(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) How to protect a company’s copyrighted works and trademarks is the subject of a seminar The Art Institute of California-Inland Empire will hold Wednesday, May 21 from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Douglas K. Mann, a Rancho Cucamonga attorney in the firm Snyder Walker & Mann, will present the seminar. It takes place in Rooms 161 and 162.
This seminar is open to the public, and will benefit advertising, public relations and marketing professionals, as well as others who produce trademarks or other copyrighted works. Anyone interested in attending should RSVP with Scott Saunders, Director of Career Services, by calling (909) 915-2100.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Graphic Design, Culinary Management, Web Design & Interactive Media, Fashion & Retail Management, Fashion Design, Interior Design, Media Arts & Animation; and Associate of Science Degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts.
For more information, or to arrange a tour, call The Art Institute at (909) 915-2100.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of the Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu /InlandEmpire), a system of more than 40 locations throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals. For more information, call (909) 915-2100 or go on line to www.artinstitutes.edu /InlandEmpire.
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) Producer/director Adam Henry will give a presentation on animation, storyboarding and directing at the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17.
The presentation will largely focus on one of Henry’s major past works, the highly-acclaimed Iron Giant cartoon, which grossed $5.7 million on its opening weekend in 1999, and has grossed more than $103 million in the nine years since.
This movie takes viewers on the adventures of a boy who in 1957 makes friends with an innocent alien creature that a paranoid government agent is bent on destroying. It was directed by Brad Birds and featured the voices of stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr. and Van Diesel .
“Adam Henry will talk about his work on the Iron Giant, what it was like to work for Brad Birds and what he’s doing now,” said Santosh Oomen, academic director for the Art Institute of California-Inland Empire’s Graphic Design and Animation & Media Arts departments.
Since creating animation for the Iron Giant, Henry has added a long list of films to his resume, where he has served as as an animator and character layout artist, and more recently, editor, director and producer. Among his other credits: Rugrats Go Wild, Rugrats in Paris, The Wild Thornberry’s Movie, Eight Crazy Nights and Quest for Camelot.
Additionally, in 2004, he created his own production business, Adam Henry Media. In this capacity, he has produced, directed and edited films for clients such as American Movie Classics (AMC), Comedy Central, 20th Century Fox and others.
The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Game Art & Design, Culinary Management, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, Interior Design, Fashion and Retail Management and Media Arts & Animation. There are also Associate of Science degrees in Graphic Design and Culinary Arts. Each program is offered on a year-round basis, allowing students to work uninterrupted toward their degrees.
It’s not too late to start classes. Courses begin July 14, with offerings in the days, evenings and on weekends for new and reentry students. For details or a tour of the campus call (909) 915-2100, or go on line to artinstitutes.edu/inlandempire.
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The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of The Art Institutes (artinstitutes.edu) with 40 educational institutions throughout North America providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.
(SAN BERNADINO, Calif.) Young artists will learn one of the most important skills in drawing – that of drawing the human body from a live model – when the Art Institute of California – Inland Empire holds its Life Drawing workshop on Saturday, May 17, from 1 – 5 p.m. The workshop will be open at no charge.
Santosh Oomen, academic director of animation of The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire, says, “We are committed to helping artists in the Inland Empire improve their talents. This class, for artists as young as 15 years old, will help them further their development with the skills they need.”
The Life Drawing workshops are usually offered on the third Saturday of every month. There are 21 seats available in each class. Students must bring their own pencils and drawing papers. The workshop is open to the public, those 15 years old or above, and the classes are offered at no charge.
Many people are greatly creative but lack focus,” Oomen says. “This workshop offers people a chance to focus that raw creative talent. Our goal is to help make better artists.”
Oommen says the workshop involves drawing from a live figure and covers topics such as anatomy and gestures. To sign up for the Life Drawing workshop, or for more information, call The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire at (909) 915-2100.
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The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire is one of The Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu), with more than 40 educational institutions located throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) During and immediately after the Civil War, it was the custom in many communities to honor the casualties by decorating their graves.
Not too long after the end of the Civil War, May 30 was set aside as a national holiday to honor all veterans., according to the website www.memorialday.org.
Since 1971, when Congress changed the date of the holiday to the last Monday in May, many people have lost sight of the original focus, the website notes. Still, at many cemeteries, people have an opportunity to show appreciation for veterans each Memorial Day, either by decorating graves with flowers, or by participating in ceremonies by local veteran’s groups.
