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Friday, May 29, 2009
Walk Test Can Predict Course of Heart Failure for Black Patients
interesting read...
The six-minute walk test, a simple, inexpensive diagnostic test, can reliably predict risk of death or re-hospitalization in African-American patients with heart failure, according to a study by a cardiologist now at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. "The six-minute walk test is basically just what it sounds like," said Dr. Thomas Stamos, assistant professor of cardiology at UIC and principal investigator of the study.
In the study, which was conducted at was conducted at the John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, 200 African-American patients, 125 men and 75 women, who were admitted to the hospital with decompensated heart failure (patients whose heart failure has caused their lungs to fill with fluid and who may have fluid in their legs) were asked to walk for six minutes, usually just up and down a hospital corridor. The distance that they are able to walk was then measured. The six-minute walk test has been successful in previous studies in predicting the course of heart failure. But the usual cause of heart failure in African-Americans patients is hypertension rather than the cardiovascular disease seen in the white patient population, says Stamos, and African-Americans often respond differently to medications used to treat heart failure. "There was a possibility that African Americans would have a different response to the six-minute walk test," said Stamos. "It was important to prove that this test could reliably predict outcomes in this patient population."
The researchers found "a clear difference" between patients who could walk at least 200 meters in six minutes and those who couldn't, Stamos said. Patients who walked 200 or more meters -- about twice the length of a football field -- had substantially lower risk of either returning to the hospital or dying during the course of the study. "We hope this study can help us decide which patients we should concentrate our efforts on," said Stamos. "If we know that a patient is at very high risk, we may be more aggressive with their medical therapy, we may have them follow-up in the clinic more frequently and keep a closer eye on them in order to prevent these negative outcomes." The patients were followed for 40 months to see how frequently they were forced to return to the hospital with heart failure as well as what percentage died during the course of the study.
The researchers found that 40 percent of patients who were only able to walk less than 200 meters died in the 40 months following their original hospitalization versus only 19 percent of the patients who were able to walk more than 200 meters. Patients were also re-hospitalized more often if they were unable to walk more than 200 meters. About 70 percent of the patients who were unable to walk more than 200 meters were re-hospitalized during that 40 month time period versus 52 percent of the patients who were able to walk farther. "With this very simple test, we were have a very powerful tool for predicting both who is at highest risk of dying in this period of time, as well as who would be re-hospitalized with heart failure, giving us a chance to plan appropriate treatment," Stamos said. Other contributors on the study are Dr. M. Tarek Alahdab of UIC, Dr. Ibrahim N. Mansour of Stroger Hospital, and Dr. Sirskarn Napan of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine at Springfield.
The study was published in the March issue of the Journal of Cardiac Failure.
http://tigger.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/newsbureau/cgi-bin/index.cgi?from=Releases&to=PrintRelease&id=2475&fromhome=1
The six-minute walk test, a simple, inexpensive diagnostic test, can reliably predict risk of death or re-hospitalization in African-American patients with heart failure, according to a study by a cardiologist now at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. "The six-minute walk test is basically just what it sounds like," said Dr. Thomas Stamos, assistant professor of cardiology at UIC and principal investigator of the study.
In the study, which was conducted at was conducted at the John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, 200 African-American patients, 125 men and 75 women, who were admitted to the hospital with decompensated heart failure (patients whose heart failure has caused their lungs to fill with fluid and who may have fluid in their legs) were asked to walk for six minutes, usually just up and down a hospital corridor. The distance that they are able to walk was then measured. The six-minute walk test has been successful in previous studies in predicting the course of heart failure. But the usual cause of heart failure in African-Americans patients is hypertension rather than the cardiovascular disease seen in the white patient population, says Stamos, and African-Americans often respond differently to medications used to treat heart failure. "There was a possibility that African Americans would have a different response to the six-minute walk test," said Stamos. "It was important to prove that this test could reliably predict outcomes in this patient population."
The researchers found "a clear difference" between patients who could walk at least 200 meters in six minutes and those who couldn't, Stamos said. Patients who walked 200 or more meters -- about twice the length of a football field -- had substantially lower risk of either returning to the hospital or dying during the course of the study. "We hope this study can help us decide which patients we should concentrate our efforts on," said Stamos. "If we know that a patient is at very high risk, we may be more aggressive with their medical therapy, we may have them follow-up in the clinic more frequently and keep a closer eye on them in order to prevent these negative outcomes." The patients were followed for 40 months to see how frequently they were forced to return to the hospital with heart failure as well as what percentage died during the course of the study.
The researchers found that 40 percent of patients who were only able to walk less than 200 meters died in the 40 months following their original hospitalization versus only 19 percent of the patients who were able to walk more than 200 meters. Patients were also re-hospitalized more often if they were unable to walk more than 200 meters. About 70 percent of the patients who were unable to walk more than 200 meters were re-hospitalized during that 40 month time period versus 52 percent of the patients who were able to walk farther. "With this very simple test, we were have a very powerful tool for predicting both who is at highest risk of dying in this period of time, as well as who would be re-hospitalized with heart failure, giving us a chance to plan appropriate treatment," Stamos said. Other contributors on the study are Dr. M. Tarek Alahdab of UIC, Dr. Ibrahim N. Mansour of Stroger Hospital, and Dr. Sirskarn Napan of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine at Springfield.
