Published on Monday, June 29, 2009 in THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Music therapy may help control blood pressure
When it comes to matters of the heart, music may be more than just the food of love. A small study by Italian researchers has linked swelling crescendos - volume increase - to heart rate arousal and gradual decrescendos to relaxation.
The 24 subjects, half of whom were experienced singers, were monitored using electrocardiograms while they listened to five random tracks of classical music, including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Verdi's La Traviata. As volume increased, so did the subject's blood pressure, heart rate, and blood flow. Long melodies led heart rhythms to synchronize with the tempo. And during a two-minute silence, breathing and blood pressure dropped.
The authors, who have done similar research before, hope their findings will show how music therapy can help in rehabilitative medicine. The paper was published in the journal Circulation.
- Heather J. Chin
Some patients are often left in dark on test results
Physician failure to notify patients or accurately record notifications about abnormal test results is common, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Records that were part electronic and part paper-based were more likely to be incomplete than those consisting entirely of one or the other.
The study examined 5,434 outpatient medical records from 19 community-based and four academic medical centers that offered primary care services, as well as the centers' methods of documentation - paper records, electronic medical records, or partial electronic records. Eleven blood tests and three screening tests - mammographies, Pap smears, and fecal occult blood matter - were examined in patients who were between 50 and 69 years old when treated.
Out of 1,889 abnormal test results, 135 patients were not informed of them promptly - either within 21 or 90 days, depending on the type of test. That was a failure rate of 7.1 percent. Three medical centers had a zero error rate while the rest ranged up to 26.2 percent.
The authors aim for more awareness of how often these errors occur and how managing results can reduce failure rates and successful malpractice claims from uninformed patients.
- Heather J. Chin
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Philly Local: Philadelphia VA Prostate Cancer Scandal
Published on June 23, 2009 in THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.
I contributed some reporting to this story.
Specter plans hearing on VA prostate cancer treatment
By Marie McCullough
Inquirer Staff Writer
Four years ago, after talking to doctors at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, the Rev. Ricardo Flippin opted for a radiation therapy that would precisely target his prostate cancer and leave nearby organs unharmed.
Instead, his prostate cancer got too little radiation while his rectum received so much that he suffered excruciating, permanent damage.
Flippin, 68 - a minister, teacher, and Air Force veteran - is hardly unique.
The Philadelphia VA has notified 92 prostate cancer patients treated between 2002 and 2008 that their "brachytherapy" radiation doses were too high or too low. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has shut down the brachytherapy program in Philadelphia and three other VA hospitals with less serious problems.
Yesterday, the unfolding scandal prompted Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) to say he would hold a hearing on the matter in Philadelphia on Monday.
Read more here...
I contributed some reporting to this story.
Specter plans hearing on VA prostate cancer treatment
By Marie McCullough
Inquirer Staff Writer
Four years ago, after talking to doctors at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, the Rev. Ricardo Flippin opted for a radiation therapy that would precisely target his prostate cancer and leave nearby organs unharmed.
Instead, his prostate cancer got too little radiation while his rectum received so much that he suffered excruciating, permanent damage.
Flippin, 68 - a minister, teacher, and Air Force veteran - is hardly unique.
The Philadelphia VA has notified 92 prostate cancer patients treated between 2002 and 2008 that their "brachytherapy" radiation doses were too high or too low. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has shut down the brachytherapy program in Philadelphia and three other VA hospitals with less serious problems.
Yesterday, the unfolding scandal prompted Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) to say he would hold a hearing on the matter in Philadelphia on Monday.
Read more here...
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Philly Local: High School Health Fellowships
Published June 10, 2009 in THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.
Fellowship seeks to give ninth graders a boost
By Heather J. Chin
Inquirer Staff Writer
A new fellowship program will pair about two dozen low-income ninth graders in Philadelphia with professional mentors this fall to prepare them for careers in health care and science.
The Karabots Junior Fellows Program will offer traditional mentoring from physician experts over three years as well as field trips, extra classes, college prep, internships, video seminars, and online networking. It is funded with an initial $800,000 grant from the Karabots Foundation in Fort Washington.
"You can't fulfill a dream unless you have the dream," said George M. Wohlreich, chief executive officer of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, a professional society that is hosting the fellowship and providing mentors. "Our goal is to help them create a dream and show them how to fulfill it."
As the need for health care rises, the demand for qualified candidates is growing, too. But many low-income minority youth lack academic and familial support to keep up with their better-off peers.
Read more here...
Fellowship seeks to give ninth graders a boost
By Heather J. Chin
Inquirer Staff Writer
A new fellowship program will pair about two dozen low-income ninth graders in Philadelphia with professional mentors this fall to prepare them for careers in health care and science.
The Karabots Junior Fellows Program will offer traditional mentoring from physician experts over three years as well as field trips, extra classes, college prep, internships, video seminars, and online networking. It is funded with an initial $800,000 grant from the Karabots Foundation in Fort Washington.
