Alejandro Martinez, the outgoing state vice president of California FHA-HERO, gives a plaque of appreciation to Chef Eyad Joseph, academic director of the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire. The International Culinary School hosted the Professional Food Cooking portion of the FHA-HERO state championship competition Sunday, April 13.
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) FHA-HERO, an organization for high school students interested in careers in home economics-related fields, will hold a state level competition in commercial food preparation Sunday, April 13 at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire.
The California Association of FHA-HERO will hold this competition from about 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. This, and 20 other competitions being held the same day in Riverside, is part of the 2008 California Association FHA-HERO State Leadership Meeting scheduled for April 12-15 in Riverside.
“FHA-HERO provides students with the opportunity to gain leadership, citizenship and career skills,” said Janice DeBenedetti, state FHA-HERO advisor. “We are pleased to have the assistance of the staff of the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire in showcasing and rewarding the talents of some of the top high school chefs in the state.”
Students who will be competing in the Commercial Food Event at the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire are enrolled in either Culinary Arts or Food Service and Hospitality programs at their high schools, DeBenedetti said These programs introduce them to careers in the food service or hospitality industry, and they could further their training at a college such as the International Culinary School.
Student competitors will demonstrate their knowledge and skills using appropriate food service procedures and tools, as well as work habits measuring up to industry standards.
The other state final competitions being held Sunday take place at the Riverside Convention Center, Marriott Hotel and the Mission Inn. These include other food-related competitions, as well as competitions in clothing, child development, hospitality, tourism and recreation, interior design, and other areas.
Also to be held in Riverside, at the Convention Center, are a banquet on Monday, April 14 and an awards ceremony/installation of officers on Tuesday, April 15.
FHA-HERO is the co-curricular leadership and career development component of the Home Economics Careers and Technology (HECT) educational program in California. More than 300,000 students are annually enrolled in HECT programs throughout the state. FHA-HERO provides students with the opportunity to gain leadership, citizenship and career skills. FHA-HERO is coordinated and sponsored by the HECT Education Staff of the California Department of Education.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design, Fashion and Retail Management and Media Arts & Animation. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.
It’s not too late to start classes. Courses begin May 8, with offerings in the days, evenings and on weekends for new and reentry students. For details or a tour of the campus call (909) 915-2100, or go on line to artinstitutes.edu/inlandempire.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of The Art Institutes (artinstitutes.edu) with 40 educational institutions throughout North America providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.
-end-
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
HIGH SCHOOL CULINARIANS TO HOLD STATE LEVEL COMPETITION
Catch Chef Joseph Tonight at Tuesday at 8:30 PM - Inland Empire Focus from on NewsTalk 590 KTIE AM
Chef Eyad Joseph, the culinary director of The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California - Inland Empire (back right) will be the guest with Bill Anthony (back left) and Clifford Cummings tonight, Tuesday at 8:30 PM - Inland Empire Focus from on NewsTalk 590 KTIE AM.
Monday, April 7, 2008
SHOW APPRECIATION OF EMPLOYEES' HARD WORK WITH BASKETFUL OF GOODIES
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) A well-functioning office staff is to their employer what oil is to a smoothly running machine. They strive to keep things running perfectly.
April 23 is Administrative Professionals’ Day, and the perfect opportunity to show appreciation for their hard work. This holiday, along with its related Administrative Professionals’ Week, (April 20-26) has been celebrated since 1952 in recognition of the work administrative professionals do in almost every business office.
The term administrative professionals takes in a wide variety of positions, such as receptionist, secretary or administrative assistant, office manager, file clerk and customer service representative. Many companies also have highly specialized employees who aren’t part of the administrative team, but are equally deserving of recognition.
If you’re stumped on what to give your hard-working employees, The Bountiful Basket, a southern California business that specializes in creating custom designs, has lots of unique ideas.
All good workers deserve a good coffee break, so The Bountiful Basket owner Marilyn Taylor has designed a “For the Perfect Assistant” basket with this in mind. This basket, actually a faux-leather train case, is filled with gourmet snacks such as butter wafers, shortbread cookies, chocolate and caramels, and a tin of coffee, cocoa or tea.
The gift basket also comes with a notepad and picture frame, perfect accessories for the well-organized administrative professional’s desk.
“This gift basket is elegant and sophisticated, like administrative professionals strive to be,” Taylor said. “And it helps them to feel good. What’s more, when they’re done with the snacks, they have a wonderful upscale container to help them stay organized.”
Taylor designed her “For the Perfect Assistant” gift basket with women in mind, as most administrative professionals are women, and most women are fond of sweet confections For male administrative professionals and those bosses who would rather not indulge their employees’ sweet tooth, she has other designs as well.
For a man, Taylor recommends her Gourmet Sampler gift basket. This basket is filled with savory snacks like cheese and crackers, nuts, popcorn, pretzels, mustard and sausage. There’s also coffee and cookies in this basket.
“Men appreciate more savory snacks, so this basket is filled with the things they like,’ she said.
Administrative professionals also crave serenity at the end of their day, and for women, The Bountiful Basket’s Serenity Pampering Gift Basket strives for exactly that. This basket is filled with Taylor’s own Bountiful Spa Therapy line of bath products, including intensive moisturizing hand cream, body wash, bath salts, a luxurious towel and more.
“I think it’s important to let women know they should pamper themselves,” Taylor said.
She noted that men like some of the Bountiful Spa Therapy products as well, so a basket could be tailored for them.
If a boss knows their employees have certain interests outside of work, a themed basket may be best for them, Taylor said. She’s already designed baskets for golfers, sports enthusiasts, gardeners, movie lovers and many others with specific hobbies, and can custom-make baskets as well.
The above gift baskets, as well as many others described on the web site www.thebountifulbasket.com , would also be great gifts for Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day, which aren’t far behind Administrative Professionals’ Day on the calendar. And for those who have a wedding or graduation on their calendars, The Bountiful Basket makes a large variety of baskets sure to please.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
HEALTHY HERITAGE WELLNESS CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON BLACK HEALTH
(RIVERSIDE, Calif.) The fourth annual Healthy Heritage Wellness Conference (www.healthyheritagemovement.com) has set the date of the 2008 conference for July 26 from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. at California Baptist University in Riverside. “This conference is dedicated to improving the overall health and well being of the African American community,” said Phyllis Clark, conference founder and president.
“Many of the diseases that African Americans suffer from are lifestyle related,” Clark said. “If we change our behavior, and change the behavior of the next generation, we can prevent many of these life-shortening health problems. The goal of this conference is to provide African Americans with the tools to make better lifestyles choices.”
A 2005 study of African Americans in San Bernardino County, completed by the African American Health Initiative (AAHI) led by Dr. V. Diane Woods, reported that African Americans in San Bernardino County die 13 years younger than Whites. Many due to lifestyle-preventable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, HIV/AIDS and cancer.
As a member of the AAHI team and surviving daughter of a mother lost to colon cancer, Clark’s experience led her to commit herself to help Black people live longer.
“The Healthy Heritage Conference focuses on the major health and wellness issues in the African American community such as cancer, heart disease and organ failure,” Clark said. The conference also addresses emotional health issues which are often not discussed in the Black community.
“Mental health advocates are finding there are many emotional health issues in the African American home such as alcohol, drug abuse and depression,” Clark said.
The 2008 conference will offer seminars from the nation's leading healthcare professionals, together with free screenings for HIV/AIDS, prostate cancer and blood sugar levels, Clark added.
The 2007 conference featured presentations from nationally renowned healthcare professionals specializing in minority health issues. The keynote speaker was psychologist Dr. Kimlin Ashing-Giwa, director of City of Hope’s Center of Community Alliance for Research & Education.
The 2008 Healthy Heritage Wellness Conference Committee started planning for 2008 last August. The committee includes staff members from Riverside County Public Health Department, the American Cancer Society, the Southern California Witness Project, Inland Agency, Clark Marketing Group, Dameron Communications and many volunteers.
Sponsors for the 2007 conference were First 5 San Bernardino, Abbott Labs, Riverside Community Health Foundation, Novartis, Blood Bank of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties and Kaiser Permanente.
