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Thursday, February 2, 2006
Study: New Orleans
could lose black base
HiE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PROVIDENCE, R.I.-The city of New
Orleans could lose up to 80 percent of its black
population if people disjDlaced by Hurricane
Katrina are not able to return to damaged
neighborhoods, according to an analysis by a
Brown University sociologist.
Professor John R. Logan, in findings released
Thursday determined that if the city's return
ing population was limited to nei^iboihoods
undamaged by Katrina, half of the white pop
ulation would not return and 80 percent of the
black population would not return.
“There’s very good reason for people to be
concerned that the future New Orleans will not
be a place for the people who used to live th^e,
that there won't be room in New Oiieans for
laige segments of the population that used to
call it home,” said Logan, who studies urban
areas.
The study used maps fium the Federal
Elmergency Management Agency that detailed
flood and wind damage and compared them to
data fium the 2000 U.S. Caisus to determine
who and what areas were affected.
It found the, storm-damaged areas had been
75 percent black, compared to 46 percent black
in undamaged areas of the city It also found
that 29 percent of the households in damaged
ai'eas lived below the poverty line, compared
with 24 percent of households in undamaged
areas.
More than half of those who lived in the city’s
damaged neighborhoods were renters, the
analysis found.
“The odds of living in a damaged aiea were
clearly much greater for blacks, renters and
poor people,” the study said. “In these respects
the most vulnerable residents turned out also
to be at greatest risk.”
Elliott Stonedpher, a demographer and polit
ical analyst based in Shreveport, La., said the
analysis gets to the heart of the debate over
how to rebuild New Orleans. Racial tensions
have been hig^ with some worried that those
in charge of the rebuilding will push black res
idents out of the city
“For this storm to suddenly rip that away
fium them, that feeling is at the heart of this
growing racial impasse,” Stonedpher said.
The study was funded by a grant fium the
National Sdence Foundation and is ongoing,
Logan said.
On the Net:
Interactive tnap of damaged areas:
http://\vwws4hrow'n£diiIKatrina/indexJitml
Heart health for women
Continued from page 1B
hearts, they can appredate
their health, their lives and
their loved ones. If women
make a promise to be heart-
healthy we can decrease the
inddence of heart disease.
• Love Your Heart Gesture.
The Love Your Heart Gesture
is about taking a moment for
yourself and your life each
day It is an opportunity for
women to connect with their
hearts and realize the impor
tance of taking care of them.
Women can do this by simply
placing their hands over their
hearts, taking a deep breath
and considering ways to love,
honor and appreciate this
vital organ everyday
• Go Red in Your Own
Fashion. Going red in your
own fashion is about finding
your personal way to take
part in the fight against heart
disease in women. Whether
it’s visiting your health care
provider, eating a
healthier diet, S
increasing your
ex^xdse, purchas
ing products that
support the
cause, or wear
ing red on
National Wear
Red Day, you
can take action
to love your
heart.
Go Red
Women generates
awareness for heart
disease and helps women
live heart healthy lifestyles.
It’s easier than ever for
women to “go red” by partid-
pating in a variety of activi
ties.
• National Wear Red Day
National Wear Day is Friday
Millions of Americans will be
wearing red to show their
support for women and the
S fight against heart disease.
^ it Additionally, national and
'£^4 local monuments and
buildings across the
country will be
illuminated in
' red.
•Wear the
Symbol. The
red dress is
the national
a5mbol for
this move-
m^t. The red
dress pin is
available fi^ by visiting our
Web site at www.goredfor-
women.org or calling (888)
MY-HEART.
American Heart Association
VIA STIMULATION
Hope for paralyzed muscles
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON—"Vibrating tingles of dec-
tridty worm into the thin legs of paralyzed
children, pulling at their musdes to pump up
and down on a spedal bicyde.
It’s called electrical stimulation exerdse th^-
apy and small but tantalizing studies suggest
that this intense rehab just might help restore
some fimction to people with spinal cord
iiyuries, even if they were paralyzed long ago.
Desperate patients have sou^t this therapy
since it was credited with helping the late
CTiristopher Reeve regain the atrility to feel
human touch and move just a little, more than
five years after a riding acddent completely
paralyzed the “Superman” star. Now sdentists
are putting the approach to a rigorous test— in
a study with children that may begin to
answer whether this sweat equity truly fuels
recovery
Patients “will do anything for a glimmer of
hope,” cautions Dr. Randal Betz of
Philadelphia’s Shrine Hospital for Children,
which has a waiting list of 5- to 13-year-olds
hoping to enter the study “What’s appealing
about the cycling is it’s not surgery it’s not
hurtful. .. .Everybodyis hopeful that it will also
show improvement in neurolc^c function”
The idea: Remaining nerves in the spine may
be dormant, partially recovered after the
injury but essentially asleep as the brain can
no longer send "get moving” n^ssages down to
them. Using electridty to stimulate those
nerves and cause »rtain patterns of motion
may teach them to carry signals locally, maybe
even route new connections around the iiyury
It’s controversial. Doctors have long thou^t
that if the body repairs itself after a spinal cord
ii\jury—whidi does sometimes happen—any,
improvement will occur in the first six months,
and that there’s no hope for further recovery
beyond about 18 months. The paralysis spaiks
a slide into declining health fiom inactivity:
infections, thinning and breaking bones, heart
disease as musdes wither and fat accumulates.
