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13-THE CAROLINA TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1982 3 ! S iSaS33B! : Arc wo going on our hands and let black communities crumble around us? Grass roots community organizations must emerge to forge a united effort against crime, nar cotics trafficking, blight, and decay. Spectacles: A, Closer Look T ine mgn uost ui meaicai uare f Part III - Being An Informed Patient By Ada m. Fisher I SS BSBBBI Editorials Affirmative Action Is A Two-Way Street I 1 Often when we say 'affirmative action', we mean that those people with the jobs should seek out those of us who need them and hire us. - And while we agree that employers, private and public, should not let factors such as race, sex, age or other non-essential deter minants outweigh an applicant's qualifications for the job, we ' also believe that affirmative action is a two-way street. Those of us who need jobs should not let a potential employer's past deter us any more than we would want the employer to be deterred by our past. Blacks, women, the han dicapped, et al., should be beating on any door in this city and county, affirmatively, and aggressively seeking those jobs to which you aspire. We should not be giving people the luxury of saying they can't ''find" qualified applicants? other than white males, of course. And when they say that, we should quickly gather "our letters, our applications, our record of qualifications and challenge them openly. We should not let employers get away with saying they're doing a good job, when a better job cafi be done: We should not accept poor excuses for pooi4 performance. "'W; -c.J m' And so, to tKose'wKd'feel'tHaif affirmative action should be an" aggressive and active tool for change, we challenge you to move forward, to stop complaining about what someone else hasn't done, and jump into the fray yourself. Concerned Young People: Our Future Hope Bombarded as we are daily with clear evidence that far too many of our young people have gone to pot, if you will pardon the pun, it's refreshing to hear about young people who have chosen life's high road. r We wrote about four of them on our front page last week and this week, we tip. our highly opinionated hat to them. They and their peers at Hillside and other schools far more of them than we might suspect -.are bright, committed and undaunted by the challenging problems they face. They, with the boundless energy of youth, and the optimistic idealism that accompanies it, are our hope for the future Those of us who have fought hard in tru's battle of life, who have won some, but also lost far too many, must gather our re maining strength and give these young people all the help and en couragement we can muster. We must not allow them to fall prey to the traps of their "pot-gone" peers. Rather, we must inspire them to strive for the pinnacle of their incredible human poten tial. For quite frankly, the peace of our old age depends largely on whether young people such as James Robbins, Alita Brown, Reta Daniel and David Coins can either change their "pot-gone" peers, or at least hold them at bay. ' ' - Doctors, hospitals, government agen- cies and other health care personnel must all accept a portion of the blame for the ;; high cost of medical cari, but so too must the patients. The inappropriate use of ; ; doctors and medical care facilities wastes . thousands of dollars annually. Home remedies, over-the-counter preparations and useless medicines drain our pocket ; books needlessly. Our, quest, for. eternal , youth has created a luxury market even in medicine. And our search for guarantees which can't be given has caused patients to help drive up the cost of care in unfor tunate malpractice litigations. The cure for the common cold has yet ! to be found but this doesn't seem to deter : patients from spending money on their ; upper respiratory infections. , The. technological sophistication which Americans have acquired has convinced us that the more specialized or complex - something is, the better it must be. This . follows us in choosing cars, stereos, com puters and ultimately in our choice of physicians. Many with a sore throat go straight to the otolaryngologist (throat specialist) or take their sprained ankles to . and orthopedist (bone specialist rather ' : than see their family doctor or primary f care doctor.; At least eight per cent of all v.:. visits to the emergency room are for non-: .emergencies and could be well served by! 'primary care personnel. When surgeons, ji. cardiologists and other specialists treat patients with problems outside .their j; specialty, it may add to the cost of care. ' . .'With the predicted glut of M.D.'s by the mid-80's, a public battle may well be fought between family doctors and other s specialists who may find themselves with a shortage of sick patients financially able ,; to pay the cost of care. As the health care dollar is subjected to even closer scrutiny,; expect to see ' no reimbursement for ; primary -care services ; rendered in ; . emergency . rooms and. possibly those , delivered by specialists. , . Laetril, Vitamins E and C all have held the promise of miracle cures and people have flocked to buy them for everything ; from cancer to potency to hair growth. : Many "healers? are promising salvation to those who believe in the Lord and are willing to make substantial contributions jo the collection plates, The reality is that ' for most Americans, our cures arc within iour own hands through a change in - -lifestyles. Do you know what that means? -Losing weight, quitting smoking, exer-;' 'rising, and temperance in our imbibement ( ;of alcohol.: Medicine can do very little to , change our circumstances if we are unwill-. ing to help ourselves, JEiven if a cure for . , cancer is found, it is predicted that it may not add more than two years to the . ' average person's lifespan' whereas lifestyle changes which affect heart disease and , associated conditions may have a more; dramatic effect.' Plastic surgery has done! much to correct birth defects and ; . .