“Although the information is targeted at the African American community, the conference is open to all nationalities,” Clark said.
San Bernardino County 5th District Supervisor Josie Gonzales attended the 2007 conference to gather information for her constituents. Gonzales was one of several elected officials who presented certificates of recognition to Clark at the conference. Clark was also recognized by U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, State Assembly Member Wilmer Amina Carter, Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge and the Rialto City Council.
As a Supervisor, Gonzales sees the financial effects of mid- to low-income families who do not go to the doctor regularly. Many of these families make frequent trips to the emergency room, which is a huge strain on the government, Gonzales said.
“Many of our residents don’t make the commitment to practice health prevention,” Gonzales said. “This transfers into huge costs for the county.”
She said the conference offered area residents a chance to learn about ways to prevent serious health problems and about different health insurance options.
Gonzales added that it was important that Inland Empire residents monitor their health and pay attention to potential health problems.
“When we’re young we think we are never going to get sick,” Gonzales said. “As years pass it may not seem that our health is deteriorating, but there are signs, and we must train ourselves to recognize the symptoms leading to illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.”
Failure to plan for future health problems can have a disastrous effect on personal finances. “One third of all bankruptcies are because of health care costs,” she said.
To join the planning committee, or become a volunteer, sponsor, presenter or vendor for the 2008 Healthy Heritage Wellness Conference call (951) 565-4431 or e-mail hhwcmovement@yahoo.com
IE AFRICAN AMERICAN CHAMBER WILL HONOR BUSINESSES
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) The Inland Empire African-Chamber of Commerce will hold its 18th annual Awards Banquet 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 25 at the Canyon Crest Country Club, 975 Country Club Drive in Riverside.
Awards to be given this year are Youth Entrepreneur of the Year, which will recognize a person between the ages of 16 and 21 who has started his or her own business, and New Entrepreneur of the Year, recognizing the owner of a business that has recently started or a person who is thinking of starting a business.
“This event recognizes African-Americans in business in the Inland Empire,” said Dolores Armstead, Chamber vice president.” “We especially want to give recognition to a young business person and one who is just starting out.”
Keynote speaker is Roland Gilbert, a personal and professional development coach and expert in sales leadership. He formed RNG Consulting Group in 2006, which specializes in helping sales teams market their businesses.
“Our honorees have already accomplished some fantastic things in their businesses,” Armstead said. “And Roland Gilbert will motivate all business owners to reach higher levels of success.”
Admission is $50. Reservations should be made by Friday, April 18.
Call the Inland Empire African-American Chamber of Commerce at (909) 888-5223 for more information, or email info@ieaacc.com
INTERIOR DESIGN STUDENTS CAN NETWORK WITH PROS
(PALM SPRINGS, Calif.) The Palm Springs/Inland Chapter of the American Society of Interior Design (ASID) will host a student Career Day Saturday, April 5 in Corona.
The conference is sponsored by the Palm Springs/Inland, Los Angeles, Orange County and Pasadena chapters of ASID. It takes place at the FLOORCO Design Center showroom, 146 Via Trevizio, Corona from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“I encourage all interior design students and industry professionals to join us for a great networking opportunity,” said Sara Sandoval, academic director for interior design at the Art Institute of California - Inland Empire. “Students interested in interior design will benefit from the networking with dynamic professionals, a wide variety of educational choices and career options in the field.”
The conference is open to students and industry professionals. Student members of ASID may register for $20. Interior design students who are not in ASID may do so for $30, and interior design professionals may register for $40.
For more information about registering, contact Traci Kunz at tkunz@swansoninteriors.com, or by calling (760) 346-5300, or Maria Cruz at mariacrz@yahoo.com or (760) 449-0724.
Participants will find employers to network with and possibly a new job, but this conference offers them much more. Most importantly, they will have an opportunity to learn from interior design experts in Southern California about current topics in the field.
There will also be at least one speaker whose expertise is in helping people find jobs. Scott Saunders, director of career services for the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire, will discuss strategies for finding employment, including networking in the hidden job market.
“Especially in the field of interior design, at least 50 to 80 percent of the open positions are hidden, meaning they are not publicly posted,” Saunders said. “My presentation will show them how to network in the hidden job market by making industry contacts and by working with organizations such as ASID.”
Other topics to be addressed by industry professionals include green design, how to obtain required state certifications, and contemporary design techniques. There will also be keynote speakers, product tours and vendor booths.
Lunch is served during the conference, and the last two hours are dedicated to a “social networking event.” During this event, there will be an expanded vendor display of potential employers, live music, wine tasting and an opportunity to network with students and industry professionals. Many of these professionals, including Sandoval from the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire, will be available to critique resumes or answer questions about the industry.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design, Fashion and Retail Management and Media Arts & Animation. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of the Art Institutes (artinstitutes.edu) with 40 educational institutions throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary professionals.
For more information about the Art Institute or a tour, call (909) 915-2100.
FASHION AND RETAIL MANAGEMENT COMES TO THE I.E.
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.)– Have you ever dreamed of marketing your own line of clothes? Do you want to decide what hot fashion looks will show up in Nordstrom’s, Macy’s and other top fashion retailers?
The Art Institute of California-Inland Empire (www.artinstitutes.edu/inlandempire) is offering a new degree program in Fashion and Retail Management that will allow students to learn the inner workings of the fashion business. With the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire’s year-round schedule, students could obtain this bachelor’s degree in three years.
“We finally have a program right in our back yard,” said Phyllis Clark, who has worked in fashion merchandising for more than 20 years and serves as a member of the new major’s program advisory committee. “Students in the Inland Empire will have a very exciting opportunity to study fashion merchandising and retailing as a career.”
The Inland Empire needs a qualified labor force in the fashion industry, Clark said, because there are a growing number of large, upscale retail centers in the two-county area. A few of these are Victoria Gardens and the Ontario Mills Outlet Mall in the west San Bernardino Valley, the Galleria at Tyler and Riverside Plaza in Riverside and the Cabazon Outlet Mall in Cabazon and El Paseo in Palm Desert.
Now that the fashion and retail management program has begun, Clark said, the Art Institute also plans to expose others to the world of fashion by bringing in speakers and staging fashion shows.
“They have an important and necessary role in the fashion landscape of the Inland Empire,” she said.
“Anyone who would love to have a job in fashion or retail management should study in this new major at the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire,” said Jerry Foust, Dean of Academic Affairs. “We focus on entry level careers, and our new degree program will give students the skills necessary to enter the world of fashion and retail management.”
The program provides a broad-based general education, then offers specialized courses in marketing, fashion design and retail management. Topics students will learn include retail marketing, designing fashion portfolios, staging fashion shows and predicting fashion trends, to name a few.
As with all of the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire degree programs, the fashion and retail management courses will be taught by instructors who have worked in the field. One of the program’s instructors is Robert Delgadillo, who designs advertisements for the chic and upscale Beverly Hills clothing boutique, Kitson. Delgadillo is also an instructor in the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire’s graphic arts department.
You can start classes before summer at the Art Institute. The next sessions begin May 8. For more information, or for a tour of the campus, call (909) 915-2100.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design, Fashion and Retail Management and Media Arts & Animation. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of the Art Institutes (artinstitutes.edu) with 40 educational institutions throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary professionals.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
BEAUTIFUL CUSTOM GIFT BASKETS NET PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR MAKER
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) Gift baskets filled to overflowing with gourmet goodies, pampering products or specialty items a company can use to market itself, have garnered a high award for Marilyn Taylor, owner of The Bountiful Basket.
Rave Reviews! magazine has named this Southern California business one of the Top 50 Gift Basket Businesses in the United States. The award recognizes The Bountiful Basket as one of the major gift basket makers based on Taylor and her team’s dedication to her business, the creativity of her customized baskets and the wide variety of upscale products included in them.
“This is a prestigious award,” Taylor said. “Rave Reviews! is an upscale magazine that caters to advanced basket designers serving a high-end clientele.”