The study was published in the March issue of the Journal of Cardiac Failure.
http://tigger.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/newsbureau/cgi-bin/index.cgi?from=Releases&to=PrintRelease&id=2475&fromhome=1
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Sounds real 'cute' on paper...
But how will it play out? That's the question...Will we be used as guinea pigs and continue to be pathologized and receive subpar care?
We Can Make the South Side a Model for Health-Care Reform
Eric Whitaker, MD, MPH, vice president for strategic affiliations and associate dean for community-based research, wrote the following op-ed for the April 23, 2009 edition of the Chicago Tribune.
I was born in a legendary Chicago hospital that has nearly disappeared.
Michael Reese Hospital was once a showcase of the South Side, a first-class research center that served as a beacon for people from many walks of life. Scientists there helped develop electrocardiography, found new links between cholesterol and heart disease, and did groundbreaking work on insulin. When my mother studied to be a nurse, Reese and Cook County Hospital were the only teaching hospitals in town that welcomed black trainees.
Once I dreamed of practicing medicine at Reese. Now the hospital is bankrupt and will close soon. The last time I drove past, all the lights were out.
Reese's fate gives a sense of the vast health-care challenges in underserved areas like the South Side. Tight financial resources here can make it difficult to sustain advanced-care centers such as Reese and the University of Chicago Medical Center, where I work.
Yet my home community desperately needs the best care available. We contend with widespread poverty and some of the nation's highest rates of chronic disease -- diabetes, hypertension, asthma.
We don't have to accept a future of declining community health and struggling hospitals. If we take the right steps now, the South Side could become a national model for how to build an innovative and sustainable health network. We'll need to put aside institutional turf and accept that no single medical center can meet all of our patients' needs.
The best strategy would combine the strengths of many South Side centers and treat them as one "virtual hospital," which patients can access in different locations depending on their medical needs.
Such an approach makes economic as well as medical sense. It would sustain the area's network of community hospitals and clinics, and connect low-income patients with the primary care they need to prevent serious complications of chronic conditions. My hospital has worked on this through the Urban Health Initiative, which strives to match patients with local clinics and physicians.
But we will not reach any of our goals without restoring trust within the community. Our patients don't always trust that if we refer them to a different institution, they will still get care of the highest quality. And hospitals often distrust each other, fearful that the patients they refer elsewhere will never come back.
The hospital where I work has not always been a good partner for this kind of collaboration. The U. of C. has been seen as detached from its medical neighbors and at times arrogant and overly competitive.
I think we can change those views and build a true partnership on the South Side. More faculty and residents from my hospital are fanning out to smaller centers where they are sharing knowledge and helping new groups of patients. Many of our patients who voluntarily transfer to those centers report greater satisfaction than they had at our hospital. That's humbling, and a sign that we can learn a lot from our neighbors.
Together we can learn more about our patients' unique health problems. The health disparities that exist between rich and poor are a huge problem for Chicago, yet we still don't know enough about why they persist. For example, why are diabetic adults on the South Side nearly three times more likely to be hospitalized than diabetes patients in the rest of the state? We suspect that diet, genetics and a lack of preventive care all play a role, but we don't know the specifics -- or how to correct the problem.
That's why a coalition of groups from around the city will soon embark on the South Side Health and Vitality Study, an ambitious effort to understand and begin remedying these glaring gaps in health outcomes. We want to create a resource that patients and researchers will draw on for decades, much as the Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts has shaped ideas about cardiovascular disease.
No single hospital will solve the South Side's health disparities by working within its own four walls. And no center here can thrive without strong affiliations -- that's one lesson of Reese's demise. But if we learn to trust one another and work together, we can help our patients and prevent more hospital lights from flickering out.
We Can Make the South Side a Model for Health-Care Reform
Eric Whitaker, MD, MPH, vice president for strategic affiliations and associate dean for community-based research, wrote the following op-ed for the April 23, 2009 edition of the Chicago Tribune.
I was born in a legendary Chicago hospital that has nearly disappeared.
Michael Reese Hospital was once a showcase of the South Side, a first-class research center that served as a beacon for people from many walks of life. Scientists there helped develop electrocardiography, found new links between cholesterol and heart disease, and did groundbreaking work on insulin. When my mother studied to be a nurse, Reese and Cook County Hospital were the only teaching hospitals in town that welcomed black trainees.
Once I dreamed of practicing medicine at Reese. Now the hospital is bankrupt and will close soon. The last time I drove past, all the lights were out.
Reese's fate gives a sense of the vast health-care challenges in underserved areas like the South Side. Tight financial resources here can make it difficult to sustain advanced-care centers such as Reese and the University of Chicago Medical Center, where I work.
Yet my home community desperately needs the best care available. We contend with widespread poverty and some of the nation's highest rates of chronic disease -- diabetes, hypertension, asthma.