"You can't fulfill a dream unless you have the dream," said George M. Wohlreich, chief executive officer of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, a professional society that is hosting the fellowship and providing mentors. "Our goal is to help them create a dream and show them how to fulfill it."
As the need for health care rises, the demand for qualified candidates is growing, too. But many low-income minority youth lack academic and familial support to keep up with their better-off peers.
Read more here...
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Canarsie, Brooklyn: Terminal Eyes New Beginning
Check out Terminal Eyes New Beginning, a multimedia package on the Brooklyn Terminal Market that Jessica Simeone, Robert Voris and I created for the NYCity News Service.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
A Midtown Lunch Spot: Meal O'Bama
A chalkboard sign advertises the daily specials at Meal O'bama, the recently renamed food cart located on the corner of W39th Street and 7th Avenue.
Other fast-food chains, such as Obama Fried Chicken in Harlem and Brownsville, have gained media attention in recent weeks for changing their name to reference President Barack Obama.
This vendor stand seems not to be attracting controversy, though. It is supervised by Mr. Muhammad Rahman, famous for formerly being a chef at the Russian Tea Room, who owns and operates a small chain of food vendor carts called Kwik Mart throughout Midtown.
A day-in-the-life timeline of the workers and cooks who operate the Kwik Mart vendor chain, of which this cart is a part of, can be found on the NYC eatery blog, Midtown Lunch.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Eureka!? - Job Networking Is Mutually Beneficial-
Today, the New York Times has a piece on job networking social gatherings. The whole nut of the article hinges on the fact that these groups are proliferating in small and large sizes around the country. And that successful networking requires helping others while they help you.
That this still strikes some as novel saddens me. I wonder if more people are more giving now that many are all in the same boat. Or if it's just a more cutthroat environment.
That this still strikes some as novel saddens me. I wonder if more people are more giving now that many are all in the same boat. Or if it's just a more cutthroat environment.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
May 2-3: Sakura Matsuri - Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
New Yorkers of all ages relax beneath the cherry blossom trees at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Head to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden website to find out more about New York City’s Sakura Matsuri - a Japanese festival to celebrate the blossoming of cherry trees - coming up this weekend. Over 50 events and performances will take place under the BBG’s 220 cherry trees.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Subway MTA Workers Protest Planned Layoffs and Silent Union
Reported by Amber Benham, Heather Chin and Jacqueline Linge
NY City News Service
for NYC On Deadline
Update (May 11, 2009): Following approval from the New York State Legislature for a $2.26 billion bailout of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the agency’s board voted today to raise subway fares and road tolls by 10 percent instead of the proposed 23 to 30 percent. The commuter and subways/bus hikes will take effect on June 17 and June 28, respectively. The compromise also reduces service and staff cuts to only those coming from retirement and workers quitting.
Hundreds of transit workers - train conductors, bus drivers, track inspectors and station agents - joined New Yorkers outside the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Midtown headquarters last Thursday to protest everything from transit layoffs and budget cuts to fare and tuition hikes. Their massive presence and loud cries punctuated a campaign that began over six months ago when the MTA announced a budget shortfall of 1.2 billion dollars. Since then, the deficit has ballooned as tax revenues fall.
Proposals for closing the budget gap include a 23 to 30 percent fare hike effective June 1, the reduction of commuter bus, subway and train service, and the elimination of up to 3,000 jobs, 1,100 through immediate layoffs and the rest after workers retire or quit, according to the MTA. Transit Workers Union Local 100 estimates the removal of at least 819 bus operators, over 700 station attendants and 317 managerial administrators.
The proposed hike would mean one-way subway fares of $2.50 from the current $2. A 30-day unlimited Metrocard would cost $103, up from $81.
Read more and view the AUDIO-SLIDESHOW here.
NY City News Service
for NYC On Deadline
Update (May 11, 2009): Following approval from the New York State Legislature for a $2.26 billion bailout of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the agency’s board voted today to raise subway fares and road tolls by 10 percent instead of the proposed 23 to 30 percent. The commuter and subways/bus hikes will take effect on June 17 and June 28, respectively. The compromise also reduces service and staff cuts to only those coming from retirement and workers quitting.
Hundreds of transit workers - train conductors, bus drivers, track inspectors and station agents - joined New Yorkers outside the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Midtown headquarters last Thursday to protest everything from transit layoffs and budget cuts to fare and tuition hikes. Their massive presence and loud cries punctuated a campaign that began over six months ago when the MTA announced a budget shortfall of 1.2 billion dollars. Since then, the deficit has ballooned as tax revenues fall.
Proposals for closing the budget gap include a 23 to 30 percent fare hike effective June 1, the reduction of commuter bus, subway and train service, and the elimination of up to 3,000 jobs, 1,100 through immediate layoffs and the rest after workers retire or quit, according to the MTA. Transit Workers Union Local 100 estimates the removal of at least 819 bus operators, over 700 station attendants and 317 managerial administrators.
