Health & Wellness
Healthbeat
New Cancer Center director
The newly expanded Comprehensive
Cancer Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical
Center has a new director. Boris Pasche will
assume the post March 1.
As director, Pasche will be responsible for
providing leadership, direction and guidance to
the Cancer Center, working collaboratively
with medical center leadership to advance aca
demic and clinical missions. He will be the
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the Canter Center's
National Cancer
Institute core grant, con
tinuing its strong tradi
tion of research excel
lence, .while expanding
basic, clinical and trans
lational research in col
laboration with depart
mental and center lead
ership.
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serve as chair of the department of Cancer
Biology at Wake Forest Baptist. He is currently
director of the division of hematology/oncolo
gy at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham (UAB). He identified the first
mutation of a gene that controls cell growth
and found that some individuals carry an
altered form of the gene, which increases their
risk of developing several forms of cancer. He
has also identified one of the first genetic links
between obesity and breast and colon cancer.
He has pioneered the use of low and safe levels
of electromagnetic fields for the treatment of
cancer.
A native of Switzerland, Pasche is current
ly an associate editor for the Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA) and
editor of both The Journal of Experimental and
Clinical Cancer Research and Cancer
Hallmarks.
Pasche
Advocacy groups merge
Action for Children NC and the Covenant
with NC's Children have merged to create NC
Child: The Voice for North Carolina's Children.
The merger, which became effective on Jan. 1,
combines the strengths of each organization -
rigorous research and data analysis, a statewide
advocacy network, and a strong voice with pol
icy makers - to accomplish great things for
North Carolina's children.
"Our future prosperity as a state depends on
our ability to raise healthy and well-educated
children. Unfortunately, North Carolina's ongo
ing economic troubles and continued budget
cuts have threatened to jeopardize the healthy
development of our state's children. These chal
lenges demand the most effective advocacy
organization possible, grounded in reliable
research and strong data analysis - that's why
we decided to merge and create NC Child,"
stated Michelle Hughes, co-chair of NC Child's
board of directors.
Over the next few months, the board will
conduct a search for the leader of this new
organization. Until then, Leslie Starsoneck will
serve as NC Child's interim executive director.
A new logo, web site and public launch event
will be announced over the next few months.
New Crisis Control hires '
Patricia Bennett has joined Crisis Control
Ministry as the pharmacy services coordinator.
A certified pharmacy technician. Bennett
vv/ill wnrl- with nhar.
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maceutical companies
to obtain free medica
tions for Crisis
Control clients. She
will also manage the
free pharmacy budg
et. pharmacy donation
processing and volun
teers. Prior to joining
Crisis Control, she
was a senior techni
cian with Walgreens.
Tina Adkins has
been promoted to
director of client serv
ice following the
recent retirement of
Cynthia Fearrington.
Tina was formerly the
assistant director of
client services and has
been with Crisis
Control for 14 years.
Adkins will manage
the free pharmacy,
client choice food
pantry and the volun
teer interviewers, as
well as overseeing the
client services budget.
Chelsea Franzese
has been promoted to
assistant director of
client services. She
was formerly the phar
macy operations man
ager and has been with
Crisis Control for over nine years. She will ^
interview and approve clients for the food and j,
pharmacy certification program. s
Crisis Control Ministry is a four-star rated ^
charity whose mission is to assist people in n
crisis to meet essential life needs and to
become self-sufficient.
Bennett I ^
Adkins V
I
Fearrington n
A
Report: Blacks fours times
more likely to be murdered
CHRONIC! 1 STAFF REPORT
Black Americans are four times
more likely to be murdered than the
national average, and four out of five
black homicide victims are killed with
guns, according to a new analysis by
the Violence Policy Center (VPC).
The study finds the black homicide
victimization rate in 2011 was 17.51
per 100,000, while the overall national
rate was 4.44 per 100,000. The nation
al homicide victimization rate for
white Americans was 2.64 per
100,000. The study refers to homicide
rates in 2011, the most recent year for
which comprehensive national data is
available
The annual VPC study, "Black
Homicide Victimization in the United
States: An Analysis of 2011 Homicide
Data," is based on unpublished data
from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) Supplementary
Homicide Report (SHR). This is the
eighth year the VPC has released the
study.
Nationwide, there were 6,309
black homicide victims in 2011. For
homicides in which the weapons used
could be identified, 82 percent of
black homicide victims (4.949 out of
6,022) were shot and killed with guns.
Among the victims killed with guns,
77 percent were killed with handguns.
The study also ranks the states
according to their black homicide vic
timization rates. For 2011, Nebraska
led the nation in the rate of black
homicide victimization with a rate of
34.43 per 100,000. Missouri
(33.38), Michigan (31.54),
Pennsylvania (29.02) and Oklahoma
(25.51), respectively, rounded out the
top five.
"Gun violence is a public health
crisis that touches all Americans, but
the impact on African Americans is
especially devastating," states VPC
Executive Director Josh Sugarmann.
