A pril 11, 2001
Page A5
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B Health/Education
Local Team Keeps Families Child Abuse Free
April is Child Abuse Pre
vention Month, but a local
team of health care and public
safety officials are helping
keep children safe every month
o f the year.
In 1998, Dr. Leila Keltner,
m ed ical d ire c to r o f the
CARES NW child abuse as
sessment center, conceptual
ized an educational program
to teach baby-sitting aged chil
dren in engaging, interactive
ways about shaken baby syn
drome.
From that initial idea. Kids
Preventing Child Abuse was
created in partnership with
Legacy Health System, Or
egon Health Sciences Univer
sity, Portland Public Schools,
Kaiser Permanente and the
- Portland Police Bureau.
“At that time, nearly one
third of the children seen at
CARES NW were abused by
other children,” Keltner said.
proposed to make free,
multi-dimensional, interac
tive presentations to hun
dreds o f children per year
on the topics of shaken baby
syndrome, domestic vio
lence and the effects of
drugs and alcohol on ba
bies. Today, the Kids Pre
venting Child Abuse pre
sentations teach middle and
high school children from
Multnomah, Clackamas and
Washington counties in a
variety of ways.
For example, children will
observe the insides o f a
shaken, uncooked egg; lis
ten to strategies for work
ing with a crying baby; view
X-ray images of the brains
of shaken or injured babies;
view a video showing com
Students from the Portland area listen to a presentation on the topics o f shaken baby syndrome, domestic violence
parative behaviors of drug-
and the effects o f drugs and alcohol on babies:
affected babies and non
“The staff felt that educating consequences of their conduct
save lives.”
drug-affected babies; tour a
preteens and teens about the with younger children would
The CARES NW staff then
neo-natal intensive care unit
to view babies with drug-af
fected complications; and hear
a presentation on domestic
violence from a law enforce
ment officer.
D uring the 1999-2000
school year, approximately
230 students received this
training, but this year, KPCA
will reach nearly 830 ethni-
cally-diverse boys and girls.
“The importance of engag
ing young people in learning
and incorporating these les
sons into their lives is the es
sence of this program,” said
Thomas Aschenbrenner of the
Northwest Health Foundation,
one of the KPCA sponsors.
“It’s amazing to see these
children learn to care for other
children in safe ways.”
For more information on the
Kids Preventing Child Abuse
program, call the Public Rela
tions Department at 503-415-
5725.
Underage Smoking Called
‘Pediatric Disease9
Despite tobacco industry agreement to stop using advertising
icons such as Joe Camel, kids continue to pick up habit
(A P )— T he state attorney general
says the key to saving kids from a
lifelong addiction to nicotine lies in
expanding sm oke-free environm ents,
program s to quit sm oking an d reduc
ing youth access to tobacco prod
ucts.
H ardy M yers offered his recom
m endations last w eek after releasing
a report by his C om m ittee on Kids
and Tobacco.
“ Sm oking, as our state epidem i
ologist says, is a pediatric disease,”
M yers said.
D e sp ite th e to b a c c o in d u stry
agreem ent to stop using advertising
icons such as Joe C am el, kids con
tinue to pick up a habit that could
prem aturely end their ow n lives,
M yers said.
C arson C lover, an A shland teen
w ho attended M yers’ press confer
ence, said the popular cartoon figure
m ay be gone, but tobacco com panies
are still targeting his age group.
“ T h ey ’re trying to get us to be
lifetim e consum ers,” he said.
A c c o rd in g to th e a tto r n e y
g en e ral’s report, roughly 50,000 O r
egon children in grades six through
12 regularly sm oke cigarettes, and 90
percent o f all sm okers w ere hooked
as teens.
But if a child can survive adolescence
without taking up the deadly habit, they
likely never will, Myers said.
Spending m oney on youth pre
vention is the key. “The payoffis that
m ost o f them w ill not start sm oking,”
he said.
M yers said he w ants the L egisla
ture to com m it at least $24 m illion o f
the state’s tobacco settlem ent fund
to prevention. C urrently, the state
spends 30 percent o f the per capita
expenditure recom m ended by the
Centers for D isease Control, or about
$2 per person. The increased funding
w ould boost that level to around $6
per person. Local governm ents have
already taken steps to com bat youth
sm oking and M yers said he d o esn ’t
w ant the state to interfere w ith those
m easures.
“ It’s extrem ely im portant that the
integrity o f that effort be preserved
politically,” he said.
International AIDS Funds Approved
T he U.S. S enate has passed an
am endm ent crafted by Senators. G or
don Sm ith, R -O re. and Bill Frist, R-
Tenn. to increase next y e a r’s funding
for international A ID S /H IV efforts
by $200 million.
T he regions that w ill benefit from
the funds include not only sub-S a
haran A frica but countries in South
and N ear E ast A sia and the form er
Soviet U nion, all o f w hich are cur
rently being overw helm ed by the
epidem ic. T he m easure passed by
unanim ous voice vote.
“ These funds are a crucial part o f
ou r co u n try ’s attem pts to battle d is
ease and alleviate w idespread pain
and suffering for som e o f the w o rld ’s
m ost im poverished regions,” said
Sm ith. “ T he international A ID S cri
sis also im pacts U.S. national secu
rity and econom ic interests. By in
creasing these funds, w e not only
help those suffering from HI V/AIDS,
w e also foster p olitical stability and
econom ic developm ent abroad.”
In addition to providing additional
funds for this y e a r’s budget, the
am endment also increases AIDS/HIV
funding by $500 m illion in 2003.
Spending levels w ill reach m ore than
$ 1 billion dollars annually w ithin the
next two years. L ast year, Senator
Smith authored sim ilar legislation that
provided funding for International
H IV /A ID S efforts in Africa.
H alf o f All US. High School Students Have Access to Guns
(A P )— Nearly half o f the nation’s
high school students have easy access
to guns, and more than one in five high
school boys have taken a weapon to
school in the last year, according to a new
survey. Forty-seven percent o f high
school students said they could obtain a
gun i fthey wanted to, while 22 percent o f
middle school students said they could
get a firearm, according to a nationwide
survey conducted last year by the non
profit, nonpartisan Josephson Institute
ofEthics, based in M anna del Rey, Cali f.
Students who use drugs and alcohol
at school are even more likely to obtain
and cany weapons, the survey o f about
15,800 high school and middle school
students revealed. The survey has a
marginofertor ofplus orminus 3 percent
age points. The study revealed that 19
percent o f high school boys and 9 per
cent o f middle school boys admitted to
being drunkat school within the last year,
compared to 12 percent o f high school
girls and 5 percent o f middle school girls.
While 14percentofhighschool students
and 11 percentofmiddleschoolstudents
reported bringing a weapon to school
within the last twelve months, 48 percent
ofhigh school students and 57 percent of
middle school students who admitted
coming to school drunk said they brought
a weapon to school dunng that period.
The prev alence o f weapons in schools
and a cavalier attitude toward violence
has taken its toll on students’ peace of
mind, the survey showed. More than one
in three high school students surveyed
said they don’t feel safe at school.
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