But how about the veterans who are still living? Why not honor them with a special gift this Memorial Day?
For those who want to say thanks to a living veteran, and also help support the perpetual care of those who have passed on, a great gift choice is a custom-designed basket, mug or other container with a patriotic theme from The Bountiful Basket. This southern California gift basket company fills its gifts with unique and hard-to-find items, and can decorate the container with many colors of ribbon, including red, white and blue.
For any baskets sold with that patriotic color scheme, owner Marilyn Taylor donates a portion of the sales price to the Riverside National Cemetery Support Committee. The Riverside National Cemetery, located next to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, is a national cemetery for veterans and their dependants.
“It is a cause near and dear to my heart,” Taylor said. “My dad is a veteran; he was in the Army-Air Force (the predecessor to today’s Air Force) during World War II. So, I know what sacrifices our veterans have made to protect our freedoms.”
The Bountiful Basket’s website, www.thebountifulbasket.com has a section showing some of the patriotic gifts Taylor and her team can make.
“For instance, the “Patriotic Coffee Break” is designed with the fanfare of a patriotic parade,” Taylor said. It contains biscotti, cookies, chocolates, coffee or cocoa and, in the large-size model, a patriotic mug. For smaller budgets, some of these goodies can be packaged with equally festive red, white and blue ribbons in the mug itself.”
Patriotic gifts can also be packaged in less traditional containers, like a child’s red wagon. Taylor fills them with tea, cinnamon, hard candies, peanuts, popcorn, sunflower seeds, cookies and more.
“This gift, which I call a Patriotic Welcome Wagon, epitomizes the American spirit,” Taylor said. “It is a great gift to say thank you to someone who has served in our armed forces, or one who simply loves the Red, White and Blue.”
The Red, White and Blue gifts are not just for Memorial Day, but whenever anyone buys them, a portion of the sale goes to the Riverside National Cemetery Support Committee.
“Many times, sons and daughters of a veteran will buy their dad these gifts for Fathers’ Day or their birthday, just to say thanks and I love you,” she said. “The patriotic gifts are also popular during election season.”
Whatever the occasion, The Bountiful Basket has more than 250 different baskets to choose from, $10 to $500. These are grouped by themes, such as holidays, corporate, children’s and teenagers’ baskets, college students’ designs, and gifts with different varieties of products within.
But, if none of those designs are exactly what you’re looking for, The Bountiful Basket can custom-make the perfect gift that you will be proud to give and will fit within your budget.
For more information, go to the website, or call Taylor at (909) 425-2203.
SANTA ANA, Calif. – May 7, 2007 – Mona Field, a member of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees will be a guest presenter at Argosy University/Orange County’s next symposium. The event, which is scheduled from 4 -5:45 p.m., Wednesday, May 9, is open to university faculty and students.
Field has been a professor at Glendale Community College since 1982, where she has taught subjects such as “American Political Ideals,” “California Government” and “Introduction to Sociology.” She has also written extensively on social, educational and government issues, including authoring the college textbook, “California Government and Politics Today.”
Field’s presentation, titled “You as An Educator and the California Political Process,” gives students insight into how public education is funded and regulated by California voters, said Dr. Jeanette Elliott who is organizing the symposium.
“The symposium focuses on issues which are relevant to students in our College of Education and Human Development,” Elliott said. “These students include faculty, staff and administrators from K-12 school districts, community colleges and university districts. Staying on top of how public education is funded helps educators make informed decisions.”
For more information or to RSVP, contact Dr. Jeanette Elliott at jelliott@argosyu.edu or call (714) 338-6200.
Argosy University/Orange County campus is one of 18 Argosy University (www.argosyu.edu) locations in 12 states. Argosy University offers doctoral and master’s degree programs in psychology, business, counseling, and education. Argosy University also offers bachelor’s degree completion programs in psychology and business, and associate’s degree programs in various health sciences fields. Argosy University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association (NCA) (30 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 2400, Chicago, IL 60602, (800) 621-7440, www.ncahlc.org).
Media Contacts: Christian Flathman Sr. Director of Communications 912.201.8114 cflathman@edmc.edu
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.)Mothers’ Day is Sunday, May 11 and it’s not too early to start thinking about a gift for the moms you love.
This year is the 100-year anniversary of what is widely known as the first Mother’s Day, according to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. On May 10, 1908, Mother’s Day founder Anna Jarvis brought 407 children and their mothers together for an observance at Andrews Episcopal Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.
