August 30, 2000
Page A3
(Elje ^ìortlanò COhseruer
Portiani»
v /b s e ru e r
Health/Education
PSU’s Senior Adult Learning
Center
announces
Fall
registration for tuition-free
classes for senior adults
CONTRIBUTED STORY
to n
T he P ortland O bserver
Registration for fall Q uarter w ill officially begin Septem ber 20th for O regon
seniors w ho are taking advantage o f tuition-free classes at Portland State
University. The Program is open to any O regon senior aged 65 o r over and they
m ay audit any o f the U niversity’s regular classes at no tuition on a space-
available basis. O ffice hours w ill be from 1 -3 p.m. M onday through T hursday
beginning S eptem ber 20th.
The Senior A dult L earning C enter o f the Institute on A ging w ithin the college
ofU rban and Public A ffairs is located in the new U rban C enter Building (Room
470H ) at fcW 6T h and M ontgom ery in dow ntow n Portland. T he cam pus is
easily accessed by bus and in the future w ill be streetcar accessable as well.
For m ore inform ation contact the Senior A dult L earning C enter at (503) 725-
4739. M essages w ill be returned. Seniors m ay also visit the cam pus.
Participation...an African American necessity
by A vatar
T h e three areas that I stress as a
fitness instructor are consistency,
versatility and focus. Tailoring an
exercise program based on your
level o f fitness w as m entioned in
m y last article.
O ne o f the big disappointm ents
I ’ve had in the last 24 years o f m y
career has been a general lack o f
participation in exercising by the
A frican A m erican com m unity. M y
fellow brothers and sisters, this is
an area that is in bad need o f
developm ent. It is depressing to
see so m any young adults w ho are
out o f shape. V ery plainly, this is
not good.
Let s look at the alarm ing statistics
revealed by the A m erican Stroke
A ssociation:
C a rd io v a sc u la r d ise a se an d
stroke are the leading causes o f death
for African men and women—claiming
the lives o f over 100,000 annually.
Com pared with whites, A frican-
A m e ric a n s d e v e lo p h ig h b lo o d
pressure at an earlier age, and is m ore
severe than any decade o f their life.
As a result, A frican-A m ericans have
a 1.5 times greater rate ofheart disease
and 1.8 tim es rate o f fatal strokes.
68.3 percentofAfrican-American
fem ales are overw eight and 38.2
p e r c e n t a re o b e s e . A fr ic a n -
A m ericans are one o f the least active
groups in term s o f overall physical
inactivity.
T here is a difference betw een being
physically big and being in shape. I
have seen som e big people that are in
shape. I realize that w e all com e in
different sizes and shapes, but m ost
o fu s d o n ’t have a plausible excuse to
b e o u t o f shape. W e o w e it to
ourselves as contributors to a vibrant
com m unity o f people to take pride in
our fitness. T o do otherw ise is to lack
self-love, the greatest love o f all.
I f w e consider that for generations,
our slave forefathers had little to look
forw ard to day after day, but the
sizzling heat o f the sun, the raw -hide
w hip o f the overseer and long row s o f
cotton. B ut ju st as unearned suffering
is red e m p tiv e , the e x p e rie n c e
served to m ake us a stronger race.
Make ap ian for exercising and set
goals. Find the answ ers to w ho,
w hat, w here, and w hen relative to
fitness options; G et a physical,
m ake a schedule, buy som e basic
equipment and get a free trial period
at a health club.
I ’m not saying that you have to
follow m y guidelines strictly, but
get started by yourself or w ith a
partner as soon as possible. W ake
up everybody! It’s tim e to start a
n ew d ay w h ere w e sto p th e
backward thinking and look ahead.
G et out and take the opportunity
to pay y o u rself first by exercising
- it’s a good thing.
Heart analysis finds many die suddenly with no signs
• R esearchers to
Study More Patients
to F ind G enetic
Markers fo r Sudden
Death
CONTRIBUTED STORY
for T hl P ortland O bserver
Some people w ho experience sudden
cardiac death m ay have had no
previous heart sym ptom s and their
p r o b le m m a y n o t h a v e b e e n
detectable to a cardiologist, says a
new study published in Circulation,
the journal o f the A m erican heart
A ssociation. In a first-e v er cadaveric
analysis o f people w hose hearts
su ddenly stopped, research ers at
Portland H ealth Sciences U niversity
and The Edwards Registry in St. Paul,
M inn. Found that about a third o f all
sudden cardiac death patients had
either norm al hearts or nonspecific
abnorm alities that w ould not not
indicate a problem .
“ W hat this tells us is that w e need a
better w ay to diagnose patients early
to determ ine if they m ay have a heart
problem , then get them treatment right
aw ay,’’said Sum eet Chugh, M .D .,
assistant professor o f cardiology in
the O H SU school o f M edicine and
principle investigators o f the study.
F o r the an aly sis, C h u g h an d his
colleagues exam ined 270 hearts from
patients w ho had died o f sudden
cardiac death. T hey also collected
data on the circum stances o f the
patien ts’ death and review ed their
m edical records. In 95 percent o f the
c a se s, th e h e a rts sh o w ed so m e
s tru c tu ra l a b n o rm a lity , su c h as
coronary artery disease, aortic valve
m alform ations; aerial septal defects
or left ventricular hypertrophy. W hile
about tw o-thirds o f these cases could
have been treated b y surgery or
m edications, in another 30 percent o f
the cases the cause o f death m ay or
m ay n ot have been related to the
abnormalities.
