2B
HEALTH/The Charlotte Post
Thursday, December 18, 1997
Program helps truckers lose ‘spare tire’
By Ira Dreyfuss
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - An exercise
program supported by the federal
government and the trucking
industry aims to eliminate spare
tires on truckers.
The goal is to make interstate
drivers slimmer, healthier - and
safer.
The Rolling Strong Gym has
opened at a truck stop in North
Ijttle Rock, Ark., and others are
planned elsewhere along
Interstate 40. The president of
the Richardson, Texas, health
club company and government
and industry ofGcials are watch
ing to see if the truckers will work
out.
“It’s been long overdue,” said
Paul Tbdorovich of Myrtle Beach,
S.C., an independent driver. “Tm
really hoping it catches on and
they flourish.”
Transportation Department
officials also hope so. “Research
shows that drivers who are phys
ically fit are safer drivers, and
that exercise is key to getting peo
ple into healthier lifestyles,” said
IVansportation Secretary Rodney
E. Slater in a statement endors
ing the concept.
About 70 percent of truckers are
seriously overweight, said depart
ment transportation specialist
Jerry Robin.
Excess weight creates a higher
risk of heart disease, high blood
pressure and diabetes. And dia
betes could cost long-haul truck
ers their jobs, Robin said: “When
a driver becomes an insulin-using
diabetic, they are prohibited by
our regulations from interstate
commerce.”
Overweight truckers also may
be less safe on the road. A 1994
study found the accident rate
doubled among seriously over
weight drivers, Robin said.
Robin could not explain why
being fit would make a driver
safer, but Tbdorovich had a theory
- exercise fights fatigue.
“When I am feeling fatigued
and it’s not time to pull over and
take my 8-hour break, I might
run around the rest areas or do
jumping jacks to get the blood
reoxygenated,” Tbdorovich said in
a telephone interview at the
Rolling Strong Gym, in a Pilot
Truck Stop.
Some big trucking companies
find the fitness argument so com
pelling that they are opening fit
ness centers in their terminals,
said Bill Rogers, research director
for the American Trucking
Association Foundation, an edu
cational arm of the industry
group.
The trouble is that truckers
spend most of their time away
from the terminals, Rogers said.
“We have heard from many dri
vers that it is awfully difficult to
have an exercise routine because
there is no place to do that,” he
said.
TTiat’s where Rolling Strong
comes in. It has a line of aerobics
and weight equipment from
StairMaster and is open 16 hours
a day to accommodate truckers’
schedules. Eventually, the club
hopes to grow into a chain on
heavily traveled routes, to make it
convenient for truckers to get in
their workouts, said Jeff Abrams,
Rolling Strong’s president.
A driver on a tight schedule
could fuel, stop at the rest room,
get in a quick workout, grab food
and still be back on the road in a
half hour, Abrams said.
However, it’s not known if truck
ers will flock to the club. They
don’t fit the typical demographic
profile for health club members,
which is middle class or higher
and at least half female.
Abrams doubted hell see truck
ers dashing onto the floor in
Spandex outfits, but he said street
clothes will do fine. He also noted
that truckers, who spend long
hours simply sitting, may be
unfamiliar with weights and
treadmills, and may have to be
introduced to exercise. Rolling
Strong has professional fitness.
staffers to help the truckers, he
said.
Nor can Abrams be sure that
truckers, after a long day of dri
ving, even will see the health club
as the place to go to relax. He
hopes they do.
“For those on mandatoiy
rests,it’s a great way to unwind
and gives them a place to kick
back.”
So DOT and the trucking foun
dation are funding the TVuck Stop
Fitness Facility Study. The study
will provide 500 truckers with
free memberships for a year, and
track what use they may make of ;
the clubs. If the concept proves
itself, DOT will urge the develop
ment of more clubs, Robin said.
News you
won’t get
anywhere
else...
Cljarlotte
Health Insurance
Phx)e for a Quoie on the Celtic Adults Health Plan
• $20 Doctor Visits
• Prescription
Drug Card
• 12 Month Rate
Guarantee
• Covered Physical
Exams
(800)659-9713
Si
trtcimr
We’ll Put Your Feet
Back On The Street
ERWIN MIL BONDING CO.
ONLY “5” MINUTES FROM THE JAIL
CALL TODAY!
335-1180 - 529-0261
or PAGE one of our...
Professional Ball Bonds Staff
• Rosetta Erwtai - 55B-9083
• Pertanza "TAM" AUm - 672-7522
• Kennetti "lENN” Perinciilef 346-6898
212 N. McDowell, Suite 110
INTEREST FREE TIL 1999
Pathology seeks answers in deaths
Continued from 1B
handled by medical examiners
result in autopsies.
“Our job is to fill in the gap for
those cases where there is no
physician to certify the death,”
Butts said during an interview in
his cluttered office one floor below
the autopsy room atop the
Brinkhous-BulUtt building at the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
Stacks of papers and slides were
scattered throughout the room. A
white lab coat hung on a rack in
the corner, and a large microscope
rested on the floor next to a file
cabinet. On the bookshelf was a
bumper sticker reading “Medical
Examiners Do It In The Public
Interest.”