Jarvis’ own mother, Anne Reese Jarvis, had died three years earlier. During the Civil War, the elder Jarvis had formed Mothers’ Work Groups, who strived for peace, and also worked to improve sanitation and health conditions in the area of the Civil War battlefields.
Two years after her mother’s death, Anna Jarvis set aside the second Sunday in May to honor her mother in a personal and private way. But, she decided this was something all children should do for their mothers, and set about organizing the much more public celebration in 1908.
Because of Jarvis’ efforts to make her celebration a national and later an international holiday, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation in 1914 recognizing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day across the United States. It’s been celebrated on that day since then. President Wilson was also aware of a movement to honor mothers that began in Albion, Mich., through the efforts of the two sons of temperance crusader Juliet Calhoun Blakely.
While many of the early Mother’s Day celebrations specifically honored mothers who worked for peace or other social causes, it has evolved today into a holiday that honors all mothers and the important role they play in the lives of their own children.
Long ago, the children of Anne Reese Jarvis and Juliet Calhoun Blakely worked diligently to create national celebrations in honor of their mothers. Thanks to their efforts and the rise of technology, today we can honor moms much more easily.
A suitable honor for a mother of the 21st century can be obtained simply by ordering a gift online from one’s own personal computer. Many will order flowers, but the Internet allows much more creativity in choosing a gift for moms.
The Bountiful Basket, a southern California business specializing in custom-designed gift baskets, has many unique Mother’s Day gifts on its website, www.thebountifulbasket.comSome of owner Marilyn Taylor’s recommendations are:
Pink Roses For Mother’s Day: This white basket is filled with things that capture the nuances of pink roses, including lotion, a pink scented candle, a rose print ceramic mug with two packages of cocoa or cappuccino, a notebook and journal, and scented rose petals scattered throughout. “It’s a very delicate and feminine gift,” Taylor said.
The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift:A faux-leather burgundy train case, filled with cookies, tiramisu, white cocoa or tea, a picture frame, a pen and a notepad. A Mother’s Day balloon can be included.
Roses, Roses Hatbox for Mother:A red rose print hatbox, filled with cookies, pistachio nut crunch and a selection of herbal teas.
Serenity Pampering Gift Basket: This basket is filled with Taylor’s own Bountiful Spa Therapy line of bath products, including lotion, body wash, bath salts, a luxurious towel and more.
The above gift baskets, as well as many others described on the web page www.thebountifulbasket.com , would also be good gifts for brides-to-be. Elsewhere on the website are gifts suitable for dads, grads and grooms.
The Bountiful Basket has more than 250 different baskets to choose from, $10 to $500. These are grouped by themes, such as holidays, corporate, children’s and teenagers’ baskets, college students’ designs, and gifts with different varieties of products within.
But, if none of those designs are exactly what you’re looking for, The Bountiful Basket can custom-make the perfect gift that you will be proud to give and will fit within your budget.
For more information, go to the website, or call Taylor at (909) 425-2203.
About Dameron Communications Since 1989 Dameron communications has creatively met the needs of our diverse client base locally, regionally and nationally. We are an award wining agency that creates integrated marketing solutions to increase sales and profits, win elections, inform the public or gain acceptance of a potentially controversial issues. We use our 20 years of communications knowledge and experience to advance our clients’ objectives.
(San Bernardino, Calif.) Carl Dameron, agency director of Dameron Communications, a public relations and advertising company in San Bernardino, says that his firm frequently uses sites such as Myspace, Craig’s Lists and Topix.net to inform the public about upcoming events. Dameron Communications has clients in the education, political and non-profit fields.
“We use Myspace events to publicize seminars and open houses organized by our clients, Argosy University/Orange County in Santa Ana, Argosy University/ Inland Empire and The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire,” he said. “Thousands of eyeballs see the posts on these websites and we need to use every resource to get to the public.”
Dameron also said sites like Myspace are a great way to target the younger audience.
“More and more older people are also going to Myspace to gather information,” he said.
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) Blacks in the Inland Empire live with environmental stresses that could have serious consequences for their health, including premature death.
Dr. V. Diane Woods, founding president and CEO of the African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County, has tried to persuade people of this for years. Dr. Woods designed and conducted a countywide health planning project from 2003 to 2005, funded by The California Endowment, called the African American Health Initiative Planning Project.
