ medical toxicology, therapeutic
drugs and industrial biological test­
ing.'
W ashington’s TASC drug abuse
prevention program operates in six
counties throughout the state o f
Washington: King, Clark, Snoho­
mish, Spokane, Yakima, and Pierce
Counties and will forward to Lega­
cy’s lab tests from all over the state.
Eating Fish Weekly May Foil Heart Attack
■
Program To Trains Minority Medical Students
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation
ic medicine, who are members o f
o f Battle Creek, Michigan recently
g ro u p s
c o n s id e re d
to
be
aw a rd e d a fo u r-y e a r g ra n t o f
underrepresented in medicine by the
$851,587 to National Medical Fel­
Association o f American Medical
lowships, Inc. The grant will under­
Colleges. The first cohort o f 15 fel­
write N M F’s new W.K Kellogg
lows will be selected early in 1996.
C om m u n ity -B ased F e llo w sh ip s
The $10,000 fellowships will
Training Program for Minority M ed­
provide 24-week community-based
ical Students. The goal o f the new
tra in in g e x p e rie n c e s in m odel
fellowship program is to increase the
projects that are part o f major health
number o f primary care physicians
professions education initiatives of
practicing in underserved areas by
the W.K. Kellogg Foundation: the
targeting minority medical students
Community Health Partnerships and
for community-based training dur­
Com m unity-Based Public Health
ing the medical school years.
Projects.
“At a time when much about
Students will serve under the
health care delivery remains unset­
guidance o f senior staff at the com­
tled, virtually everyone agrees on
munity-based facilities, assisting in
one point: there are far too few pri­
health care delivery, community ep­
mary care physicians and other pri­
idemiology, and health education.
mary care practitioners in the sys­
“ P r o v id in g
c o m m u n ity -
tem, particularly in poor urban and
based tra in in g , w hich is not o rd i­
rural areas,” said H. Jack Geiger,
n arily part o f the m edical school
M D .National Medical Fellowships
cu rric u lu m , w ill stre n g th e n the
board member and chairman o f the
p re p a ra tio n o f stu d e n ts in co m ­
fellowship program’s national advi­
m unity m ed icin e, and rein fo rce
sory committee. “ By targeting mi­
th e ir c a re e r in terest in prim ary
nority medicai students, we are able
c a re ,” G eig er said
to give support to exactly those stu­
I he W.K. Kellogg Foundation
dents who are likely to choose to
was establ ished in 1930 to “help peo­
practice in areas o f physician short­
ple help themselves through the prac­
age and among the urban poor.”
tical application of knowledge and
A total of45 fellowships will be
resources to improve their quality o f
awarded, over a three-year period, to
life and that o f future generations.”
second and third-year medical stu­
As a private grant-making organiza­
dents enrolled in accredited U.S.
tion, it provides seed money to non­
schools o f allopathic and osteopath­
profit organizations and institutions
Health Care Access For Medicare
that have identified problems and
designed constructive action pro­
grams aimed at solutions.
M ost fou n d atio n gran ts are
aw arded in areas o f higher ed u ­
catio n ; youth d ev elopm ent; lead­
e rs h ip ;
p h ila n t h r o p y
an d
v o lu n te e rism ; in teg rated , com ­
p re h e n siv e health care system s;
food system s; and rural d e v e lo p ­
m ent. G rants are co n cen trated in
the U nited S tates, Latin A m eri­
ca, the C a rib b e a n , and Southern
A frica.
N a tio n a l M e d ic a l F e llo w ­
sh ip s, Inc. was founded in 1946
to increase the p articip atio n o f
m in o ritie s in m edicine, and p ro ­
m ote an e q u ita b le health care
system N M F has aw arded more
than $33 m illion to over 15,000
men and w om en. In 1995, NMF
rem ains the only n ationw ide, p ri­
vate, n o n p ro fit o rg an izatio n in
the U nited S tates that provides
sc h o la rsh ip and fellow ship aid,
as w ell as e d u catio n and le a d e r­
sh ip o p p o rtu n itie s, to m inority
m en and w om en in m ed icin e
N M F seeks to d evelop m inority
phy sician lead ersh ip in p re v e n ­
tiv e m edicine and health e d u c a ­
tio n , health care, public health
and po licy , su b stan ce abuse re ­
search and treatm en t, b io m e d i­
cal research and academ ic m ed i­
cine.
Eating fish once a week of­
fers protection against heart attack,
researchers said on Tuesday.
A University o f Washington,
Seattle, study added to the growing
amount o f evidence that eating fish is
good for the cardiovascular system
— though no one is sure why.
Researchers studied the diets o f
334 victims o f sudden heart attacks
and 493 people in a control group
who had similar characteristics but
were otherwise healthy. They corre­
lated heart attack risk with fish con­
sumption and the presence in the
body o fa particular type o f fatty acid
found in most fish and shellfish.
The study found m o d erate
amounts o f the fatty acid, called long-
chain n-3, could reduce the risk o f
sudden heart attack sharply — from
roughly two people in 10,000 to few­
er than one in 10,000.
Heart disease is fatal to nearly
one million Americans each year,
ranking it as the nation’s top killer.
More than one-quarter ofthose deaths
occur without warning with the first
heart attack, according to the Amer­
ican Heart Association.
In the current study, published
in the Journal o f the American M ed­
ical Association, researchers asked
questions about subjects’ diets and
also took blood samples to deter­
mine the levels o f n-3 in blood cells.
They determined that moderate lev­
els o f n-3 — corresponding to one
serving o f a so-called fatty-fish such
as salmon each week — was the best
protection against sudden heart at­
tack.
“These particularly polyunsatu­
rated fats get incorporated into cell
membranes, and may aid in heart
cell function,” study author David
Siscovick said in a telephone inter-
v ie w .
The fatty acid from fish may pro­
vide heart cell membranes with the
strength or flexibility to expand and
contract rapidly as the heart beats, he
said. Problems with heart cells could
lead the heart to fibrillate or spasm.
The n-3 substance may also re­
duce the clumping o f blood platelets
and play a role in preventing block­
age o f the arteries, or arteriosclero­
sis, that can trigger heart attacks, the
study said.
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