The proposed hike would mean one-way subway fares of $2.50 from the current $2. A 30-day unlimited Metrocard would cost $103, up from $81.
Read more and view the AUDIO-SLIDESHOW here.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
For Two Brooklyn Catholic Schools, Life After Salvation
by Heather J. Chin
NY City News Service
March 26, 2009
Sunset Park – Three teachers, three parents and two parish (church) members gathered at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary School to discuss how to increase enrollment by focusing on the school’s neighborhood ties. They are part of the school’s newly formed marketing committee, created two months after everyone thought the school would close and only one month after they began counting their blessings.
After the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn – the fifth most populous in the United States – announced the fate of 22 Catholic elementary schools on February 12th, students, parents and staff at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School and Our Lady of Angels School felt relief, tempered with cautious optimism. With eight schools set to close and others merging, the two schools in Sunset Park and Bay Ridge had escaped the worst. But with enrollment and private school cost affected by the economy, they need some change to prove they can also grow.
“One thing we’re doing is we will continue the after school program, enriching it for a more academic-oriented focus,” explained Theresa Cassidy, a member of the marketing committee who has taught pre-K and kindergarten classes at Our Lady of Perpetual Help for the past 24 years and whose son and relatives have attended the school. “It’s [been] more that parents know their children are somewhere safe, but now we will offer a little more.”
Fiscal strength and steady enrollment are two of the main benchmarks required of the schools. Currently, both schools are part of their respective parishes, receiving some financial and curricular support from church leaders. In September, OLA will become Holy Angels Academy, an independent Catholic academy with four diocese Members in charge of the faith-based curriculum and an independent Board of Directors overseeing strategy and business operations.
“We’re really positive about it, really excited,” said Stephanie Sanadria, a mother of a __-grader and treasurer of Homeschool, now called the Parent’s Association, at what will become Holy Angels Academy. “We’re looking forward to [the two-tiered governance model]. We’ll be the first in Bay Ridge… We think we’ll be in the forefront of this.”
OLPH, meanwhile, will remain a parochial school and will have to improve both recruitment and fundraising efforts, sending a regular report on their progress to the diocese.
“Through marketing and grants, we’re hoping to attain more financial opportunities for the school,” said Anne Stefano, OLPH’s principal, noting that enrollment is “average” with 262 pre-K to 8th grade students, and the goal for the next five years being to raise that total about 25 percent.
A new nursery program has been established so more children are on track to eventually become students. The school day will also get longer, starting at 7:30 a.m. and end, after the after-school program described by Cassidy, at 6 p.m.. And alumni volunteers and students from the sixth to eighth grades will continue to assist with mentoring and teacher-help in the after-school program. The point: to further embrace children and families into a larger, more comprehensive community, doing more than just get the school and church to grow.
The growing Hispanic and Asian communities will also be courted. This will be done through both word of mouth and a focus on religious education students at the Ming Wong school, the Saturday school that rents space at OLPH. With a 106-year history, OLPH has educated generations of students who would bring their kids and grandkids. Not enough years have passed for minority students to do the same thing, but in that tradition, they attract younger siblings and relatives.
Or you bring yourself back, as eighteen-year-old Joshua Deliz is doing two days a week this Spring. A senior at nearby Xaverian High School and a graduate of OLPH, he returned as a volunteer to help his former kindergarten teacher, Ms. Cassidy. Asked what made the school so special, he noted his attachment to it and the individualized attention students get. He also cited the staff’s longevity – he estimated that his younger sister currently has around 80 percent of the same teachers he did.”
The advantages held by OLPH, OLA and the handful of other schools in Brooklyn and Queens that were “saved,” compared to those that closed, were that “they had the capitalization to devise a plan” that had promising strong financial and community resources, according to Father Kieran Harrington, the Communications Director at the Diocese of Brooklyn. Some closing schools, he noted, were running over $400,000 in deficits and were structurally unable to survive.
Whatever their logistical advantages, OLPH and OLA’s most valuable asset is the devotion of their communities, stretching from current students and families to alumni and day-to-day church parishioners. So despite both himself and his wife working full-time, Bay Ridge parent, Matt Cassamassino, said they “definitely help out when [they] can.”
“There was a petition online, there was a Facebook group – it was about getting the neighbors to show support,” said Cassamassino, whose daughters attend OLA’s first grade and pre-K classes. “People who weren’t connected to the school anymore but were still connected with the parish. … Over 800 people signed the petition.”
When Sunset Park resident Patricia Delle Cave, whose three daughters, all of whom are either current or upcoming students, found out about the threat of closure while picking up her daughter, Meaghan, from kindergarten at OLPH in January, she immediately wrote to and called the bishop’s office. Her daughters were upset, too.
“When [Meaghan] found out, her heart was broken. She understood. She cried,” Delle Cave said. “Olivia, my three-year-old, was upset. She had her heart set on coming here.”