This is the third time Taylor's has been named a Top 50 Gift Basket Business. In 2005and 2006, Gift Basket Review magazine named her to its Top 50. This magazine caters to both professional gift basket designers such as Taylor, and to those who design gift baskets as a hobby.
Before being named to Rave Reviews! Top 50, Taylor completed a detailed questionnaire. It asked about the types of baskets she designs, which are the best sellers and how she markets her baskets.
“Some gift basket retailers don’t design their own baskets, but order shipments from large foreign suppliers then resell them,” Taylor said. “We take great pride and pleasure in designing our customers’ gift baskets ourselves.
“Our biggest competitor is Costco. People can go there and see 20 baskets all the same, with no personality.”
“For the same price they can have a beautiful unique basket custom designed for their recipient, delivered to their customer’s or loved one’s door.”
Taylor does half of her business on the web, and will ship orders all over the world. Many of her customers are out of state; one of her biggest clients is in Texas and a large number of orders come from New Jersey and New York.
Since 1995, Taylor has made a career out of designing her own gift baskets. Her team scours trade shows and elsewhere looking for gourmet foods and uniquely shaped baskets. They have more than 500 different products that can be used to create a specially designed gift, many of which can’t be found anywhere else in the local area.
What’s more, the baskets and other gift containers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
For instance, she discovered a company that hand makes baskets in the shape of states, and uses a California-shaped basket to hold an assortment of products native to the state, including chocolates manufactured locally.
“We have a wonderful variety of made-in-California products that are not found in any grocery stores,” Taylor said.
About four years ago, they started designing children’s baskets, and now sell many of them to families with children at Loma Linda Children’s Hospital and other hospitals throughout the United States. These baskets are filled with interactive toys, games and books.
“I search the globe for things that get children to use their minds,” she said. “It’s hard to find things that aren’t video games or otherwise keep them in their own zone.”
Earlier this year, one of her top-selling kids’ baskets included Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.
For adults, both men and women, many of her best-selling baskets contain her Bountiful Spa Therapy line of lotions and other items for the bath. She developed this line after sampling hundreds of similar products and finding none that were “just right.”
Other baskets could be filled with coffee, cookies, chocolates, savory snacks, fruit or many other choices.
At the website, www.thebountifulbasket.com Taylor has dozens of examples to choose from, $10 to $500. These are grouped by themes such as holidays, corporate, children’s and teenagers’ baskets, college students’ designs and gifts with different varieties of products.
But, if none of those designs are exactly what you’re looking for, The Bountiful Basket can custom-make the perfect gift that you will be proud to give and will fit within your budget.
“If someone is allergic to peanuts, we won’t put that in there,” she said. “Or if they would rather have tea than coffee, we can accommodate that.”
She also encourages businesses to include their own products in their gift baskets. And she can imprint names and custom messages on the ribbons that adorn the baskets, for an even more personalized and professional touch.
How do you create an award-winning business from the Inland Empire?
“We treat every customer as though they’re a business next door and they come back again and again,” she said. “Our business is our passion and it shows in every gift we create.”
For more information about The Bountiful Basket, call (909) 425-2203 or visit www.thebountifulbasket.com
ART INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA - INLAND EMPIRE PRESIDENT WINS AWARD FOR ART LEADERSHIP
Art Institute of California-Inland Empire president Byron Chung has been recognized for arts leadership.
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) – The Inland Valley News has named Byron Chung, president of the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire, as the region’s Outstanding Leader in the Arts for the Inland Empire.
Chung, a Chino Hills resident, was chosen from a competitive field of highly qualified candidates for one of the 11th Annual Celebration of Excellence awards. These honors recognize leaders who have made a positive impact in the Inland Empire and the Inland Valley.
“I’m honored to receive the award,” Chung said. “However, I feel it is a culmination of the hard work everyone here has done over the last few years to build this wonderful school for young artists to develop.”
This year’s awards program is sponsored by The Inland Valley News. Leaders in Arts, Business, Civics, Community Activism, Community Service, Education, Religion and Youth Leadership will be recognized.
Chung and other honorees will receive their awards April 19 at the 11th Annual Celebration of Excellence Awards Gala at the Avalon Ballroom at The Fairplex, Pomona.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design and Media Arts & Animation and Fashion and Retail Marketing. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.
It’s not too late to start classes. Courses begin March 31, with offerings in the days, evenings and on weekends for new and reentry students. For details or a tour of the campus call (909) 915-2100, or go on line to artinstitutes.edu/inlandempire.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of The Art Institutes (artinstitutes.edu) with 38 educational institutions throughout North America providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES BRING SERIOUS HEALTH CONSEQUENCES
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) Blacks in the Inland Empire live with environmental stresses that could have serious consequences for their health, including premature death.
Dr. V. Diane Woods, founding president and CEO of the African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County, has tried to persuade people of this for years. Dr. Woods designed and conducted a countywide health planning project from 2003 to 2005, funded by The California Endowment, called the African American Health Initiative Planning Project.
The study was to investigate from the perspective of Americans of African ancestry in San Bernardino County why they have the poorest health outcomes of all ethnic groups. More African Americans die from the leading causes of death such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and HIV/AIDS than any other group. Even African American infants die two to three times more often than other infants.
Statistics for San Bernardino County show that Americans of African ancestry die 13 years earlier than Whites. “Simply put, African American males die at an average age of 56, and African American females die at an average age of 62,” said Dr. Woods. Since then, the African American Health Institute was created in January 2006, and has been working to combat this statistic.
Now, two documentary filmmakers, Larry Adleman and Llew Smith, have taken a look at health data affecting all races from across the country. The result of the filmmakers’ investigation, a four-part series called Unnatural Causes, airs soon on the PBS network.
Unnatural Causes concludes that lower incomes, racism and other external stresses put people at the greatest risk of health problems. These causes that are outside of a person, and can’t easily be changed by one’s own initiative, are more likely than biology or bad choices to make a person sick.
Los Angeles affiliate KCET will show the documentary on four consecutive Sundays in April, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. April. 6, 13 and 27, and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. April 20. San Bernardino affiliate KVCR is tentatively scheduled to show the documentary starting July 8, and air at 9 p.m. July 8, July 15, July 22 and July 29.
“What I like about this series is we have collected our local data. Our results overwhelmingly point to multiple factors in San Bernardino County other than biology and bad choices that lead to persistent trends of premature death for Americans of African ancestry,” said Dr. Woods. “Now public health experts across America support our findings with mounting scientific evidence. Our local situation mirrors the nationwide situation.”
Dr. Woods learned of this film in 2006, and immediately signed the African American Health Institute to be a partner organization with the filmmakers. Many healthcare organizations in the country have joined this partnership, as have national organizations such as the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the National Association of County and City Health Official (NACCHO), and the American Public Health Association (APHA). The complete list can be viewed at www.unnaturalcauses.org.
As one of the partner organizations, the African American Health Institute held a preview screening of the documentary on Thursday, April 20 at the Norman C. Feldheym Library in San Bernardino. The segment Dr. Woods chose to preview shows how environmental changes over the 20th Century led to a high increase in diabetes and other health problems among two Native American tribes -- the Tohonos and the Pimas -- on reservations in Arizona.
At the preview, Dr. Woods discussed concerns both the series and her organization have raised. There are similarities between the health problems of the Native Americans now living on reservations, and those of Blacks living in the Inland Empire, she said.
Historically, the Native Americans in Arizona lived off their land, the Tohonos eating native vegetation that grew abundantly and the Pimas developing an elaborate irrigation system to draw water from a nearby river for their crops. Both tribes ate healthyly and got lots of exercise. There was absolutely no diabetes among them during this time.
But starting in about 1890, White settlers in Arizona had increased the demand for water so much, the river by the Pimas had run dry and the Tohono’s area was a desert wasteland. A dam built during the Calvin Coolidge administration promised more water for the Pimas, but they saw very little. Instead, because of overt discrimination practiced then, most of that water was diverted to resorts, golf courses and wealthy Whites-only suburbs.
“This is a part of the sad history of America,” said Woods. “The ultimate travesty is that most people do not stop to think about the physical and mental devastation this environmental change has brought to a proud, self-sufficient people, the Native Americans.”
