November 28,1983
Black ink
Page 7
ij
MED, SAAP encourage minorities
by Tamara McDowell
Staff Writer
Blacks and American Indians
comprise 25 percent of North
Carolina's minority population.
However, there is a grave shortage
of minority health professionals and
The Medical Education Develop
ment Program (MED) and The Sum
mer Academic Advancement Pro
gram (SAAP) strive to reverse the
underrepresentation of minorities in
all health fields.
The MED Program is an intense,
rigorous session of summer courses
at Medical and dental school levels
to prepare a prospective medical or
dental student of the realities of pro
fessional school. SAAP is a profes
sional program designed for the pur
pose of strengthening a minority's
academic skills in order to enhance
his competitiveness for admission
into professional or graduate health
sciences program. Although the two
programs are different in that MED
features couses on a first year MED/-
DENT school level and SAAP offers
courses on an undergraduate col
lege level, MED and SAAP both em
phasize reading skills and reading
rate comprehension and the two
programs cater to the economically
disadvantage minorities.
Evelyn McCarthy is the director of
MED and she, along with her assis
tant Valerie Moore, work through
out the year recruiting and selecting
applicants for MED. McCarthy
stressed that MED was formed
because the health needs of North
Carolina's minority population
needed to be met.
MED is for students who have
been admitted to the University of
North Carolina's medical or dental
schools for the fall and students
who will be rising seniors in under
graduate colleges, and post
graduates in the process of submit
ting applications for medical or den
tal School. North Carolina residents
are given first priority, but out-of-
state students are considered if
there is room left.
McCarthy was quick to state that
MED was very flexible in terms of
grade point average. She pointed
out that MED personnel try to con
sider and judge each applicant in
dividually. Personal interviews are
encouraged. The course load for
MED includes: gross anatomy and
histology, biochemistry, pathology,
microbiology, and a dental course
for pre-dental students. These
Mondale leads in polls
BY DAWN TOMASZEWSKI
UNC News Bureau
CHAPEL HILL - North Caroli
nians reflect the mood of the nation
in their top choices of Democratic
candidates for president.
Similar to the findings of the most
recent Gallup Poll, the statewide
poll conducted by the School of
Journalism at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill show
ed former Vice President Walter
Mondale the clear leader and Sen.
John Glenn (Ohio) a comfortable se
cond.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and four
others were clustered well behind.
The survey was conducted by
telephone between Oct. 10 and Oct.
20, prior to both announcement of
Jackson's candidacy and the release
of the movie "The Right Stuff,"
which features the ac
complishments of astronaut John
Glenn.
When the 586 people interviewed
in the survey were given a list of
possible Democratic nominees and
were asked which they thought
would made the best president, 43
percent said Mondale, 21 percent
said Glenn, and 7 percent said
Jackson.
George McGovern, the 1972
Democratic candidate for president,
received 3 percent as did Sen. Ernest
"Fritz" Hollings (S.C.). Sen. Gary
Hart (Colo), Sen. Alan Cranston
(Calif.) and former Florida Gov.
Reuben Askew each received 1 per
cent.
Gallup's poll was conducted a
week earlier than the Carolina Poll.
It showed Mondale leading with 40
percent, Glenn with 21 percent;
Jackson with 10 percent and Mc
Govern with 8 percent.
In Gallup's survey, Hollings
received only 1 percent of the nomi
nation support, Cranston received 6
percent. Hart, 3 percent and Askew,
1 percent.
Mondale's lead is larger when
analyzing only the answers from
Carolina Poll respondents who said
they generally vote for the Demo
crats. Mondale led with 44 percent,
Glenn had 16 percent, Jackson had 7
percent and McGovern, 3 percent.
Hollings was next with 2 percent,
then Askew, Cranston and Hart,
each with less than 1 percent.
Only 10 percent of Gallup's sam
ple said they didn't know who they
would vote for. Of the 274 Demo
crats responding in the Carolina
Poll, 27 percent said they didn't
know.
The Carolina Poll shows that Mon
dale has a broad base of support
even from blacks. Forty percent of
the blacks who said they generally
vote Democratic supported Mon
dale. Twenty-three percent sup
ported Jackson.
The Gallup Poll showed Jackson
first among bhack voters with 39 per
cent, although Mondale was close
behind with 30 percent. Glenn was a
distant third with 12 percent.
On the other hand, only 1 percent
of those identifying themselves as
white Democrats gave Jackson their
support. Forty-six percent chose
Mondale and 16 percent picked
Glenn. — continued on page 8 —
courses are vey demanding because
they are on a first year Medical/Den
tal School level and McCarthy said
"that MED students often struggle
through 12 to 15-hour days just
reviewing and studing."
MED helps a student to realize
the difficulty and intensity of profes
sional school, she said. It allows a
student to search within himself and
ask himself if he is really doctor/den
tist material. MED is solely for those
students who are economically
disadvantaged. There is no cost for
the nine-week program. All par
ticipants receive a scholarship from
The University of North Carolina's
Medical/Dental School. None of the
courses are taken for credit, but Mc
Carthy is very positive about MED.
"The information that one obtains
during MED's nine week period is
measureless," she said.
SAAP is actually the fourth phase
of a four part academic skills en
richment/retention program: The
Health Careers Academic Advance
ment (HCAAP). It is primarily open
to rising seniors but sophomores are
welcome to apply if they have had
the necessary chemistry courses.
The director of The North Carolina
Health Manpower Development
Program is Dr. Lavonia Allison and
the associate director is Dr Rena H.
Gillespie. Allison and Gillespie
along with others, recruit motivated
and qualified students majoring in
health related areas to participate in
SAAP's eight weeks program.
Gillispie pointed out many of
SAAP's outstanding features. SAAP
offers reading programs, advanced
academic classes in biology,
chemistry, mathematics, and
physics, practical and clinical obser
vation experience in health care
agencies and much more. The re
quired grade point average is steep-
the cut off is 3.00; but SAAP pro
vides per diem costs of at least
$1,000 dollars and anyone who is
financially disadvantaged can app
ly.
Statistics on SAAP's long-term
progress were not available at the
time of this interview but McCarthy
did tell some of MED's ac-
complisments with me. There have-
been close to 600 students in the
MED program since 1974 and 80
percentof these participants have
gone to either medical or dental
school. Even more important is that
these students are better prepared
— continued on page 8 —
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