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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 4, 2018)
Boogie at the Waterfront ICE Building Reopens July 4th kicks off Blues Festival Path cleared; protest camp continues See Metro, page 9 ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLVII • Number 26 See Local News, page 3 Established in 1970 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • July 4, 2018 Committed to Cultural Diversity Jason Washington Vickie Naylor (from left), Bernadine Clay, and Donna Maxey look over the walking route as they take part in a unique program blending the physical activity of neighborhood walks with social engagement and reminiscing, a way of slowing mental decline and improving physical health. Memory Walks for Healing OHSU study finds benefits for aging brains by D anny P eterson t he P ortlanD o bserver A unique program blending the phys- ical activity of neighborhood walks with social engagement and reminiscing shows promise as a way of slowing men- tal decline, improving physical health, and even helping black residents and others process the grief associated with displacement from their homes, prelimi- nary assessments and qualitative research shows. The designer of the program is an Af- rican-American assistant professor of neurology at Oregon Health and Sciences University who spent some of her own upbringing in north and northeast Port- land neighborhoods which have become much less diverse because of displace- ment from gentrification. “My interest was in memory and how we remember our experiences, and to communicate moral values, what’s important in life, through our stories,” Raina Croff, told the Portland Observer. Her work involved 21 African Americans 55 or older who were long time residents. Divided into groups of three, they would walk three times a week over six months to pre-designated, one mile routes, many of which are now dramatically changed. Guided by a smart tablet, a GPS-trig- gered “memory marker” that would pop up historic photos, news clippings or oth- er artifacts from the past, the participants would reminisce about their connection to the place, until walking to another “memory marker” which prompted more discussion in 10 minute intervals. Called Sharing History through Ac- tive Reminiscence and Photo imagery, or SHARP, the study focuses on brain health while also serving as a way of preserving the stories of community black elders — the participants’ conversations were re- corded and archived as oral histories. Croff said that physical activity, social engagement, and reminiscencing— have all been proven individually to be good for brain health, “but we wanted to see what happens when we put these modes of healthy brain behaviors together,” she said. The participants included people who were cognitively healthy and those who have experienced mild cognitive impair- ment. The mild cognitive impairment group showed the most improvement, according to a post-study assessment, which Croff said was “promising.” For older African-Americans, brain healthy activities are especially import- ant, Croff said, because members of this group are statistically twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other mental health dementias as the general white population. Disproportionate rates of chronic con- ditions like obesity, diabetes, and hyper- tension probably contribute to the higher impacts, she said, as well as cultural fac- tors like unhealthy eating and inaccessi- bility to quality health information. C ontinueD on P age 5 Deadly Force Review First shooting by PSU campus police kills man D anny P eterson t he P ortlanD o bserver The death of a local black resident and U.S. veteran killed Friday while trying to break-up a fight outside a bar adjacent to Portland State University and marking PSU’s first officer-involved shooting has drawn fierce protests, outcries from the victim’s friends and family and a reignit- ed a debate of whether PSU should have armed officers in the first place. The victim, Jason Washington, was a 45-year-old Navy veteran, father, grandfa- ther, and postal worker. The campus police officers involved have been identified as Shawn McKenzie and James Dewey. Both were placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. Multiple witnesses reported that Wash- ington was trying to break up a fight out- side the Cheerful Tortoise at 1939 S.W. Sixth Ave. around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, June 27 when he was shot. The PSU of- ficers were responding to the disturbance. Cell phone footage captured by a by- stander showed a crowd of men physical- ly pushing each other and falling to the by
