Page A3
November 22, 2000
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BHealth/Education
Portland Community College
Looks to the Future
Randy McEwen
Portland Community College has
named Randy McEwen as its new
vice president o f Administrative Ser
vices and W ing-Kit Chung as asso
ciate vice president o f Financial A f
fairs.
M cE w en has se rv e d as the
college’s director o f Plant Services
the last two years. Chung, as PCC
director o f Financial Services.
“I’m thrilled and honored to have
been chosen,” said McEwen. “I’m
looking forward to providing a supe
rior, high-value service to the college
and leadership that people feel good
about.”
McEwen has experience manag
ing large budgets and directing de
partments. Before his work at PCC, he
was with the Fort James and James
River corporations where he served
in various positions since 1978.
Chung has spent more than nine
years with the college after serving
nine years at the Eugene School Dis
trict and the City o f Eugene.
He holds a m aster’s degree from
O regon State U niversity and a
bachelor’s degree from Southern
Oregon University.
“I’m looking forward to working in
cooperation with Randy,” Chung
said. “I think we both are looking
forward to building a solid founda
tion for the future.”
PCC is the largest institution of
higher learning in the state, serving
more than 940,000 residents in five-
counties.
The college, which enrolls almost
97,000 students annually, has three
comprehensive campuses, including
the Cascade Campus in north Port
land.
Wing-Kit Chung
Alcohol, Genetics Linked to High Blood Pressure
For years physicians have known
that chronic alcohol consumption can
lead to high blood pressure. Now
researchers at Oregon Health Sci
ences University have confirmed
another important factor in the rela
tionship between alcohol and hyper
tension-genetics. “The reason why
this research is so important is that
high blood pressure has been linked
to stokes, cardiovascular disease and
kidney disease,” said Daniel Hatton,
Ph D., an associate professor o f be
havioral neuroscience in O H SU ’s
School o f Medicine. “If we can fur
ther understand this relationship, then
we might have a better chance of
understanding who’s at risk and how
we can treat them. According to
American Heart Association, nearly
50 million Americans older than 6
suffer from high blood pressure,
which also is called hypertension. In
1997 hypertension was the primary or
contributing cause o f death for
210,000Americans.
To understand the relationship be
tween genetics, chronic alcohol con
sum ption and hypertension, re
searchers studied five different
strains ofmice. All the mice in a given
strain were genetically identical, but
each strain was genetically different.
By observing these mice, response
r
to alcohol consumption. The other
strains witnessed a decrease in blood
pressure in response to alcohol con
sumption. The other strains wit
nessed decrease in blood pressure
after ingesting the same amount o f
alcohol; genetics and hypertension
can be witnessed in both species.
Because 80 percent o f the genetics
makeup in mice and humans is iden
tical, scientists believe this same re
lationship between alcohol; genetics
and hypertension can be witnessed
in both species. “The study shows
that individuals can respond differ
ently to given amount o f alcohol,”
said Hatton.
As Winter Approaches, Take
Fireplace Safety Precautions
Now that the cold weather is
upon us, more and more Orego
nians will be turning to their
w oodstoves or fireplaces to
keep warm. But before lighting
the first bundle o f kindling, state
and local fire safety professional
urges you to take the necessary
precautions to ensure that a flue
fire does not occur.
Every year, fire trucks re
spond to chimney and flue fires
that could have been prevented
had the homeowner taken the
time to have his or her fireplace
system inspected.
The most important step is to
clean the stovepipe or chimney
before lighting your first fire o f
the winter. You can do it your
self, but fire officials recom
m end having a professional
chimney sweep do it for you.
The cleaning process involves
special tools o f the trade, such
as a wire brush to clear away
creosote, the sooty buildup that
can ignite, causing the stove
pipe or chimney to heat up over
2000 degrees Fahrenheit, start
ing a flue fire.
Chimney maintenance is vital
to a safe woodstove and fire
place operation, and fire m ar
shals recommend that you have
your chimney inspected annu
ally to cut back on the chances
o f a chim ney fire. These in
tense fires can cause much dam
age, igniting the house inside
and out creating enough smoke
to be deadly to occupants in
doors. If you do not clean your
flue at all, a chim ney fire will
occur. It will begin when the
creosote, which is made up of
tiny unburned particles o f wood
fuel, heats up until it turns bright
red. As air rushes in to oxygen
ate the fire, a loud roaring sound
will be heard inside the stove
pipe. It may shake loose sec
tions o f pipe. Throwing burning
particles and flames into the
house. Should you experience a
flue fire, shut o ff the air supply
to the woodstove, get everyone
out o f the house and call 911.
There are other precautions
to take this tim e o f year besides
making sure your chimney is
creosote-free. Be sure to dis
pose o f ashes properly, in a cov
ered m etal c o n ta in e r. Y ou
should keep the container out
doors at least 3 feet from any
thing flam mable. Also, keep
com bustible materials, such as
furniture, drapes and decora
tions, away from the fireplace
or woodstove itself.
Using a fireplace screen can
also help prevent sparks and
ashes from leaping out o f the
fire and landing on surrounding
furniture and carpet. As always,
vacuum and test smoke alarms
to be certain that they are work
ing properly; it is recommended
that you change the batteries
twice a year and replace smoke
alarms that are more then ten
years old. In Oregon, thousands
o f hom es rely on outd ated
woodstoves or fireplace inserts
installed during the energy cri-
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sis o fth e late 1970’s and many
o f these may not have been
installed or m aintained prop
erly In addition to improper in
stallation, these old stoves pro
duce far more smoke and bum
less efficiently than the m od
em certified woodstove pellet
stoves or non-woodtuming sys
tem s like natural gas.
You may want to check to
see if your woodstove is a cer
tified model by checking on the
back o f the stove for a certifi
cation sticker from the De
partm ent o f Environm ental
Quality (DEQ) or the Environ
m en tal P ro te c tio n A gency
(EPA). If there is no tag, you
have an uncertified, high-pol
luting stove.
Oregon law allows the use
o f woodstoves, uncertified or
not. However, resale or rein
stallation of an uncertified stove
is prohibited.
Homeowners who upgrade
their woodstove should request
that the installer recycle their
old stove. For information about
chim ney sweeping and a list o f
professional chimney sweeps,
check out w w w .ocsa.org. For
m o re
in fo rm a tio n
on
woodstoves and other fireplace
p ro d u c ts, call the O regon
H earth Products Association
at 503-585-8254, or check out
the website: w w w .ohpa.org.
For information on wood smoke
pollution, contact the Oregon
D EQ at 5 0 3 -2 2 9 -5 3 5 9 or
w w w .deq.state.or.us.
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