- camouflage injuries. Elective procedures! to lift faces, tuck bellies, slim or reduce "breasts, etc., or those things undertaken ' ' under the illusion of maintaining youth or 7 vanity are expenses which will possibly come from the patient's pockets rather, than be financed through group in-1 surance. t Informed consent is a real issue for doc tors and patients alike. It is impossible to tell a patient ail of the hazards of any an ticipated scheduled procedure. No doctor can-give guarantees on any surgical pro . cedure. All that can be done is pledge to ' do one's best. For the patient who is limited in his educational understanding by an inability, to read or -write, trying to give informed consent is more difficult. In ; North Carolina it is estimated that fifty . per cent of the population is illiterate for .reading with comprehension at the sjxth . grade level. We should all ask how good "can informed consent be? Any patient ad-; -vised to have elective Surgery for whatever , reason may be well advised to get a se cond, third or even fourth opinion. " Anesthesia risk, and the complications possible from any surgical procedure - means that surgery should never be taken too lightly. One can always question the numbers-of seemingly needless hysterec tomies done on females for fibroids (usually a benign condition found in as, many as eight per cent of all adult black '. females). Some of the press about un necessary surgery may well be justified when its victims have been the poor, the uneducated or the misinformed. However, thresi another side those'' r . . .t- .I .....-. nnA uinit until thfr mr who uccu auigcijr aiiu nau unui ..v. becomes an exercise in crisis intervention, v These people . are doing" themselves a ; disservice and increasing the cost of theif .' care by only acting when they have an -emergency. Patients., with . known : 'gallstones have delayed : their needed ' to become infected or, have a stone rup !ture through. Many black people wait too, long to go to doctors with treatable condi-' tions. By the time they come in, complica-; lions have set in or what once was simple; is now complex. Delays in obtaining care usually mean more time, treatment and, ; money will have to be spent, f A pharmacology professor once noted that outside of antibiotics, there are noti i ten drugs' which cure diseases. Insulin : does not cure diabetes, but.it does allow one to live a fuller life with the disease;. : Aspirin, Motrin, Gold, etc. , only reduce the aches of arthritis. Dope such, as' : Heroin or marijuana are used to give a high, but when the euphoria wears of f, we i have to come back down to earth to deal " with the problems here. TV and. magazines tell us to take caffeine to help us wake up, No:Doz, Ny tol or other drugs . .will help us sleep and various other pro. ducts can be used to help us make it through the day. The truth is that most , people could probably make it with a lot " less medicine and medical intervention if: we understand: 1 -some aches and pains ; will alwavs be' there without meaning ' you're dyingrz-tne need tor a cnange in uiestyie to reauce weigni, stop smoKing, decrease salt and restrict , sugar intake, !. etc., helps decrease pur risk of certain . diseases: . 3-medicine' alone mav not cure '. what ails us friends, love, happiness and a positive outlook on life have been : greatly undervalued;. 4-if you're sick, by all means you should go to the doctor rather than wait too long; 5-use primary, care people such, as : family, physicians, pediatricians, or obstetricians first rather than make a bee-line for the specialist; . ! and, 6-if you don't know, ask questions, be informed and keep abreast of what's : happening with you. It's your body, so take care of it. No one else will ever love it like you do. gw 33 ZSt 3S SS3 S SSI S1QI S3 SSSt i ! igtC CSS ytSSt SBB I ses ssss sat ; To Be Equal Next Step For Job Training ."(,!;. 't:i ggjffi! cs ag sa i 1 By John E. Jacob w v v " f Executive Director, National Urban League 5l5l5llillll55glEiESj Perhaps the kindest observation one can make about the Administration's new job-training proposal is that it may help provoke a national debate on a new and hopefully, better program to replace 1 CETA, which is being phased out. : The biggest flaw in the new plan is the elimination of stipends for trainees. Traditionally, people in job training pro grams get a small payment conditioned on their attendance. It helps them pay the rent, cat and get to and from the training centers. ' . By framing a plan that does not include even modest stipends, along with no guarantees of a job at the end of the train ing period, the: Administration virtually assures its plan will exclude the neediest. I don't think it deliberately wants it to fail; rather it is trying to launch a program on the cheap, tt can't be done. Quality costs. Ensuring success means committing resources. No one expects the defense establishment Jo do its job on the cheap: why should iwc jexpect that job .training, can be done iha way? - Still another 31aw is the block grant aspect of the program. State governors4 often indifferent to urban areas, would have loo much control. Many cities would be cut out , including' some that have formed constructive , relationships, with community-based agencies thai perform. And while it is good that the Ad ; ministration plan will involve the private , sector to a greater degree than in the past, that also raises the threat that training would be concentrated on the most hircablc among the unemployed. The people who need the most help and require the biggest effort may be squeezed out to bolster the success