Newspaper Page Text
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JUNE 12, 1997 AUGUSTA FOCUS
Survey: African-American
men don’t trust doctors
ATLANTA/NEWYORK
A new nationwide survey re
leased recently reveals that the
nation’s roughly 10 million Afri
can-American men are less trust
ing of their doctor than white men,
and yet, are more concerned about
most male related health issues.
Thesurvey, conducted for Men s
Health magazineand CNN, in con
junction with National Men's
Health Week (June 9-15) also finds
that despite their higher ri:k for
health problems such as heart dis
ease and prostate cancer, African
American men are less likely to
believe these health problems will
affect them in their lifetimes.
Accordingto the survey, slightly
less than half (46%) of African-
American men believe that they
will develop heart disease. This
despite the fact that the death rate
for coronary heart disease is three
percent higher among African-
American men than for white men.
Conversely, 56 percent of white
men believe they will develop coro
nary heart disease in their life
time.
Similarly, while African-Ameri
can men have the highest inci
dence for prostate cancer in the
world, only 50 percent believe
they are at risk for developing pros
tate cancer compared to 49 per
cent of white men who stated as
such. Overall, eighty percent of
men believe that prostate cancer
is an important health issue, an
increase of six percentage points
from just two years ago.
“Therecent number of high pro
file celebrities such as Arnold
Palmer who have openly discussed
their battle with prostate cancer
has certainly made this disease
more important in the minds of
LIX BABY CLUB s
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As my baby grows, | realize he will become more inquisitive and natu
= @ rally want to explore things. During this time, | know | will need to begin
& disciplining my child to keep him from getting hurt or forming bad be
@ havior habits. Do you have any suggestions on what disciplinary meth
ods are good for young babies?
As your baby becomes more mobile and inquisitive, he'll naturally become
more assertive as well. This is wonderful for his self-esteem, and should be en-
A & couraged as much as possible. When he wants to do something that's danger
ous or disrupts the rest of the family, however, you'll need to take charge.
4. ¥ For the first six months or so, the best way to deal with such conflicts is to
distract him with an alternative toy or activity. Standard discipline won't work until
his memory span increases around the end of the seventh month. Only then can
you use a variety of techniques to discourage undesired behavior.
When you finally begin to discipline your child, it should never be harsh. Often,
the most successful approach is simply to reward desired behavior and withhold
rewards when he does not behave as desired. For example, if he cries for no
apparent reason, make sure there's nothing wrong physically; then when he stops,
reward him with extra attention, kind words and hugs. If he starts up again, wait a
little longer before turning your attention to him, and use a firm tone of voice as
you talk to him. This time, don't reward him.
The main goal of discipline is to teach a child limits, so try to help him under
stand exactly what he's doing wrong when he breaks a rule. If you discover him
doing something that is not allowed, like pulling the trash out of the wastebasket,
let him know it's wrong by calmly saying “no,” stopping him, and redirecting his
attention to an acceptable activity. -
. If your child is touching or trying to put something in his mouth that he shouldn't
gently pull his hand away as you tell him this particular object is off limits. Use
specific phrases like “Don't eat the fldwers” or “No eating leaves” instead of
general statements that may discourage his desired explorations.
Because it's still relatively easy to modify his behavior at this age, this is a good
time to establish your authority. Be careful not to overreact, however. He's still not
! old enough to misbehave intentionally, and won't understand if you punish him or
raise your voice.
Information provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics, from the book, Caring for Your
Baby and Young Child.
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Despite their higher risk for heart disease and prostate cancer,
African American men are less likely to believe these health
problems will affect them in their lifetimes.
American men, says ke
Lafavore, executive editor for
Men’s Health. “Yet, it is clear from
this study that this message needs
to be expanded on a greater level
into the African-American com
munity.”
Overall, the survey finds that
African-American men are much
more likely to recognize their risk
for a number of health related
problems. The survey finds that
among African-American men,
higher percentages recognize their
risk for developing problems such
as hypertension (65 percent vs. 54
percent), diabetes (46 percent vs.
32 percent), high cholesterol (63
percent vs. 53 percent), lung can
cer (42 percent vs. 33 percent)
pneumonia (46 percent vs. 32 per
cent), and hepatitis (35 percent vs.
15 percent) compared to white
men.
In general, African-American
men rate their health positively,
with 53 percent rating it as either
excellent (21 percent) or very good
(32 percent). This compares with
63 percent of white men who stated
as such.
Yet, despite their overall posi
tive health, African-American men
are reluctant to see their doctor
for annual health checks. Among
those surveyed, 33 percent have
not been to the doctor in the past
twelve months for a physical ex
amination or “checkup.”