The study was to investigate from the perspective of Americans of African ancestry in San Bernardino County why they have the poorest health outcomes of all ethnic groups. More African Americans die from the leading causes of death such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and HIV/AIDS than any other group. Even African American infants die two to three times more often than other infants.
Statistics for San Bernardino County show that Americans of African ancestry die 13 years earlier than Whites. “Simply put, African American males die at an average age of 56, and African American females die at an average age of 62,” said Dr. Woods. Since then, the African American Health Institute was created in January 2006, and has been working to combat this statistic.
Now, two documentary filmmakers, Larry Adleman and Llew Smith, have taken a look at health data affecting all races from across the country. The result of the filmmakers’ investigation, a four-part series called Unnatural Causes, airs soon on the PBS network.
Unnatural Causes concludes that lower incomes, racism and other external stresses put people at the greatest risk of health problems. These causes that are outside of a person, and can’t easily be changed by one’s own initiative, are more likely than biology or bad choices to make a person sick.
Los Angeles affiliate KCET will show the documentary on four consecutive Sundays in April, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. April. 6, 13 and 27, and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. April 20. San Bernardino affiliate KVCR is tentatively scheduled to show the documentary starting July 8, and air at 9 p.m. July 8, July 15, July 22 and July 29.
“What I like about this series is we have collected our local data. Our results overwhelmingly point to multiple factors in San Bernardino County other than biology and bad choices that lead to persistent trends of premature death for Americans of African ancestry,” said Dr. Woods. “Now public health experts across America support our findings with mounting scientific evidence. Our local situation mirrors the nationwide situation.”
Dr. Woods learned of this film in 2006, and immediately signed the African American Health Institute to be a partner organization with the filmmakers. Many healthcare organizations in the country have joined this partnership, as have national organizations such as the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the National Association of County and City Health Official (NACCHO), and the American Public Health Association (APHA). The complete list can be viewed at www.unnaturalcauses.org.
As one of the partner organizations, the African American Health Institute held a preview screening of the documentary on Thursday, April 20 at the Norman C. Feldheym Library in San Bernardino. The segment Dr. Woods chose to preview shows how environmental changes over the 20th Century led to a high increase in diabetes and other health problems among two Native American tribes — the Tohonos and the Pimas — on reservations in Arizona.
At the preview, Dr. Woods discussed concerns both the series and her organization have raised. There are similarities between the health problems of the Native Americans now living on reservations, and those of Blacks living in the Inland Empire, she said.
Historically, the Native Americans in Arizona lived off their land, the Tohonos eating native vegetation that grew abundantly and the Pimas developing an elaborate irrigation system to draw water from a nearby river for their crops. Both tribes ate healthyly and got lots of exercise. There was absolutely no diabetes among them during this time.
But starting in about 1890, White settlers in Arizona had increased the demand for water so much, the river by the Pimas had run dry and the Tohono’s area was a desert wasteland. A dam built during the Calvin Coolidge administration promised more water for the Pimas, but they saw very little. Instead, because of overt discrimination practiced then, most of that water was diverted to resorts, golf courses and wealthy Whites-only suburbs.
“This is a part of the sad history of America,” said Woods. “The ultimate travesty is that most people do not stop to think about the physical and mental devastation this environmental change has brought to a proud, self-sufficient people, the Native Americans.”
The Native Americans, stripped of their livelihood, had to rely on surplus commodities distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Usually these commodities are white flour, cheese, lard or other fats and canned food. “Not foods for a healthy diet,” Woods said.
The video points out that while fry bread is now regarded as traditional Native American cuisine, it is not. It is what the early 20th Century Arizonans living on the reservations often made with their commodities, which was all they had. Their typical diet was much healthier.
“Here in the 21st Century Inland Empire, some Americans of African ancestry also rely on USDA surplus commodities to put food on their table,” Dr. Woods said. “African people were brought to America against their will. They were stripped of their dignity and treated lower than animals. The mental and physiological damage done to Americans of African ancestry is unspeakable. Even today, our people are led to believe that our culture is unhealthy and bad, which is not true.”
“Think about the potlucks we have after church,” she said. “These social gatherings represent collective energy for positive fellowship, nurturing of our young, encouragement for the struggling and general support for good will, honesty and integrity. This is the core of the African village, a fundamental premise for the health of Americans of African ancestry.”
Most Inland Empire residents suffer from a lack of exercise, Dr. Woods said. Some live in neighborhoods that aren’t safe for children to play outdoors. And others live in newer suburbs that, while safer, still have only small front and back yards, and almost no space between homes.