We don't have to accept a future of declining community health and struggling hospitals. If we take the right steps now, the South Side could become a national model for how to build an innovative and sustainable health network. We'll need to put aside institutional turf and accept that no single medical center can meet all of our patients' needs.
The best strategy would combine the strengths of many South Side centers and treat them as one "virtual hospital," which patients can access in different locations depending on their medical needs.
Such an approach makes economic as well as medical sense. It would sustain the area's network of community hospitals and clinics, and connect low-income patients with the primary care they need to prevent serious complications of chronic conditions. My hospital has worked on this through the Urban Health Initiative, which strives to match patients with local clinics and physicians.
But we will not reach any of our goals without restoring trust within the community. Our patients don't always trust that if we refer them to a different institution, they will still get care of the highest quality. And hospitals often distrust each other, fearful that the patients they refer elsewhere will never come back.
The hospital where I work has not always been a good partner for this kind of collaboration. The U. of C. has been seen as detached from its medical neighbors and at times arrogant and overly competitive.
I think we can change those views and build a true partnership on the South Side. More faculty and residents from my hospital are fanning out to smaller centers where they are sharing knowledge and helping new groups of patients. Many of our patients who voluntarily transfer to those centers report greater satisfaction than they had at our hospital. That's humbling, and a sign that we can learn a lot from our neighbors.
Together we can learn more about our patients' unique health problems. The health disparities that exist between rich and poor are a huge problem for Chicago, yet we still don't know enough about why they persist. For example, why are diabetic adults on the South Side nearly three times more likely to be hospitalized than diabetes patients in the rest of the state? We suspect that diet, genetics and a lack of preventive care all play a role, but we don't know the specifics -- or how to correct the problem.
That's why a coalition of groups from around the city will soon embark on the South Side Health and Vitality Study, an ambitious effort to understand and begin remedying these glaring gaps in health outcomes. We want to create a resource that patients and researchers will draw on for decades, much as the Framingham Heart Study in Massachusetts has shaped ideas about cardiovascular disease.
No single hospital will solve the South Side's health disparities by working within its own four walls. And no center here can thrive without strong affiliations -- that's one lesson of Reese's demise. But if we learn to trust one another and work together, we can help our patients and prevent more hospital lights from flickering out.
"University of Chicago shutting Community clinic"
Event: Save University of Chicago Womens Health Center at 47th and Woodlawn
RallyHost: Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP)
Date/Time: Friday, May 29 at 10:30am
Outraged community to march on U of C to save women's clinic
Patients, community, workers, students launch
Patients, community, workers, students launch
campaign against patient dumping
Following the recent announcement that the University of Chicago intends to close the 47th st. Women's Health Center, outraged patients, community members, workers and U of C students are announcing a campaign to fight the plan starting Friday May 29th with a press conference at the clinc (near Woodlawn and 47th st.) at 10:30am after which they will march to the U of C administration building for a 12pm rally.
"The University of Chicago has treated our community like a guinea pig since its inception. Now that they are at the Forefront of Medicine, they want to treat us like we are toxic waste. We as patients need this clinic and other local clinics cannot handle the dumping the University is planning,” says Deborah Tayler, a patient at the clinic and spokeswoman for Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP).
The action is being called by an ad hoc coalition of groups that sees the clinic closures as part of the University's broader effort to push poor people - especially people of color - out of the Medical Center and out of the community. The Coalition for Healthcare Access Responsibility and Transparency (CHART) is composed of Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), the Illinois Single Payer Coalition, U of C Students for a Democratic Society, Students Organized and United with Labor and the Southside Solidarity Network as well as several members of Teamsters Local 743. CHART is following up the protest with a forum moderated by Cliff Kelly called “Whose Hospital: A Community Forum on the U of C Medical Center” on Wednesday June 3rd at 6:30pm on the U of C campus in the Harper Building at 1116 E. 59th st room 140.
May 29 Actions to Save Clinic
10:30am- Press Conference at clinic 1301 E. 47th St.
11:15am- March from clinic to campus
12noon- Rally at U of C Admin Building – 5801 S. Ellis
"The University of Chicago has treated our community like a guinea pig since its inception. Now that they are at the Forefront of Medicine, they want to treat us like we are toxic waste. We as patients need this clinic and other local clinics cannot handle the dumping the University is planning,” says Deborah Tayler, a patient at the clinic and spokeswoman for Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP).
The action is being called by an ad hoc coalition of groups that sees the clinic closures as part of the University's broader effort to push poor people - especially people of color - out of the Medical Center and out of the community. The Coalition for Healthcare Access Responsibility and Transparency (CHART) is composed of Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), the Illinois Single Payer Coalition, U of C Students for a Democratic Society, Students Organized and United with Labor and the Southside Solidarity Network as well as several members of Teamsters Local 743. CHART is following up the protest with a forum moderated by Cliff Kelly called “Whose Hospital: A Community Forum on the U of C Medical Center” on Wednesday June 3rd at 6:30pm on the U of C campus in the Harper Building at 1116 E. 59th st room 140.
