Health & Wellness
Healthbeat
Local doctors win honor from the
American Burn Association
Dr. Jeffrey Carter and Dr. Luke Neff , genera] sur
gery residents at Wake Forest University School of
Medicine, are the recipients of this year's Carl A.
Moyer Resident Award. This award is given annually
by the American Bum Association for the best
research paper submitted by a resident or medical stu
dent.
Carter and Neff 's research compared practice and
referral guidelines for patients with burn injuries by
reviewing every discharge record in North Carolina
over a two-year period. The results demonstrated that
patients who meet national referral criteria for bum
centers are frequently not transferred there.
"We are now completing a seven-year review of
8,000 patients in N.C., which is demonstrating similar
findings," said Carter. "We plan to use this informa
tion to continue improving outreach and education for
our community health care providers."
Dr. James H. Holmes IV, assistant professor, sur
gical sciences-general surgery, was the faculty mentor
for this research study.
Surgeon General says more
black doctors are needed
ATLANTA (AP)- The new U.S. Surgeon
General on Thursday called for stepped-up efforts in
increasing the number of minority physicians.
In what was one of her first speeches to a large
crowd since she was sworn in Nov. 3, Dr. Regina
Benjamin noted that the proportion of U.S. physicians
who are minorities is only six percent ? the same
proportion as a century ago.
"There's something wrong with that," said
Dr. Benjamin
benjamin, speaking at a con
ference on health disparities at
a hotel in downtown Atlanta.
The numbers come from a
2004 estimate of the percent
age of U.S. physicians that are
black or Hispanic. Blacks and
Hispanics account for roughly
28 percent of the U.S. popula
tion, according to 2008 figures
from the U.S. Census Bureau.
In a 27-minute speech,
Benjamin told health leaders in
the audience to encourage young minorities to pursue
careers in medicine or other ambitions.
Benjamin, 53, is widely respected for being the
founder and savior of a rural clinic in Bayou La Batre,
Ala., that was wiped out three times by fire and hurri
canes. She also was the first black woman to head a
state medical society.
She is a native of Daphne, Ala., but has strong ties
to Georgia. She attended Atlanta's Morehouse School
of Medicine and completed her residency in family
medicine at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.
She is a member of Morehouse's Board of Trustees,
and counts Dr. David Satcher ? a Morehouse admin
istrator and former surgeon general ? as a mentor.
Bates appointed to council
Gov. Bev Perdue has appointed Jeri Bates of
Clemmons to the North Carolina Interagency
Coordinating Council for Children from Birth to Five
with Disabilities and their Families.
Bates is vice president and chief operating officer
at Speechcenter, Inc. in Winston-Salem. She is a
member of the Professional Affairs Committee for
N.C. Speech-Language and Hearing Association, a
member of N.C. Division of Medical Assistance for
Outpatient Specialized Therapies Task Force, and a
provider representative for N.C. Early Intervention
Stakeholder's Committee. Bates was awarded hon
orary membership by the North Carolina Speech
Language and Hearing Association in 2004. She
received her bachelor's degree in business communi
cation from Lenior-Rhyne College.
The Interagency Coordinating Council assists the
state of North Carolina in carrying out the require
ments for participating in the Federal Individuals with
Disabilities Education Amendments of 1991. The
council provides early intervention services to chil
dren from birth through age five, who have or who are
at risk of, developing disabilities. The council has,30
members, each serving a two-year term. The governor
appoints all members.
Wake Forest part of effort
to improve blood storage
A new, $2.8 million, four-year federal grant will
support researchers at the University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine and their collaborators at Wake
Forest University as they study why the quality of
stored transfusion blood degrades over time and how
to address the problem. This "storage lesion." as sci
entists call it, has been associated with increased risk
for cardiovascular events and organ failure, particu
larly among compromised patients who receive mul
tiple units of aged blood.