“This crowded condition tends to herd people together. When the African American family gathers it is often in large open spaces, such as the back yard at a relative’s home. We are a people of movement, energy and laughter. We enjoy family gatherings. We love people-to-people interaction. We like space. Mentally, the new environmental changes and housing developments in the Inland Empire tend to be stressful. They take away space.
“Continual stress and negativism are environmental factors that put Black people at even greater health risk than bad diets and lack of exercise, as was demonstrated in Unnatural Causes,” Woods said. “The stress factor has been documented in scientific studies as a killer.”
While overt race-based discrimination has been illegal for more than 40 years, many Black people grew up with that oppression and still live with these covert factors, which cause ongoing accumulated stress.
“For instance, some people with rental homes will turn a Black person’s application down even though the home is vacant,” Dr. Woods said. “Likewise, some mortgage companies will invent reasons to deny a ‘prime’ loan, or any loan to a Black person, or give high interest loans instead of lower interest loans.”
“Another way Blacks are discriminated against,” Dr.
Woods said, “is in health and healthcare. Within the last five years inequities against Blacks, the poor and under-represented minorities (URM) have been overwhelmingly documented in the Institutes of Medicine (IOM) report, studies by RAND, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and many other scientific academies.”
As a health professional, she has often seen Blacks wait a long time for their doctors and insurance companies to approve a necessary surgery or treatment, while Whites with the same insurance coverage and same health provider obtain the necessary care quickly. “This is a case of inequity and unequal treatment, not inferior providers or a lack of insurance,” Woods said.
This type of stress is created for poor people, irrespective of ethnicity. The results are still the same — sickness or death. This is why everyone should view the PBS series Unnatural Causes. “We as health professionals need to target root causes of premature death and poor health outcomes in our society. We need to use our scarce money and human resources to change what is wrong in our society. And, what is terribly wrong are stress factors,” Woods said.
As Dr. Woods has been saying for several years, these risk factors create an intolerable situation.
“At this point in America and other places around the world we are in a crisis, a global crisis,” she said. “A crisis requires an aggressive approach and we at AAHI-SBC are committed to following through with what is needed and to work with anyone who truly wishes to eradicate root causes for poor health outcomes.”
What San Bernardino County needs to do most of all, she said, is commit significant money to preventative health and healthcare. We need major change. We need to stop making excuses and stop trying to look good.
“Our county needs to give money and support to those community organizations that are truly working with their people. Organizations need to demonstrate with hard facts that they are working directly with people who need the help. Our county needs to stop using ‘token’ responses to life and death issues. Our county decision-makers need to stop playing with the lives of the people whose health they are responsible for protecting and preserving. We need to get about the business of not maintaining the ‘status quo.’
“Our county decision-makers cannot afford to casually look the other way, or ‘play make believe,’ or pretend to create elaborate ‘less than honorable’ attempts in addressing serious societal issues, when people are dying needlessly from preventable conditions. Our county leadership needs to move aggressively ahead and get about the business of investing money and people power into saving lives of all people, and preventing one more needless death, not just saving the lives of the chosen few,” said Dr. Woods.
She hopes the Unnatural Causes PBS national televised series will prick the “moral conscious” and further convince local policy-makers and decision-makers in the health industry of this need. “This is not a time to ‘just’ stay in business, but to change for the good of the people, or we will all be dead shortly. Unfortunately, when death touches your family, the sting is great. The recovery is slow.”
“Unnatural Causes is not a feel-good production,” she said. “It is not entertainment as usual. It is about a national movement forward to tear down false ideologies, and build up systems in America that will be fair, just and equal for all. Unnatural Causes is about saving lives of Americans.”
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About the African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County (AAHI-SBC) AAHI-SBC is a community-based resource focused solely on improving health among Americans of African ancestry, the poor and under-represented (URM) ethnic minorities in the Inland Empire. Please visit the Web Site at www.AAHI-SBC.org and learn more about what self-help groups and others are doing to improve the conditions of Blacks. You will also find the history of AAHI-SBC, an extensive list of partners, and activities underway.
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) What are the connections between healthy bodies and healthy bank accounts? Is lack of insurance the cause of minority’s poor health“ Our results dramatically dispel the rumor that Blacks die 13 years younger than Whites in San Bernardino County because they don’t have insurance, don’t see the doctor and don’t care about their health,” said V. Diane Woods, Dr.P.H. health planning project coordinator for the African-American Health Initiative (AAHI).