May 29 Actions to Save Clinic
10:30am- Press Conference at clinic 1301 E. 47th St.
11:15am- March from clinic to campus
12noon- Rally at U of C Admin Building – 5801 S. Ellis
Chicago Tribune Article about the closing...
Go meet your Congress(wo)man
House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-Harlem, spoke at a community forum in Manhattan this morning, organized by the National Coalition on Health Care.
RWV co-founder Lois Uttley, a Rangel constituent, was there and filed this report:
Fate of public plan in Senate's hands
The House of Representatives will include a public plan option in its health reform bill, but the fate of a public plan ultimately will be decided in the Senate, Rep. Charles Rangel said today. That plan "would be subsidized based on one's ability to pay," he said. Rangel said his fellow New York Democrat, Senator Charles Schumer, is trying to come up with a public plan proposal that will attract bipartisan support, because Republican votes would be needed to approve a plan with 60 votes. Schumer is proposing a public plan "that does not knock out private plans," Rangel said. "We don't know where that is going." He expressed hope the Senate "will have some sort of public plan that we can build on" when House and Senate conferees get together to negotiate one health reform bill later this year. One questioner told Rangel that "many of us hope that eventually it (a public plan) will beat out private insurers." Rangel, laughing, cautioned: "Don't say that!""Well," the questioner continued, "how do we make sure the public plan doesn't get beaten down?" Rangel replied: "I think you need both of them (private and public insurance plans). If the private sector believes they are being pushed out of business, then they need to look at cutting their profits." Rangel was critical of Republicans for opposing a public plan, calling that stance "unacceptable." The GOP in House, he said, is showing "no leadership." He admonished them: "They can't walk away from health reform."
Why not single payer?
The Director of Physicians for a National Health Program's NY Metro Chapter asked Rangel why single-payer advocates are not being included in the health reform debate in Congress. Rangel replied: "Because we want to get a bill passed. We would be asked, Do we want a government takeover of our health system? I would say yes. A lot or people would say no. Then we would have a debate, but not a bill."
How will benefits be determined?
RWV's Uttley asked Rangel how benefits packages will be determined under national health reform, noting that many groups are concerned about whether breast cancer treatment, care for chronic conditions, comprehensive reproductive health care and other services will be included. We have all been told these decisions will be determined by an independent commission later on, she said. Rangel said simply that "benefits will be determined by medical standards of care."
Get out there and meet your members of Congress!
"I've been in the Congress for close to 40 years, and this is the most revolutionary time I've every read about, let alone participated in," Rangel said. "Finally, we have a President with vision." But, he said, members of the public cannot be silent about health reform. "
You have to know the name of your Congressman and let them know we need health reform."
RWV co-founder Lois Uttley, a Rangel constituent, was there and filed this report:
Fate of public plan in Senate's hands
The House of Representatives will include a public plan option in its health reform bill, but the fate of a public plan ultimately will be decided in the Senate, Rep. Charles Rangel said today. That plan "would be subsidized based on one's ability to pay," he said. Rangel said his fellow New York Democrat, Senator Charles Schumer, is trying to come up with a public plan proposal that will attract bipartisan support, because Republican votes would be needed to approve a plan with 60 votes. Schumer is proposing a public plan "that does not knock out private plans," Rangel said. "We don't know where that is going." He expressed hope the Senate "will have some sort of public plan that we can build on" when House and Senate conferees get together to negotiate one health reform bill later this year. One questioner told Rangel that "many of us hope that eventually it (a public plan) will beat out private insurers." Rangel, laughing, cautioned: "Don't say that!""Well," the questioner continued, "how do we make sure the public plan doesn't get beaten down?" Rangel replied: "I think you need both of them (private and public insurance plans). If the private sector believes they are being pushed out of business, then they need to look at cutting their profits." Rangel was critical of Republicans for opposing a public plan, calling that stance "unacceptable." The GOP in House, he said, is showing "no leadership." He admonished them: "They can't walk away from health reform."
Why not single payer?
The Director of Physicians for a National Health Program's NY Metro Chapter asked Rangel why single-payer advocates are not being included in the health reform debate in Congress. Rangel replied: "Because we want to get a bill passed. We would be asked, Do we want a government takeover of our health system? I would say yes. A lot or people would say no. Then we would have a debate, but not a bill."
How will benefits be determined?
RWV's Uttley asked Rangel how benefits packages will be determined under national health reform, noting that many groups are concerned about whether breast cancer treatment, care for chronic conditions, comprehensive reproductive health care and other services will be included. We have all been told these decisions will be determined by an independent commission later on, she said. Rangel said simply that "benefits will be determined by medical standards of care."
Get out there and meet your members of Congress!
"I've been in the Congress for close to 40 years, and this is the most revolutionary time I've every read about, let alone participated in," Rangel said. "Finally, we have a President with vision." But, he said, members of the public cannot be silent about health reform. "
You have to know the name of your Congressman and let them know we need health reform."
Friday, May 15, 2009
Comprehensive Sex Health Education...