The strong bond even brought families out to their home away from home for private celebrations. Delle Cave brought her entire family to OLPH’s Little Doctors Blood Drive on February 15 – her wedding anniversary – three days after the school’s good news came. Having been planned during the period of uncertainty, the big event became a magnet for the joy and relief felt by the school community.
“When Olivia heard that the school wasn’t going to close, she said ‘Good. Now I don’t have to karate chop someone!”
It’s this kind of playful and devoted dedication that Cassidy, the pre-K teacher, believes makes schools like OLPH and OLA special and more than just a building and classes. Delle Cave agrees.
“Anything they need,” she said, “I will come running.”
NY City News Service
March 26, 2009
Sunset Park – Three teachers, three parents and two parish (church) members gathered at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary School to discuss how to increase enrollment by focusing on the school’s neighborhood ties. They are part of the school’s newly formed marketing committee, created two months after everyone thought the school would close and only one month after they began counting their blessings.
After the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn – the fifth most populous in the United States – announced the fate of 22 Catholic elementary schools on February 12th, students, parents and staff at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School and Our Lady of Angels School felt relief, tempered with cautious optimism. With eight schools set to close and others merging, the two schools in Sunset Park and Bay Ridge had escaped the worst. But with enrollment and private school cost affected by the economy, they need some change to prove they can also grow.
“One thing we’re doing is we will continue the after school program, enriching it for a more academic-oriented focus,” explained Theresa Cassidy, a member of the marketing committee who has taught pre-K and kindergarten classes at Our Lady of Perpetual Help for the past 24 years and whose son and relatives have attended the school. “It’s [been] more that parents know their children are somewhere safe, but now we will offer a little more.”
Fiscal strength and steady enrollment are two of the main benchmarks required of the schools. Currently, both schools are part of their respective parishes, receiving some financial and curricular support from church leaders. In September, OLA will become Holy Angels Academy, an independent Catholic academy with four diocese Members in charge of the faith-based curriculum and an independent Board of Directors overseeing strategy and business operations.
“We’re really positive about it, really excited,” said Stephanie Sanadria, a mother of a __-grader and treasurer of Homeschool, now called the Parent’s Association, at what will become Holy Angels Academy. “We’re looking forward to [the two-tiered governance model]. We’ll be the first in Bay Ridge… We think we’ll be in the forefront of this.”
OLPH, meanwhile, will remain a parochial school and will have to improve both recruitment and fundraising efforts, sending a regular report on their progress to the diocese.
“Through marketing and grants, we’re hoping to attain more financial opportunities for the school,” said Anne Stefano, OLPH’s principal, noting that enrollment is “average” with 262 pre-K to 8th grade students, and the goal for the next five years being to raise that total about 25 percent.
A new nursery program has been established so more children are on track to eventually become students. The school day will also get longer, starting at 7:30 a.m. and end, after the after-school program described by Cassidy, at 6 p.m.. And alumni volunteers and students from the sixth to eighth grades will continue to assist with mentoring and teacher-help in the after-school program. The point: to further embrace children and families into a larger, more comprehensive community, doing more than just get the school and church to grow.
The growing Hispanic and Asian communities will also be courted. This will be done through both word of mouth and a focus on religious education students at the Ming Wong school, the Saturday school that rents space at OLPH. With a 106-year history, OLPH has educated generations of students who would bring their kids and grandkids. Not enough years have passed for minority students to do the same thing, but in that tradition, they attract younger siblings and relatives.
Or you bring yourself back, as eighteen-year-old Joshua Deliz is doing two days a week this Spring. A senior at nearby Xaverian High School and a graduate of OLPH, he returned as a volunteer to help his former kindergarten teacher, Ms. Cassidy. Asked what made the school so special, he noted his attachment to it and the individualized attention students get. He also cited the staff’s longevity – he estimated that his younger sister currently has around 80 percent of the same teachers he did.”
The advantages held by OLPH, OLA and the handful of other schools in Brooklyn and Queens that were “saved,” compared to those that closed, were that “they had the capitalization to devise a plan” that had promising strong financial and community resources, according to Father Kieran Harrington, the Communications Director at the Diocese of Brooklyn. Some closing schools, he noted, were running over $400,000 in deficits and were structurally unable to survive.
Whatever their logistical advantages, OLPH and OLA’s most valuable asset is the devotion of their communities, stretching from current students and families to alumni and day-to-day church parishioners. So despite both himself and his wife working full-time, Bay Ridge parent, Matt Cassamassino, said they “definitely help out when [they] can.”
“There was a petition online, there was a Facebook group – it was about getting the neighbors to show support,” said Cassamassino, whose daughters attend OLA’s first grade and pre-K classes. “People who weren’t connected to the school anymore but were still connected with the parish. … Over 800 people signed the petition.”
When Sunset Park resident Patricia Delle Cave, whose three daughters, all of whom are either current or upcoming students, found out about the threat of closure while picking up her daughter, Meaghan, from kindergarten at OLPH in January, she immediately wrote to and called the bishop’s office. Her daughters were upset, too.