There is strong evidence that red blood cells lose
some of their enzyme function and have a shortened
life span during the time they are banked, explained
co-principle investigator Dr. Mark Gladwin, director
of the Vascular Medicine Institute at the University of
Pittsburgh and chief of the division of pulmonary,
allergy and critical care medicine at the School of
Medicine.
"When the red cells hemolyze, or break apart, dur
ing storage, they leave behind micro-particle remains
and the hemoglobin they contained," Dr. Gladwin
said. "We suspect that after transfusion those remains
lead to destruction of nitric oxide, which in turn can
cause blood vessel inflammation and narrowing, as
well as blood clots."
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
AIDS Care Service (ACS) used World
AIDS Day on Dec. 1 to roll out a new
effort to help the agency raise money to
assist local residents living with
HIV/AIDS.
In observance of its 15th anniversary,
ACS is calling the campaign "The 1500."
The initiative is seeking donations of $15
or more from at least 1,500 new donors.
But the campaign is about more than
raising money, according to the agency.
ACS hopes that by appealing to new
donors it can also drive home the fact that
HIV/AIDS is still fact of life for a grow
ing number of people in Forsyth and sur
rounding counties. ACS is pushing the
philosophy that "everyone is affected,
while many are infected."
"The face of HIV/AIDS has changed
dramatically in 15 years," a statement
from ACS reads. "Nationally, persons
6
AIDS
CARE
SERVICE
infected reflect the disparities in our
healthcare system. Most ACS Clients fall
into that category. They are predominant
ly minorities from impoverished back
grounds who are facing many challenges
Increasingly they are heterosexual
women. The number of HIV infected
young people is also on the rise. It is esti
mated that one quarter to one third of
those living with HIV are unaware they
are infected."
Since it was founded in 1994 by the
Winston-Salem City Council, religious
leaders, corporate sponsors, local organi
zations and supporters, ACS has worked
to "empower and serve our brothers and
sisters living with HIV/AIDS and to edu
cate our community in the struggle against
the disease." ACS is now the largest
provider of comprehensive HIV/AID^
programs and services in Forsyth and sur
rounding counties.
For more information visit
www.aidscqreservice.org or call
Community , Relations Director Amy
Lindsey at' 336-777-01 16.
A&T Photo
Forsyth Courtly participants (front row, from left) Deja Marshall, Destine Jennings, Mikalah
Muhammad and Jazmin Gutierrez. Second row: (from left) Alliyah Hunter, Naeem Razzak,
Nashaira Cuthbertson, Emmanuel Braswell, chaperone Isa Taqwaa, Ariana Vargas, Crystal
Coleman, Nazir Smith, Cassandra Crockett, Samuel Richardson and Yasin Shareef.
t>
Students learn to become advocates for good health
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
Fourteen students have returned to Forsyth
County prepared to help their families and
friends lead healthier lifestyles.
They recently attended a three-day, skills
building workshop at N.C. A&T State University
in Greensboro to become part of the "4-H Force
of 100." The students participated in interactive
sessions on nutrition, food safety, physical fit
ness and proper exercise techniques.
The Force of 100 is part of a National 4-H
Council initiative called Youth Voice: Youth
Choice and is funded through a $50,000 grant
from the Walmart Foundation. The program is
particularly focused on minority communities,
whose residents have higher than average inci
dences of diabetes, hypertension, stroke and kid
ney disease. Each Force-of-100 student has
returned to their communities armed with new
skills to help combat the deadly-diet related dis
eases, by organizing healthy activities, programs
and initiatives for friends and families.
Dear Mr.
President
PRNewsFou>/Gfecnpeace Switzerland /
Greenpeace Africa
Students at the Senator
Obama School in Kogelo,
Kenya hold a letter that
they wrote and emailed to
President Barack Obama,
who had the school named
in his honor when he was a
member of the U.S. Senate.
The students used solar
energy provided by
Greenpeace to send the
email to the White House.
The students also encour
aged the president to sup
port climate change legis
lation, which many say is
needed to protect the envi
ronment.
