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M ay 28, 1997 • T he P ortland O bserver
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Patient care for diverse groups in city & country
Lom a Fairveather o f the Carib
bean W om en’s Health A ssociation
o f New York addresses health care
for an ethnically diverse, inner city
constituency.
Ms. Fainveather will discuss the
association's challenging work de
livering maternal child health and HIV/
AIDS education services to Latinos,
Caribbean Americans and African
Americans in Brooklyn and Queens,
two boroughs in New York City.
Dr. Sandra K. O liver, a Research
Facilitator with Scott and White
Memorial Hospital inTemple, Texas,
examines the role o f telecommunica
tions in facilitating graduate nursing
education and nursing care in rural
central Texas.
Based on distance learning, the
graduate nursing program was es
tablished in 1992 by Scott and White
Memorial Hospital and Texas A&M
College o f Medicine.
It has served important functions
o f advancing nursing education and
patient care in an area o f population
growth and shrinking resources for
health care.
Informatics & Immunization
A full-day workshop explores the
emerging area ofNursing Informatics.
It will focus on increasingly sophis
Early Sign of Alzheimer’s Found
An impaired ability to
remember a tale within a half
hour o f hearing it is the earliest
known marker for Alzheimer’s
disease in individuals aged 80
years and older.
“Verbal memory impair
ment isapresymptomatic sign
of dementia of the Alzheimer’s
type in the oldest old,” write
researchers in the May issue of
the Journal o f the American
Geriatrics Society. Dr. Diane B.
Howieson and colleagues at the
Oregon Health Sciences
University in Portland came to
this conclusion following their
study o f 139 healthy individuals
aged 65 to 104 years.
Most o f the study partici
pants were followed for at least
three years. Each year, the
study subjects were given a
series of neuropsychological
tests to assess their brain
function, as well as magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI)
scans. Eighteen o f them devel
oped some type o f dementia;
16 o f these were diagnosed
with Alzheimer’s disease.
These patients were compared
with 31 nondemented controls,
all of whom were aged 80
years or older.
On the basis o f the test
results, patients who developed
Alzheimer’s dementia were
found to have had “measurable
cognitive decline before the
dementia (became) clinically
evident.” Verbal memory
impairment — especially
trouble remembering two short
stories within a half hour of
hearing them — was specifi
cally noted at the beginning of
the study in the subjects who
went on to develop
Alzheimer’s disease, an aver
age of 2.8 years prior to the
onset o f clinical symptoms.
“Alzheimer’s disease has
an insidious onset, and there
fore, it is expected that there is
a preclinical stage,” write the
researchers. X-ray and other
imaging studies have suggested
that changes in brain cells may
preceded actual symptoms of
the disease by “an extended
period o f years,” they explain.
The authors point out that
the early detection of
Alzheimer’s will be advanta
geous, because “when new
treatments are found for
Alzheimer’s disease, it will be
imperative that treatment be
given at the earliest clinical
signs before further irreparable
damage ensues.”
C ounty health clinics get reprieve
Multnomah County Health Clin-
get based on Ballot Measure 47 that
ics in Gresham and North Portland
will not close on July 1 as previously
planned. The Board o f County Com
missioners has reached an informal
decision to spend $650,000 to keep
the clinics open until Sept. 1 while a
possible funding strategy is co m
pleted.
The money is available due to the
passage o f Ballot M easure 50. The
Board has been considering a bud-
would have required more than $27
m illion incuts.
Under Measure 50, the cut amount
drops to about $24 million.
The additional funding will allow
the Board o f Commissioners to con
sider saving some library, health and
other county services that would
otherwise be cut.
The County is working with pri
vate healthcare providers and the
State ofO regon to develop a plan for
providing health services to unin
sured County residents.
Not closing the clinics on July 1
provides some time to work out the
elements o f the partnership.
A final budget for the coming fis
cal year is expected to be adopted by
June 16. The next public hearing on
the County budget is Wednesday,
June 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Gresham
Public Library, 385 NW Miller.
O re g o n H o u s e p as ses PK U bill
The Oregon House unanimously
passed House Bill 2388 which m an
dates that insurance com panies pay
for medical foods for children with
pheny tketonutna (PKU).
Stroke risks
M ore than 50% o f the people
who are at increased risk for a
stroke are unaw are o f it, a new
study shows.
A national survey o f patients
with high stroke p o tential also
finds that 28% did not recall their
doctors telling them about their
increased risk.
And in a related study, only
about 25% o f stroke patients
correctly see their sym ptom s as
stroke-related.
Findings o f the first stu d y are
based on survey responses o f
more than 1,200 p articip an ts in
the n atio n w id e P a tie n t O u t
com es R esearch Team (PO R T)
study aim ed at stroke p rev en
tion.
“Patients were selected b e
cause they had factors that put
them at increased risk o f having
a stroke,” says study co -author
Dr. Larry G oldstein, associate
professor o f neurology at Duke
U niversity in D urham , N orth
Carolina.
A m ong p articip an ts' stroke
risk factors were atrial fib rilla
tion (a heart rhythm irreg u lar
ity), narrow ing o f the carotid
arteries that feed blood to the
brain, high blood pressure, heart
disease, or a “It is also im portant
that persons w ith this disease
have an o pportunity to p a rtic i
pate in p lanning for their health
care and future,” the O regon team
concludes.
i
PKU is a hereditary disease that
affects about one in 10,000 babies
bom in the US. Because o f their dis
ease, the children lack an enzyme
needed to break down phenylala
nine, an amino acid found in most
food.