The Native Americans, stripped of their livelihood, had to rely on surplus commodities distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Usually these commodities are white flour, cheese, lard or other fats and canned food. “Not foods for a healthy diet,” Woods said.
The video points out that while fry bread is now regarded as traditional Native American cuisine, it is not. It is what the early 20th Century Arizonans living on the reservations often made with their commodities, which was all they had. Their typical diet was much healthier.
“Here in the 21st Century Inland Empire, some Americans of African ancestry also rely on USDA surplus commodities to put food on their table,” Dr. Woods said. “African people were brought to America against their will. They were stripped of their dignity and treated lower than animals. The mental and physiological damage done to Americans of African ancestry is unspeakable. Even today, our people are led to believe that our culture is unhealthy and bad, which is not true.”
“Think about the potlucks we have after church,” she said. “These social gatherings represent collective energy for positive fellowship, nurturing of our young, encouragement for the struggling and general support for good will, honesty and integrity. This is the core of the African village, a fundamental premise for the health of Americans of African ancestry.”
Most Inland Empire residents suffer from a lack of exercise, Dr. Woods said. Some live in neighborhoods that aren’t safe for children to play outdoors. And others live in newer suburbs that, while safer, still have only small front and back yards, and almost no space between homes.
“This crowded condition tends to herd people together. When the African American family gathers it is often in large open spaces, such as the back yard at a relative’s home. We are a people of movement, energy and laughter. We enjoy family gatherings. We love people-to-people interaction. We like space. Mentally, the new environmental changes and housing developments in the Inland Empire tend to be stressful. They take away space.
“Continual stress and negativism are environmental factors that put Black people at even greater health risk than bad diets and lack of exercise, as was demonstrated in Unnatural Causes,” Woods said. “The stress factor has been documented in scientific studies as a killer.”
While overt race-based discrimination has been illegal for more than 40 years, many Black people grew up with that oppression and still live with these covert factors, which cause ongoing accumulated stress.
“For instance, some people with rental homes will turn a Black person’s application down even though the home is vacant,” Dr. Woods said. “Likewise, some mortgage companies will invent reasons to deny a 'prime' loan, or any loan to a Black person, or give high interest loans instead of lower interest loans.”
“Another way Blacks are discriminated against,” Dr. Woods said, “is in health and healthcare. Within the last five years inequities against Blacks, the poor and under-represented minorities (URM) have been overwhelmingly documented in the Institutes of Medicine (IOM) report, studies by RAND, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and many other scientific academies.”
As a health professional, she has often seen Blacks wait a long time for their doctors and insurance companies to approve a necessary surgery or treatment, while Whites with the same insurance coverage and same health provider obtain the necessary care quickly. “This is a case of inequity and unequal treatment, not inferior providers or a lack of insurance,” Woods said.
This type of stress is created for poor people, irrespective of ethnicity. The results are still the same -- sickness or death. This is why everyone should view the PBS series Unnatural Causes. “We as health professionals need to target root causes of premature death and poor health outcomes in our society. We need to use our scarce money and human resources to change what is wrong in our society. And, what is terribly wrong are stress factors,” Woods said.
As Dr. Woods has been saying for several years, these risk factors create an intolerable situation.
“At this point in America and other places around the world we are in a crisis, a global crisis,” she said. “A crisis requires an aggressive approach and we at AAHI-SBC are committed to following through with what is needed and to work with anyone who truly wishes to eradicate root causes for poor health outcomes.”
What San Bernardino County needs to do most of all, she said, is commit significant money to preventative health and healthcare. We need major change. We need to stop making excuses and stop trying to look good.
“Our county needs to give money and support to those community organizations that are truly working with their people. Organizations need to demonstrate with hard facts that they are working directly with people who need the help. Our county needs to stop using ‘token’ responses to life and death issues. Our county decision-makers need to stop playing with the lives of the people whose health they are responsible for protecting and preserving. We need to get about the business of not maintaining the 'status quo.'
“Our county decision-makers cannot afford to casually look the other way, or ‘play make believe,’ or pretend to create elaborate ‘less than honorable’ attempts in addressing serious societal issues, when people are dying needlessly from preventable conditions. Our county leadership needs to move aggressively ahead and get about the business of investing money and people power into saving lives of all people, and preventing one more needless death, not just saving the lives of the chosen few,” said Dr. Woods.
She hopes the Unnatural Causes PBS national televised series will prick the “moral conscious” and further convince local policy-makers and decision-makers in the health industry of this need. “This is not a time to 'just' stay in business, but to change for the good of the people, or we will all be dead shortly. Unfortunately, when death touches your family, the sting is great. The recovery is slow.”
“Unnatural Causes is not a feel-good production,” she said. “It is not entertainment as usual. It is about a national movement forward to tear down false ideologies, and build up systems in America that will be fair, just and equal for all. Unnatural Causes is about saving lives of Americans.”
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About the African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County (AAHI-SBC)
AAHI-SBC is a community-based resource focused solely on improving health among Americans of African ancestry, the poor and under-represented (URM) ethnic minorities in the Inland Empire. Please visit the Web Site at www.AAHI-SBC.org and learn more about what self-help groups and others are doing to improve the conditions of Blacks. You will also find the history of AAHI-SBC, an extensive list of partners, and activities underway.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
FILM-MAKERS PROVE SCIENTIST WRONG
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) Larry Adleman and Llew Smith are what some would call “A scientist’s nightmare”, which is someone proving them they’re wrong. These two men are film-makers of the PBS Series Unnatural Causes which discusses issues like “Is inequality making us sick?”. On Thursday, March 20th, from noon to 1:00pm, community leaders, business leaders, and media will gather at the Norman F. Feldheym Central Library for the video launch of their highly anticipated four part series presented by the African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County.
The series itself is scheduled to air on Los Angeles PBS affiliate KCET four consecutive Sundays beginning April 6. Times are 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 6, 13 and 2, and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. April 20.
San Bernardino PBS affiliate KVCR has tentatively scheduled the series to begin July 8, and air at 9 p.m. July 8, July 15, July 22 and July 29.
What inspired UNNATURAL CAUSES? Where did the process begin and where did it take you?
Larry Adelman: The seed was planted several years ago when we were making RACE - The Power of an Illusion, a series that explored popular myths and misconceptions about race. We found out that African Americans have one of the highest hypertension rates in the world. The knee-jerk hypothesis among some scientists was that this had something to do with genes, but that idea was exploded by research showing that West Africans (whose ancestors are shared by many African Americans) enjoy one of the lowest hypertension rates in the world. Instead of some mythical genetic variant, the real culprit behind these high blood pressure rates is more likely rooted in the stresses of everyday life particular to the African American experience, i.e., racism. That’s when we first realized how the “outside” – our social and economic environment – could get under our skin and disrupt our biology as surely as germs and viruses.
As the RACE series screened around the country, folks brought to our attention literally hundreds of studies and journal articles describing the many pathways by which class and racism influence health outcomes as surely as diet, smoking and exercise do. And we learned that it isn’t just African Americans or the poor leading sicker, shorter lives because of inequality, but white, middle class Americans, too.
Llew Smith: This series led us to go further than exploding myths. The journey of UNNATURAL CAUSES took us to deconstructing our very ideas about health in society. Many believe that being healthy is as simple as making smart choices: exercising, eating well, taking a vacation every so often to reduce stress, having networks to support us and so on. But behaviors explain only part of the story. When we look at populations and entire communities, you begin to see that there are larger forces at work beyond what an individual can control. That led us to the growing research focused on “social determinants of health” and “health equity.”
One of the most exciting things about making this series has been bringing the data to life through the health experiences of real people and real communities. The stories and individuals our producers have captured on camera are just stunning, remarkable, moving. It’s a much more emotional series than I thought we’d create. While the science is the critical underpinning, UNNATURAL CAUSES is at its core a collection of powerful stories about people and communities struggling to better their health.
Share the meaning of UNNATURAL CAUSES as a title.
LA: We must have argued over a dozen titles before Jean Cheng, our series Website producer, suggested UNNATURAL CAUSES. It fit perfectly. As Nancy Krieger, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, cautions in our film, “It’s not as if we won’t die. We all die. The question is: at what age? With what degree of suffering? With what degree of preventable illness?”