A blackboard on the wall was
cluttered with several drawings,
including a heart, a motor vehicle,
a knife, and a diagram of a knot
that a little girl used to hang her
self.
“We were questioning whether
the child did it deliberately or
whether it could be some kind of
accident,” Butts explained. “This
is a very obvious knot.... We ruled
it a suicide.”
Butts, head of the state child
fatality prevention team, said
some of the most difficult cases
can be child abuse cases.
“It’s hard to kill a healthy adult
who doesn’t want to die... without
producing a lot of marks,” he said.
“But a small child can be very
easily asphyxiated, and the
degree of force required to pro
duce significant trauma in a child
is considerably less than that
required in an adult.”
Even when the cause of death is
apparently obvious, things
always aren’t as they seem. Butts
noted.
He recalled one man who died
after being clubbed in the head
with a cuestick during a fight in a
pool hall. The victim, drunk and
groggy, was taken to a hospital
but refused treatment. He was
found dead a couple of hours
later, and his alleged assailant
was arrested.
“It turned out that the guy actu
ally had a heart attack,” Butts
said.
Seems the man had told a
coworker earlier in the day that
he was going to get drunk to for
get about the pain in his chest.
REG $8.99 SQ. YD.
REG $11.99 SQ. YD.
REG $14,99 SQ. YD.
6099 COLORFUL
Tfr LEVEL LOOP
E99 STUNNING
SAXONY CARPET
4799 DURABLE
BERBER CARPET
ARPEL
4517 E. Independence Blvd.
(At the corner of Sharon Amity)
*OAC, S300 minimum finance
I Abbey Carpet
America's Choice at your neighborhood store
MON., WED. & FRI. 9-6
TUE. & THUR. 9-8 ■ SAT. 10-6
535-7111
Language barriers
dropping in Old South
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLESTON. S.C. - The new
wave of immigration that has hit
other parts of the country is final
ly showing up in the Old South as
schools offer English as second-
language courses and television
ads target Spanish-speaking
viewers.
But since the numbers of new
immigrants is small, the cultural
feuding that has affected some
other areas is not a problem in
Charleston, College of Charleston
sociologist Von Bakinac says.
“As long as the numbers are
small, people who define ‘other’
people find them more as being
interesting and nonthreatening,”
she said. “You really don’t have
racial problems until a group
becomes threatened by competi
tion in the business or job mar
ket.”
While over the centuries Jewish,
Irish and German immigrants
settled in the Lowcountry, the
new immigrants are more likely
to speak Spanish or Chinese.
Abiding to 1995 census fig
ures, the population in
Charleston, Berkeley and
Dorchester of people who are nei
ther black nor white is roughly
14,000 people out of about
563,000.
The second most-popular for
eign tongue spoken in Charleston
County schools today is
Cantonese Chinese. Spanish is
the most popular.
In Berkeley Coimty there are
almost 2,500 Filipinos, many of
whom settled in the area when
Charleston Naval Base was open,
while in North Charleston,
Korean schoolchildren spend
Saturdays learning Korean histo
ry at the Korean United
Methodist Church.
'The minister, the Rev. Tbng II
Han, said marriages between
U.S. servicemen and Korean
women usually led to entire
Korean families coming to this
country.
The impact of the new wave of
immigration is being felt in busi
ness as well. A North Charleston
used-car dealer advertises an
employee who is fluent in
Spanish. A local lawyer also
advertises she speaks Spanish.
On upper King Street, three
Asian-owned businesses - two
wig shops and a restaurant -
recently opened in what tradition
ally has been a district of black-
owned business.
Local police agencies have start
ed keeping a list of people who
speak foreign languages in case
they are needed as interpreters in
dangerous situations.
Saturday mornings,
Mary Hopkins-Navies
lets local students
translorm her three
McDonald's parking
lots into car washes.
Last year alone, the
Clinton, Maryland
teens raised over
$8,000 for groups like
the Boys ahd Girls
Club, Mary also
donates 10 yearly PSAT
scholarships, otters
weekly senior citizen
bingo games, tutors
math, and has helped
raise over $22,000 in
the last two years lor
neighborhood causes.
As founder of the
Jackson, Mississippi
chapter ol "100 Black
Men," LeRoy Walker, Jr.
serves as a role model
by mentoring to
disadvantaged black
teens. As owner of
10 McDonald's and
Chairman Elect of the
Jackson Chamber of
Commerce, LeRoy is
dedicated to the
economic development
ol his community and
to improving local
education and race
relations. This former
high school teacher
and football coach is a
true community activist,
leader and visionary.
Louis C. Henry, Jr. is
about "getting kids
productive and giving
them a chance." Louis
meets with local police,
clergy and schools to
identify needy "at risk"
teens in St, Paul,
Minnesota, and helps
teach them work and
life skills at his four
inner-city McDonald's.
He's also Vice-
Chairman ol the
Mayor's Workforce
Development Council,
supporting student
programs which
provide tutoring and
jobs. Last summer
alone, Louis'
dedication and
commitment helped
find 1,000 jobs for
the youfh in his
community.
We’re glad to re in a position to mare a difference.
McDonald's is an equal opportunity franchisor by choice. For information, call Harry Coaxum, Asst, V.T?.aU630J623-5^. 01997 McDoravis cowanon
* :