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2B o m cY LIFE/ Charlotte Thursday, July 6, 2006 Four-letter words of inspiration Continued from page 1B eracy by using fom*-letter words. Ronald Dixon, assistant superintendent for middle school cmriculum and instruction said, ‘T can envi sion our counselors using (the book) in small group and indi vidual counseling sessions.” The book is divided into four sections: Self-esteem, Goal-achievement, Peer- powe- and Hdp-others. Though he teaches math, Howard has used the model in his classroom. “In my (dass) room, I had four words: able, care, best and done,” he said. “It’s my dream somehow that we have a community that would adopt those four words. On the first day of school I told my students that people who succeed in life, know that they’re able, they give their best, they show that they care and more importantly they get it done.” Howard said that by the end of the school year, his stu dents were using the model he’d set for them. “They would teU. me, Tfs done” upon accomplishing a goal. “You always look for that teachable moment,” said Howard, who used his own money to print and distribute the book. For more information, e-mail Howard at thoward3@takeast- epupjiet. Facts about breast cancer and detection Continued from page 1B an increased risk. What are the current screening recommendations for breast cancer? The best diance for curing breast cancer is early detec tion and treatment. Current screening recommendations include mammography (a breast x-ray) every year start up at age 40; your healthcare provider should also complete a clinical breast exam at least every three years between ages 20-39 and yearly begin ning at age 40. AH women should perforrp monthly self breast examinations begin ning at age 20. Women who have had carci noma in situ should have clin ical breast examinations every 6-12 months and a mammogram every year. Women younger than age 25 years with BRCA-l/BRCA-2 mutations should have clini cal breastexaminations every year. However, mammogra phy may not be necessary at this younger age. Women with BRCA-l/BRCA-2 muta tions or with strong family histories of breast or ovarian cancer who are over age 25 years should have a clinical breast examination every 6- 12 months and mammogra phy every year. In our nert loeast cancer feature, we will talk more about breast cancer risk and discuss treatment options that are available. If you are at risk for breast cancer, how ever, why not get screared today? After all, knowledge is powa*, but it is what you do with it that makes aH the dif ference! Contribution by John Stewart IV, MD. For more information about the Maya Angelou Research Center on Minority Health, visit our web site at http://www.wfibmc.edu/minonty- health. Or, for health information call (336) 713-7578. Push to better safeguard blood from Malaria Ckarleston House on Tke Plaza T Country Restaurant Lunch 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Dinner. 5:00 p.m. -11:00 p.m. 3128 The Plaza Charlotte, NC 28205 704-333-4441 Lots of good food and keverages! We’ll feed’ you Hi we fill’ you up, fuk true! Book your 2006Even t By May 30th and ^et 23% off Book Your: • Wedding Receptions * Rekearsal Dinners * • office Parties • Family Reunions * Parking availakle on premises and skuttle services off premises. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON-Blood banks turn away up to 150,000 would-be donors each year on the slight diance Ihey picked up malar ia while traveling to any of dozens of countries. At the same time, concern is growing that a second par asitic infection fix)m abroad— the Chagas disease rampant in parts of Latin America— increasingly threatens donat ed blood. Both infections are rare here, but there’s no way to test donated blood for eitiier one. Now blood banks are pushing for better safeguards that also could help stretch tile nation’s tight supply First up, malaria: Next week, the Food and Drug Administration opens debate on how to balance the need for blood with Americans’ increasing travel to malaria hot spots, and to uige manu facturers to develop a malar ia test to solve the problem. The vast majority of U.S. travelers return healthy and there have been only one or two cases of transfusion- spread malaria in five years. But without a blood test, there’s no way to tell who might be unknowingly incu bating the mosquito-bome So FDA requires blood banks to ask about would-be donors’ travels. No donating for a year after a short trip to a malaria-prone coimtry 'fbr three years for anyone who spent more than a year in a malaria-prone country or suf fered malaria symptoms. It doesn’t matter if you faithfully took anti-malaria medicine; you could have for gotten a missed pill or be one of the \mlucky few infected anyway Staying in a cruise ship or large resort is OK in some countri^, unless you took even one trip inland, even during daytime hours when mosquitoes seldom fly Even “safe” vacation