The Reproductive Health and Access Act (HB 2354) would require all Illinois public schools to teach medically-accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sexual health education. Parents would be allowed to remove their child from the class if they do not want them to participate.In addition, the bill also prohibits government interference with an individual's decision to use birth control, continue with a pregnancy, or terminate a pregnancy and ensures that government-funded health care programs, such as Medicaid, cover basic reproductive health services, including family planning, pre-natal care, and pap smears.
Currently, Illinois schools are not obliged to teach comprehensive sexual health education, or any sex education at all. If sex education is taught, the Illinois School Code does not require course materials and instruction to include information about contraception.Individuals have the right to education that promotes lifelong responsibility. We know that informed youth make healthy decisions. Students must be taught medically-accurate, age-appropriate, science-based sexual health education that is inclusive of all individuals.
The Reproductive Health and Access Act currently has 37 co-sponsors. On March 11, the bill passed out of the Illinois House Human Services Committee. On April 2, the entire House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill.We need you to take action! Please contact your state representative by email, letter, phone, or fax and tell her or him to vote in favor of the Reproductive Health and Access Act (HB 2354)!
For more information, visit the Illinois Campaign for Reproductive Health and Access website http://www.illinoisreproductivehealth.org/.
Currently, Illinois schools are not obliged to teach comprehensive sexual health education, or any sex education at all. If sex education is taught, the Illinois School Code does not require course materials and instruction to include information about contraception.Individuals have the right to education that promotes lifelong responsibility. We know that informed youth make healthy decisions. Students must be taught medically-accurate, age-appropriate, science-based sexual health education that is inclusive of all individuals.
The Reproductive Health and Access Act currently has 37 co-sponsors. On March 11, the bill passed out of the Illinois House Human Services Committee. On April 2, the entire House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill.We need you to take action! Please contact your state representative by email, letter, phone, or fax and tell her or him to vote in favor of the Reproductive Health and Access Act (HB 2354)!
For more information, visit the Illinois Campaign for Reproductive Health and Access website http://www.illinoisreproductivehealth.org/.
Home Birth Safety Act...
HB0226
Synopsis As IntroducedCreates the Home Birth Safety Act. Provides for the licensure of midwives by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Creates the Illinois Midwifery Board. Sets forth provisions concerning qualifications, grounds for disciplinary action, and administrative procedures. Imposes conditions on any rulemaking authority. Amends the Regulatory Sunset Act to set a repeal date for the new Act of January 1, 2020. Amends the Medical Practice Act of 1987 and the Nurse Practice Act to make related changes.House Committee Amendment No. 1Provides that a licensed midwife is prohibited from performing an abortion.
Why license certified professional midwives?
The vast majority of Illinois has no licensed home birth care at all. In the three counties with some licensed home birth providers, there are still not enough. This leaves Illinois women with poor choices for home birth care: hiring an underground network without good access to collaborative care, importing a midwife from another state or giving birth "unassisted" (without any professional help at all).
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=226&GAID=10&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=40333&SessionID=76
Synopsis As IntroducedCreates the Home Birth Safety Act. Provides for the licensure of midwives by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Creates the Illinois Midwifery Board. Sets forth provisions concerning qualifications, grounds for disciplinary action, and administrative procedures. Imposes conditions on any rulemaking authority. Amends the Regulatory Sunset Act to set a repeal date for the new Act of January 1, 2020. Amends the Medical Practice Act of 1987 and the Nurse Practice Act to make related changes.House Committee Amendment No. 1Provides that a licensed midwife is prohibited from performing an abortion.
Why license certified professional midwives?
The vast majority of Illinois has no licensed home birth care at all. In the three counties with some licensed home birth providers, there are still not enough. This leaves Illinois women with poor choices for home birth care: hiring an underground network without good access to collaborative care, importing a midwife from another state or giving birth "unassisted" (without any professional help at all).
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=226&GAID=10&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=40333&SessionID=76
Chicago Moratorium on School Closings...
House Bill 0363...Provides that there shall be a moratorium on school closings, consolidations, and phaseouts in the school district in the 2009-2010 school year, and provides that any of these actions that are subsequently appropriate shall be carried out no sooner than the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
Synopsis As IntroducedAmends the Chicago School District Article of the School Code. Requires the Chairpersons of the House of Representatives' Committee on Elementary & Secondary Education and the Senate's Committee on Education to each appoint 5 members to a Special Joint Chicago Education Facilities Subcommittee. Requires the Joint Subcommittee, with the help of independent experts, to analyze past school district experience with respect to the closing or opening of schools, school repairs, school additions, school phase-outs, school consolidations, and school boundary changes; to consult widely with stakeholders about these facility issues; and to examine relevant best practices from other school systems for dealing with these issues systematically and equitably. Provides for a draft policy and a final proposed policy. Provides that there shall be a moratorium on school closings, consolidations, and phaseouts in the school district in the 2009-2010 school year, and provides that any of these actions that are subsequently appropriate shall be carried out no sooner than the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
Effective immediately.House Floor Amendment No. 2
Deletes everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the contents of the bill as introduced with the following changes. Makes changes concerning the General Assembly's findings. Provides for a Special Joint Chicago Education Facilities Committee instead of a Special Joint Chicago Education Facilities Subcommittee, with members appointed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate as well as additional members. Makes changes concerning expert assistance, the gathering of evidence, the committee's duties, a draft policy, hearings, and proposed law. Removes the moratorium provision. Effective immediately.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
August 1: The next in the round...