N.C. congressman targets drug companies
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield,
a Democrat who represents
North Carolina's 1st District
(which includes
Rocky Mount,
Goldsboro and New
Bern), has introduced
the bipartisan Patient
Health and Real
Medication Access
Cost Savings Act of
2009.
"As medications
make their way down
the supply chain to the
people who depend on
them we need to
ensure no one is lining tneir
pockets with unnecessary and
excessive profits along the
way," Butterfield said.
Specifically, the bill seeks to
reduce consumers' dependence
on pharmacy benefit manage
Rep. Butterfield
ment (PBM) companies for
medications. PBMs are often
involved in so-called "spread
pricing," where they purchase
drugs and pay pharmacies at one
price ana men
charge the govern
ment artd insurers a
higher price without
disclosing the differ
ence.
The bill also
aims to prevent
patient "steering."
where PBMs force
patients to obtain
medications through
mail-only systems
or pharmacies
owned by the rrlivis. under the
bill, pharmacies will also help
government and insurers
increase the use of lower-cost
generic pharmaceuticals.
"The only way to ensure that
consumer costs are fair and
being contained is to hold PBMs
to the same high standards of
transparency and accountability
that every other provider faces,"
Butterfield said.
Butterfield said that because
of growing costs, nearly 60 large
employers across the country
that collectively spend $4.9 bil
lion for prescription drugs have
recently dropped or forced
PBMs to disclose drug acquisi
tion costs. He also pointed to the
University of Michigan, which
found an annual savings of $2.5
million after dropping its PBM
in favor of direct purchases.
The bill is co-sponsored by
Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.),
Howard Coble (R-N.C.),
Rodney Alexander (R-La.),
Larry Kissell (D-N.C.), Mike
Mclntyre (D-N.C.), Brad Miller
(D-N.C.) and Cathy McMorris
Rodgers (R-Wash.).
Facts
about
COPD
-
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The H?vfl flnGEiou Research
"on fTlinoflrrv Htfttrt
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Wake Forest University Baptist
N1 f D I C A I C [ \ 1 r R
According to the
American Lung Association -
(ALA), Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease?or COPD
is the fourth leading cause of
death in the United States.
Each year since 1999, more
women have died from
COPD then men, and the
numbers of those who die
from COPD continue to rise.
COPD refers to two lung dis
eases which co-exist (are
present at the same time):
chronic bronchitis and
emphysema, both of which
obstruct airflow and interfere
with breathing. While fewer
African Americans than
whites have COPD, it is still
important to understand your
risk.
What are COPD
risk factors?
Smoking is the main risk
factor for COPD. as female
and male smokers are 13
times and 12 times more like
ly to die from COPD, respec
tively, compared to non
smokers. However, air pollu
tion, job-related exposure to
pollutants, second-hand
.smoke, indoor air quality,
other respiratory disease
(such as asthma), and genet
ics can also increase the risk
for COPD.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms of COPD can
include: persistent shortness
of breath (over months or
years), wheezing, chronic
cough, increased mucus, fre
quent clearing of the throat,
and decreased tolerance for
exercise due to breathing dif
ficulty.
As a result of the chronic
bronchitis element of COPD.
the lining of the bronchial
tubes (through which we
breathe) becomes thickened,
which produces too much
mucus, and the tubes and
lungs can become scarred.
The emphysema element of
COPD develops more gradu
ally and is usually the result
of years of exposure to ciga
rette smoke or other air pollu
tants. Emphysema destroys
the alveoli, or air sacs, in the
lungs, which exchange car
bon dioxide for oxygen in our
blood. Damage to the alveoli
is permanent and over time
results in less and less oxygen
getting into the blood.
Some cases of emphyse
ma are caused by a genetic
deficiency (lack of) a certain
protein. A AT, which protects
the lungs from neutrophil
elastase. which is an enzyme
that eats damaged lung cells
to promote healing. Without
AAT. the enzyme eats healtRy
See COPD on A9