spots may not be: The Bahamas aren’t normally malaria- prone, but a May outbreak has just put tourists retmn- ing fium one island. Great Exuma, on the no-donation list, too. ‘When you’re talking about an entire nation, in the end, you’re losing a lot of blood,” says BenNefzger, 72, of Rock Island, HI., who has donated blood several times a year for decades but was turned away for the past year because he spent five months teaching in a Sierra Leone seminary Some 34,000 pints of blood are needed every day yet only about 5 percent of the Americans eligible to donate do so, and increasing foreign travel is further shrinking that donor pool. The American Red Cross, which collects half the nation’s blood, last year estimated that some of its regions were losing 150 to 200 donations a month because of the malaria risk. “Tb get these dcxnors to come . back is not easy” laments Di: Celso Bianco of America’s Blood Centers, a group of independent blood banks that collects the other half of the supply to your house Call 704 376 0496 today Historically most cases of transfiasion-spread malaria have been traced to immi grants fixtm malaria-prone countries who stiU harbored the parasite despite years with no symptoms, some time only a test could xuicov- er, he adds. One U.S. manufactm-er, Abbott Laboratories, is in the initial stages of designing a malaria test for donated blood Britain and parts of Europe already allow travelers to donate if blood tests show they’re fiee of malaria anti bodies, immune cells that attack the parasite. Those tests aren’t rised here because they detect just two of (he four malaria species, albat those that cause most dis ease. Next Tiiesday FDA will ask specialists if (hat’s still good policy “We may have to be open- minded about that,” says’Dr. Hira Nakhasi, FDA’s director of emerging transfusion- For Chagas, a test for donated blood could arrive by year’s end, one blood banks anxiorisly await as they seek more donors fiom a growing Hispanic popxilation. Chagas infects up to 18 mil lion people in parts of rural Mexico, Central and South America, and kills 50,000 of them yearly Most don’t know they’re infected: The parasite can lie silent for decades. \uitil one day erupting inside the heart, esophagus or intes tine. It’s spread mostly by “kiss ing bugs” that live in the cracks of thatch-roofed, mud- walled homes, crawling out at ni^t to bite sleepers. But it’s also spread fium mothers to their imbom children, and throu^ blood transfusions. There have been five trans fusion-spread Chagas cases in the U.S. and two in Canada-”that we know of” says Red Cross Chagas expert Dr. David Leiby Because it lies dormant for so long, “there probably are other transfusion cases going on that aren’t recognized.” How many is hard to say Leiby’s research in the late 1990s estimated one in 25,000 donors overall may carry Chagas disease, but as many as one in 5,400 in Los Angeles with its high Hispanic population. No one knows how many carriers actually harbor enough para site in their blood to infect someone. FDA’s Nakhasi says' the agency will mandate a Chagas test for every blood donation as soon as it’s con vinced there’s a good method First in line may be a test developed by CWho-Clinical Diagnostics, currently under PDA review; competitor Abbott is researching another version. AmeriCare’S'Health AmeriCare Health “Sugar Cr€6K Medical Centerj 721W. Sugar Creek Rd. • 704-941-8020 “Now Open” “A New 3 Million Dollar Facility” (across the street from Maffield Memorial Baptist Churdt) “On The Plaza” • 704-535-0400 Milton Road • Chartotte, NC 2821Y “At The Park” • 704-399-2677 6023 Beatties Ford Road • Charlotte, NC 28216 Visit AmeriCare at eidier location For AH Family Healthcare Needs - Accepting New Patients- “Appointments Not Necessary” Comprehensive Healthcare You Need and Deserve: • State-of-the Arc Pediatrics • Urgent Care • Internal Medicine • Minor Trauma • Industrial Medicine • Diagnostic- Center Dr. Fidelis Edosomwan Open Mon-Fri, 9am'7pm, Sat. 9am-5pm “For I will restore health unto thee, and 1 will heal thy wounds, saith the Lord. ” - Jeremiah 30:17 First black students Continued from page 1B the right thing.” The reception was part of the biannual Blackshear reunion honoring the former high school, middle school and elementary school attended by blacks. The site is now the Carver Alternative Center. “The influence of your alma mater has extended far beyond San Angelo and the Concho Valley” Angelo State President James Hindman said of the honorees. Hindman said the honored alumni had a lot to share. “They teach many lessons about dignity tolerance and accom plishment that we can all benefit from,” he said. ■IIJj:- Charlotte’s weekly link to community news and the world around you. CJatlotte 3^m wiisiliir'
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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July 6, 2006, edition 1
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