We meet on different days, times and locations to better fit in the full and busy lives of sistas.
in the round...
Saturday, August 1
1pm
Brainerd Branch Library
1350 W. 89th Street
(89th and Loomis)
Also, we will start planning for a 2010 in the round... conference in the fall. Contact us if you'd like to be on the planning committee intheround@spokenexistence.com.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
End Involuntary Sterilization in Illinois...
Sign petition here: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/hb2290/.
What would you do if you were a person with a disability, and your legal guardian decided to have a doctor operate on you so you couldn’t have babies? What would you do if your guardian didn’t even tell you about this, or tricked you into doing it? This is called involuntary sterilization, and in Illinois it happens more often than you think. Involuntary sterilization is when your guardian and your doctor agree to tie your tubes or do a hysterectomy/vasectomy without your permission or knowledge. We are one of 16 states nationwide with no laws to protect people with disabilities who have guardians from sterilization.
Now we have a chance to change that. Today, there is a bill in the Illinois House of Representatives called H.B. 2290. This bill would update a law called the Probate Act of 1975. H.B. 2290 would add to the Probate Act by saying that a guardian would need to get a court order to have a doctor do a sterilization on a ward with a disability. The exception would be if you might die or be seriously harmed without it. Otherwise, a court would have to say that sterilization is ok, and the court would have to do their best to figure out whether the person with a disability is ok with it or not. Right now, we do not have that kind of protection at all.
H.B. 2290 is an important bill that protects the bodies of people with disabilities who have guardians.
Remember, not every person with a disability has a guardian. Most people with disabilities make decisions about their own lives. A guardian makes decisions for a person with a disability who needs help with decisions. A person with a disability who has a guardian still can often make their opinions known, and it is important to respect that opinion.
So what can you do to help? We need this bill to pass the Illinois House of Representatives NOW! If you live in Illinois, contact your state representative and ask them to sponsor H.B. 2290 TODAY! You can find out who your representative is at the Board of Elections webpage. If you are with an organization, have your organization join our list to support H.B. 2290! Let’s make this happen today! Check back at this page for updates.
Organizations Supporting H.B. 2290:
American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois Chicago Foundation for WomenEquip for EqualityFRIDAIllinois Network of Centers for Independent Living (INCIL)Katie Watson JD, Assistant Professor, Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
For more information, or to sign onto our list of organizations supporting H.B. 2290, contact FRIDA member Michelle Robbins at (915) 496-5468 or free_our_people@yahoo.com. To read the bill, go to the bill online.
What would you do if you were a person with a disability, and your legal guardian decided to have a doctor operate on you so you couldn’t have babies? What would you do if your guardian didn’t even tell you about this, or tricked you into doing it? This is called involuntary sterilization, and in Illinois it happens more often than you think. Involuntary sterilization is when your guardian and your doctor agree to tie your tubes or do a hysterectomy/vasectomy without your permission or knowledge. We are one of 16 states nationwide with no laws to protect people with disabilities who have guardians from sterilization.
Now we have a chance to change that. Today, there is a bill in the Illinois House of Representatives called H.B. 2290. This bill would update a law called the Probate Act of 1975. H.B. 2290 would add to the Probate Act by saying that a guardian would need to get a court order to have a doctor do a sterilization on a ward with a disability. The exception would be if you might die or be seriously harmed without it. Otherwise, a court would have to say that sterilization is ok, and the court would have to do their best to figure out whether the person with a disability is ok with it or not. Right now, we do not have that kind of protection at all.
H.B. 2290 is an important bill that protects the bodies of people with disabilities who have guardians.
Remember, not every person with a disability has a guardian. Most people with disabilities make decisions about their own lives. A guardian makes decisions for a person with a disability who needs help with decisions. A person with a disability who has a guardian still can often make their opinions known, and it is important to respect that opinion.
So what can you do to help? We need this bill to pass the Illinois House of Representatives NOW! If you live in Illinois, contact your state representative and ask them to sponsor H.B. 2290 TODAY! You can find out who your representative is at the Board of Elections webpage. If you are with an organization, have your organization join our list to support H.B. 2290! Let’s make this happen today! Check back at this page for updates.
Organizations Supporting H.B. 2290:
American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois Chicago Foundation for WomenEquip for EqualityFRIDAIllinois Network of Centers for Independent Living (INCIL)Katie Watson JD, Assistant Professor, Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
For more information, or to sign onto our list of organizations supporting H.B. 2290, contact FRIDA member Michelle Robbins at (915) 496-5468 or free_our_people@yahoo.com. To read the bill, go to the bill online.
JUNE 18: Speak Out for health care...
Join us...June 18
Come share your stories about the health care system.