The PBS series Unnatural Causes travels to Louisville, Kentucky, not to explore whether health care cures us but to see why we get sick in the first place. The lives of a CEO, a lab supervisor, a janitor and an unemployed mother illustrate how social class shapes access to power, resources and opportunity. The net effect is a health-wealth gradient.
Louisville Metro Public Health Department data maps reveal 5- and 10-year gaps in life expectancy between the city’s rich, middle- and working-class neighborhoods. Experiments with monkeys and humans shed light on chronic stress as one culprit. We also see how racial inequality imposes an additional burden on people of color. Solutions being pursued in Louisville and elsewhere focus not on more pills but on Rest Easily Natural Remedies for Insomnia and on better social policies and more equality. Referring to reasons that Blacks die younger than Whites, Dr. V. Diane Woods says, “People are looking for a silver bullet to kill the monster, but there is no one single answer to solve the problem. There are many different solutions we have to use,”
Thursday, March 20th from noon to 1:00pm, the Norman F. Feldhrym Central Library will be filled with everyone from community leaders to media for the video launch of the controversial series Unnatural Causes. The series preview presented by the African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County will tackle this issue and the like in a four-part PBS series
VOICES & EXPERTS
• Adewale Troutman, MD, director, Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness.
• Jim Taylor, father, grandfather and CEO of a large Louisville hospital.
• Tondra Young, African American medical technician and supervisor of a hospital blood lab; a homeowner burdened with college debt.
• Corey Anderson, hospital janitor with hyper-tension and little control in his work life; a renter in a neighborhood plagued by violent crime.
• Class and racism affect U.S. health outcomes in overlapping ways. See Reaching
for a Healthier Life: Facts on Socioeconomic Status and Health in the U.S., a
2007 report of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research
Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health (available at www.macses.ucsf.edu/News/NEWS.html).
• For the physiology of chronic stress, see the MacArthur Research Network on SES and Health Web site summary “Allostatic Load and Allostasis,” at http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/Research/Allostatic/notebook/allostatic.html.
• On growing economic inequality in the U.S.: Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein,
Sylvia Allegretto (2007). The State of Working America 2006/2007.
Cornell University Press and Economic Policy Institute.
http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/
The first episode “In Sickness and in Wealth” airs Thursday, March 27, 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) A ground-breaking new documentary series criss-crosses the country exploring how the social conditions in which Americans are born, live and work profoundly affect health and longevity, even more than medical care, behaviors and genes. This four-hour television and DVD series challenges fundamental beliefs about what makes Americans healthy – or sick – and offers new remedies for an ailing society.
The African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County presents a preview of the highly anticipated PBS series, Unnatural Causes, to community leaders, business leaders and media at the Norman F. Feldheym Central Library on Thursday, March 20th, from noon to 1:00pm.
UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? coincides with the intensifying
presidential election year debates focusing on the estimated 47 million Americans
lacking health coverage. While embracing the essential need for universal health care, UNNATURAL CAUSES goes further, questioning what makes people ill in the first place, and probing why economic status, race and zip code are more powerful predictors of health status and life expectancy than even smoking.
Experts and public health professionals have long emphasized that because these conditions are distributed unequally, so are patterns of chronic disease: e.g., heart disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma, even cancer. Each episode sheds light on the mounting evidence that work, wealth, neighborhood conditions and lack of access to power and resources can get under the skin and disrupt human biology as surely as germs and viruses.
UNNATURAL CAUSES raises unsettling questions with far-reaching political and social
implications:
• Why does the most powerful nation on the planet have worse health outcomes than dozens of other countries, despite spending, on average, more than twice what they spend per person on medical care? Even Jordanians now live longer than Americans, while Portugal, Korea and Slovenia all have better infant mortality outcomes.
• Why do recent Latino immigrants, though typically poorer, enjoy better health than the average American when they arrive in the United States, yet suffer a rapid decline the longer they are here?
• Why are some African American and Native American populations less likely to reach age 65 than people from Bangladesh or Ghana?
The series reveals a continuous health gradient tied to wealth. At each step down the socioeconomic ladder — from the rich to the middle class to the poor — people tend to be sicker and die sooner. The least affluent die, on average, six and a half years earlier than the rich. But even middle-income people die more than two years sooner than those at the top. Poorer smokers face higher mortality risks than rich smokers.