rate of the pro gram. In some instances, that will mean training people, who might have found jobs ' anyway at the expense of those, harder to place. Several Congressmen have training bills of their own, and the legislative process will probably yield something quite dif . fcrcnt from the Labor Department's plan. But-any final version of a job training program - should ?. include . three vital elements it should focus otvthe neediest of the disadvantaged, it should have max imum participation by the community based agencies thai can effectively reach those in need of help, and it should be funded at a level commensurate with the problem. . The program to be replaced, CETA, got an undeserved bad reputation through imidslinging attacks that tried to paint it. as a leaf-raking haven for chiselers.; That's the fate of most social programs.! Whatever its failings, CETA, especially after the 1978 changes in the law. did the ; ss SSS SSBt 8SS SS S3 SSSt 83! ! job it was supposed to do. It placed people in public service jobs that helped their communities. It provid ed training for the disadvantaged. Almost half of its participants, who came to the program without any marketable work skills, got unsubsidized jobs, even in a recession. i . Now that's a pretty good track record. , 'It would be better. But Pentagon pro grams with far higher failure rates got more funds while CETA got the axe. CETA served to help many become self-sufficient producers. It is needed at a time of Depression for the urban poor. If -Congress replaces CETA, it should be with a program that serves more people , and serves them even more effectively. We can expect a pretty stiff fight over CETA's replacement. Big interests arc in volved. State officials want more power. City officials want to keep control. Business wants more say. When elephants fight, the deer had bet ter watch out. So far. jherc is little evidence that any of the power players is primarily concerned with the stake of the disadvantaged in gaining training; jobs and hope. Unless their interests arc placed foremost in the debate that is shaping up. any new program will fall short of what poor people and the nation ncedJ . lllBIBBPUliBBlilBB 4 ft ftM r. w h 1859-1937 Bonti IN PITTSBURGH, PA. SON OF AN A.M.E. BISHOP, -THE MAN FRENCH EXPERTS CALLEDM6REATST AMERICAN PAINTERHOFTH DAY ! AFTER TEACHING AT CLARK UNIVERSITY, HE WENT TO LIVE IN PARIS, FREE FROM RAC IAL PREJUDICE. HIS BIBLICAL PAINTINGS WON COUNTLESS AWARDS THROUGHOUT TH$ UNITED STATES AND EUROPE! . COMTW6HTAC FfATlXUS Mitterand and Reagan: A Study In Contrasts Tbe recent visit of French President Francois Mitterand to the United States for discussions with President Reagan resulted in an encounter between two of ihc Western world's - most important leaders. , ' The Reagan-Mittcrand summit was likciwise a meeting of two leaders who look office under remarkably similar cir cumstances. Both Presidents were elected a year ago after haying campaigned on the ; .: promise of increasing productivity and I , creating new jobs. Both sharply criticized ','lhe foreign and domestic policies of their predecessors. Both defeated moderate in- , cumbents by arguing that what was need ed was a radical change of course, in . government. To some degree, both have - fell ihc need to decentralize the structure ; and functions of government. ., Here, however, the similarities end, For ' ' . ihc recent summit of the French and ' American Presidents was a dialogue bet ween two leaders whose approach to quite , similar economic problems is based on fundamentally different assumptions. President Reagan's policies are based on a total faith in the Sanctioning of the ' - market system. For Reagan it is govern ment intervention in the economy which . has been responsible for high unemploy ment, a decline in productivity, and infla-, tion. In Mitterand's view, it is the govern-. ' ment's failure to play a leading role in the economy which is at the root of his coun- try's economic problems. vV Since coming into office the French President has: . given hefty raises to France's lowest v : paid workers; nationalized France's banks and nine large industrial corporations: cut the work week from 40 hours to 39, with an additional cut of four hours to follow; increased the paid vacations of i French workers from Tour to five weeks. , The last two measures are intended not ; ; ' rtiArAlu tr rrrtilAs t&nr brc uifh mrm frtm i ! time and thus makethem more productive during the hours in which they work. v These policies also have the effect of spur- i ring further hiring and thus serve to ease unemployment. " ' When Mitterand came into office many j. conservatives were suggesting that France By Bayard Rustin ( A Philip Randolph Institute would soon.be transformed into a "col lectivist hell". In point of fact, the changes that have been implemented are far.-reaching but entirely consistent with democracy and individual freedom. ; The overall goal of - the Mitterrand policies is to produce a growth rate of .three per cent. Most experts predict that in 1982 France will achieve at least the level of 2.5 growth, which would push it well ahead of its European partners and 'the United States. , , , As a result of the Reagan Administra tion's policies, Americans have seen a decline in the annual rate of inflation.; . However, this decline has been achieved at the cost of a recession, high unemploy ment, and industrial decline. France con tinues to suffer from inflation. But under ; Mitterand the inflation rate is no higher . than it was under his more conservative predecessor. Moreover, France is in the ; midst of an impressive economic expan- ision. ' While President Reagan has , been drastically cutting government spending 1 for scientific and technological research, ; Continued On Page 20) J
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