For example—your experiences with doctors, clinics, hospitals, insurance providers, and age, size, race, class, gender or disability insensitivities.
For example—your experiences with doctors, clinics, hospitals, insurance providers, and age, size, race, class, gender or disability insensitivities.
Health care is a human right...
We deserve affordable, accessible and quality health care.
RSVP at SpeakOut@spokenexistence.com
We will be joined by Byllye Avery...
Byllye Avery is co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need. A dreamer,
a visionary and a grassroots realist, she has combined activism with social responsibility to explore
women’s health issues. Founder of the National Black Women’s Health Project and the Avery Institute for
Social Change, Byllye Avery has dedicated the last 30 years to inspiring women with her experiences, wisdom and spirit.
There’s just a real special magic that happens
when women come together to work together
in an effective way for a common cause.
– BYLLYE AVERY
when women come together to work together
in an effective way for a common cause.
– BYLLYE AVERY
Why should women raise our voices for health care reform?
Byllye: The reason why women should raise our voices is because we have a
unique perspective about health care and what our health care needs are, and our
perspectives need to be in the mix.
unique perspective about health care and what our health care needs are, and our
perspectives need to be in the mix.
Our bodies, our lives, our health and our priorities are different from men’s. If
you don’t get the voices of everyone you run the risk of developing services that
are ineffective and that don’t meet the people’s needs. Also, we’re the caretakers.
We take care of everybody -- lot of the time before we take care of ourselves --
and we make spaces for our lovers, our sisters, our aunts, our children and our
families, so it’s very important.
and we make spaces for our lovers, our sisters, our aunts, our children and our
families, so it’s very important.
There’s power in our collective voices. It’s really easy to not do something... But
it’s much easier go along when see other people are doing something. You
become motivated, you want to join. Our whole notion is to do good in the world,
to unite with other people. There’s just a real special magic that happens when
women come together to work together in an effective way for a common cause.
it’s much easier go along when see other people are doing something. You
become motivated, you want to join. Our whole notion is to do good in the world,
to unite with other people. There’s just a real special magic that happens when
women come together to work together in an effective way for a common cause.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Resources....
- ICAH Illinois Caucus of Adolescent Health http://www.icah.org/
- Girl World http://www.alternativesyouth.org/content/view/48/82/
- FUFA Females United For Action http://womenandgirlscan.org/females-united-for-action/
- YWEP Young Women's Empowerment Project http://youarepriceless.org/
- YWAT Young Women's Action Team http://www.youngwomensactionteam.org/
- SYC Southwest Youth Collaborative http://www.swyc.org/
- Women and Girls CAN http://womenandgirlscan.org/
- Kuumba Lynx http://www.kuumbalynx.org/
- RVA Rape Victim Advocates http://www.rapevictimadvocates.org/
- Chicago Hip Hop Initiative http://www.chihiphop.org/
Monday, May 4, 2009
Youth initiated, school based daycare center....
STUDENTS AT SIMPSON ACADEMY FOR YOUNG WOMEN CREATE SCHOOL-BASED DAYCARE CENTER
Chicago—March 25, 2009—The Night Ministry, in partnership with Alternatives, Inc., is pleased to announce the support of the Simpson Academy for Young Women. Throughout the 2008-2009 school year, the students at Simpson Academy have been working on plans to open a school-based daycare center for their children.
The daycare center presentation will take place at the Simpson Academy Cafeteria, 1321 South Paulina Street on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 12:30pm.
The Simpson Academy for Young Women is now the only school in Chicago that serves pregnant and parenting girls between the ages of 11 and 18. Simpson offers a general education curriculum in a nurturing environment that includes social work services and counseling services for students and their families. In their Job Readiness class, the students were surveyed and recognized a pressing need for a day care center, especially since Simpson is a school for pregnant and parenting girls. As part of their curriculum, the students collaborated to research and develop a viable plan for a school-based daycare center from a teen parent’s perpective. In creating their center, students created a budget, daily schedules and activities, menus, safety regulations, and staff.
The goal of this project is to promote healthier families and decrease subsequent pregnancy with teen parents. Funding is from by The Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information about the Daycare Center Presentation at Simpson Academy for Young Women, contact Carmen Curet at 773.506.7474 X226. For more information about the Response-Ability Pregnant and Parenting Program in Lakeview, please call Melissa Maguire at 773.506.6007.
Alternatives, Inc. is a not-for-profit youth and family service agency established in 1971, serving Chicago's northeast communities of Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, Lakeview, North Center, Lincoln Square and West Ridge. The agency's mission is to facilitate personal development, strengthen family relationships, and enhance the community's well being. The organization has grown from a small, single site offering substance abuse services to a multifaceted agency that employs 50 full-time staff, manages over 175 volunteers and serves over 3,000 youth and families annually.
The Night Ministry connects with Chicago’s vulnerable youth and adults, providing basic supplies, self-care supplies, free healthcare, housing and supportive services for youth, referrals to other resources, and more. We offer services at the moment of need on the street, a mobile health bus, and our shelter and supportive services programs for homeless youth.