Among the key factors for not
going to the doctor were cost (56
percent), lack of trust (34 percent),
lack of time (25 percent), only sick
people go to the doctor (25 per
Livingßetter
cent), and a belief that if some
thing were really wrong, the doc
tor wouldn’t be able to do any
thing anyway (23 percent).
Again, African-American men
were much more likely than white
men (34 percent vs 23 percent) to
cite trust as a key factor for not
going to the doctor.
However, among those African-
American men who have not been
to the doctor in the past twelve
months,asignificantly higher per
centage cited cost asthe key factor
compared to white men (71 per
cent vs. 46 percent who stated as
such.
“The barriers keeping African
‘American men. from building a
relation ship with their physician
need tobe broken,” says Lafavore.
“Thisisespecially important given
the higher incidences of health
problems that strike this segment
of our society.”
When it comes to preventive
health checks, African-American
men are more likely on a regular
basis than white males to have
their blood pressure checked by a
health professional (76 percent vs
70 percent), use condoms during
sexual intercourse (42 percent vs.
29 percent), and have a test for
colon cancer (27 percent vs. 24
percent).
However, in a number of pre
ventive health areas African-
American men are less likely on a
regular basis than white males to
limit alcohol consumption (55 per
centvs. 71 percent), exercise regu
larly (52 percent vs. 64 percent),
not smoke cigarettes or use to
bacco products (49 percent vs. 54
percent), have annual flue shots
(32 percent vs. 38 percent) lose
weight {29 percent vs 38 percent),
and have a test for prostate cancer
(31 percent vs. 36 percent).
Finally, the survey finds that a
majority of African-American men
support proposed government
regulations that would prevent
cigarette companies from adver
tisingtochildren, with nearly three
quarters of those surveyed (70
percent) stating as such. However,
this is significantly less than the
number of white males who sup
port these efforts (86 percent).
African-American men are in
agreement, however, that the gov
ernment is doing a poor job of
keeping kids from smoking. Ac
cording to the survey, 80 percent
of African-American men rated the
government’s efforts as either fair
(30 percent) or poor (50 percent).
Overall, 86 percent of men rated
the government as doing a bad job
when it comesto keeping kids from
smoking.
The Men’s Health magazine/
CNN survey was conducted by
Opinion Research Group. The sur
vey is based on a nationwide tele
phone interview of 551 men aged
18 and older during the period of
May 8-18, 1997. Interviewing in
cluded a second survey wave of
African-American men to create
an oversample of this group for
comparative purposes. The mar
gin of error one might reasonably
expect from asample thissizeis +/
-4 percentage points. In addition
to sampling error, question word
ing and the practical difficulties of
conducting survey research can
introduce bias into the results of
survey questions.
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———————————————————————— e e |
A Continuum of Healthcare
Burning trash and
brush can be deadly
Each spring the beds at Grady
Memorial hospital’s Burn Center
fill up due to burn injuries sus
tained while burning trash and
brush. In an effort to reduce the
hazards of springtime clean-up,
the Georgia Firefighters Burn
Foundation offers safety tips on
burning unwanted debris:
-Never apply flammable liquids
tostart or maintain trash orbrush
fires.
-Follow burning regulations in
your area.
-Never burn on a windy day.
-Donotburn materials that may
explode (aerosol cans, paint cans
ormaterials, or other highly flam
mable materials). Remember,
even paint or other wet items that
havedried can still be highly flam
mable.
-Donot wearloose-fitting clothes
that can dangle into flames and
catch fire easily.
-Always keep a water hose close
at hand, but be aware that fires
double in size for every minute
they burn, so, prior to fighting a
fire yourself, be sure that the fire
department has been notified.
~ Recycling is another, less dan
gerous way to rid ourselves of
waste. Many items that we use
every day are recyclable, and the
extra effort taken when recycling
FOCUS your luncheons or dinners in a
fine restaurant. Visit BL's Restaurant at
1117 Laney-Walker Blvd. or call (706)
828-7799 to arrange your celebrations.
5 RO e L i A SRR T
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is paid back immediately to our
environment by saving natural
materials.
The Georgia Firefighters Burn
Foundation’s Project REACH is
an aluminum can recycling pro
gram that services most of the
major cities in Georgia and their
surrounding areas. If you would
like todonate your aluminum cans
to GFBF, call (404) 320-6223 or
800-273-2876. For information on
locations that recycle other mate
rials besides aluminum, contact
yourlocal city governmentorclean
and beautiful service.