November 19. 2003
www.portlandobserver.com
Comm itted to Cultural Diversity
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The coalition provides resources for people to gather data, assess and solves their problems.
- Lila Wickham, the county's environmental health manager
Holiday Meal
St. Andrew Catholic Church of
fers free Thanksgiving dinners
from noon to 3 p.m. on Thanks
giving day, Thursday, Nov. 27.
D inner is served at the St.
Andrews Community Center, on
northeast Alberta Street between
8lh and 9,h avenues. For more in
formation, cal 197 I -244-0339.
Home Improvement
The Community Energy Project
holds free workshops on water
conservation and w eatheriza
tion. A workshop on weatheriza
tion is from 6 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 20
at Parkrose High School, 12203
N.E. Shaver St. and from 1 to 3
p.m. on Nov. 22 at Buckman El
ementary School, 320 S.E. I6lh
Ave.
Turkey Trot
Get ready for Thanksgiving din
ner by joining the Oregon Road
Runners Club on a four-mile run/
walk through Washington Park
and the Oregon Zoo. For more
in fo rm a tio n , call o r v isit
www.oregonzoo.com.
Samba Class
)-
The World Dance Office pre
sents an 8-week fall samba work
shop with live music from 6 to
7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thurs
days through Nov. 25. Classes
are at the Peter Stott Center, Room
207. $6. For more information,
call 503-725-5670.
Chimps Gone Wild
Jane Goodall brings enthusiasts
closerto nature with "Wild Chim
panzees,” through May at the
Omni max Theater, 1945 S.E. Wa
ter Ave. Tickets are $8.50. For
m ore
in fo rm a tio n ,
v isit
www.wildchimpanzees.org.
Doors of Creativity
Northwest Medical Teams spon
sors the multi-mediaexhibit “Win
dows of Need, Doors of Hope”
through 18 at the Doubletree Inn,
Lloyd Center. For more informa
tio n ,
v isit
www.nwmedicalteams.org orcall
503-624-1000.
Get in Shape
P rovidence H ealth S ystem s
o f f e r s W e s ts id e f i t n e s s
classe s at 4015 SW M e rc an
tile D riv e , L ak e O sw eg o .
C lasses in clu d e step, ball and
bar, ca rd io m ix, card io step,
g e n tle-p ac ed fitn e ss, group
strength train in g and Tai ch i,
to name a few. F o ra full sched
ule, call 503-574-6595 or visit
w w w .p ro v id e n c e .o rg /
c la s s e s .
Friends with Corduroy
Celebrate Ch i Idren’ s Book Week
at the library with lovable Cordu
roy, one of children’s literature’s
favorite characters. The event is
from 7 to 7:30p.m. Nov. 20.3605
N E 15lhAve.
Wild Oats Wellness
Wild Oats Wellness Center pre
sents free w o rkshops at 3535
N.E. 15th Ave. (at Frem ont) in
S tudio A, upstairs. A talk on
“ Loving W hat is” will be held
from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Dec.
3. A class on H ealing D ep res
sion and A nxiety is from 7:30
p.m . to 9 :30 p.m . Dec. 10 and
a class on the benefits o f cloth
d iap erin g is from 3 to 5 p.m .
Dec. 13. P re -reg ister at 503-
281-3262.
A Healing Song
Sankofaa Health Institute offers a
free diabetes support group from
6to7:30p.m. every third Thursday
at AlbertaSimmonsPlaza,611 N.E.
MartinLuther King Jr. Blvd. For
more information, call 503-285-
24X4
I
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P or i land O bserver
Noelle Dobson, Charles Bishop and Kevin Odell survey unsightly property in the Humboldt neighborhood of north Portland for air quality, trash dumping and overall
livability.
Community Livability Begins At Home
work and changes as well.
A coalition was formed to identify north
and northeast P ortland's environmental
health inside homes and throughout the
neighborhood. The team is backed by the
Multnomah County Health Department, the
Albina Community Development Corp., the
Department of Environmental Quality, North/
Northeast Neighborhood Coalition, Port
land State University and other community
groups and leaders.
They call themselves PACE-EH, the Pro-
Environmental
health surveyed
by J aymee R. C un
T he P ortland O bserver
Health consciousness is a sign o f the
times. The public is bombarded with mes
sages about lowering cholesterol, increas
ing exercise and reducing the waistline. But
building a healthy community takes hard
tocol for Assessing Community Excellence
in Environmental Health.