“When [Meaghan] found out, her heart was broken. She understood. She cried,” Delle Cave said. “Olivia, my three-year-old, was upset. She had her heart set on coming here.”
The strong bond even brought families out to their home away from home for private celebrations. Delle Cave brought her entire family to OLPH’s Little Doctors Blood Drive on February 15 – her wedding anniversary – three days after the school’s good news came. Having been planned during the period of uncertainty, the big event became a magnet for the joy and relief felt by the school community.
“When Olivia heard that the school wasn’t going to close, she said ‘Good. Now I don’t have to karate chop someone!”
It’s this kind of playful and devoted dedication that Cassidy, the pre-K teacher, believes makes schools like OLPH and OLA special and more than just a building and classes. Delle Cave agrees.
“Anything they need,” she said, “I will come running.”
Thursday, March 19, 2009
AIDS Activists Flunk New York City Health Care Services
D. D-minus. F.
Those are the grades that HIV and AIDS advocates gave to New York City’s health care services.
To mark President Obama’s 50th day in office on Wednesday, March 11, AIDS and HIV prevention advocates from around the country issued a health care report card grading the nation’s progress in finding a cure for the epidemic. The “End AIDS Report Card,” compiled by the activist organization Campaign To End AIDS, failed the city across the board on the services such as housing and medication distribution.
“We need a national strategy to end AIDS,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works. “Twenty five years into the epidemic and we still don’t have a coherent national strategy on prevention or on treatment services and care. There has to be a strategy that involves every single state and every single locality doing its fair share.”
Go to NYC On Deadline to read the rest of the report, view video coverage and listen to interviews.
Those are the grades that HIV and AIDS advocates gave to New York City’s health care services.
To mark President Obama’s 50th day in office on Wednesday, March 11, AIDS and HIV prevention advocates from around the country issued a health care report card grading the nation’s progress in finding a cure for the epidemic. The “End AIDS Report Card,” compiled by the activist organization Campaign To End AIDS, failed the city across the board on the services such as housing and medication distribution.
“We need a national strategy to end AIDS,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works. “Twenty five years into the epidemic and we still don’t have a coherent national strategy on prevention or on treatment services and care. There has to be a strategy that involves every single state and every single locality doing its fair share.”
New Yorkers gather in Harlem in front of a statue of civil rights advocate, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., to protest what they call a failing city health care system.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
From Garden to Green Jobs: Returning Brooklyn Youth To Their Green Roots
At the third annual Making Brooklyn Bloom event on Saturday, March 7, hundreds of New Yorkers of all ages gathered on the grounds of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (off Eastern Parkway and Prospect Park) for a day of running around newly budding flowers, watching fish swim, making solar-powered toy racecars, pressing fresh apple cider - and, of course, learning.
Local and citywide organizations such as Sustainable Flatbush, Just Food, the Food Bank of NY, TreesNY, Red Hook’s Added Value farms and the upcoming Brooklyn Urban Garden School, encouraged participants to experiment with hands-on projects at their volunteer tables, emphasizing the fun and ease of activities that promote food, environmental and social sustainability.
Click here to read more and view a SLIDESHOW of the day's events.
Local and citywide organizations such as Sustainable Flatbush, Just Food, the Food Bank of NY, TreesNY, Red Hook’s Added Value farms and the upcoming Brooklyn Urban Garden School, encouraged participants to experiment with hands-on projects at their volunteer tables, emphasizing the fun and ease of activities that promote food, environmental and social sustainability.
Click here to read more and view a SLIDESHOW of the day's events.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Live-Blog: Dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline
Reported live on Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Children’s Defense Fund’s New York chapter is holding a one-day summit in Central Brooklyn called “Connecting the Neighborhood Dots: Promoting Solutions to Dismantle the Pipeline to Prison.” Hosted by CUNY’s Medgar Evers College in partnership with the Casey Family Programs, the day has been scheduled full of panel discussions and presentations by leaders in the children’s advocacy and juvenile justice organizations.
I will be chronicling the start of the conference and the back-to-back morning sessions that focus on the disproportionate impact of prison and the criminal justice system on specific communities in New York City, mainly in the Bronx and Central Brooklyn, and how community-based strategies can promote healthy children, families and neighborhoods.
Read and watch the full coverage here.
The Children’s Defense Fund’s New York chapter is holding a one-day summit in Central Brooklyn called “Connecting the Neighborhood Dots: Promoting Solutions to Dismantle the Pipeline to Prison.” Hosted by CUNY’s Medgar Evers College in partnership with the Casey Family Programs, the day has been scheduled full of panel discussions and presentations by leaders in the children’s advocacy and juvenile justice organizations.
I will be chronicling the start of the conference and the back-to-back morning sessions that focus on the disproportionate impact of prison and the criminal justice system on specific communities in New York City, mainly in the Bronx and Central Brooklyn, and how community-based strategies can promote healthy children, families and neighborhoods.
Read and watch the full coverage here.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
COMMENTARY: Link between HRT and breast cancer rates?
