North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 04/25/1996

The Thursday April 25th tonight training the doctors of the future in North Carolina. Hello everyone I'm reading to try welcome to this Thursday edition of North Carolina now so glad you could join us on tonight's program we're going to visit one of my favorite places in North Carolina jockey's Ridge State Park. Bailey takes us there as we resume the special series we started last summer on North

Carolina State Parks. Also tonight we'll discuss mental health specifically anxiety attacks with this evening's gassed. But first our state is fortunate to have several outstanding medical schools training the doctors of the future one of them the East Carolina University School of Medicine has earned a special distinction when compared with more than 300 public medical schools in 15 southern states East Carolina ranked first in the number of African-American students who are enrolled. Tonight producer Maria Lundberg examines the successful program so much the last time you seen a physician. And about a year. And what was that for. I have blood pressure but pressure and I'm on medication these second year students at East Carolina School of Medicine are in a clinical skills class today. They're role playing and exercise which helps them learn about obtaining background information and how to work effectively with

patients. This type of training is just one factor which attracts students to this program for prospective students the outstanding reputation of East Carolina's Medical School is a big draw in itself. But many students say the university's commitment to minority students is another big plus. Dr. Julius Malema was one of only two African-Americans who graduated from U.S. Hughes Medical School in the early 80s. Today is a faculty member. He works to increase minority enrollment. He's Carolinas had him as part of his mission to increase the number of under-represented students and that included minority students especially African-American students. From the very beginnings the school was established to improve health care in eastern North Carolina. There are some counties that have 80 70 percent African-American So this is a part of the state in which there are a large number of minority groups and African-Americans and lawyers of that group. Good doctors are needed regardless of the background. But improving communication can occur when a doctor

had a similar background as a patient in recent years. All four North Carolina Medical schools have intensified efforts to recruit minority students and those efforts have paid off. Bowman Gray the private medical school at Wake Forest University had a six point two percent black and Roman in 1990 by 1994. That jumped to eleven point two percent. Duke University's School of Medicine went from seven point eight percent in 1990 to 8 percent by 1994. Leading the state is East Carolina University which increased from twelve point one percent in 1990 to fourteen point eight percent in 1994 the highest percentage of black students in a public medical school in the south. And third nationally among publicly supported schools USC Chapel Hill had eleven point seven percent enrollment in 1090 eleven point two percent in 1994 placing it third regionally among public medical schools.

These figures indicate a steady increase in black medical school students and doctors at East Carolina. That includes 30 year med student Annette Wagner a Christian says she believes the strong support system for minority students here creates an environment for success. There's a lot of minorities out there who want to go into medicine but don't feel like medicine is for them it's too much going against them. So you need to have programs established to spark that interest but start in the interest at the high school level or the elementary school level which we have organizations that reach out to that level say you can do it we're here we're here to help you. We'll tell you the route you need to go. We're here with you every step of the way and that's the feeling that I get from ACA. They want me to be here. You know I'm just not. Another upcoming physician. It's like they have a mission for me and I'm fulfilling that mission helping us feel the mission for a fourth year medical student

Shaun Alexander. It also means being a role model in the African-American community. A lot of people out in the community do look up to me as a minority medical student and as a medical student as a whole a lot of people can joke and say things like well you should be proud of yourself and I think well this is something that I did for me. But it really does help a lot more people than you know than I actually thought it would ever do. Debbie Rainey works with the staff encouraging young people to pursue health careers. They are good numbers of minority individuals in the eastern part of our state but they're not we'll represented in the health profession. You know our goal is that they come to East Carolina University and pursue a medical degree and go back to the eastern part of this day to practice. And some of the rule interests are canny. These future doctors have the potential to make an enormous impact as they begin to practice especially in areas of our state which have few minority physicians.

