Page 6
October 14, 2015
New Prices
Effective
May 1, 2014
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$45.00
A small distance/travel
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or
more $30.00 Each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$40.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services) : $25.00
Area/Oriental Rugs:
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool) :
$40.00 Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area:
Additional $10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $69.00
Loveseat: $49.00
Sectional: $109 - $139
Chair or Recliner:
$25 - $49
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services) : $5.00
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Area & Oriental Rug
Cleaning
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
SEE CURRENT FLYER
FOR ADDITIONAL
PRICES & SERVICES
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
O
PINION
Breast Cancer Awareness and Saving Lives
Options and
access improve
outcomes
m arC h. m orial
Breast cancer is the
most common can-
cer among women in
the United States. It
strikes blindly, touch-
ing women of all racial
and ethnic groups. But while race
is not a risk factor for breast can-
cer, black and Hispanic women—
who are less likely to get breast
cancer than white women—are
dying from the devastating dis-
ease at higher rates.
To save thousands more lives,
we must continue to make strides
and improvements in prevention,
diagnosis and treatment, while
comprehensively addressing the
stunning health disparities that
consign so many women of color
to preventable deaths.
The wide disparity in deaths
and survival rates (Black women
have a five-year survival rate of
77 percent in comparison to 90
percent for white women) can be
attributed to a variety of factors—
ranging from biology to access to
by
quality health care.
According to the Black Wom-
en’s Health Imperative, breast
cancer tends to appear in black
women at a younger age and
in more advanced forms.
Women of color are more
likely to be diagnosed with
more aggressive cancers
and later stage breast can-
cers. Because, historically,
black women have been
less likely to get regular
mammograms, their cancers are
more likely to be advanced when
they are finally diagnosed. This
is why screening, and screening
early, matters. While screening
can neither eliminate nor undo
the design of biology, the earlier
you can detect and begin to treat
breast cancer, the lower your risk
of dying.
Women of color—particularly
black women who are 40 percent
more likely to die of breast cancer
than white women—need access
to quality preventative measures
like mammograms to reduce their
risk.
State and private programs that
provide low to no-cost mammo-
grams for women have helped
closed the gap between the health
insurance haves and have-nots.
Through the Affordable Care Act,
obstacles to regular screenings
have practically been eliminated
for all women. Under the ACA,
most health insurers are required
to cover recommended preven-
tative services—including mam-
mograms—at no out-of-pocket
cost.
Despite the increase in access
to screening, women of color also
tend to get follow-up care later
than white women. Black women
often experience follow-up times
of over 60 days after a receiving
an abnormal mammogram result.
When time is of the essence, wait-
ing for follow-up care may lead to
the cancer becoming more aggres-
sive and it may increase its spread
in the body.
Low-income and uninsured
women in the 21 states that re-
fused to expand Medicaid under
the Affordable Care Act are less
likely to have breast and cervi-
cal cancer screenings than other
women. Expanding Medicare in
those states could mean the differ-
ence between finding early stage
cancer when it’s more easily treat-
able and finding it after it becomes
life threatening.
Treatment is another area
where disparities are potential-
ly costing us lives. According to
the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, only 69 percent
of black women start treatment
within 30 days of receiving a
diagnosis of breast cancer, com-
pared to the 83 percent of white
women who begin within 30
days. Black women are also less
likely to receive (or are resistant
to receiving), certain surgeries,
radiation and hormone therapies.
Whiles strides are being made
in medical care women of color
must be educated about their op-
tions and have access—from care
to treatment—to improve their
outcomes.
Think about this: nearly 1,800
fewer black women would die of
breast cancer if death rates were
the same as white women, accord-
ing to the CDC. That’s 1,800 more
birthdays, weddings and gradua-
tions we could all be celebrating
today.
We know what to do, but know-
ing is only half the battle. Sign up
for a mammogram today or en-
courage all the women you know
and love to make that potentially
life-saving appointment.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League.
The Doctrine of Discovery and Junípero Serra
Spanish friar
hailed and
pilloried
r ev . e lizabeth l eung
During his recent visit
to the United States, Pope
Francis pronounced the
18th century Spanish friar,
Junípero Serra a “saint.” Serra
built the first nine of a 21 missions
system across California that
served as religious and military
outpost for assimilating Indige-
nous populations to European cul-
ture and Christianity.
On the day of canonization
Californian American Indians, de-
scendants of the survivors of the
mission system, led by the Ohlone/
Costanoan-Esselen Nation of the
greater Monterey County on whose
ancestral lands the Carmel Mission
stands, called for a day of mourn-
ing, prayer and truth-telling.
Since early 2015, numerous
Indigenous nations and Native
American organizations had called
on the Pope to reverse the process
of canonization, to no avail. In his
speech for Serra’s canonization,
the Pope said that “it is difficult
to judge the past by the criteria of
by
the present.” I think The Atlantic
rightly asked “Is the Pope trying
to redeem colonialism?”
Junípero Serra has
been both hailed and
pilloried as the Co-
lumbus of Califor-
nia. In recent years
many have come to
understand the legacy
of the 15th century
underlies both of these stories
and provides theological and le-
gal support for brutal coloniza-
tion like Columbus’ in the 15th
century, the violent evangelism
of Serra’s mission system in the
18th century, and the continuing
dispossession of Indigenous peo-
ples into the 21st century. It is the
Christian Doctrine of Discovery
and its legacy lives on in federal
Since early 2015, numerous
Indigenous nations and Native
American organizations had called
on the Pope to reverse the process
of canonization, to no avail.
Spanish explorer Christopher Co-
lumbus, who landed in the Carib-
bean, in a new light.
Columbus enslaved and tor-
tured Indigenous people in the
quest for land and gold. People
who support Serra’s canonization
say that, unlike Columbus, Serra
modeled his life on the gospel of
love and actually protected the
California Indians from the mili-
tary authorities.
A common value and rationale
and international laws concerning
the rights of Indigenous peoples.
The concept of discovery rest-
ed on the belief by Christian ex-
plorers that land throughout the
Americas was empty prior to
European arrival, and its inhab-
itants were less than human. For
well-intentioned missionaries like
Serra, their devotion to evangeli-
zation motivated them to convert
native communities to Christian-
ity in accordance with the values
of European nations. But Serra’s
mission systems also resulted in
the decimation of the Indigenous
population. Such was the human
cost of doing good with the back-
ing of imperial power.
Serra’s canonization also rein-
forces a U.S. conquest version of
history that ignores the complex
Mexican history of California. In
the words of Jacqueline Hidalgo,
a Professor of Latina/o Studies
and Religion at Williams Col-
lege, by elevating Serra the Pope
effectively “doubly whitewashed
colonial Christianity by smooth-
ing over the crimes Serra and his
fellow Franciscans committed in
the name of the good and by pro-
mulgating a European immigrant
as the saintly representative of a
Spanish-speaking [Hispanic] pop-
ulation in the U.S. that is by no
means exclusively European.”
Surely we can judge the pres-
ent canonization according to the
criteria of a just and intercultural
vision that we seek for our future.
Let us face our colonizing histo-
ries in this continent and refuse
to wash over the injustices of the
past which continue to echo today.
The Rev. Elizabeth Leung is
minister for racial justice in the
United Church of Christ.