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Page A3
APRIL 29, 1998
(Elje Jlortlanò (ÍMwrtwr
Health ©GCICIICE
Is There A Doctor In The House? If
Not, W hy Not?
B y P rof : M ckinley B ir t
“O f all the forms o f inequality,
injustice in health is the most shock
ing and inhum an.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
I do n ’t know how many mem
bers o f our community are aware of
the fact that we have an extraordi
nary num ber o f young A frican
Americans who are either prepar
ing for or entering the field o f medi
cine - including such disciplines as
biochem istry, pharm acology and
optics, to name a few.
This is a remarkable turn around
from several very discouraging situ
ations I encountered in past years.
Two dates, in particular stand out in
my mind, because in both cases,
rather alarm ing media statistics
proved sufficient to energize me
into an effort to being about a small
change - at least on the local level.
At this point the reader may antici
pate there follows a model(s), and
real-time working models, at that.
Two older and one-in-progress.
In the spring o f 1974, having just
dismissed my m orning urban eco
nomics class at PSU, I took time to
scan each and every page o f the
“Los Angeles Sentinel”, a weekly,
African American newspaper. I was
following the advice given my stu
dents. “Two excellent sources o f
ideas and systems not practiced in
your own territory are out-of-town
newspaper and the 'yellow section’
o f that city’s phone books.”
Several ‘real-tim e’ and success
ful student enterprises had been de
veloped from this approach. This
particular day, my eyes were drawn
to an article captioned, “Program
Encourages Minority Students to
Seek ‘Health Careers’”. The article
described a ‘w ork-study’ program
for university students where they
would be placed not only in local
hospitals and clinics, but at such
support institutions as social services
agencies, pharmacies, laboratories,
etc. Salaries and transportation pro
vided.
The program also incorporated a
number o f disciplines where an early
emphasis on medically-related ex
perience would be o f immense value;
accounting, counseling, psychology
physical therapy and the like. The
program was funded by what was
then “The Department o f Health,
Education and Welfare (H E W.)”,
but 1 found the fact that the entire
nation-wide concept had been de
veloped by one o f A m erica’s most
prominent and dedicated African
American Physicians, Dr. Geraldine
Woods was the moving factor.
You know me. Within an hour, I
was on the phone talking to this
marvelous woman. Evidently she
was impressed by commitment, cer
tainly not by my medical knowl
edge. Within three weeks W ashing
ton had approved a grant for Port
land and Twelve, minority students
were soon enrolled. The ‘host’ orga
nization was not PSU as I had in
tended but this proved to be an ex
cellent learning scene.
My second venture into the medi-
cal field also was spurred by a dis
couraging media headline; this one
in our own Portland, O bserver for
June 3, 1987: “Study finds Severe
Shortage o f Black Health profes
sionals.” This time 1 was better pre
pared for an excursion into the medi
cal field, having been, first, a pa
tient at the Providence Medical
Center and then, a volunteer for
several years.
things went much better this time
for 1 had an opportunity to study
and evaluate the entire system be
fore becoming involved; every de
partment, every discipline and ev
ery support unit. And 1 had taken
the opportunity to interview all the
personnel from the chief adm inis
trator and surgeons to nurses, or
derlies, and maintenance workers.
1 detail this process to the youths
with whom 1 work so that they may
get a better idea o f the necessary
hard work and discipline required
to bring any project to a successful
conclusion.
The end result was that, as de
tailed on page 1 o f the August 26,
1987 edition o f the Portland O b
server, the Providence administra
tion accepted a work-study pro
posal o f mine exactly as submitted.
This time the design was for high
school students, for I had com e to
realize that effective intervention
was going to have to come about
long before the university experi
ence. My first ‘interns’ were from
Benson High School. C ont’d next
week.
Third Annual Black Achievers Recognition Banquet
J u d ith E. N ic h o ls , Ph D .,
C F R E in h e r b o o k G ro w in g
From G o o d T o G re a t h as d e
fin e d th e g e n e r a tio n b o rn in
1 9 7 7 -1 9 9 6 as th e M ille n n iu m
G e n e ra tio n w h e re w e h av e
se iz e d th is te rm . Ju d ith sta te s
the fo llo w in g : “ M in o ritie s w ill
e x e rt m o re in flu e n c e o v e r th e
n a tio n a l a g e n d a as th e p o p u la
tion o f A fric a n -A m e ric a n , H is
p a n ic s, an d A sian A m e ric a n s in
c re a se s fro m s e v e n te e n p e rc e n t
in 1990 to th irty -th re e p e rc e n t
by 2 0 0 0 . In 1990, 1 o u t o f 6
w o rk e rs b e lo n g e d to an eth n ic
m in o rity . By 20 0 0 , th ey w ill be
1 in 3 .”
T he B lack A c h iev ers Program
re c o g n iz e s th e n e c e ssity to train
and m e n to r o u r yo u th fo r the
w o rk fo rc e and b u sin e ss w orld
th a t lies ah ead .
T h e tim e is N O W fo r us as
a d u lts to p re p a re o u r c h ild re n ,
fo llo w in g th e p rogram m otto:
“ E ach O ne M ust R each O ne and
T e a c h O n e .”