W ithout costly nutritional supple
ments, children with PKU experience
a buildup o f phenylalanine.
ticated health care systems requiring
nurses and other health care profes
sionals to apply information man
agement principles to patient care.
The workshop also covers use of
the Internet for health care.
Other sessions review the National
Black Nurses A ssociation’s cam
paign to immunize children and na
tional activities o f the Agency for
Health Care Policy and Research, part
o f the federal Department ofHealth &
Human Services.
In addition to educational ses
sions, featured programs at the five-
day Convention include a panel dis
cussion on assisted suicide and dem
onstrations on health care technol
ogy by Digital Equipment Corpora
tion.
The National League for Nursing
is a leader in advancing the health o f
diverse communities through nurs
ing.
rhe National League for Nursing
Accreditation Commission (NLN AC),
an independent affiliate o f the NLN,
is the official accrediting body o f the
country’s nursing schools.
In order to learn more about NLN,
including convention updates, visit
the league's web site on line at http:/
/222.nln.org.
SIDS linked to cigarette smoke
second-hand mattresses
on a mattress previously used by another infant or adult, Brooke
Infants who sleep on their stomach
w rote. Babies who slept on a used mattress had more than twice the risk
or who are exposed to cigarette smoke
o f SIDS as other infants, though that was not true for those using a
are at greatest risk for sudden infant
death syndrome (SIDS), a new study polyvinyl chloride-covered bed.
The cause o f SIDS is unknown, but it is thought that infants who
confirms. But a surprising finding was
sleep on their stomach in soft bedding are at greater risk because they
that children that slept on second-hand
are re-breathing carbon dioxide-rich air that is trapped in the bedding.
mattresses were at greater risk as well,
Another theory is that household fungi may interact with chemicals
according to a report in the British
released by the fire-retardant plastic covering on some infant m at
M edical Journal.
“However, this increased risk was tresses, releasing toxic gases.
However, the new finding would seem to contradict that hypothesis,
not established for mattresses totally
the authors noted. Because so many parents are now putting infants
coveredby polyvinyl chloride,” reported
to sleep on their back, “parental smoking is currently the most m odi
lead study author Hazel Brooke, the
fiable risk factor in the sudden infant death syndrom e,” according to
executive director o f the Scottish Cot
the report. About two out o f three SIDS deaths could be prevented it
Death Trust at the Royal Hospital for
Sick Children in Glasgow, Scotland. mothers did not smoke during or after pregnancy.
“Sleeping on an old mattress may be a new modifiable risk factor, but
“Sleeping on an old m attress may be
merits
further investigation,” the authors concluded.
important but needs confirm ation be
fore recom m endations can be m ade,”
she wrote. It’s not clear why the type of
mattress would make any difference in
SIDS risk, although polyvinyl chloride,
a type o f plastic, may be cleaner than
other mattresses.
In the new study, Brooke and col
leagues compared 201 children who died
o f SIDS to 276 healthy infants, and
David Everett -1 7 9 7
found that infants who died o f SIDS
were more than five times as likely as
The Portland Development Commission knows that healthy
other babies to have two parents who
and growing small businesses are beneficial to the local
smoked.
economy. Community-based businesses keep jobs and the
The researchers also found that SIDS
wealth generated right in the communities that support them.
babies were nearly seven times as likely
We also know that small and emerging businesses can have
to sleep on their stomachs, thought
trouble finding financing. PDC has been assisting new and
relatively few infants — 9% — in the
expanding businesses for many years and we may be able to
study slept in that position. A massive
help yours too.
SIDS prevention campaign launched in
We offer loan programs that can help with building or equip
the U.K. in the early 1990s has reduced
ment purchases, renovations, tenant improvements, working
the num ber o f babies that are put to bed
capital and more. We may have just what you need to help
face-down. Since then, the num ber o f
your business sprout and grow.
SIDS deaths have dropped.
Call our Business Finance staff at
A similar campaign by the American
823-3321 or 823-3347 to see if your
Academy o f Pediatrics called “Back to
business qualifies for one
Sleep” was followed by a 15% to 20%
of our loan programs.
drop in SIDS deaths in the U.S. since the
program was launched in 1992.
But the British study has uncovered
p< urn A M )
a new potential danger. “A new finding
(X)MM!
was an increased risk o f dying o f the
syndrome for infants who slept at night
Everything you need to know about
North American birds is at your fingertips in the
American Bird Conservancy’s field guide,
All The Birds o f North Am erican
\ first and only guide to successfully organize birds by
field-recognizable, instantly-observable characteristics.
“T all oaks
From
Little Acorns
PDC
GRAND OPENING!!
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3962 NE MLK, Jr. Blvd
Order by phone - 249-7378
Try our unique Baja California Fish Tacos!
WEIMER’S
S/ieciatiata,, ‘Tue
Final Closing Day Sale
TRAVEL STOPS
621 S.E. MLK, Blvd. anc/620 S.E. Grand Ave.
(503) 238-7343 or (503) 238-7347
• Open 24 hours
• Great gas prices
• Convenient store
• Propane
• Wet & dry ice
Serving the greater Portland area fo r 50 years.
50% off
All Merchandise
Month of May Only
All Sales Final
M thru F
8:30am to 5:00pm
3946 N.E. MLK Jr. Blvd.
Phone 281-1217