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UNC ambassadors provide free screenings
Program targets
minorities’ health
BY SAM WINEKA
STAFF WRITER
About 80 people received free
health care screenings and infor
mation Saturday in Chapel Hill
along with some free food.
The N.C. Health Careers Access
Program Ambassadors held its
third annual Health on the Block
at Hargraves Community Center.
The NC-HCAP works to encour
age students to enter health profes
sions. At UNC, students participate
as NC-HCAP ambassadors, hold
ing events including Health on the
Block, working with the Ronald
McDonald House and tutoring.
Saturday’s Health on the Block
provided free health care screen
ings to residents who might have
limited access to health care oth
erwise.
“Health disparities affect minor
ities more, and they usually are the
underserved communities,” said
senior LaVonne Hairston, NC
HCAP Ambassadors president.
“We think this park’s location is
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Julia Hartsell, a local hula hoop instructor and perform
er, performs a fire dance in Carrboro Town Commons
on Saturday at an event she organized to raise money
for orphanages in Haiti. “Hoops for Haiti” attracted hundreds
of hula hoopers who hooped while enjoying live music.
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good because it’s right across the
street from the community we’re
trying to reach,” she said.
NC-HCAP Ambassadors pro
vided blood pressure checks, vision
screenings and hearing screenings
all free of charge.
“Lots of people are reluctant to
go to the doctor and sometimes
lack insurance,” Hairston said.
“That’s why everything is free, and
if they don’t have transportation,
we bring it to them.”
The event was open to anyone,
but it focused on the predominate
ly black Northside neighborhood
around the community center.
“This is part of our primary ser
vice area,” said A. J. Brooks, a UNC
graduate and former president
of the NC-HCAP Ambassadors.
“We’re trying to provide some basic
health care to the population and
have some family fun.”
The program’s main visitors
were children and students.
“I came out of curiosity,” said
James E. Williams, a UNC junior
who heard about the event on
Facebook.com.
Williams said he learned new
health habits at the event.
“I learned to make sure I’m not
overworking myself when I work
out, and I found my target heart
rate,” he said. “I also learned to
reduce my salt intake.”
Groups represented at the event
included the Orange County Rape
Crisis Center and student groups
such as the UNC Association of
Nursing Students, who performed
the blood pressure checks.
“Part of nursing is going out
in the community and spreading
information,” said Kristina Brown,
a UNC senior and fundraising
chairwoman of UNC Association
of Nursing Students. “People are
walking around with high blood
pressure, and they don’t even know
it.”
One of those people was
Carrboro resident April Coan. “I
just found out I’m prehyperten
sive,” she said. This means she is at
risk for hypertension.
Coan said residents should take
advantage of programs such as the
health fair to stay healthy.
“If you haven’t been to the doc
tor in a while it’s a good way to get
screened.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
Schools take part in music month
BY JEN SHURNEY
STAFF WRITER
This month, music and cultural
art educators are encouraged to
inspire students nationwide to par
ticipate in music and art programs
in light of Music in Our Schools
Month.
Music in Our Schools Month is
strongly supported by MENC: The
National Association for Music
Education, a 100-year-old organi
zation that serves to alert teachers
and students of the purpose and
necessity of music programs.
It encourages music programs
to work with the media and com
munity leaders to hold concerts,
invite parents to school programs
and raise the awareness of how
great music can be for kids, said
Elizabeth Lasko, director of public
relations for MENC.
MENC constitutes about
130,000 members nationwide and
has been supporting Music in Our
Schools Month for about 30 years.
Orange County Schools’ Cedar
Ridge High School partners with
MENC in a program called Tri-M,
which stands for Modern Music
Masters, in which high-school stu
dents of great music and academic
caliber are recognized, similar to
the National Honor Society.
There are about 60 students
in this program at Cedar Ridge
High.
Other schools in Orange County
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the Union Resource Hub.
For more info.: rgurdian@email.unc.edu
News
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Kristina Brown, a School of Nursing student, takes sophomore Latorya Hill's blood pressure at Health on the Block
at Hargraves Community Center. UNC students participated in the annual event providing free health screenings.
also have successful music programs
for students at the elementary-,
middle- and high-school levels.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools
require that all elementary stu
dents have music as a “special,” a
weekly extracurricular.
Middle-school students also are
encouraged to enroll in music and
art classes, and high-school stu
dents must have at least a year of
art, music or technical education,
said Pam Hemminger, vice chair
woman of the school board.
“(Music programs) have a lot of
community support, and they’re
very highly encouraged,” she said.
Budget issues typically deter
mine the strength and abilities of
music programs and extracurricu
lars, Lasko said.
In both the Orange County and
Chapel Hill-Carrboro school sys
tems, cultural arts are funded by
the districts, but schools have the
ability to reallocate their money
into and out of the arts as needed.
Anne D’Annunzio, spokeswom
an for Orange County Schools, said
that in addition to teachers’ sala
ries for the arts, the county pays
for an arts coordinator, who works
with the schools to align the cul
tural arts programs, supplies and
materials, trips to music shows and
concerts, and instruments.
Chapel Hill High band director
Drew Carter said that local music
programs have needs but that they
MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2007
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Fran Shelton conducts a group of high-school students in the Cedar Ridge
High School auditorium. The performance ended in a standing ovation.
are much better equipped than
some others around the state.
“We have needs that the school
does not provide us with, but we
do lots and lots of fundraising.”
Patricia Quigley, band direc
tor at Cedar Ridge, said she has
never turned a child away because
of a lack of instruments or equip
ment.
This support is not matched
nationwide, as many students are
unable to afford or are not present
ed with available band or music
programs.
“We believe anecdotally that
probably half of all students are
getting a full, high-quality music
education,” Lasko said.
“We are working to try and
change that.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
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