After reading this news article about research touting a link between hormone-replacement therapy and increased breast cancer rates, I can't help but doubt the veracity of this study (not uncommon with research studies. Always read with caution.) Before jumping on the blame-HRT bandwagon, why don't the researchers account for the possibility that the severe menopause symptoms could be linked to the increased risk and rates of breast cancer? This, rather than HRT being the cause of the cancer? The two issues - severe menopause symptoms and breast cancer rates - may not have separate factors.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Thank Goodness It's [Black] Friday
In honor of Black Friday 2008, I created an audio slideshow of part of the day's happenings and customer response at Brooklyn's Kings Plaza Shopping Center.
You can find the soundslides project here.
You can find the soundslides project here.
The Flu: Senior's Vaccination Day and Beyond
By Heather J. Chin
NY City News Service
Sunset Park, NY – With flu season here and January/February peak times just around the corner, health providers at Brooklyn’s Lutheran Medical Center and in hospitals and clinics throughout the city are trying to get both children and adults – including those over 65 years of age – to get their flu shot.
NY City News Service
Sunset Park, NY – With flu season here and January/February peak times just around the corner, health providers at Brooklyn’s Lutheran Medical Center and in hospitals and clinics throughout the city are trying to get both children and adults – including those over 65 years of age – to get their flu shot.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) named last week National Influenza Vaccination Week. Tuesday, December 9, was Children’s Vaccination Day. Thursday, December 11, was Senior’s Vaccination Day.
“[Parents and grandparents] may bring in a child for immunization, but they won’t for themselves,” said Norma Villanueva, M.D., M.P.H., the Network Chief of Child and Adolescent Health at Lutheran Medical Center.
Read the rest of the article here...Sunday, December 14, 2008
COMMENTARY: Bush unharmed by tossed shoes; Will the same fate await the tosser?
So President Bush was the target of two shoes thrown at him - quite haphazardly - by an Iraqi television journalist whose employer, Al Baghdadia, is based in Cairo, Egypt. In the video clip viewed ’round the world, Mr. Bush tells a security agent that he is fine after the incident, later joking about the incident and telling the assembled press that he didn’t feel the least bit threatened by the attack. The journalist, however, may not be so fortunate.
While an attack on any world leader, however innocuous the weapon and bland response from the attacked, is cause for alarm and legal consequence, I have serious doubts about the existence and stability of any current Iraqi justice system. They didn’t have a fair one before the U.S.’ 2003 invasion and they haven’t had a chance to build one now, and with a history of lack of due process in the region, regardless of professional standing and international attention, it seems a very real possibility that Muntadar al-Zaidi, the journalist apprehended, faces either a violent fate or an untimely demise.
The words that al-Zaidi shouted in Arabic while throwing his shoes have been widely translated to have been: “This is the farewell kiss, you dog!” However, an unaccredited blogger at The False Oswalds expands the translated quote to “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog. … This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”
Whether this is accurate or not, I don’t know, but CNN expands the translation to: “You killed the Iraqis!” These add another layer of context to al-Zaidi’s motivation for the assault.
In that CNN article, it is also noted that al-Zaidi is the same journalist who was kidnapped in November 2007 on his way to work and then released three days later. I do not know if there are reports of what happened to him during his captivity, whether he was tortured or not. But I imagine that after the initial impulse to throw his shoes at President Bush wore off and he was surrounded and restrained by security agents, his mind flashed to those three days from one year ago and he came into a panic about his current situation. That is the only thing I can think to explain the blood trail on the carpet and the cries from an adjacent room while other Iraqi journalists apologized to the President and Mr. Bush made light of the situation.
I would love for someone to brief the U.S. president on the final translation so that after the jokes have subsided, he will no longer lack understanding of al-Zaidi’s cause. And hopefully, he will actually reinforce his claim that this show of protest - which is more than just an empty ploy for attention - is proof of democracy in Iraq by ensuring that Mr. al-Zaidi is not executed or tortured for his form of expression.
While an attack on any world leader, however innocuous the weapon and bland response from the attacked, is cause for alarm and legal consequence, I have serious doubts about the existence and stability of any current Iraqi justice system. They didn’t have a fair one before the U.S.’ 2003 invasion and they haven’t had a chance to build one now, and with a history of lack of due process in the region, regardless of professional standing and international attention, it seems a very real possibility that Muntadar al-Zaidi, the journalist apprehended, faces either a violent fate or an untimely demise.
The words that al-Zaidi shouted in Arabic while throwing his shoes have been widely translated to have been: “This is the farewell kiss, you dog!” However, an unaccredited blogger at The False Oswalds expands the translated quote to “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog. … This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”
Whether this is accurate or not, I don’t know, but CNN expands the translation to: “You killed the Iraqis!” These add another layer of context to al-Zaidi’s motivation for the assault.