We understand that all our organs eventually wear out. That’s natural. But what’s unnatural? If your heart wears out faster because you work two jobs that don’t pay enough to survive and you always have to worry about being let go; if your kid has asthma because we’ve allowed oil refineries to pollute the air and not forced landlords to keep their premises free of cockroaches and mold; if you get fat because you spend two hours commuting, there are no grocery stores nearby and the easiest meal is fast food; if your blood pressure is high because you don’t feel safe in your neighborhood and are worried about what might happen to your kids but can’t afford to move...none of those are natural causes.
LS: For me, the title underscores an essential theme that runs throughout the entire four hours of the series: that the profound inequalities in health all around us – if we just stop and look – are not accidental or inevitable. As one of our series’ experts David Williams says, “These are not acts of God, and they don’t happen by chance.” They result largely from policy decisions we’ve made, and we can certainly unmake them if we had the political will.
The title also suggests a crime scene-type investigation. That’s what our series does, in an interesting way. It’s an inquiry into the reasons why some neighborhoods have better overall health than others; why some populations live longer than others. For most people, the first solution that comes to mind is better access to health care. This is addressed in the first few minutes of the opening episode, entitled “In Sickness and In Wealth.” The program makes clear that while access to health care is absolutely critical – and it’s shocking that we’re the only industrialized nation without universal health care – the lack of health care in and of itself is not the cause of illness and disease. The answers lie in other factors in society.
Who are your partners and supporters of this project?
LA: What makes this work exciting to us – and more expansive than content confined
to a television screen - is its value to those already working to improve Americans’ health. The series taps into a vibrant movement of public health advocates, community activists and policy experts who are not only spotlighting the root causes of our health inequities but also advancing solutions. This project is truly collaborative. It did not begin with the production nor will it end with the broadcast. Relationships with key partners were built before the first treatment was even written. The series, a public engagement campaign and accompanying tools have been developed in tandem with health equity initiatives led by the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Praxis Project, PolicyLink, the Prevention Institute and others. Joined by other partners across the country, they will utilize the series and companion tools to reframe the public debate over what we as a nation can and should do to tackle health inequities.
LS: The ultimate value of the series will be determined by how effectively it helps the several hundred partners using it. Our media partnerships are also important because they not only embraced the highest standards of filmmaking and programming excellence, but they brought to the table the racial and ethnic diversity that is a cornerstone of our message. Thanks to the National Minority Consortia of public television, the series was shot with a unique team of Native American, African American, white, Asian American, Pacific Islander and Latino producers.
How have viewers reacted to work-in-progress cuts of the documentary?
How have people reacted to the overall message of the film series?
LA: We screened work-in-progress clips at dozens of meetings and conferences and got invaluable feedback. Reactions fell into three categories: gratification, surprise and sometimes anger. When presenting to the public health community, we usually get a sigh of relief and “Thank goodness. It’s about time!” Public health advocates have applauded our team for helping take this critical issue into a broader “public” space. They know the data, supported by mountains of evidence, so they are heartened that the film helps to advance the social determinants message as it tells human stories. Like them, we question the individual, bio-medical model. Why, for example, are poor smokers more likely to get cancer than wealthy smokers? Why is our health status often determined by where we live, work and play or the color of our skin?
LS: Another set of audiences – perhaps more emblematic of the general public - finds the revelations in the series eye-opening and stunning. They come away with a new grasp of how society matters for health. We’ve been conditioned to believe that if we’re sick it’s because we’ve made unhealthy choices or have “bad” genes, that an ailing soul can pop a magic pill, or that if we just eat right, exercise and quit smoking, all our health problems will evaporate. The reality – that class and race-based inequality affects your health - is hard to wrap your mind around. But it all comes together for viewers in the four hours and seven segments that make up UNNATURAL CAUSES.
Isn’t this mostly a problem of the poor and some people of color? Why should
the rest of us care?
LA: Apart from common decency, there are very practical reasons why we should all care about health inequities. Believe it or not, almost all of us are affected. First, there is a continuous wealth gradient, or pyramid, with health tracking wealth from top to bottom. Those at the top hold the most power and resources and, on average, live longer, healthier lives. The rest of us do worse – some even much worse. But it’s not just the poor who are sick and dying. Those in the middle are still almost twice as likely to die an early death as those at the top. But the real question is, should how much money we have determine how long we live or who gets sick and who doesn’t?
LS: Also, business is losing more than $1 trillion a year in productivity due to chronic illness, and our medical care system is stretched to the breaking point by a sick population and becoming increasingly unaffordable. We’re all paying the price, whether we realize it or not. Health inequities are not about them. It is very much an “us” issue.
How does the research you present in the film series differ from that of previous films?
LA: UNNATURAL CAUSES breaks new ground by sifting through a wide body of existing research on the sources of our socioeconomic and racial inequities in health and putting it on television for the first time. Michael Moore’s Sicko was about our health care system.
UNNATURAL CAUSES looks at what’s making us sick in the first place. Health care is what Robert Evans called “our repair shop,” where we take our bodies when they break down. But what’s wearing down our engines in the first place? And why is that wear and tear so differentially distributed by race and by class? That’s what this film explores. We’ve just scratched the surface. There are many opportunities for investigative, feature and local news reporting, not just coverage by health writers or television critics.
Expound on the phrase repeatedly heard in the series: “Social policy is health policy.”
LA: Americans’ life expectancy increased 30 years over the 20th century. That wasn’t just because of new drugs and medical technology. Arguably, much of that improvement can be attributed to social reforms that raised the standard of living for most everyone. The eight-hour work day, universal schooling, Social Security, collective bargaining rights, building codes, pollution laws, corporate regulation, and civil rights legislation – these all improved living conditions and thus the health status of millions of Americans. Travel overseas to Europe where health and life expectancy are considerably higher than ours, and you also see the links between national social policies and government expenditures. Free universal child care, quality schools, paid parental leave, paid vacation and, of course, guaranteed health care – these things powerfully enhance health for individuals, families and communities. Sweden has a child poverty of 4.2 percent. Ours is 22 percent – more than 5 times higher. But the social spending is reversed: Sweden allocates 18 percent of its GDP to social programs; the U.S. less than 4 percent. Should we be surprised that Swedes live on average four years longer than Americans?
LS: I can answer that question by revisiting our series title. Class and racial inequities and the health disparities they spawn are not “natural.” They are the products of public policies that transfer wealth and power to corporations and the rich. We don’t have to opt for the status quo. Our health outcomes are patterned so unequally because of decisions we as a society have made. We can make a difference if we choose. Besides income, there are all sorts of health benefits — and health threats — that are distributed unequally, ranging from good schools to access to nutritious and affordable food to racial opportunity. Building a more just and equitable society that works for everyone is not simply a PC (politically correct) ideal. It has life and death consequences.
You’ve laid out the problem and challenges. What about solutions?
LA: By demonstrating how inequality and racism are not abstract concepts but hospitalize and kill even more people than cigarettes, UNNATURAL CAUSES hopes to build support for the best medicine of all: economic equality, racial justice and caring communities. There’s a lot we can do. As sociologist David Williams points out in the show , improving equality of opportunity, increasing wages, investing in our schools, reversing regressive tax policies, improving housing, integrating neighborhoods, opening up labor markets and giving people more control over their jobs – these are all public health strategies.
How do you want this film series to be used?
LS: Well, first we want to inject these ideas about health equity into a larger public dialogue, something even the researchers and epidemiologists admit they haven’t been able to do effectively. Michael Moore’s film Sicko vividly depicts one critical dimension of our national health crisis — yes, we should all have good health care, but the question remains: Why are whole populations and communities in such dire need of health care much more often than others? What is creating illness in some communities and healthy living in others? So, at a time when the country is discussing health care solutions, we also need to be discussing these other social and economic factors that have powerful consequences for health.