The support and encouragement they are receiving at East Carolina today will be the foundation for their success tomorrow. We tried to extend a open arm for those that want to help. You know we we do support our students and we don't you know I want to allow them to quit. You know I can't quit took too long to get there. That kind of support I guess has taken root and spread you know branches and leads to other schools such that people know that if they come here you know study hard work you'll make it and you'll be a good physician. According to Dr. Mallette the diversity of Carolinas Medical School in Hants is the experience for all students in the program. He says the exposure these students receive to people of various backgrounds and cultures will help them be more effective in providing health care for our country's changing population. Coming up a visit

to the highest prayer do not on the Atlantic coast. But before we head to the outer banks we're going to head over to Mitchell Lewis at the North Carolina now news desk for a statewide update hello Mitch. Thanks Marina. Good evening everyone. With the primaries less than two weeks away the candidates are stepping up their attacks on one another. A debate between GOP gubernatorial candidates Robin Hayes and Richard Vinroot last night contained numerous personal attacks with Vinroot questioning Hasan's family's ties to the Democratic Party. And he is continuing to question Vinroot claim that he supported Planned Parenthood for several years but didn't know the group performed abortions. There were also more fireworks between Harvey Gantt and Charlie Sanders in the Democratic race for U.S. Senate. In a televised debate get challenged Sanders claim that as head of Glaxo he had a little involvement in the company's political action committee which has given $20000 to Senator Jesse Helms since 1989. Sanders says he is telling the truth and accused Gant of copying Helms a style of attack ads. Several state lawmakers are calling

for the House speaker's press secretary to step down. Don Farmer admits he used a racial slur to describe a group of University of North Carolina housekeepers and students protesting in front of the legislative building. Speaker Harold Brooks-Baker says farmer has offered his resignation but Breaux Baker turned it down. Farmer has defended his comments saying it was in the context of a joke and a private conversation. Critics say the language he used was inappropriate no matter what the context. State environmental officials are looking into charging a fee to farms with the disposal of animal waste into the state's rivers and ground water sources. Officials support the idea of bringing farms under the same rules now in place for municipalities required to pay waste discharge fees. The proposal could cost a farm as much as $400 and is estimated to generate almost two million additional dollars some of which would go to hiring more inspectors to monitor more than 4000 farms. The blue ribbon Study Commission on agricultural waste has adopted a proposal requiring hawg and

other livestock farmers to notify their immediate neighbors of any plans to expand or create new farms. This latest decision reverses a vote at an earlier meeting rejecting notification under the proposal farmers would have to send a certified letters to owners of lands adjoining the livestock farm. A group of Triad business executives is making a major commitment to job training to benefit hundreds of Guilford County High schoolers. The Greensboro Development Corporation is pledging 3.1 million dollars over the next three years to support 225 new apprenticeships. The money will go to design programs training part time wages and a full two year scholarships. Taking a look at tomorrow's weather temperatures will range from the upper 70s along the coast to the 60s and the mountains. Boone will be the cool spot with the mercury only reaching to about 60. The blue skies of today will be gone as clouds move in across North Carolina. Breezy conditions rain and thunder showers are expected throughout the state. And business news Lorillard Tobacco made it

official today the nation's fourth largest cigarette maker is moving its corporate headquarters from New York City to Greensboro. The move will bring a 12 million dollar new office building and 260 new jobs half of them to be filled by local residents. Lorillard snoo corporate headquarters will join the cigarette makers manufacturing operation which already exists in Greensboro. June of this year will mark the end of 178 years of business while the oldest textile operation in the south Rocky Mount mills will close its manufacturing facility for good. Affecting three hundred twenty employees according to company. The high cost of raw materials competition and sluggish demand has led to the decision to pack up. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Anxiety

attacks that overwhelming sense of panic that strikes at a moment's notice and for no particular reason the pulse raises the heart pounds the person is gripped with a real sense of fear that something is terribly wrong. For those of us who never suffer from anxiety attacks it's difficult to understand. But for those who do it can affect every aspect of their lives. We have two guests tonight to speak on the topic. One of us have personal experience with anxiety attacks in fact she's written the book on the subject called peace of body peace of mind she is Rose Vansickle. Our other guest tonight is Romaine Daugherty with the Mental Health Association of North Carolina Ladies