In that CNN article, it is also noted that al-Zaidi is the same journalist who was kidnapped in November 2007 on his way to work and then released three days later. I do not know if there are reports of what happened to him during his captivity, whether he was tortured or not. But I imagine that after the initial impulse to throw his shoes at President Bush wore off and he was surrounded and restrained by security agents, his mind flashed to those three days from one year ago and he came into a panic about his current situation. That is the only thing I can think to explain the blood trail on the carpet and the cries from an adjacent room while other Iraqi journalists apologized to the President and Mr. Bush made light of the situation.
I would love for someone to brief the U.S. president on the final translation so that after the jokes have subsided, he will no longer lack understanding of al-Zaidi’s cause. And hopefully, he will actually reinforce his claim that this show of protest - which is more than just an empty ploy for attention - is proof of democracy in Iraq by ensuring that Mr. al-Zaidi is not executed or tortured for his form of expression.
Big Pharma Under Fire for Reverse Plagiarism
The pharmaceutical industry is coming under fire for allegedly hiring ghostwriters (writers who work for pay, but not a byline) to write positive reports/analysis of clinical tests on drugs with possible efficacy issues - and then recruiting notable doctors to stick their names on it. This issue has been bandied about for months and suspected for longer, but now U.S. Senator Charles Grassley from Iowa is renewing the fight.
Is the fact that this possibility has surfaced doesn’t surprise me troubling? Even before I declared my concentration in health/medicine reporting, I was aware of the corruption and rampant abuse of power by what is referred to as Big Pharma. Government deregulation and regulation on a slew of business and healthcare policy issues end up benefiting these corporate entites, whether allowing unapproved drugs and drugs with possible side effects to go on the market before they are fully vetted by the FDA or removing/weakening price caps on prescription drugs so that Pharma can charge more for less and profit from donations of life-saving drugs to Third World countries. And of course there are the deceptive drug ads that have had varying levels of regulation over the last two decades.
Journal articles are an important “first draft” introducing new developments in medicine to the public and are among the sources used by health professionals and medical reporters in their story research. Doctors and reporters already look at journal articles with a wary eye, and the likely possibility of journal articles being fabricated can be even more detrimental to the trust people place in such written work.
And that doctors would sign on to put their names on these works they haven’t written - even if they agree with what is being written - is egregious and says they condone this deceptive practice. Like the regulations placed on drug advertisements, all that would be needed is for the doctors to acknowledge that this IS NOT their work. It would be better if it were, but if this is the way they want to roll, then disclose your affiliations.
It is tantamount to plagiarism.
Is the fact that this possibility has surfaced doesn’t surprise me troubling? Even before I declared my concentration in health/medicine reporting, I was aware of the corruption and rampant abuse of power by what is referred to as Big Pharma. Government deregulation and regulation on a slew of business and healthcare policy issues end up benefiting these corporate entites, whether allowing unapproved drugs and drugs with possible side effects to go on the market before they are fully vetted by the FDA or removing/weakening price caps on prescription drugs so that Pharma can charge more for less and profit from donations of life-saving drugs to Third World countries. And of course there are the deceptive drug ads that have had varying levels of regulation over the last two decades.
Journal articles are an important “first draft” introducing new developments in medicine to the public and are among the sources used by health professionals and medical reporters in their story research. Doctors and reporters already look at journal articles with a wary eye, and the likely possibility of journal articles being fabricated can be even more detrimental to the trust people place in such written work.
And that doctors would sign on to put their names on these works they haven’t written - even if they agree with what is being written - is egregious and says they condone this deceptive practice. Like the regulations placed on drug advertisements, all that would be needed is for the doctors to acknowledge that this IS NOT their work. It would be better if it were, but if this is the way they want to roll, then disclose your affiliations.
It is tantamount to plagiarism.
Friday, December 12, 2008
A Season of Hope: Holidays on Wall St.
By Heather J. Chin
The Christmas melodies of Gavin deGraw and Aretha Franklin were two of the main attractions at the New York Stock Exchange’s annual tree lighting ceremony this year. Beyond the glitz of Rockefeller Plaza, Wall Street’s celebration has the distinction of being organized by New Yorkers for New Yorkers, with plenty of holiday cheer permeating the gloom that become a familiar part of our days.
Hundreds of New Yorkers past and present gathered downtown for an evening of celebration, rumination and time with family before facing a new year and uncertain economic times.
Larry Lampiasi came downtown to watch his granddaughter sing with her schoolmates in Brick, New Jersey’s Monsignor Donovan Choir. As a self-employed salesman, he says he’s felt the economic pinch, but thinks the holiday season will help.
The ceremony outside the NYSE building on Broad Street between Wall Street and Exchange Place is quite possibly the most personal, meaningful and even oldest of all the high-profile holiday events in New York City, as it takes place in the heart of old New York and has been a tradition since 1923.
This year, while Mr. DeGraw and Ms. Franklin’s drew audience members who recognize their music and name, the evening’s entertainment and festive atmosphere also catered to the younger generation. Performances from local teen musicians were featured: Long Island rock band Push Play and 14-year-old Tiffany Giardina – her music is included in an upcoming movie, “Another Cinderella Story” – who grew up in New York.