The group has identified five neighbor
hoods— Humboldt. Vernon, Eliot. King and
Boise— as pilot communitieselectingto make
strides in environmental assessment.
According to Lila Wickham, the county's
environmental health manager, the coalition
provides support for a neighborhood to
identify and solve its own problems.
"The coalition provides resources for
people to gather data, assess and solves
their problems," said Wickham. “W e're a
backbone for them; we provide resources."
PACEofficialsare meeting with community
leaders and the public to help identify prob
lems such as lead paint, moldy walls, pest
infestations, contaminated brown fields, rot
ting leaves and trash, and other problems that
degrade a neighborhood’s health.
Joice Taylor, community services direc
tor for Albina Community Development
continued
on page 116
African American Coalition Honored Ambitious Agenda
The A frican A m erican
Health Coalition was hon
ored with the Crystal Award
for spending well and creat
ing goodwill in the com m u
nity.
The Willamette Valley De
velopment Officers, a non
profit resource group for de
velopment professionals, is
the largest group in Oregon
to recognize excellence in
the nonprofit fund develop
ment field.
The AAHC was rec o g
nized at a reception at the
Oregon Convention Center
earlier this month for its ef
ficient spending in programs
directed at reducing cardio
vascular risk factors among
African A m ericans in the
Portland metro-area.
Meets Reality
Affordable health care
advocates set new priorities
R. C i ti / T he P ortland O bserver
The goals of Oregonians for Health Security have changed drasti
cally since the group's inception a year ago.
Before some lawmakers put the Oregon Health Plan on the chopping
block last January, the organization had inspired plans for bringing
prescription drug coverage to Oregon seniors, expanding health care
access to kids, getting more workers enrolled in health insurance plans
and regulating gifts from pharmacy managers to doctors.
"We started with quite an ambitious agenda . . then the session
starts and reality hits you over the head like a big stick.” said Maribeth
Healey, the group's executive director.
Staff and volunteers began organizing for what they saw as a threat
to the foundation o f health care access to all, especially when several
of their expanded access bills were not even getting a hearing.
“Because everyone thought the health plan was dead, we couldn't
let that happen because you can't look at any kind of expansion if the
whole basis of the health plan is decimated." she said. “We worked to
save the Oregon Health Plan and pass the prescription drug purchasing
pool bill,” Healey said.
The approach was to put a human face on the health care struggle.
Healey and her colleagues gave legislators a “daily dose” of reality by
profiling the medically needy and dropping off the stories and photos
in legislators' mailboxes.
To a limited capacity, the Oregon Health Plan still functions, al
though 85,000 Oregonians are still at risk of losing OHPbenefits if a plan
that raised taxes to balance the state budget is overturned in a potential
referendum election.
The g ro u p 's current struggle is blocking anti-tax advocates from
collecting enough signatures by a Nov. 25 deadline to put the
budget package on the ballot in February.
“When Oregonians know w hat's at stake and they value the Oregon
Health Plan, they will think first before signing the petition and will vote
to support the revenue referrals," Healey said.
by J aymee
Keith Dempsey, Corliss McKeever, Lou Radja, Collaine Faddis,
Kamesha Robinson and Marsha Jordan, staff at the African
American Health Coalition, are awarded the Crystal Award at the
Oregon Convention Center.
Whooping Cough Burgeons in Portland
Whooping cough has been masquerading around
the state as the common cold. With symptoms such
as coughing, sneezing, runny nose and low-grade
fever, it’s easy to mistake a cold for something more
serious.
Oregon Health Dept. officials report that an 11 -
week-old baby died of w hooping cough earlier this
year, and reported cases of the condition are up
significantly from last year.
Oregon Health and Science University has seen 10
cases of whooping cough, called pertussis, this
I
season and several other cases were reported around
the Portland metro area.
Infants are at greatest risk with half o f O regon's
infants being hospitalized and one in every I .(XX)
children younger than I more likely to suffer severe
complications from the disease.
“The fact that we are seeing more cases o f pertus
sis underscores the need for childhood immuniza
tion." said Dr. Paul Cieslak, manager of communicable
disease programs in the Oregon Department of Hu
man Services.