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July 5, 2017 The Skanner Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 medical expertise – she was one of only two Af- rican American women in her class at Duke Uni- versity — are recounted in her new book, “Hun- dreds of Interlaced Fin- gers: A Kidney Doctor’s Search for the Perfect Match.” When she began writ- ing her intention was to There are still Blacks and people of color in gener- al that are waiting longer, overall, than Whites to get a kidney transplant publish a decision-mak- ing guide to dialysis treatment. But through the suggestion of her lit- erary agent, she weaved in her personal heart- warming story of patient and donor, and later, hus- band and wife. “It makes the book much more appealing to more people, and that’s the point, to get it into the hands of as many folks as possible, and to widen awareness,” said Grubbs. “It’s very much written for a general audience,. This is not just for folks in medicine.” “Hundreds of In- terlaced Fingers” is part-memoir and part- love story, but also goes where few books do through candidly map- ping out the racial dis- parities in the kidney transplant landscape. African Americans and other minorities continually experience lengthy delays in the pro- cess of receiving a new kidney, from tests to di- agnosis and treatment. And while waitlists have slightly improved — due to a systematic change which back-dates pa- tients to when they start- ed dialysis — Grubbs said the situation remains Farming all donated kidneys, ac- cording to Grubbs. On the other hand, while White patients also account for one third of the waitlist, they receive every other kid- ney donated. “The process should be more systematic and not left up to human er- ror or bias,” said Grubbs. “There are lots of in- stances where people could fall through the cracks or simply not be considered.” While Phillips was nearing the top of the transplant list, he re- ceived no clear answers from medical profession- als, which only aggravat- ed his dire situation. Discouraged and fear- ful, Grubbs offered her boyfriend one of her own kidneys. “We had surgery after nine months of dating, but I had made the deci- sion a few months before that,” explained Grubbs. “I knew a living kidney would be the best possi- ble option for him, and I knew that I was clearly very much in love.” Grubbs has since be- come a nephrologist. Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com Charleena Lyles Charles Lyles is greeted by people as they leave a public hearing about his daughter Charleena Lyles’ death at the hands of two Seattle Police officers June 18. The hearing, which was held at Kane Hall at the University of Washington on June 27, was attended by more than 700 people who demanded that things change in the way police interact with the community. Adair cont’d from pg 1 Public Schools, where she served for 47 years. In 2014, she received the President’s Award from the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators. At the close of the school year, Adair is one of two African Amer- ican leaders at PPS to retire last month. Adair began her career with PPS in 1970 as a middle school teacher, before moving to the ranks of principal, and finally to the district level. Adair leaves PPS as the assis- tant superintendent in the Office of Early Learners, Schools and Student Supports. Her achievements include lead- ing key initiatives such as the PK-8 implementation, supervis- ing principals in nearly every cluster of schools, and serving on the governor’s Early Learning Council. Among PPS’s accomplishments in the work of early learning, she cites Oregon’s introduction of full-day kindergarten, as well as the state’s pioneering of the fed- eral head start program. As an unofficial “early learner” herself, Adair said she has always believed in educating at a young age, long before she held a title at the school district “If you give the right kind of “ degree at Portland State Univer- sity, followed by two master’s de- grees – one from the University of Oregon – and a doctorate from Brigham Young University. “There was always the chal- If you give the right kind of energy and level of support to students when their mind is malleable, they’ll do all sorts of phenomenal things... energy and level of support to students when their mind is mal- leable, they’ll do all sorts of phe- nomenal things at much earlier ages,” she said. Her family held that same be- lief. Originally from San Antonio, Adair’s parents — both educators — arrived in Portland when she was three. After Vestal, she attended Madi- son High School. Of the 721 students in her grad- uating class, only five were Afri- can American. Adair’s drive and intelligence earned her a bachelor of science lenge of paying for school, but it was never a matter of whether you were going to go,” she said. With parents that placed a high value on education, Adair is the sixth generation in her family with a master’s degree. “If you get the right circum- stances and you set things right, every kid, every person, can be more successful at whatever it is they want to do,” she said. “That’s how I started and that’s what’s always been with me.” Read the full story at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 and also making sure there are kids’ ac- tivities nearby for adults who come to work and learn at the site, since a lack of child care can be a barrier to volun- teering for some people. “We have a really heavy youth and child engagement direction that we want to go,” Shavers told The Skanner. Johnson and Shavers also work at oth- er sites, assisting with community gar- dens and teaching gardening classes throughout the community. The couple are also cofounders of the Black Food Sovereignty Council, and engaging African Americans and other people of color with their work — in- cluding advocating for more opportu- nities for people of color to grow food and own their own land. “You don’t see a lot of folks of color in urban farming,” Johnson said. Many people who come to volunteer at the farm, she said, have gardened in the past but have lost their yards or community garden spaces due to gen- trification. “Everybody’s looking to grow food because they’re losing that space,” Johnson said. “Even container gardens “ We have a really heavy youth and child engagement direction that we want to go in apartments are not an option to ev- eryone.” Some property managers don’t allow containers, and other spaces just don’t afford enough space or light for even small pots, she said. In addition to working with youth in schools, Johnson and Shavers are work- ing to engage older generations. Mud- BoneGrown is working with Nathan McClintock, an associate professor at Portland State, on a series of inter- views with older people about their gardening practices to document them for posterity. “Our elders are dying off, and I think there’s a lot to learn from old- er folks that’s useful to us,” she said. MudBone Grown was launched in 2016, and was the culmination of years of sacrifice. Johnson and Shavers even moved into a mo- tor home last winter to save money for land. Shantae Johnson, co-owner of MudBone Grown, stands at the Oregon When they were ap- Food Bank’s Unity Farm, where her startup — which also provides proached earlier this education, outreach and advocacy around food justice and urban year to partner with the farming — is now growing food. Oregon Food Bank, it the same site. was a dream come true. “There’s a lot of healing in the soil that “It was an honor to be given such a big can happen,” Johnson told The Skanner space,” said Roberta Eaglehorse-Ortiz, who manages a community garden at News. PHOTO BY CHRISTEN MCCURDY “ bleak. “There are still Blacks and people of color in general that are wait- ing longer, overall, than Whites to get a kidney transplant.” About one third of pa- tients on a kidney trans- plant waitlist are African American, yet they re- ceive only one in five of PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Doctor