“We have to maintain the nervous system,”
contends Dr. John W. McDonald of Baltimore’s
Kennedy Krieger Institute, Reeve’s former doc
tor and the exercise therapy’s leading propo-
nmt. “Adding activity can optimize regenera
tion. What’s good activity? We don’t know yet.”
But he’s sending patients hcane, 200 so far,
with special exercise tdcycles hooked up to
functional electrical stimulation, or FES, sys
tems—sticky pads that deliver little dectrical
jolts to muscles throu^ the skin, stimulating
their legs to push the pedals. He’s persuading
insurance companies to pay for the $15,000
bikes by arguing that, if nothing dse, this aer
obic-style, muscle-resistant exercise should
lower medical bills by keeping the paralyzed
generally healthier.
McDonald compared 48 paralyzed adults,
half who pedaled an FES bike for at least three
hours a week and half who had no special care.
The exercise patients increased muscle
strength, melted fat, and cut a complication
called spasticity uncontrollable jerks that limit
the recovery of those with some movement, he
told a neurology meeting last fall.
“These benefits are so big, that if that was all
they got, it was good enough to do this,”
McDonald says.
But 40 percent of the exercise group also
regained some motor function over three years
compared with 4 percent of the "control”
patients. It was modest but important
improvement: some regained bladder control;
some regained useful hand function; some
moved fiom "prewalking,” moving their legs
while being held up, to taking a few steps.
While ^k:Donald says about 70 rehabilitation
cCTiters have adopted FES cycling therapy
since a medical journal published his report on
Reeve in 2002, other specialists warn that indi
vidual successes don’t prove recovery is due to
a therapy instead of the body’s slow healing
over time
“What we have at the moment is an incom
plete story that is based upon ... very little
data,” cautions Dr. Mark S. Nash of the Miami
Project to Cure Paralysis.
Hence the Shriners study Althou^ small,
with 30 patients, it is the first stringent com
parison of FES cycling with passive exercise—
someone moving their limbs—or electrical
stimulation alone. Eariy results are expected
in a year.
McDonald notes that children in general
recover fi*om neural ixyuries better than
adults, and points to remarkable progress by
one of his own patients, 15-year-old Loretta
McRae.
Paralyzed fiom the shoulders down after a
diving accident in Australia a year ago, Lor^ta
since November has exercised five days a week
on the FES bike and with a similar electrical
stimulator strapped to her wrists She now can
walk several wobbly feet with a cane, and last
week took a few tentative but jubilant steps
unassisted She can go to ffie bathroom alcaie
Her hands are unJfreezing.
Would Loretta have recovered this much
anyway? There’s no way to tell, although eariy
return of sensation was a good sign.
But she’s not done: “I want to run, and I want
to dance.”
Charlotte Black Heritage Tour(sin)
and Pilgrimage 2006
Visit three existing Slave cemeteries!
Sit in the balcony
of a former Slave church!
1
Participate in a traditional
African memorial service!
^Listen to live professional drumming!
Drive by a home bombed during the
Civil Rights era!
Get a souvenir snack bag filled with
goodies!
1
Plus over 45 sites of African-American and Charlotte history!
Tours Depart At $30 (19 -59), $28 (60 +), $26 (5 -18)
lOflOAMand 1:30 PM
Eveiy ’Saturday in February
*02/04/06 not open to the public
Groups lOor more ($10off each ticket)
$10 OFF all seats if purchased by 01 /31 /06
$5 OFF if purchased up to 7 days before event
(Limited Seating)
* Advance Seat Reservations Suggested
All tours leave from the Levine Museum of the New South,
200 East 7th Street/Uptown Charlotte
FREE Parking next door at the 7th Street Station Parking Deck
* To Reserve Your Seat(s) Call: 704-566-0104, or e-mail us at n
trips@queencitytours,com.You can now purchase your seats online at
www.queencitytour5.com/, click on the "Purchase Tickets Link."
Sponsor a Fiurricane Katrina victim or volunteer or donate to clean up the
Cedar Grove cemetery call 704-566-0104 for details
I!)e Cljarlotte
PraiselOO.3
Charlotte’s Inspiration Station
BFfiO IlfllEfllCflO
CUliymil GEOIER
The Triangle Tribune
LETTHE HEALING CONTINUE!
Copyright 1993-2006, Quson CityTours(sm), Charlotte, NC, all rights rasorvod
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