Page A6
APRIL 15, 1998
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A n y w h ere in the U S A !
A sk me how ?
Eartha Kitt, Dr. Billy Taylor A n d Andrew Young
Are Profiled In “Ageless Heroes, ”
Joe Paterno, Helen Thom as,
M erce C unningham , Among
Those Spotlighted
Ageless Heroes, a one-hour
speeial capturing the spirit, vi
tality and potential o f men and
w om en who have achieved
success and continue to do so
beyond the age o f 65, will be
telecast on I’BS, W ednesday.
April 29, 1998 (9 :0 0 -1 ():()() PM,
E l ) (cheek local listings).
Among the "h ero es” to he sa
luted are singer/dancer/actress
Eartha Kitt; jazz m usician l)r.
Billy Taylor; and civil rights ac
tivist and form er ll.N . A m bassa
dor Andrew Young.
Ageless Heroes was directed,
produced and w ritten by Bud
G reenspan, Emmy and Peabody
A w ard-w inning film maker rec
ognized internationally for his
in spirational film s and books
about the Olym pics and its ath
letes. KCE l/llo lly wood is the
presenting station.
The film is fully funded by
the Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Association and the independent
Blue Cross and Blue Shield com
panies.
Campaign Helps Reduce SIDS Deaths
Call 1-800-683-4238 for JeUil.
“A SA V IN G S YOU C A N SEE"!
Ageless Heroes. Award-winning jazz musician and educator Dr. Billy Taylor (left), legendary entertainer Eartha Kitt (Center), and Andrew
Young (right) former Mayor o f Atlanta and civil rights activist, are three of the men and women profiled in "Ageless Heroes," a one-hour
special challenging the myths and misconceptions of life after 65.
Photo credits: left: Carol Weinberg: center: Jesse Frohman
n.iSN <Mruwi«
This month Oregon joins other
states across the nation in the annual
"Back to Sleep" public awareness
campaign aimed at preventing Sud
den Infant Syndrome.
•SOME BOO-BOOS, A KISS CAN'T FIX.
Over the past four years. Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) rates
have been cut nearly in half. In
Oregon the number o f SIDS eases
fell from 91 in 1993 to 52 in 1996.
The reduction is attributed, in part, to
the "Back to Sleep” campaign.
“ Back to Sleep" encourages
parents and caregivers to place
infants on their back when put-
ting them to sleep. The impact o f
this sim ple intervention in re
d u cin g SID S death has been
d o cu m en ted in n u m erous re
search studies.
Regence BlueShield Introduces a New
Managed Care Plan
Regence BlueShield plans to
launch a new managed care plan
this April, a move the company says
delivers on its pledge to respond to
marketplace needs with innovative
ideas.
Bryan Heinrich, the company’s
executive director, said the man
aged care plan, called RegeneeCare,
will be available in most of Western
Washington this April. The new
plan, a wholly-owned subsidiary <
Regence BlueShield, replaces tl
company’s “HMO Washington.’
The plan will feature:
* Dedicated member service
teams;
* A 24-hour nurse line;
* Strong, traditional HMO ben
efits;
* No deductibles;
* Coverage while traveling
When King County Medical Blue
Shield and Pierce County Medical
Bureau, Inc. merged last year, the
new company promised it would be
gin immediately to find ways to bet
ter serve customers with new and
innovative products.
"When we looked at the different
plans we were able to offer our cus
tomers, we knew we needed to go
back to the drawing board on HMO
Washington,” Heinrich said. “So,
we wen, directly to our customers
and asked them what they wanted in
a managed care plan
and that’s
how we built RegeneeCare.”
Heinrich also emphasized that
RegeneeCare now gives his com
pany a second managed care plan
that can be offered alongside Selec
tions, Regence BlueShield’s fast
growing point-of-service plan. More
than 350,000 Washington residents
are now covered under Regence
BlueShield Selections.
“Employers want choices
and
they need to be quality choices that
are cost efficient and still offer the
benefits their employees need to
keep themselves and their families
healthy,” Heinrich said. “With
RegeneeCare, we have the perfect
product companion for Selections.