T h is e v e n t is to re c o g n iz e A f
ric a n -A m e ric a n s w ho h a v e
a c h ie v e d in th e ir c a re e rs and are
g iv in g back to th e ir c o m m u n ity .
F u rth e rm o re , w e w ill h o n o r and
a w a rd tw o te e n s T h e Y o u th
A c h ie v e r A w ard o f th e y e a r.
P le a se jo in us fo r a fun and e x
c itin g e v e n in g as w e c e le b ra te
o u r . . . T h ir d A n n u a l B la c k
A c h iev ers R eco g n itio n B anquet.
The outer walls and roof are now up on a medical office Kaiser Permanente is building in the 3600
block o f North Interstate Avenue in north Portland. Observing the construction work are Hoffman
Construction's Kelly Rowland, field superintendent, and Ken Pasley, project superintendent.
Kaiser Permanente expects sometime this fall to open the two-story medical building, which has
three stories o f underground parking. Remodeling work on a 20-yearold medical office next door
is slated for completion early next year. Photo by Carole Archer.
//
Overweight Children Need to
"Get O ut O f The House"
O v e r w e ig h t c h ild r e n n e e d to
“ g e t o u t o f th e h o u s e ” a n d e x
e rc is e .
“ In m o st c a s e s , o b e s ity is
n o t s o l e l y d e f i n e d b y th e
a m o u n t o f c a lo r ie s y o u c o n
su m e o r fo o d y o u e a t ,” sa id
B eck y G o rh a m , a re g is te r e d d i
e titia n an d r e s e a r c h n u tr itio n
is t
at
th e
U S D A /A R S
C h ild r e n ’s N u tr itio n R e se a rc h
C e n te r at B a y lo r C o lle g e o f
M e d ic in e in H o u s to n . “ B ut in
ste a d by i n a c tiv ity .”
C o m p u te rs an d v id e o g a m e s
m ean m o re c h ild r e n sta y in
sid e w h e n th e y c o u ld be o u t
sid e b u r n in g o f f c a lo r ie s .
“ W h e n c h ild r e n sit in fro n t
o f a c o m p u te r o r T V s c re e n
th e y te n d to e a t m o re w h ic h
m i g h t c a u s e th e m to g a in
w e ig h t,” said G o rh am . H ere are
so m e e x e rc is e tip s fo r p a re n ts
to re m e m b e r:
* Encourage kids to walk
to and from school if it
is safe.
* Basketball, volleyball,
swimm ing, and biking
are all good forms of
exercise.
* Keep exercise eq u ip
ment in the house, not
in the garage.
* Encourage kids to play
during recess.
* Look for churches or
o th e r o r g a n iz a tio n s
that offer activities for
children.
P a re n ts sh o u ld s tr e s s e x e r
c is e an d n o t d ie ts , w h ic h a re
n o t h e a lth y fo r g ro w in g c h il-
d re n .
T h e b e st p ro g ra m s fo r o v e r
w e ig h t c h ild r e n a re th o s e th a t
in c o r p o r a te lif e tim e h a b its o f
h e a lth y e a tin g and c o n s is te n t
e x e rc is e .
P a re n ts can h e lp by m o d e l
ing th e s e b e h a v io rs an d e x e r
c is in g an d e a tin g r ig h t th e m
s e lv e s .
E n c o u ra g e h e a lth ie r sn a c k s
from the U S D A ’s F ood G u id e
P y ram id fo r w hen c h ild re n get
hom e from sc h o o l, keep the ju n k
food out o f the h o u se or at least
lim it it to o c c a sio n a l tre a ts.
“ T e a c h in g c h ild r e n th e im
p o rta n c e o f g o o d n u tr itio n and
e x e r c is e e a r ly on w ill h e lp
th e m c h o o s e th e r ig h t p a th to a
h e a lth y lif e s ty le w h en th e y b e
c o m e a d u lts ,” sa id G o rh a m .
tr
Third Annual
BLACK ACHIEVERS RECOGNITION BANQUET
Gloria Cabine
Bank M a n a g e r, Wells Fargo
W ednesday , M ay 1 3 , 1 9 9 8
5 : 3 0 pm - S ocial 6 : 4 5 pm - D inner
Kedrich Jackson
Protect M anager. Hewlett Packard
Master of Ceremonies
Ken Boddie
Guest Speaker:
Daniel 0. Bemstine
Melvin D. Oden-Orr
Beverly Edmondson
A ttorney a t Law
Lane-Powell-Spears-Lubersky
Sales, Recruiting & HR Manager, Nike
News Anchor
KOIN-TV
President
Portland State University
Manuel Houston
Owens C orning
Store M a n a g e r, Fred M eyer
D oubletree H otel at the C olumbia R iver
1 4 0 1 N . H ayden I sland D rive
Please RSVP TODA Y at 221-5333
T IVe build strong kids,
Michelle Hurdle
V ice Presldent/Area M a n a g e r
Bank o f A m e rica
V
strong families,
® strong communities.
YMCA
Chastity Pratt
Reporter
The O reg o n ia n
J)