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.