Page A5
July 31, 2002
Plain Talk on Medicare Offered
The Oregon Medicare Educa
tion Coalition is sponsoring "Plain
Talk about Medicare” meetings
to giv e b e n e fic ia rie s, th e ir
caregivers, and advocates the
opportunity to get information
from experts who represent agen
cies and organizations officially
involved with the Medicare pro-
Good Samaritan Hospital and
Medical Center in the NSC Build
ing Auditorium, 1040 N.W. 22nd
Ave.
No commercial products or
sales are involved. Visit the
OM PRO
W ebsite
at
www.ompro.org for more infor
mation.
gram in Oregon
The meetings are free and no
reservations are necessary.
The next sessions are sched
uled Tuesday, Aug. 6 from 9:30
a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Gateway
Elks Lodge, 711 N.E. 100th Ave.
and Wednesday, Aug. 21 from
9:30a.m. to 11:30a.m. at Legacy
[fit's news or
„robably - -
>"•••_
f Sharing Expertise With the World
Dr. John Handy o f Portland (left) performs a robotic surgery at Providence St. Vincent Medical
Center as three visiting physicians from Mongolia observe the operation. Dr. Handy was
instrumental in bringing the trio to Portland to observe American medical practices following
his own trip to Mongolia last May.
X ¿JAZZ
Hospitals Share Decisions for Stroke
Ä , A ugust 3 - 4 , 2 0 0 2
New registry aimed at improving stroke treatment
(A P) — In a new effort to
im prove care for stroke vic
tims, O regon hospitals will soon
begin sharing detailed m edical
records for stroke treatm ent.
T he project reflects the in
creasingly collaborative efforts
am ong h o sp itals to im prove
perform ance and reduce w ide
v ariatio n s in m edical practice.
S ix te e n O reg o n h o sp ita ls
w e re r e c e n tly a w a r d e d a
$700,000 federal grant to help
pay for the stroke registry, one
o f eight such grants aw arded
by the federal C enters for D is
ease C ontrol and Prevention.
Stroke is a high priority for
the health care industry because
o f its enorm ous toll. It is the
third-highest cause o f death in
the U nited States and a leading
cause o f perm anent disability.
Stroke hospitalizations and
related care cost an estim ated
$17 billion annually. Indirect
costs, such as lost productiv
ity, total $ 13 billion annually.
A bout 750,000 people annu
ally suffer a stroke, and 160,000
die o f stroke or later com plica
tions, according to the A m eri
can H eart A ssociation.
A nd the m ost recent federal
study ranks O reg o n ’ s death rate
as the third-highest in the nation
- w orse than several o f the so-
c a lle d “ stro k e b e lt” sta te s
stretch in g from A rkansas to
G eorgia. T he reasons are un
know n.
Dr. T ed L ow enkopf, one o f
the organizers o f the O regon
registry, says the data could
reveal w hether gaps in the health
care system are partly to blam e
for the state’s high death rate.
Strokes are often a conse-
quence o f untreated high blood
pressure, diabetes o r heart dis
ease. “A re we not m anaging
th o s e
p r o p e r ly ? ”
a sk s
L ow enkopf, a neurologist and
m edical director o f the P rovi
d e n c e S tro k e C e n te r at St.
Vincent.
D elays in seeking and obtain
ing treatm ent are another likely
problem.
B ecau se o f th o se d elay s,
the vast m a jo rity o f stroke
p a tie n ts n atio n w id e m iss the
c h an ce for p o ten tially life sa v
ing tre a tm e n t w ith the c lo t
d is s o lv in g d ru g an d o th e r
em e rg in g th erap ies.
H ospitals in the registry will
be able to rate their care against
others and sort the data to re
veal practices that m ight ac
count fo r above- o r below -av-
erage perform ance.
Join us at the all-new Festival at Gresham Main City Park at the intersection
of Powell Blvd. and Main Avenue in downtown Gresham. Gates open at 2pm
Jenna Mammina &
Darrell Grant
Kevin Mahogany
And more...
Russell Malone & Benny Green
Melissa Walker
Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Rick Braun
T IC K E T S A R E N O W A V A IL A B L E A T A L L
S A F E W A Y /F A S T IX X T IC K E T C E N T E R S .
$15
$25
advance single-day ticket
$20
day-of-show single ticket
advance two-day tickets
Order your tickets today!
