Page A6 ? JJortlanh © hseruer November 10, 2004 Local Artist Hosts Birthday Benefit Local artist Sunshine Dixon will the com m unity one person at a host a benefit for W om en of Pur­ time.” pose and Le Femmes Debutantes Author andcolum nistS. Renee during her birthday celebration Mitchell will be among a group of on Saturday, Nov. 20, from 6-9 special dignitaries attending the p.m. at Reflections Coffee and event. A fashion show will fea­ Bookstore. ture clothes from “Say Say Bou- We all look for mentors growing up and these organizations provide excellent mentors fo r ladies, young and old alike. -Sunshine Dixon “We all look for mentors grow ­ tique” and “Art A laC arte.” There ing up and these organizations will be DJ as well as well as live provide excellent mentors for la­ music provided by Cathy Rhodes, dies, young and old alike," said Sonda Fields, and Tatayana. Food Dixon. “I wanted to honor some wi 11 pro vided by Kei sha ’ s Comer. groups doing things to advance Tickets are $5 and $7 at the door. Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center presents Young A r tis t Showcase Music, Dance, an d Theatre featuring students from Ockiey Green, Beech, a nd Holy Redeemer M iddle Schools photo by M ark W ashington /T hf . P ortland O bserver Randy Dollens o f the Leaf Depot at Stanton Yard, 2929 N. Kerby, encourages Portlanders to turn their leafy trash into rich compost at various leaf depots throughout the city. City Turns Leafs into Compost T h u rs d a y , N o v e m b e r i8 , 2 0 0 4 7 :0 0 p m IFCC Theatre FREE ADMISSION with donation of 3 canned goods Information: (503) 832-4322 R egional A rts & C ulture C ouncil Drug is first culturally- specific medicine **Classe$ are fre e fo r qualified p articip an ts! A fric a n A m e ric a n H e a lth C o a litio n , Inc. Presents for your health, Wellness W ith in REACH Activity Calendar Aerobics Mallory Ave. Christian Church Mon, Wed, Fri, 6-7am, Pierce • 5:30-6:2 Opm, Granville • 6:30-7:30pm, Nickerson Pilates (Contact AAHC) M att Dishman Tue, 8-9pm Stretching/Body Sculpting Low Im pact Aerobics Daniel’s Memorial Church Tue, 7:15-8:15pm, Granville (Class courtesy o f M itt Dishm in) M att Dishman Tue, Thu, 7-8am, Lois W a te r Aerobics (Contact AAHC) Columbia Pool, M att Dishman African Exercise M att Dishman Sat, 10-1 lam, Addo Tai Chi (Contact AAHC) St. John’s Comunity Center Tue, 6:30-7:30pm W a lk in g G r o u p Peninsula Park Sat, 12:30pm, Woods Lloyd Ctr, I st FI. in front of Sears Tue, Thu, 6:30pm, Woods Body Conditioning W ild Oats Market Sat. 9:30-10:30am, Nickerson W eight Ment./Conditioning W h itaker Track Tue, Thu, 9 -1 Oam, Hasan ChicagojStep Classes W ill Resum e Soon Kickboxing Mallory Ave. Christian Church Tue, Thu, 6-7pm, Keller Yoga W ild Oats M arket Tue. Thu, 7:30-8:30pm, Wren Columbia Pool, 7701 N Chautauqua DameTi Memorial Churdi, 1234 NE Killingsworth Malory Ave Otretan Churdi (Gym), 126 NE Alberta Matt Dishman. 77 NE Knott The recycling cost is $1 per carload and $3 per truck or trailer load o r $20 per com m ercial load, with a $1 discount for seniors. O nly leav es w ill be accep ted an o n ly on sc h e d u le d d e p o t d ay s w hich are sch ed u led w ee k ­ en d s at sp e c ific sites th ro u g h D ec. 1 1. N o o th e r y a rd d e b ris is allo w ed and no d u m p in g d u rin g (AP) — A two-drug com bina­ tion pill dramatically reduced deaths among blacks with heart failure, a landmark finding that is expected to lead to government approval of the first medication marketed fora spe­ cific race. Black cardiologists hailed this form o f racial profiling after years in which minorities got short shrift in medical studies. Heart failure affects 5 million Americans, but blacks are 2 1/2 times more likely to develop it. It happens when the heart is too weak to pump effectively, causing fluid to back up in the lungs and leaving people weak and short o f breath. Halfdie within five years