Second, we hope the series will help change the way we think about health, by making these ideas and research accessible to ordinary viewers, community activists, legislators, policy makers as well as public health teachers and administrators. Very little of this data on the social determinants of health has been presented in ways that are accessible to the general public. Month after month it’s published in peer-reviewed journals that most of us have never heard of and will never see. So our series is breaking new ground, not because we’ve done original research, but because we’ve taken the research and shown how these concepts play out in stories from the lives of real people around the country. For me, that’s the real excitement and power of UNNATURAL CAUSES.
10-YEAR GAP IN LIFE EXPECTANCY BETWEEN RICH AND WORKING CLASS
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) What are the connections between healthy bodies and healthy bank accounts? Is lack of insurance the cause of minority’s poor health“ Our results dramatically dispel the rumor that Blacks die 13 years younger than Whites in San Bernardino County because they don’t have insurance, don’t see the doctor and don’t care about their health,” said V. Diane Woods, Dr.P.H. health planning project coordinator for the African-American Health Initiative (AAHI).
The PBS series Unnatural Causes travels to Louisville, Kentucky, not to explore whether health care cures us but to see why we get sick in the first place. The lives of a CEO, a lab supervisor, a janitor and an unemployed mother illustrate how social class shapes access to power, resources and opportunity. The net effect is a health-wealth gradient.
Louisville Metro Public Health Department data maps reveal 5- and 10-year gaps in life expectancy between the city’s rich, middle- and working-class neighborhoods. Experiments with monkeys and humans shed light on chronic stress as one culprit. We also see how racial inequality imposes an additional burden on people of color. Solutions being pursued in Louisville and elsewhere focus not on more pills but on better social policies and more equality. Referring to reasons that Blacks die younger than Whites, Dr. V. Diane Woods says, “People are looking for a silver bullet to kill the monster, but there is no one single answer to solve the problem. There are many different solutions we have to use,”
Thursday, March 20th from noon to 1:00pm, the Norman F. Feldhrym Central Library will be filled with everyone from community leaders to media for the video launch of the controversial series Unnatural Causes. The series preview presented by the African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County will tackle this issue and the like in a four-part PBS series
VOICES & EXPERTS
• Adewale Troutman, MD, director, Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness.
• Jim Taylor, father, grandfather and CEO of a large Louisville hospital.
• Tondra Young, African American medical technician and supervisor of a hospital blood lab; a homeowner burdened with college debt.
• Corey Anderson, hospital janitor with hyper-tension and little control in his work life; a renter in a neighborhood plagued by violent crime.
• Class and racism affect U.S. health outcomes in overlapping ways. See Reaching
for a Healthier Life: Facts on Socioeconomic Status and Health in the U.S., a
2007 report of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research
Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health (available at www.macses.ucsf.edu/News/NEWS.html).
• For the physiology of chronic stress, see the MacArthur Research Network on SES and Health Web site summary “Allostatic Load and Allostasis,” at http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/Research/Allostatic/notebook/allostatic.html.
• On growing economic inequality in the U.S.: Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein,
Sylvia Allegretto (2007). The State of Working America 2006/2007.
Cornell University Press and Economic Policy Institute.
http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/
The first episode “In Sickness and in Wealth” airs Thursday, March 27, 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
COLOR OF SKIN DETERMINES QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) A ground-breaking new documentary series criss-crosses the country exploring how the social conditions in which Americans are born, live and work profoundly affect health and longevity, even more than medical care, behaviors and genes. This four-hour television and DVD series challenges fundamental beliefs about what makes Americans healthy - or sick - and offers new remedies for an ailing society.
The African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County presents a preview of the highly anticipated PBS series, Unnatural Causes, to community leaders, business leaders and media at the Norman F. Feldheym Central Library on Thursday, March 20th, from noon to 1:00pm.
UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? coincides with the intensifying
presidential election year debates focusing on the estimated 47 million Americans
lacking health coverage. While embracing the essential need for universal health care, UNNATURAL CAUSES goes further, questioning what makes people ill in the first place, and probing why economic status, race and zip code are more powerful predictors of health status and life expectancy than even smoking.
Experts and public health professionals have long emphasized that because these conditions are distributed unequally, so are patterns of chronic disease: e.g., heart disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma, even cancer. Each episode sheds light on the mounting evidence that work, wealth, neighborhood conditions and lack of access to power and resources can get under the skin and disrupt human biology as surely as germs and viruses.
UNNATURAL CAUSES raises unsettling questions with far-reaching political and social
implications:
• Why does the most powerful nation on the planet have worse health outcomes than dozens of other countries, despite spending, on average, more than twice what they spend per person on medical care? Even Jordanians now live longer than Americans, while Portugal, Korea and Slovenia all have better infant mortality outcomes.
• Why do recent Latino immigrants, though typically poorer, enjoy better health than the average American when they arrive in the United States, yet suffer a rapid decline the longer they are here?
• Why are some African American and Native American populations less likely to reach age 65 than people from Bangladesh or Ghana?
The series reveals a continuous health gradient tied to wealth. At each step down the socioeconomic ladder — from the rich to the middle class to the poor — people tend to be sicker and die sooner. The least affluent die, on average, six and a half years earlier than the rich. But even middle-income people die more than two years sooner than those at the top. Poorer smokers face higher mortality risks than rich smokers.
Research also suggests that racial discrimination imposes an additional health burden. For many diseases, African Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders – at all income levels - fare worse on average than their white counterparts.
Seven production teams weave together the human dimension with the scientific data by capturing stories on the ground:
• In Louisville, Kentucky, the forces driving the wealth-health gradient are evident in the different constraints and stresses faced daily by a CEO, a mid-level manager, a service worker and an unemployed mother of three.
• For a Laotian heart attack survivor in Richmond, California, residing in a neighborhood deprived of supermarkets, safe streets, well-resourced schools, reliable transportation and decent housing exacts a terrible toll on the wellbeing of his entire family.
• The O’odham Indians of southern Arizona suffer one of the highest rates of Type 2 diabetes in the world. Their best prognosis lies not in genetic discoveries or better drugs, but in regaining hope and control over their future.
• In western Michigan a factory moves to Mexico for cheaper labor, undercutting the lives — and health — of a white, working class community. In Sweden, where the parent company is based, a similar plant closure has a very different impact on workers because of protective government policies.
In Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the “mushroom capital of the world,” Mexican immigrants arrive healthier than native-born Americans but discover that the longer they are here, the harder it is to maintain their health.
• In Atlanta, Georgia, an African American lawyer delivers a premature baby despite making healthy choices and having the advantages of social status - like so many other middle- and upper-income Black women. Researchers wonder if the cumulative wear and tear of a lifetime of racial discrimination imposes an added health risk during pregnancy and beyond.
• In the Marshall Islands, local populations – displaced from their traditional way of life by the American military presence in the Pacific – must contend with the worst of both the “developing” and industrialized worlds: infectious diseases such as tuberculosis running rampant due to poor sanitation, crowded living conditions and extreme poverty and high rates of chronic disease stemming in part from the stress of dislocation and loss.
UNNATURAL CAUSES challenges the conventional approach to prevention, which has mostly been limited to encouraging healthy behaviors. But much of what can improve health lies outside an individual’s control: better land use, transportation and business investment; ensuring that every neighborhood has access to supermarkets and healthy foods – not just fast food, liquor joints and
convenience stores; creating safe streets and green space so people can walk, jog, bike and play; investing in our schools; guaranteeing paid vacations, paid family leave, and living wage jobs with career ladders.
In the past, societal changes have loosened the “wealth-health” linkage and improved health status overall. Researchers attribute the 30-year increase in U.S. life expectancy over the 20th century not merely to new drugs and medical technologies, but to social reforms such as the eight-hour workday, child labor laws, universal high school, civil rights laws, a progressive income tax, Social Security and the right to form unions that ensured that benefits from economic growth were shared more widely.
UNNATURAL CAUSES makes the case that – despite past gains - America has been moving in the wrong direction in more recent years. Today, the top one percent of the population holds as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. Approximately 22 percent of America's children live in poverty. As inequality grows, the U.S. life expectancy ranking continues to drop – down from the top five in the 1950s, and now lower than even a few years ago as more countries surpass the U.S. with better health.