T he analysis also found that in five
percent o f overall cases, the patients ’
hearts w ere structurally norm al, and
that about h a lf o f the o f those patients
had never reported a sym ptom o f a
heart problem s. “T hese people may
have h ad a genetic condition that,
w hen com bined w ith another trigger
such as obesity, drug use or epilepsy
caused theirdeath. For cases like
these, w e need to be able to find the
genetic m arkers to identify patients
w ith these susceptibilities.”
C h u g h is n o w w o rk in g w ith
colleagues to design a study using
live patients to identify unknow n
heart problem s. “ W ith inform ation
from the hum an G enom e Project now
p u b lic ly a v a ila b le , w e c a n use
microarray technology to help identify
th ese g en etic m a rk e rs,” he said.
C hugh hopes to develop a registry o f
heart cases in O regon to use this
state as a m odel for studying the
causes o f sudden cardiac death.
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African American think tank
releases HIV guiding principles
C U M JU B LIEBSIQ R l
for T he P ortland O bserver
The A frican A m erican A ID S P olicy and T raining institute announced the
release o fth e U jim a principles: T en G uiding Principles For T he D evelopm ent
o f A frican A m erican H IV /A ID S Policies and Strategic Plans, at an A ID S Panel
s p o n s o re d b y T h e C o n g r e s s io n a l B la c k C a u c u s a n d H o s te d b y
C ongressw om en M axine W aters, (D -C A );
“The R epublican Party has selected their standard bearer this w eek” says Phil
W ilson D irector o f A A A PT I. “A m ericans are about to choose the first
president o f 21 St Century. B ut there is still unfinished 20th century business.
AID S is not over yet, especially in B lack com m unities. It is critical that A ID S
be a part o f the policy debate o f this election season. A frican A m ericans in
particular, m ust develop guiding principle to help us design effective H IV /
AID S policies and action plans.” T he U jim a Principles are based on the 3rd
principle o f K w anzaa, Ujima. It m eans collective w ork and responsibility and
rem inds us o f our obligation to the past present and future. T h U jim a Principles
are m eant to provide a fram ew ork for A frican A m ericans to consider in the
developm ent o f local, regional and national H IV /A ID S policies and strategic
plans. T he ten principles are:
1. Sex, D rugs and Rap. 2. K now the Enem y, K now the V irus. 3. K now your
status. 4. E m pow er W om en and stop m other to child transm ission. 5. Black
M asculinity m ust be redesigned: fatherhood m ust be energized. 6.Provide
healthcare. 7. C orrectional H ealth care m ust be im proved. 8. Stigm a m ust stop
9. V accines m ust be found. 10. Y ou got to have faith.
The A frican A m erican A ID S Policy and T raining Institute is a non-profit
education organization that conducts activities designed to (i) reduce new HIV
infections in A frican-A m erican com m unities, and (ii) increase access to
treatm ent resources and/or (iii) im prove quality o f life for A frican-A m ericans
living with H IV/AIDS.
A A A PTI is the only N ational black H IV T hink T ank in the U nited States.
The A A PTI w ill issue statem ents concerning A ID S in the Black com m unity
every day the D em ocratic N ational C onvention. F or m ore inform ation, or for
the full text o f the ten principles, contact A A A PT I at (213) 353-3610, em ail:
angelao@ aaainstitute.org, or on-line at w w w .blackA ID S .org.
PHDs
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;
H)RjjlKEi2RILANIi_i2BS£RYiR
W ould you like to get a first-hand
lo o k a t so m e o f O re g o n ’s to p
em ployers and in the process develop
a killer resum e?
T hen look no farther than Portland
Com munity College’s Job F air2000 at
the Portland M etropolitan W orkforce
T r a in in g C e n t e r ’s B u ild in g 2
(room l 12),located at 56OON.E.42nd
Ave.
The event, w hich attracted nearly 325
M sto ry ,
M **vure4 On »»wjMR /or,
S,tlLL Ma Y Nqt
But everyone can get the 411 at M c D o n a ld 's
where you
can expand your m ind and fill your stomach. G e t tw o
brand new Little K no w n Black H istory Facts Booklets.
Know ALL
The FacTs
Top Oregon em ployers to greet
jo b seekers at PCC
people to its inaugural fair last year,
w ill take place betw een 11 a.m .an d 4
p.m. on Thursday, Sept 14 and feature
m o re th a n 20 c o m p a n ie s w ith
w orkshops on resum es, interview s
and applications.
“ It gives people an opportunity to
m ake personal contact with employers
w ho are actively looking for people to
fill jo b s,” said Sara Neil, em ploym ent
specialist w ith P C C ’s C ontinuing
Education. “ It also helps connect our
o w n s tu d e n ts w ith p ro s p e c tiv e
em ployers."
*
They re new facts, instead o f the stuff you already know.
But hurry, it all jumps off o n A ugust 25th. Each book is only
$1.29, so supplies w o n 't last long.
With the purchase ot any regular priced menu item Current pnees and
participation based on independent operator decision Pnees may vary
AnD iF y Ou doN't Kn low, noW yoll ,kNow.
st»** y y /
J
;
we love to see you smile"
1 McDonald s Corpc