of diagno­ sis. Earlier research suggested that standard heart failure drugs called ACE inhibitors do not work as well in blacks, and that blacks may have lower amounts of nitric ox ide, which plays many roles in heart health, in their blood. T w o c h e m ic a ls, iso so rb id e dinitrate and hydralazine, boost this substance, but administering the right dose is complicated when they are prescribed separately. A Mas­ sachusetts biotechnology com - diversity pecific for blacks bl B1D1I dram atically im in proved A tw o-drug com bination pill called J BiDil the survival of blacks with heart failure, which affects 5 million Am ericans Blacks are 2 5 times more likely to get it than whites Drug study results on blacks with severe heart failure IB1D1I Placebo P ercen tag e w ho died S id e effects ■162% H eadache 102% H ospitalized 1, 6 4% 24 4% pany, NitoMed, developed a com ­ bi nation pi 11, B i Di 1, that gets around the problem, but the FDA refused to license it as a new drug because earlier studies involving mostly white patients who got the chem i­ cals separately showed no benefit. But there were tantalizing signs that BiDil helped the few blacks in the studies and NitoMed won a patent to use it just in that minority group. The company then launched a study of 1,050 blacks. H alf o f them got standard heart failure drugs; the other half got those drugs plus the new drugs. The study was Prillt Participate in Democracy Zote Return n u r Pellet t-y nm l or 4»op tf o ff at any l e a f n o tti eeltr YmpjM» '>4/ a locobon ntor ye*. *■* ^jJortlaxxä (©bseruer stopped ahead o f schedule last yes when doctors saw the drug fc African Americansclearly was bei ter. After roughly two years’ use only 6.2 percent o f the patients wh took the drug had died versus 10. percent who got only standan heart failure drugs. That translate to a 43 percent reduction in deaths said Dr. Anne Taylor o f the Univer sity o f M innesota, one o f thi study’s leaders. Only 16.4 percent on the druj required hospitalization for hear failure, versus 24.4 percent o f thi rest. Health Survey Needed Women from the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority are mobilizing to eliminate health insurance dis­ parities in women o f color. As a first step, the group is conducting surveys for African- American women between the ages of 55 and 64. With the infor­ mation gathered, the sorority will then form a focus group to ad­ dress those health insurance dis­ parities. II or older Contact AAHC at S03-4I3-II50 or visit our web site at wwwaahc-portlandorg 29 3% SOURCE Now Fng arxj Journal o! Meacine Peninsula Park, 700 N Portland St John’s Community Center, 8427 N. Central Whitaker Track. NE 42nd & Killingsworth Wild Oats Market. 3535 NE 15th R a c ia l a n d E th n ic A p p r o a c h « » t o C o m m u n it y H e a lt h A Program of Iha African American Health Coalition, Inc Sponwred fty the Center« for D ' U I U Control and Prewtnhon (CDC) 19 2% Dizziness 12 3% “ Please contact AAHC before attending the first class and for more information at 503-413-1850 or kdempsey@aahc-portland.org. Please receive approval from your doctor before beginning exercise class. Must be o ff-h o u rs. For additional inform ation, call th e c i t y ’s le a f lin e a t 5 0 3 - 823-1784 or go to the w ebsite at w w w .tran s.ci.p o rtlan d .o r.u s. New Heart Pill Shows Promise 5 3 4 0 N. Interstate Avenue TriMet Interstate MAX - Yellow Line to Killingsworth Station, or Bus #72 M rjd e possible by Ihe generóos support o f Local residents are encouraged to turn those autum n leaves into high quality com post by bring­ ing the fall debris to one o f the c ity ’s leaf depots. To contact tFi" ^ J n r tla n b ODbserUer Call 503-288-0033 ads@portlandob server.com Women are asked to return the survey by Nov. 23 to the Portland Alumnae Chapter, P.O. Box 4265; Portland, OR 97208. For more information or to get involved, call 503-285-2061.