Renowned health experts contend that Americans not only need universal health care to treat illness, but also better and more equitable social and economic policies that can protect and promote health in the first place. Social policy, they say, is health policy.
UNNATURAL CAUSES, in the final stages of editing, is already generating significant interest and engagement. Public health departments and more than 100 other outreach partners are organizing screenings, town meetings and policy forums around the country over the next year. Interactivities, video clips, lesson plans and other resources including an events calendar, can be found on the series companion Web site at www.unnaturalcauses.org.
UNNATURAL CAUSES was produced by the San Francisco-based film production and distribution center California Newsreel, in partnership with Vital Pictures of Boston. It is being presented on PBS by the National Minority Consortia of public television. California Newsreel is the nation’s oldest nonprofit documentary production and distribution center, dedicated to disseminating social interest films and videos. Vital Pictures is a documentary company dedicated to social justice issues. The series has received major funding from the Ford Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the California Endowment, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute, Kaiser Permanente and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Larry Adelman is creator and executive producer; Llewellyn M. Smith is co-executive producer and Christine Herbes-Sommers is series senior producer. Strategic public engagement partners include the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the American Public Health Association, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, Opportunity Agenda and the Praxis Project.
Produced by California Newsreel in association with Vital Pictures, Inc.
Presented by the National Minority Consortia of public television and
Public Engagement Campaign in association with the Joint Center Health Policy Institute.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
SHELTER FROM THE STORM
MEDIA ALERT
Who: The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire Interior Design program.
What: Presentation of student designed ready-to-build shelters for the homeless or Emergency Service workers such as fire, flood or emergency rescue.
When: Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. in front of the main entrance.
Where: 630 East Brier Drive, San Bernardino, CA 92408 – The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire campus.
Why: To offer environmentally friendly low cost alternative solutions for emergency and temporary housing.
Visuals: Full version of four (4) different shelters will be displayed at the event. One is available above.
Contact: Carl Dameron @ (909) 534-9500 or John Barry at (909) 915-2185.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of the Art Institutes (artinstitutes.edu) with 40 educational institutions throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary professionals.
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SAVE THE BABIES SUCCEEDS AGAINST THE ODDS
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) When you can save decade-long addicted pregnant women to the point where 100% of their newborns are drug free and at normal weight, you’ve done something amazing. But when you’re doing it all with almost no funds, your backs are against the wall.
Miracles In Recovery, a non profit group providing a wide range of substance abuse and recovery services in San Bernardino County, “treats all individuals with dignity and respect,” say leaders. And their mission statement spells out the organization’s philosophy perfectly: “Every life is a miracle; our objective is to restore and rebuild lives.”
But, how do you really know if you’ve been successful or not? That’s where Dr. Michael J. Van Ness enters the picture. The MIR program evaluator, with grant support from the California Endowment, surveyed the detailed results of MIR’s unique one-year-old Save The Babies program.
“The research backing,” he says, “was called a Capacity Expansion Grant. You know, you may think you’re doing right, but you really need an objective view to be sure.”
With that goal in mid, Van Ness conducted an extensive six-month research effort of all the women in a four-month Save The Babies program.
“The results were astounding,” Van Ness states. “Our program graduates were drug-free at the time of childbirth, and had been drug-free for weeks or months previously. And a follow up interview with each one showed that after six months, nearly all mothers continued to maintain drug-free lifestyles.” And when one considers, as Van Ness’ report shows, the local drug of choice is the highly addictive methamphetamine, that’s an overwhelming statistic, he says.
In his “Process Evaluation Report” Van Ness writes that the graduating women were asked if they would recommend the Save The Babies program to others, and none said No. “The program was a lifesaver,” says one graduating mother who had spent nearly a decade enmeshed in the sewer of drugs. “My baby and I can now live normal lives.”
“The Good News,” he says, “is in the results. The Bad News, though, is this is still a financial struggle. Remember, this is an intense four-month program, open 24/7, with a dozen women even in residence at MIR. Simply put, it’s expensive. Recently, the Save The Babies effort has been losing more than $5,000 a month.”
The major funding is from Drug Medi-Cal, though it only reimburses treatment costs for approved clients at $96.00 per day.
Despite the stiff financial loss, the report states, “For the community it serves, it is likely the program is cost-effective. Many studies have demonstrated that the costs to society of an alcohol- or drug-exposed baby are enormous, perhaps in the order of $100,000 for each case.”
Van Ness’ report indicates that the Save The Babies program is reaching the right clients and providing the right services to accomplish its major goals: “helping high-risk women to achieve and maintain recovery from alcohol and drug abuse, and deliver babies born healthy and drug free.” Notes Beverly Smith, Miracles In Recovery’s co-founder and Director of the Save The Babies effort, “Yes, ours is a financial struggle, but the results for the mothers and their babies are there. The proof is in Dr. Van Ness’ reports.”
The reports, while praising the program’s objectives and its satisfying results, ends on a depressing note: “The financial picture for Save The Babies, however, is not encouraging … The San Bernardino community is at risk of losing a valuable resource unless additional funding is obtained for this program.”
Miracles In Recovery is at 1010 North D Street in San Bernardino, and may be reached at (909) 381-3974. Save The Babies, 2316 Valencia Avenue in San Bernardino, is (909)881-3555; the Program Coordinator is Patricia Fulgham.
Monday, March 17, 2008
ART STUDENTS WIN ADDY AWARDS
Art Institute of California Student David Dresner, left, of Redlands, won Best of Show for Web Design at the 2008 Inland Empire ADDY awards' student competition. Fellow students Rachel Makowski from Hesperia and Niklas Meijer from Riverside captured gold awards for graphic design. Photo by Robert Swapp.
These students and other winners received their awards at an Inland Empire Ad Club banquet held Friday, March 14 at the Riverside Mission Inn. The awards recognize creative excellence in advertising.
They are now eligible to move on to a district-level competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation, of which IE AD Club is a member. Winners of the district event move on to a national competition.
Local winners from the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire are from both the Graphic Design and Web Design & Interactive Media departments. Although there were winners from other schools, the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire students dominated the competition, taking Best of Show, three of the four gold awards, and nine of the ten silver awards.
Gold winners received trophies, and their creative work will be included in the Inland Empire Ad Club’s entries in a district-level competition. These are the entries judged most superior in their category.
Winners attending the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire are David Dresner from Redlands in the Web Design and Interactive Media department and Rachel Makowski from Hesperia and Niklas Meijer from Riverside, both in the Graphic Design department.
Silver winners, who received certificates, are those entries judges determined were also outstanding and worthy of recognition. These advertisements are eligible to compete in the district-level ADDY competition, but silver winners must again pay an entry fee.
Winners from the Art Insutite of California, Inland Empire were Dresner, Meijer, Tanya Prokopin-Gill from Riverside, Robert Vidaure from Redlands, and Darius Giurar from Riverside all in the Graphic Design department, and Barton Welt from Fontana in the Web Design and Interactive Media department. Prokopin-Gill and Welt each won two silver awards.
“These talented students have clearly demonstrated they are ready to create impressive, high-quality advertisements for their future clients,” said Michael Swank, who serves as both Inland Empire Ad Club Education Chairman, and Academic Director of Graphic Design and Web Design & Interactive Media at the Art Institute of California–Inland Empire.
The Art Institute of California - Inland Empire hosted the first level of competition for the annual ADDY advertising awards on Saturday, February 16 at the Inland Empire campus in San Bernardino. It also sponsored this first-ever student competition, paying the $20 entry fee for all of its student participants’ first entries.
Besides the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire, students from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, La Sierra University, California State University San Bernardino and Westwood College participated. The two other winners were from Pomona and Westwood.
A panel of judges from the advertising industry outside the Inland Empire evaluated each entry.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design and Media Arts & Animation and Fashion and Retail Marketing. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.
It’s not too late to start classes. Courses begin March 31, with offerings in the days, evenings and on weekends for new and reentry students. For details or a tour of the campus call (909) 915-2100, or go on line to artinstitutes.edu/inlandempire.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of The Art Institutes (artinstitutes.edu) with 38 educational institutions throughout North America providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.
