.APRIL 22, 1998
Haue A8
New Support
For County
School-Based
Health Centers
Regence BlueCross BlueShieldof
Oregon and Providence Health Plan
are partnering with the Multnomah
County Health Department to pro­
vide support to School-based Health
Centers (SB H C ’s) county wide.
Regence BlueCross/BlueShield
will provide $5,000 grants to each o f
the 11 SB H C 's to use over the re­
mainder o f the current school year
while Providence Health Plan has
agreed to pay for the services pro­
vided to their members by SB H C ’s.
Both partnerships will enhance the
delivery o f key services at the health
centers.
The centers, located in seven area
high schools and four middle schools,
provide chronic health care manage­
ment, such as immunizations, repro­
ductive health visits, and manage­
ment o f chronic diseases like asthma
and diabetes to local students. Along
with physicalhealth care, the clinics
also provide com prehensive mental
health services.
H jc $artUiwh O’Mieeruer
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A gravelly vacant lot near Lloyd
Center will soon be transformed by
Kaiser Permanente into a tree-
shaded refuge amid high-rise de­
velopment.
Kaiser Permanente inherited the
old parking lot in 1994 when it
purchased a building at 500 NE
Multnomah Street as its main ad­
ministrative office. Work will be­
gin this spring on turning the quar­
te r-b lo c k se c tio n a lo n g NE
Holladay Street between 6th and
7th Avenues into a park-like set­
ting. The Kaiser Permanente Plaza,
as the 20,000-square-foot space will
be called, will be completed by
early summer.
Barbe West, executive director
o f Kaiser Permanente Northwest,
says, “As the C ity’s density in­
creases, this kind o f accessible green
space becomes more important for
Portlanders.”
A concrete path crossing the
plaza diagonally will lead people
Clinics will offer FREE
Vaccinations Statewide
aw areness cam paign beginning
April 1, as well as holding FREE
immunization clinics throughout
Oregon during April 19-25.
OPIC, a statewide public and
private partnership between health
professionals, health care systems,
business owners, local and national
o rg an izations and governm ent
agencies, has helped generate im ­
m unization aw areness for the last
five years.
“This our strongest effort to
help elim inate illnesses that we
sho u ldn’t be seeing anym ore,”
said O PIC C hairw om an Nancy
Church. “ We hope everyone takes
this tim e to check their ch ild re n ’s
vaccination status, and if neces­
sary, get their child up to date
through their provider or at one
o f the free clinics.”
Southwest Airlines
Sends Doernbecher Kids
On Road w ith Blazers
Children undergoing oncology
treatment visit Disneyland and catch
a Blazers game in Los Angeles
Some very special children went
to Los Angeles and Disneyland cour­
tesy o f Southwest Airlines and the
Blazers. Four Oregon youth who are
currently in various levels o f treat­
ment for cancer at D oernbecher
C hildren’s Hospital and their fami­
lies took a trip to visit Disneyland
and to wateh the Blazers play the
Clippersat the L A. Memorial Sports
Arena. The families were provided
generous accom m odations at the
Anaheim Hilton for easy access to
the Magic Kingdom during theirtwo-
day visit. Following the game the
families also received a hosted re­
ception with the Blazers team at the
Sports Arena.
“This is our second year o f team ­
ing-up with the Blazers to host
these fam ilies, especially the kids,
to a w ell-deserved trip to another
NBA city," said Tara D esrosiers,
area m arketing m anager for South­
I
P
west Airlines. “There isn’t anything
else quite as fulfilling as giving these
kids, their siblings and parents a
little escape during a challenging
time.”
“These families were extremely
excited to be given this opportu­
nity,” said Kathleen Shelton, direc­
tor o f development for Doernbecher
C hildren’s Hospital. “They are all
great Blazers fans and were the offi­
cial cheering section for the Blazers
in Los A ngeles!”
D oernbecher C hildren’s Hospi­
tal treats 80% o f the region’s chil­
dren afflicted by cancer and accepts
families regardless o f ability to pay.
The hospital is preparing to open
their new facility that will replace
the aging, crowded facility that is
currently being used. The new, state-
of-the-art hospital will improve the
medical staff's ability to care for the
children, as well as provide a friend­
lier place forchildrcn and their fami­
lies. Grand opening celebrations for
the hospital begin in May.
C reate
C enter A r ea
er m an en te to
G r e e n O a s is
“Immunize ’9
Campaign”
Chicken Pox. Measles. Mumps.
Hepatitis. Polio. W hat do these
diseases have in com m on? They
are just a few o f the many diseases
that harm our children every year.
W hat’s the worst part about them?
They shouldn’t even exist.
In the era before vaccines, m il­
lions o f American infants died from
these childhood diseases. Even to­
day, more than 33% o f O regon’s
children are still not adequately im­
munized before the age o f two and
are at risk o f serious illness.
To help increase immunization
rates, the Oregon Preschool Immu­
nization Consortium (OPIC), in
partnership with M cD onald’s Res­
taurants o f Oregon and SW W ash­
ington, will sponsor its annual event,
the “ Immunize '98 Campaign.” The
campaign includes a month long
a is e r
in
L loyd
past lawn and birch trees to a paved
area with a circular bench.