1 - 800-992-TIXX or 503-224-8499 or log onto 1
www.fastixx.com. For additional information, please call 503-665-3827.
m th o o d ja z z fe s tiv a l.o r g
Asthma Made Worse by Air Pollution
RBGUE
BORDERS
Local minority children suffer because of environment
Two organizations in the Port
land area have taken action to
raise aw areness about asthm a,
a m edical condition suffered by
m any A frican-A m erican and
H ispanic children and made
worse by air pollution.
S ince w e spend ab o u t 90
p ercen t o f o u r tim e in d o o rs,
and due to the tig h t sealin g
and in su la tin g fo r en erg y sav
ings, th e co n c e n tra tio n o f p o l
lutants we are exposed to daily
may be ev en g re a te r indoors
than o u td o o rs.
M oreover, in com m unities in
north and northeast Portland,
where pollution levels are higher
than other parts o f the city, you
essentially have no clean air to
breathe!
A sthm a is an inflam m atory
lung disease that causes con
striction o f the airw ays, making
it difficult to breathe.
We d o n ’t know w hat causes
asthm a or how to cure it, but we
do know that certain triggers
c a n in c r e a s e s y m p to m s in
people with asthm a. These trig
gers include second-hand smoke
and com m on allergens such as
dust, m old, pollen and pet dan
der.
O ver the past decade, stud
ies have increasingly show n a
significant relationship between
m inority com m unities and high
levels of air pollution.
A dditionally, these findings
coincide with the results o f simi
lar research show ing a higher
incidence o f asthm a in m inori
ties, particularly in A frican-
A m ericans and L atinos. A c
cording to the A m erican Lung
A sso ciatio n ’s ‘M inorities and
A ir P o llu tio n ’ Fact Sheet, 63
percent o f A frican-A m erican
*
children and 69 percent o f H is
panic children live in areas that
do not meet the current national
ozone standards.
A ccording to the Departm ent
o f H um an S e rv ic e s’ O regon
A sthm a Program , in 1999, the
rates o f asthm a in adults with an
income of less than $25,000 was
more than double the rates for
adults with g reater incom es.
Recent studies also find e v i
dence that correlates asthm a
w ith people o f color living in
urban settings.
In light o f these findings, two
o rganizations in the Portland
area have taken action to raise
aw areness about these startling
statistics.
O ne group is the E nviron
m ental Justice A ction G roup,
w hich is a com m unity-based,
m em bership-driven organiza
tion founded by a group o f north
and n o rth east P ortland re si
dents in 1996 to address the
environmental and public health
hazards faced by local residents.
The other group is the A m eri
can Lung A ssociation o f O r
egon and its M aster Home Envi
ronm entalist program . The pro
gram uses trained volunteers to
help people reduce indoor air
pollution. The help is free and is
especially geared to low-income
families who are looking for low
cost or even free solutions to
the indoor air quality problem s.
The M HE program is c u r
rently interested in recruiting
volunteers from the North and
N ortheast Portland neighbor
h oods, e sp e c ia lly people o f
color.
For more inform ation, call
503-924-4094 ext. 18, 1-800-
LUNG-US A or 503-283-7841.
• I
1
NATURES
A*A
MEER&FRANK
If you think your hom e may
contain pollutants and you want
an assessm ent, contact either
organization.
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"89.1
Legicv Mount Hood
M n ira l tenter
iARori jïîjtiœp-
M’UION
Fidelity
National
Title Company
"Smoking doesn’t work
in Oregon.”
I remember walking out of our conference
room and my eyes were literally stinging. My
boss smoked, so everybody felt they had a
right to light up whenever they felt like it.
That was before the Oregon Smokefree
Workplace Law.
Because now smoking doesn't work in Oregon.
And I'm breathing a lot easier.
If you've got questions,
please contact us:
Information About The Law
• Toll-free 1866-621-6107
• www.healthoregon.org/tobacco
• Your county health department
Oregon Tobacco Quitline
• 1-877-27O-STOP
• 1-877-2NO-FUME (Spanish)
• TTY: 1-877-777-6534
If you have a disability and need the
material in an alternate format, call
5 0 3 -7 3 1 -4 2 7 3 (TTY: 5 0 3 -7 3 1 -4 0 3 1 ).
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