Research also suggests that racial discrimination imposes an additional health burden. For many diseases, African Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders – at all income levels – fare worse on average than their white counterparts.
Seven production teams weave together the human dimension with the scientific data by capturing stories on the ground:
• In Louisville, Kentucky, the forces driving the wealth-health gradient are evident in the different constraints and stresses faced daily by a CEO, a mid-level manager, a service worker and an unemployed mother of three.
• For a Laotian heart attack survivor in Richmond, California, residing in a neighborhood deprived of supermarkets, safe streets, well-resourced schools, reliable transportation and decent housing exacts a terrible toll on the wellbeing of his entire family.
• The O’odham Indians of southern Arizona suffer one of the highest rates of Type 2 diabetes in the world. Their best prognosis lies not in genetic discoveries or better drugs, but in regaining hope and control over their future.
• In western Michigan a factory moves to Mexico for cheaper labor, undercutting the lives — and health — of a white, working class community. In Sweden, where the parent company is based, a similar plant closure has a very different impact on workers because of protective government policies.
In Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the “mushroom capital of the world,” Mexican immigrants arrive healthier than native-born Americans but discover that the longer they are here, the harder it is to maintain their health.
• In Atlanta, Georgia, an African American lawyer delivers a premature baby despite making healthy choices and having the advantages of social status – like so many other middle- and upper-income Black women. Researchers wonder if the cumulative wear and tear of a lifetime of racial discrimination imposes an added health risk during pregnancy and beyond.
• In the Marshall Islands, local populations – displaced from their traditional way of life by the American military presence in the Pacific – must contend with the worst of both the “developing” and industrialized worlds: infectious diseases such as tuberculosis running rampant due to poor sanitation, crowded living conditions and extreme poverty and high rates of chronic disease stemming in part from the stress of dislocation and loss.
UNNATURAL CAUSES challenges the conventional approach to prevention, which has mostly been limited to encouraging healthy behaviors. But much of what can improve health lies outside an individual’s control: better land use, transportation and business investment; ensuring that every neighborhood has access to supermarkets and healthy foods – not just fast food, liquor joints and
convenience stores; creating safe streets and green space so people can walk, jog, bike and play; investing in our schools; guaranteeing paid vacations, paid family leave, and living wage jobs with career ladders.
In the past, societal changes have loosened the “wealth-health” linkage and improved health status overall. Researchers attribute the 30-year increase in U.S. life expectancy over the 20th century not merely to new drugs and medical technologies, but to social reforms such as the eight-hour workday, child labor laws, universal high school, civil rights laws, a progressive income tax, Social Security and the right to form unions that ensured that benefits from economic growth were shared more widely.
UNNATURAL CAUSES makes the case that – despite past gains – America has been moving in the wrong direction in more recent years. Today, the top one percent of the population holds as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. Approximately 22 percent of America’s children live in poverty. As inequality grows, the U.S. life expectancy ranking continues to drop – down from the top five in the 1950s, and now lower than even a few years ago as more countries surpass the U.S. with better health.
Renowned health experts contend that Americans not only need universal health care to treat illness, but also better and more equitable social and economic policies that can protect and promote health in the first place. Social policy, they say, is health policy.
UNNATURAL CAUSES, in the final stages of editing, is already generating significant interest and engagement. Public health departments and more than 100 other outreach partners are organizing screenings, town meetings and policy forums around the country over the next year. Interactivities, video clips, lesson plans and other resources including an events calendar, can be found on the series companion Web site at www.unnaturalcauses.org.
UNNATURAL CAUSES was produced by the San Francisco-based film production and distribution center California Newsreel, in partnership with Vital Pictures of Boston. It is being presented on PBS by the National Minority Consortia of public television. California Newsreel is the nation’s oldest nonprofit documentary production and distribution center, dedicated to disseminating social interest films and videos. Vital Pictures is a documentary company dedicated to social justice issues. The series has received major funding from the Ford Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the California Endowment, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute, Kaiser Permanente and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Larry Adelman is creator and executive producer; Llewellyn M. Smith is co-executive producer and Christine Herbes-Sommers is series senior producer. Strategic public engagement partners include the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the American Public Health Association, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, Opportunity Agenda and the Praxis Project.
Produced by California Newsreel in association with Society of Cosmetics and Beauty
Presented by the National Minority Consortia of public television and
Public Engagement Campaign in association with the Joint Center Health Policy Institute.