“This will be a restful green space
into which nearby office workers,
shoppers and convention goers can
come and relax for a few minutes or
a whole lunch hour,” says West. “ It’s
our way o f being a good neighbor to
the whole Lloyd Center district.”
North Pacific Design o f Portland
drew up the landscape plan for the
plaza. Their design will screen out a
two-story parking garage on the
plaza’s north side with flowering
vines growing up vertical supports.
Sidewalks around the plaza will also
be repaired and additional street trees
planted.
General contractor for the project
is Cascadian Landscapers, Inc., o f
Portland.
Kaiser Permanente is a prepaid,
group practice health maintenance
organization serving the health care
needs o f about 430,000 people in
Oregon and Southwest Washington.
FDA A pproves N ew T est F or P rostate C ancer
A new blood test that more accu­
rately detects prostate cancer has been
approved by the Food and Drug Ad­
ministration (FDA).
Known as the “Free PSA” test,
this screening device can help deter­
mine whether men actual ly have pros­
tate cancer or just a benign prostate
condition.
Baylor College o f Medicine in
Houston was one o f seven medical
centers across the nation that con­
ducted clinical trials o f the test, which
received FDA approval March 11.
“The Free PSA test should reduce
the number o f unnecessary prostate
biopsies and ease the anx iety o f many
men at risk for prostate cancer,” said
Dr. Kevin Slawin, who directed the
clinical trials at the Department o f
Urology’s Baylor Prostate Center.
High levels o f prostate specific
antigen (PSA), a protein produced
by the prostate, can indicate prostate
cancer. But they also can result from
noncancerous conditions.
A PSA level o f zero to four is
considered no or little risk of cancer.
A level greater than 10 is associated
with a high risk.
But men whose total PSA test
measures between 4 and 10 are in a
“gray diagnostic zone,” said Slawin,
N ew G ene F or I nfant
S udden D eath I dentified
The gene responsible for idio­
pathic ventricular fibrillation (IVF)
has been discovered by researchers
at Baylor College o f M edicine in
Houston.
IVF, a heart rhythm disorder that
has caused the deaths o f such fa­
mous athletes as Reggie Lewis, Hank
Gathers and Pete M aravich, often
strikes the young and otherwise
healthy. Each year, IVF causes more
than 300,000 sudden deaths in the
U.S. alone.
"This discovery is likely to lead to
early identification o f individuals at
risk for sudden death and lead to the
development o f new therapies, poten­
tially saving many lives in the future,”
said Towbin. “In many cases, theprob-
lem is due to a genetic abnormality,
leaving family members at risk for the
same untimely outcome,” said Wang,
and assistant professor o f pediatrics.
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ssociation of
director o f the Baylor Prostate Cen­
ter. “This moderately high level might
or might not be due to cancer.”
Because nearly all prostate can­
cers that are detected before the can­
cer has spread outside the prostate
can be cured, many patients with a
moderately elevated PSA have un­
dergone biopsies in an effort to de­
tect cancers at the earliest stage pos­
sible.
The Free PSA test was designed
as a follow-up test to the total PSA
test. “ It is expected to spare many
men an uncomfortable and costly
biopsy when the test results indicate
the moderately high PSA level is due
to benign prostatic hyperplasia, a
common swelling o f the prostate in
older men, rather than cancer,” Slawin
said.
Clinical trials o f the Free PSA test
detected 95 percent o f prostate can­
cers. The cancers not identified by
the test were more likely to be small
and not life-threatening.
The American Cancer Society es­
timates that 184,500 American men
will be diagnosed with prostate can­
cer this year, and more than 39,000
will be killed.
The prostate is a walnut-sized sex
gland in men that makes the fluid that
carries sperm. Surgery is the stan­
dard treatment for prostate cancer,
the second leading cause o f cancer
deaths in men.
Clinical trials o f the Free PSA test
involved 773 men between the ages
o f 50 and 75 who had total PSA
levels between four and 10 and non-
suspicious digital rectal exams. The
test was developed by Hybritech In­
corporated, a subsidiary o f Beckman
Coulter in Fulllerton, Calif.
Celebration!
Celebration o f Life, Love and the coming o f Spring at MeMenamins Kennedy School.
This is one o f our biggest events o f the year! Festivities start at 2:00 on Friday May 1. There
will be live music, an artist fair, a plant sale, May Pole Dancers, Irish Dancers, Jugglers and
Magicians, Bagpipers, balloon artists, and roving minstrels. Kennedy School is located at
5736 NE 33rd, Portland. Parking is located in the rear o f the building and at the old grocery
storeon33rdjustsouthofK illingsw orth. For more information please call (503) 249-3983.
Bands
John Koonce and the Gashogs
Terry Rob
Ralph Archenhold
Jane Doe
Marching Band
7 -10pm
7-10pm
5-7pm
2-5pm
5:3O-8:3Opm
Other performers
Irish Dancers
Magic act
May Pole Dancers
Juggler
Artist and plant sale
Bagpipers
Balloon Artist
4-5:30pm
5-7pm
3:30-5:30
4:30-7:30pm
2-9pm
3:30-6:30pm
4-8pm
MeMenamins Kennedy School
5736 NE 33rd • Portland, Oregon 97211» (503) 249-3983 • fax (503) 288-6559
kennedy@mcmenamins.com