Chicago—March 25, 2009—The Night Ministry, in partnership with Alternatives, Inc., is pleased to announce the support of the Simpson Academy for Young Women. Throughout the 2008-2009 school year, the students at Simpson Academy have been working on plans to open a school-based daycare center for their children.
The daycare center presentation will take place at the Simpson Academy Cafeteria, 1321 South Paulina Street on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 12:30pm.
The Simpson Academy for Young Women is now the only school in Chicago that serves pregnant and parenting girls between the ages of 11 and 18. Simpson offers a general education curriculum in a nurturing environment that includes social work services and counseling services for students and their families. In their Job Readiness class, the students were surveyed and recognized a pressing need for a day care center, especially since Simpson is a school for pregnant and parenting girls. As part of their curriculum, the students collaborated to research and develop a viable plan for a school-based daycare center from a teen parent’s perpective. In creating their center, students created a budget, daily schedules and activities, menus, safety regulations, and staff.
The goal of this project is to promote healthier families and decrease subsequent pregnancy with teen parents. Funding is from by The Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information about the Daycare Center Presentation at Simpson Academy for Young Women, contact Carmen Curet at 773.506.7474 X226. For more information about the Response-Ability Pregnant and Parenting Program in Lakeview, please call Melissa Maguire at 773.506.6007.
Alternatives, Inc. is a not-for-profit youth and family service agency established in 1971, serving Chicago's northeast communities of Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, Lakeview, North Center, Lincoln Square and West Ridge. The agency's mission is to facilitate personal development, strengthen family relationships, and enhance the community's well being. The organization has grown from a small, single site offering substance abuse services to a multifaceted agency that employs 50 full-time staff, manages over 175 volunteers and serves over 3,000 youth and families annually.
The Night Ministry connects with Chicago’s vulnerable youth and adults, providing basic supplies, self-care supplies, free healthcare, housing and supportive services for youth, referrals to other resources, and more. We offer services at the moment of need on the street, a mobile health bus, and our shelter and supportive services programs for homeless youth.
Chicago: League of Black Parents...
Per the Black Star Project...
League of Black Parents Meeting, Saturday, May 9, 2009, 10:15 a.m. at 3509 South King Drive, Chicago, Illinois
Dear Prospective League of Black Parent Member:
Across the United States, the educational, social and economic outcomes for most Black children are a catastrophe! In the new global educational and economic order, many, if not most, Black American children cannot compete.
The principles that guide the League of Black Parents include:
Black parents are responsible for the education and well-being of Black children.
Black parents must organize and work together to educate and save their children.
Black parents must invest as much time in educating their children as they invest in their jobs, personal entertainment and social lives.
Black parents must connect to community resources to assist in raising their children.
Black parents must create their own Individual Education Plans for their children.
Black parents must meet for 90 minutes a month on issues concerning their children (preferably at a League of Black Parents Meeting).
Black Parents must work with schools, faith-based institutions and community-based organizations to properly educate their children.
Black parents are responsible for the education and well-being of Black children.
Black parents must organize and work together to educate and save their children.
Black parents must invest as much time in educating their children as they invest in their jobs, personal entertainment and social lives.
Black parents must connect to community resources to assist in raising their children.
Black parents must create their own Individual Education Plans for their children.
Black parents must meet for 90 minutes a month on issues concerning their children (preferably at a League of Black Parents Meeting).
Black Parents must work with schools, faith-based institutions and community-based organizations to properly educate their children.
Our actions, or inactions, will determine the future of our race. Please join Black parents across America who know that if we are not organized, our children will not be recognized. If we do not speak up, Black children will have no voice. Black parents must advocate as well as educate. We must take responsibility for the education of our children.
By joining the League of Black Parents, you will also join our community-based Black Star PTA chapter so that we can take advantage of existing resources. Our next next monthly meeting of the League of Black Parents in Chicago on Saturday, May 9, 2009, at 3509 South King Drive, Suite 2B, at 10:15 am.
Annual membership for the League of Black Parents is $50.00. Everyone is invited to join. Please contact 773.285.9600 or blackstar1000@ameritech.net for more information or to become a member of the League of Black Parents. Membership is open to parents, educators, clergy, community members and students of all races, ethnicities and faith backgrounds.
We want to start chapters on the south side, the north side and the west side of Chicago as well as in western suburbs, southern suburbs and northern suburbs. We also want to start chapters in other cities. Thank you for being in the vanguard of educating and saving Black children.
Annual membership for the League of Black Parents is $50.00. Everyone is invited to join. Please contact 773.285.9600 or blackstar1000@ameritech.net for more information or to become a member of the League of Black Parents. Membership is open to parents, educators, clergy, community members and students of all races, ethnicities and faith backgrounds.
We want to start chapters on the south side, the north side and the west side of Chicago as well as in western suburbs, southern suburbs and northern suburbs. We also want to start chapters in other cities. Thank you for being in the vanguard of educating and saving Black children.
May you realize your best,
Phillip Jackson Executive Director
The Black Star Project
773.285.9600
The Black Star Project
773.285.9600
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