Newspapers / InterCom (Durham, N.C.) / June 2, 1972, edition 1 / Page 6
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PEDALING PROFESSOR—Qr. Erdman Pal more is a familiar figure to many Duke employes who see him riding his bicycle around the campus each day. Tomorrow the bicycle buff will take a long ride in observance of his birthday. Or. E. Palmore Celebrates Birthday In Annual Measure of Endurance Aniyan (continued from page 1} House and the Office of Management and Budget on health care matters is so fragmented that there is no overview group of advisors who can speak to the ■President on national priorities in health. Therefore, Aniyan has proposed establishment of a Federal Health Council, a top-level presidential advisory group who would not be bound to "the political constituency of a particular division of the executive branch." He also called for a separate Department of Health, with a cabinet rank Secretary of Health split out from the existing Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Proposed legislation for such a position already is before Congress. Aniyan termed current inequities in financing health care "a Robin Hood approach," referring to the practice of increasing the cost of hospitalization and other health services to those who are able to pay as a means of making up for losses from patients who can't or won't pay. "It is unfair," Aniyan said, "to pass the cost of care for the medically indigent to the private patient who happens to be sick at the same time." He advocates a unified, nationwide system of health insurance which would cover every citizen on a non-voluntary basis, and with everyone sharing in the cost according to his ability to pay. It would operate through both public funding for the indigent and private financing for others, under a set of national standards that would assure equal application in every state. Turning to the problem of health manpower, Aniyan said the federal government has been incongruo.us and paradoxical in its expectations. On the one hand, he said, the government eliminated $143 million from the 1973 fiscal year budget for health education facilities in the face of a backlog of more than $750 million in approved but unfunded construction grants. And at the same time, he said, federal legislation "coerces the academic centers to increase enrollment," something that can't be done without increased educational facilities. The time required to train physicians and other health care professionals was another point in Aniyan's proposal for a (continued on page 4) A lean, bearded figure will straddle a bicycle about 7 a.m. tomorrow and begin a journey to commemorate his 42nd birthday. The purpose is to ride 84 miles or double the number of years he is old. The act will perpetuate a ritual that began with Dr. Erdman Palmore's 38th birthday. The Duke sociologist calls it his annual self-challenge to test his physical fitness. "When I came to Duke I was impressed with research indicating that exercise contributes to good health, longevity and life satisfaction in general. I began jogging and riding a bicycle shortly after that," he said. "As a result, I feel stronger, my tensions are relieved, I sleep better and I have gained the satisfaction of knowing that exercise is helping me to maintain a young body." He has been riding his bicycle to work each day for several years—a six-mile round trip—and lately twice weekly he and his wife take 10 to 12-mile bike rides. To train for the 84 mile trip he has been pedaling 50 miles on weekends. In addition to the physical value. Dr. Palmore views jogging and cycling as a pleasurable pastime, "something you can do for as long or short a period as you like. It does not require expensive equipment, you don't have to be concerned about being in competition with anyone except yourself, and it doesn't require any athletic skill." His inspiration for his fitness program is his 77-year-old father, a vigorous tennis player-and Hardrock Simpson, a 70-ish Burlington chap who jogs his age each year and who has been known to jog about the outfield during baseball games. Dr. Palmore's exercise correlates with his research in gerontology. "The thing that appeals to me is that distance jogging and bike riding each year demonstrates that physical ability need not decline with age—on the contrary, it indeed may increase." Born in Japan to missionary parents—his mother and his maternal grandmother were also born in Japan to missionary parents—Dr. Palmore's work satisfaction and exercise program may enable him to live to be 100. If he does, you can bet that he'll plan to bicycle 200 miles on that day.
InterCom (Durham, N.C.)
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June 2, 1972, edition 1
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