FIRST ART INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA-INLAND EMPIRE GRADUATE
Grand Terrace resident Alyssa Mees, the first graduate of Art Institute of California-Inland Empire, with a painting in progress. Photo by Robert Swapp.
Byron Chung, president of the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire, congratulates Grand Terrace resident Alyssa Mees on completion of her degree in Graphic Design. She is the first graduate of the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire. Photo by Robert Swapp.Mees, 19, finished her classes for an associate degree in Graphic Design at the Art Institute of California - Inland Empire on Friday March, 14. She will be honored as its first graduate at 5 p.m. Friday, March 28 at the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire.
“She is an exceptional student,” said Byron Chung, President of the Art Institute of California - Inland Empire. “We are excited to have her as our first graduate, but she is just a sample of the creative talent we have on our campus.”
When Alyssa attended Rialto High School, she thought about attending the Art Institute of California. But for most of that time, going to the top college for creative artists didn’t look feasible to her.
“Before the Inland Empire Art Institute was here, I would have had to choose between Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego,” she said. “That’s just too far to drive.”
But, midway through her senior year, a new Art Institute of California campus opened, conveniently located in San Bernardino. What’s more, it had an art portfolio contest to give away $20,000 scholarships. Mees won.
“That’s what did it for me,” she said. “The scholarship made it possible.”
Mees quickly selected graphic design as her major, and enrolled in July 2006. She also decided to take advantage of the Art Institute of California - Inland Empire’s year-round schedule, which has allowed her to finish her degree in less than two years.
“I knew I wanted to do something with art,” she said. “Graphic design seemed the most feasible way to make a living with my art.”
Mees is already an accomplished painter, specializing in surreal portraits that she will be glad to sell to interested buyers. She is also learning first-hand about working in the graphic design industry, through an internship with the Inland Empire Ad Club.
Now that she has a college degree, she’s ready to do even greater things. With help from Scott Saunders, the Art Institute of California - Inland Empire’s Director of Career Services, Mees is looking for a full-time job, perhaps with an advertising agency. In the meantime, she is available for hire as a freelance graphic artist.
“We have watched her develop over the past few years,” Chung said. “We think she will have a great and exciting career in the industry.”
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design and Media Arts & Animation and Fashion and Retail Marketing. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.
It’s not too late to start classes. Courses begin March 31, with offerings in the days, evenings and on weekends for new and reentry students. For details or a tour of the campus call (909) 915-2100, or go on line to artinstitutes.edu/inlandempire.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of The Art Institutes (artinstitutes.edu) with 38 educational institutions throughout North America providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.
-end-
Photos attached: Please credit Robert Swapp of the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire.
Captions:
Art Institute of California - Inland Empire President Byron Chung congratulates Grand Terrace resident Alyssa Mees, who recently completed her courses for an Associate degree in Graphic Design, and will be honored March 28 as the Institute’s first graduate. Photo by Robert Swapp.
THE SALVATION ARMY HAS WARM BEDS FOR 96 HOMELESS
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) – The Salvation Army has beds to shelter 96 people a night, thanks to some help from the City and County of San Bernardino. The Salvation Army’s mission does not stop there. They also provide meals, case management, tutoring and referral services for shelter families.
In November of 2007, the City of San Bernardino approved a Temporary Use Permit allowing The Salvation Army of San Bernardino to use its Center for Worship and Service at 746 W. Fifth Street as a shelter facility for women and children, as well as cold weather relief for homeless men. This allowed the Salvation Army to strengthen one of its most vital services to the community, that of sheltering citizens with nowhere else to go.
From March through November of 2007, the Salvation Army did not have a shelter. The California Department of Transportation had purchased, through eminent domain, the Salvation Army’s Kingman Street shelter, and tore that building down. This forced the Salvation Army to transition to a temporary motel voucher shelter program.
“It was a difficult time, but the sheltering of homeless families never missed a night,” said Salvation Army Captain Stephen Ball. “The motel voucher shelter is less effective than a facility-based shelter and could accommodate fewer clients, which meant Army leaders needed to come up with an alternative solution.
“We are grateful to the city for allowing us to use our headquarters building as a shelter,” he added. “The motel voucher system was just too expensive.”
This new arrangement is also a temporary solution, as Salvation Army personnel are already planning to permanently relocate shelter operations to a new site in 2009.
At the Fifth Street site, an average of 50 women and children are seeking shelter each night. These families are welcomed by caring staff and volunteers.
“The Salvation Army works with them to help them better their lives,” Captain Ball said. “We help them apply for public assistance, find a job and budget their money so they can live independently.”
For the children in these families, the San Bernardino City Unified School District offers after-school tutoring at the shelter four days a week. On Fridays, the children take part in character development programs.
These programs sometimes include field trips to interesting places such as Knott’s Berry Farm or Big Bear Lake. For the boys and their dads (mentors), a deep-sea fishing trip is in the works.
“Many of these children have never had the experiences we take for granted. There are 17-year-old children who have never seen the beach or been to the mountains. Helping these children to see something better than what they’re used to is most rewarding,” Captain Ball said. “We want to show them the kind of future they can have. We also want them to know people care about them right now, right where they are.”
From the total shelter capacity of 96 beds, 28 beds are designated for homeless men during the cold weather months. This program continues from October 1st through April 30, 2008. The granting of the Temporary Use Permit was right on time for the first cold, rainy weather of the season.
However, the Salvation Army hopes the city will allow the shelter to continue in its present location until a new plan can be worked out. Pending approval by the City of San Bernardino, it plans in early 2009 to move to another shelter at 925 W. 10th Street.
This shelter is presently used by another branch of the Salvation Army, the Adult Rehabilitation Center, which serves the community’s homeless men. This branch is constructing a brand new 126-bed men’s residence on Doolittle Street.
When the men’s shelter moves to its new location on Doolittle Street, the Salvation Army of San Bernardino hopes to purchase the existing 77-bed men’s residence and operate its family shelter there. If approved by the city, this will become the center of the Salvation Army’s homeless ministry in San Bernardino.
The remodeling project could take about three or four months, Captain Ball said. With the city’s approval, he anticipates moving to the new shelter sometime between January and March of 2009.
The Salvation Army San Bernardino Citadel Corps has helped residents of: San Bernardino, Rialto, Grand Terrace, Highland, Bloomington and Colton since 1887.
The homeless shelter and meals program is at 746 W. Fifth St. in San Bernardino. For more information call (909) 888-1336.
TEN MINUTES MAY SAVE WOMEN’S LIVES
(HESPERIA, Calif.) “A mammogram just takes a few minutes,” says LaSalle Medical Associates Inc. Medical Director, Dr. Cheryl Emoto, at LaSalle’s Hesperia clinic (16455 Main St.). “But it is so important for women, especially, to have annual exams for those over 40. And for younger women, too, if they notice a breast lump or have concerns.”
Many women, Emoto points out, are apprehensive about having mammograms, so her goal is to make the exams as unintimidating as possible. She says, “We want our patients to come to LaSalle where they’re familiar with the relaxed facility and the personal staff.”
So, to do that, LaSalle has contracted with Inner Images, bringing mobile mammogram equipment directly to LaSalle’s Hesperia clinic one day a month. The program began in late January and was overwhelmingly received, the 20-year veteran with LaSalle explains. “Women have really responded to the program. We look forward to helping our patients find beginning signs of breast cancer so that we can treat it early,” said Dr. Emoto.
After the mammogram is taken, in about two weeks, patients are notified of the results. Should the tests indicate anything at all out of the ordinary, patients are brought in for consultation and possible further tests or even recommendations of specialists.
Mammograms have been shown to lower the risk of dying from breast cancer by 35 percent in women over the age of 50; and studies suggest for women, even between 40 and 50, mammograms may lower the risk of dying from breast cancer by up to 35 percent.
And they take just 10 minutes out of the day.
Prior appointments are recommended. Most insurances cover mammograms with prior authorization, and for women without insurance there are programs that patients may qualify for – providing low cost or no cost mammograms. Don’t let the lack of medical insurance stop you from getting your mammogram.
For an appointment, call the office at (760) 947-2161.
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