Also on hand was 25-year-old jazz pianist and singer Peter Cincotti, whose blend of traditional jazz and classic styles with rock and pop made his song “December Boys” and his Christmas-themed melodies transfix crowd members of all ages.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
"Where did the prostitutes go, Mommy?"
By Heather J. Chin
Sunset Park – Prostitutes have long plied their trade along the Gowanus Expressway’s southern end in Brooklyn, coexisting quietly with their working class neighbors and largely ignored by police. But when residents began complaining in late September that men had begun soliciting sex from young girls and teachers at a nearby elementary school, the cops took fast action.
A series of morning crackdowns over three weeks resulted in 39 arrests along 56th and 57th streets between Second and Third Avenues, according to Deputy Inspector Jesus R. Pintos, of the 72nd Precinct. But the prostitution busts were only part of a larger effort that shows how local law enforcement can involve community organizations to find long-term solutions for neighborhood crimes.
The campaign began with getting the offenders off the streets. In what Inspector Pintos described as “precinct-based enforcement,” officers arrested 21 johns – the term used to describe the predominantly male clientele of prostitutes – and eight prostitutes. They also arrested nine others for related crimes of car theft (cars used by those arrested) and drug use or sales. Five vehicles were also confiscated at the scene.
Within days, the only signs that illegal activity had taken place were used condoms and other debris scattered on the sidewalk. The Brooklyn D.A.’s office lent several hands to deal with that. Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes assigned individuals sentenced to community service hours in the neighborhood to assist the precinct in sidewalk clean-up.
To maintain the quality of life in the area and prevent the problem from simply relocating, police increased surveillance. First they installed Sky Watch – a surveillance tower that extends via mini-crane atop an NYPD car, traveling between high crime areas in the city – along the main intersection on Third Avenue and 56th Street during the two weeks following the arrests. Precinct officers were also assigned to conduct regular sweeps of the problem corridor, making arrests when necessary.
For residents and schoolchildren, the effect of the changes was immediate. “Where did the prostitutes go, Mommy?” one grade-schooler asked her mother on the way to school a week following the first arrests. The grateful mother shared the story with Deputy Inspector Pintos at the monthly Community Council meeting. Says Pintos, “We’re making headway, but we’ll continue to monitor the problem.”
Others are trying to help those arrested in the busts. The Red Hook Justice Center, in collaboration with the 72nd precinct, is offering first-time offenders an alternative to trials and jail. Instead they have to attend “Project Respect,” often called the Brooklyn John School. The six-year-old program puts offenders face-to-face with former prostitutes, videos of sexually abused children and images of the diseases inflicted on them.
EPIC (Ending Prostitution In our Communities) and “Saving Teens at Risk” are two programs targeting prostitutes above age 21 and younger girls, respectively. They offer educational and rehabilitative services to help these women find other options and to deal with the issues that originally caused them to turn to the streets. Kings County DA statistics note that 80 to 90 percent of the women prostituting themselves have been sexually abused. The U.S. Dept. of Justice says that girls enter prostitution at an average age of 13.
According to Gerianne Abriano, Bureau Chief at the Brooklyn D.A.’s office, “the vast majority [of offenders] that come to Red Hook go through these programs. Anyone with a prior record, we try to get them drug [or other] treatment. [And as for] the prostitutes, they tend to be the most accessible. We have good results with them.”
Friday, November 21, 2008
Yay Frogs!
So Pine Magazine issued a challenge to its readers a couple of weeks ago: take the Frog Leap Test (an exercise they say is used to test spatial reasoning, it seems), pass it, take a screenshot, and send it to them. I did it on the second try.
Here's my screenshot:
S
O
L
U
T
I
O
N
S
The solution is:
Y (yellow)1 - R (red) 1 - R2 - Y1 - Y2 - Y3 - R1 - R2 - R3 - Y1 - Y2 - Y3 - R2 - R3 - Y3
Now, this program may be used with Chinese students, but I doubt that their ability to solve it at a young age means “smarter than” compared to at least the Pine Mag. editors. It’s probably just a matter of how much training you have in spatial reasoning. Perhaps the students get a focus on this earlier than students with other nation’s curricula.
Still, I cringe at the thought of someone to suggest that my being able to solve the puzzle (see below) is due to my being Chinese American. Paranoia? Perhaps. But this twisted logic is hardly absent from discussion in an American society that seems to be experiencing an upswing in xenophobic thought. As usual, I’ll slough off this thought, though.
In my case, years of learning according to the NYC specialized math and science curriculum probably helped condition me to find this a rather straightforward exercise.
Whatever the case, I’m pleased! Woohoo!
Here's my screenshot:
SO
L
U
T
I
O
N
S
The solution is:
Y (yellow)1 - R (red) 1 - R2 - Y1 - Y2 - Y3 - R1 - R2 - R3 - Y1 - Y2 - Y3 - R2 - R3 - Y3
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