"This report should be a wake-up call
for our elected officials to address the
disproportionately high homicide vic
timization rate among black men and
women. The longer we wait to act, the
more lives will be lost."
Nationwide, the study finds that in
2011:
? Of the 6,309 black homicide vic
See Murders on A8
Honoring Kennedy
Rkr Photo
Beloved pediatrician Dr. Charlie Kennedy will be honored at
the Outreach Alliance for Babies' IOth Anniversary
Celebration on March 29. The nonprofit provides clothing
and other baby items to infants whose families are facing
financial challenges. Kennedy, who has practiced for more
than SO years, will be feted during the event, which will be
held from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn at 5790
University Parkway. Tickets are $50. Dr. Lawrence Hopkins
and his wife, Beth, are serving as honorary chairs. Learn
more at www.outreachalliance.org.
Novant seeks to make impact
with prediabetes program
PECTAL TO THE CHRONICLE .
When Cathy Reeder-Mclntosh talks with people about how
mportant it is to detect diabetes early, she knows what she's talking
bout. That 's because she is one of the more than 25 million people in
[lis country who has the disease, and managing type 1 diabetes is a
laily part of her life.
Reeder-Mclntosh is the assistant manager of diabetes services at
Movant Health Forsyth Medical Center and is coordinating the med
cal center's program to provide early detection screenings and dia
betes education for low-income adults in Forsyth County. The three
ear project, made
: i_ 1. c _
lossioie i rum a
:rant by the Kate
I. Reynolds
Charitable Trust, is
eeking to enroll
00 adults diag
losed with dia
ictes or predia
ietes into diabetes
ducation and pre
ention programs.
"Our biggest
hallenge right
iow is connecting
rith people who
re eligible for the
rogram," says Reeder-Mclntosh. "Many low-income families either
lon't have health insurance or if they do, their insurance doesn't cover
re vent ive care or diabetes education. Out of pocket costs can be a
leterrent to getting the help they need."
Many people don't know they have the disease or are at risk for
liabetes until a more serious condition develops, such organ and
erve damage, loss of limbs or blindness, she says.
Diabetes occurs'when the pancreas is unable to produce insulin or
loes not effectively use the insulin that is produced. Insulin is a hor
aone that removes glucose (blood sugar) from the blood and delivers
t to the body's cells for fuel. Diabetes is a chronic disease. Once
omeone has diabetes, the treatment is ongoing management of the
lood sugars through meal planning, weight control, exercise, streps
eduction and medication if needed.
Nationally, one out of every three Americans age 20 and older has
rediabetes, and those wlio are obese are far more likely to develop
See Nnvant on A9
t M ? MOVANT
PI ? HfcALTH
i I
Black doctors
group fully behind
Obamacare
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONIC I I
Last week, the National Medical Association (NMA)
expressed satisfaction that more than 2.2 million people
through Dec. 28 have selected
health insurance plans from state
and federal marketplaces via the
Affordable Care Act.
NMA is the largest and oldest
national organization representing
African American physicians and g
their patients in the United States. It I
represents the interests of more I
than 35,000 black physicians and I
the patients they serve. The organ- I
ization says it wants to see much
more people sign up for Affordable
Care Act coverage, including the millions of African
Americans who do not have health insurance coverage.
A report published by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention shows that 18.8 percent of African
Americans under 65 years of age are without a health plan
and that 14.2 percent of African Americans of all ages are
in fair or poor health.
It is absolutely
imperative that we
help reach the mil
lions of African
Americans, particu
larly the young peo
ple, and let them
know why it is so
important for them
to have health insur
ance coverage," said
Dr. Michael A.
LeNoir, president of
the National
Medical
Association. "We
want to take a mes
sage of hope and
concern to those
within the African
American commu
nity and help to
educate them about
the Affordable Care
Act. Everyone,
young and old, must
understand that hav
ing health insurance
is an absolute
necessity."
More than 50
percent of the
approximately 40
minion Airican Americans live in me aouui, wim me
remainder living in the major urban areas of the Northeast
and Midwest. Many of the states with large African
American populations and with individuals who need
health insurance coverage are opposing the Affordable
Health Care Act and have used a variety of tactics to
impede rollout of state health exchanges and the federal
program, according to NMA leaders.
Texas is the largest state that has rejected the
Affordable Healthcare Act, but also has 1.7 million resi
dents uninsured, the highest number in the nation. Florida
has 1.3 million uninsured low-income residents.
Mississippi is the nation's poorest state and the residents
there have the shortest life expectancy. All three states,
along with Alabama. South Carolina. Louisiana. Virginia.
North Carolina and Georgia have significant African
American populations. The governors and state legislators
of those states are fighting against the Affordable Health
Care Act.
"Many of NMA's physicians are in the South," said Dr
LeNoir. "Since most of their patients are African
American, we are planning to launch a major campaign to
reach individuals within their communities who are unin
sured to get them signed up. Our goal is to reach all those
who need coverage, but we will put an extra focus contact
ing young people over the air waves, at community health
education events and through Facebook postings and
other social media tools."
LeNoir