So, when an employer is looking for
health plan offerings, we become
the perfect one-stop shoppi ng expe
rience
for managed care plans
like RegeneeCare and Selections, in
addition to our preferred or tradi
tional plans and our dental cover-
age.
Regence BlueShield is the lead
ing health plan in Washington, pro
viding health care coverage to more
than 1.1 million subscribers in King,
Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap, Clallam,
Cowlitz, Columbia, Grays Harbor,
Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, Pacific,
Thurston, Wahkiakum, Walla Walla
and Yakima counties.
Tobacco’s threats carry less
weight in Senate
Polio. Measles. D ip h th e ria . W hooping Cough. The fact is, once a child contracts a scary
disease like this, there's not much a parent can do. It's up to the doctors. And fate. Which makes it
inconceivable that 33% o f Oregon children still aren’t fully immunized by the age o f two.
Yes, School law requires they be immunized by kindergarten. But unfortunately, that law also
creates the perception that it's okay to wait until then People don't realize that waiting puts their
infants at risk lln im m unized infants are not protected Therefore, they are more likely to get
diseases and to have severe side effects from them.
Truth is, 80% o f all vaccines can be given by age two Safely. All it takes is four quick visits to the
doctor Meaning you must follow through with all the shots. They don't have to cost a lot either.
Most important, don't be afraid to ask your doctor, nurse practitioner or health department
questions. And keep track o f your child's im m unization schedule. After all, the one who can best
take care o f your baby is you.
FREE IMMUNIZATIONS AVAILABLE APRIL 19-25.
lo r more inform ation about free clinics in your area call 1-800-SAFENET ( 1-8OO-723-3638) or
in the Portland Metro area call 306-5858. Bring your child's im m unization record to the free
clinic. Call your local health department to see i f chickenpox vaccine w ill be available.
N S O R
The tobacco industry is huffing
and puffing and threatening to blow
down tough anti-smoking legislation,
buttheonce-malleableCongress does
not seem very frightened.
President Bill Clinton, upon his
return from Africa, on Friday morn
ing predicted the cigarette compa
nies will ultimately realize they are
better off accepting a legislative so
lution, even one not to their liking.
“With each new revelation of the
strategies which have been vigor
ously pursued to market cigarettes to
children, I think they have an enor
mous interest in trying to reverse the
record of the past, to try to put this
unforgivablechapter behind them and
to start off on a new path,” Clinton
said.
The industry made another bid to
keep part of that past under wraps on
Friday, again petitioning the Supreme
Court to block the release of 39,000
highly sensitive documents that Min
nesota wants to use in its tobacco
lawsuit, now under way.
The tobacco industry is still push
ing for the deal it negotiated last June
with state attorneys general suing
them. In exchange for $368.5 billion
in payments over 25 years and adver
tising and marketing concessions, the
industry would have gotten immu
nity from class actions and other po
tent lawsuits.
Ironically, the attorneys general
— who took on the gigantic industry
against the odds when Congress
would not — are also still lobbying
for a deal close to what the tobacco
companies want. They fear that if
Congress pushes too hard, legisla
tion will collapse, health concessions
will not get made, kids will keep
smoking. And although they do not
talk about it very much, states would
not get billions in settlement funds.
But the more Congress looked at
the deal the states struck, the less
they liked it. In fact, many Demo
crats and Republicans ended up dis
gusted not just with the June 20 deal,
but with the tobacco industry itself.
“They just don’t deserve any im
munity,” said Sen. Judd Gregg, a
conservative New Hampshire Repub
lican who sponsored a nonbinding
but politically significant resolution
opposingeivil legal immunity forthe
industry. It carried 79-19.
Now, the Congress that has his
torically accepted enormous cam
paign contributions from cigarette
makers, that just last year was whit
tlin g down tobacco taxes for
children’s health and refusing to al
locate money to enforce new teen
smoking rules, is considering anti
smoking legislation so sweeping that
the industry claims it will run them
out of business.
The Senate Commerce Commit
tee this week by a startling 19 -1 vote
approved a bill drafted by Chairman
John McCain, R-Ariz., that would
raise tobacco prices $ 1. 10 a pack in
five years and expand government
regulation of tobacco and nicotine.
Its 25-year price tag is more than
$500 billion.