welcome to the program. Thank you. Ms Dougherty I know that there's some information that you're going to want to be sharing with our viewers but first I'd like to start with Ms Vansickle who can set the stage for us and tell us what it's like to have an anxiety attack. I'll just refer to the very first anxiety attack I had. I was driving and all at once it felt like a thousand different sensations were coming over me. I could feel my heart beating very very quickly. I was suddenly very cold then suddenly very warm. I was shaking. I was dizzy and the physical sensations were so strong that I thought I was dying. I felt so shaky that I remember my lady and my foot actually shaking on the accelerator pedal. And as you described it seemed to come out of the blue. Was it. How long was it before you were diagnosed as having anxiety attacks did your doctor think it was in your head or.

Well the first thing I did was go through a series of physical tests because I really thought there was something major wrong valve or a brain tumor or something very serious. And once they ruled out any physical organic type conditions is when I. Knew that you know it was more mind related than it was physically related. Like I said in the introduction for people who don't suffer from anxiety attacks it's very difficult to understand. But for you this is something that really consumed your life. Tell us about how it affected you. It affected me very quickly because my panic attacks were very strong right from the beginning. At first I took a few weeks off from work thinking that rest physical rest would help me. And really within a two month period I had to quit my job because I couldn't work anymore. I couldn't get in the car and drive to work. After that short time that I

took some marinara from the office I went back to the office once I stayed for two and a half hours. And during that two and a half hours I had anxiety strongly. And I just I left and never went back to that job. We're speaking in past tense because this is something that you've gotten over now you don't suffer from this problem anymore how did you get to this point. I was very fortunate that I found a self-help program. The name of the self-help group is called Recovery Inc self-help mental health and they teach cognitive behavioral therapies what to tell yourself when you're having the panic attacks. And that information was very important to me from the beginning to become functioning again. But one of the other things I learned was to hold down the stress in everyday life. So I don't get to the point where I am tense and anxious and perhaps precipitate anxiety attacks or panic attacks.

You've written a book why it why did you write this book. Because I want people to know that anxiety disorder is treatable and you can get over it you can get back to living a quote normal life. And you don't have to be afraid of things or be in a position where you're just getting by in life. A lot of people do not suffer as severely as I do. Perhaps they're functioning but just barely. They're going to work but they come home so fatigued and so tense and so anxious that they don't participate in their daughter's soccer games or you know baseball games. They don't go to movies they don't really enjoy life they're existing but they're really not living. I mean Socrates I know that coming up in May that May is designated as a mental health month. Tell us about some special programs that are going to be taking place on May 1st. OK the Mental Health Association in North Carolina is co-sponsoring the national anxiety screening anxiety disorder

screening day. Which is a confidential free self-test to be you can take to determine if you have anxiety and it's one of it's our kick off for the mayor's Mental Health Month and these will be held all over North Carolina so no matter where you live there should be a site close to you were you going to take part in this. And what exactly would a person go through when they go to the screening. Well it's the way we handle it is it's fairly low key. There is an educated educational component. There's a video there's a lot of information available. But the core is a self test and then a mental health professional will talk to you after they have. Evaluated the test and it's not necessarily meant to be a diagnosis but it's an indication and they do get depressed and does get a chance to talk to a mental health professional and possibly get some suggestions

if they feel as though they're suffering from anxiety. Now there is a phone number that we have that our viewers out there if they're interested in finding a location near them they could call we're going to put that number up on the screen. And that is a 1 800 4 4 to 20 20. So if anybody out there is interested they can give them that and that's in wide as well as across North Carolina. OK great. Well ladies thank you so much I really appreciate you coming out today it's a very important topic that we don't really hear a lot about so I'm glad that you took the time to share with our viewers this evening. Thank you though. Glad to be here. Thank you. Says the first state park was established in 1916 North Carolinians have been visiting our

parks for any number of reasons some come from the recreations some want to learn something about our natural heritage and some just want to get away from it all. Well tonight we pick back up with a series of features we began last summer on our state parks and our first segment Audrey Cates Bailey takes us to one of the state's most well-known parks jockey's ridge at Nags Head. When you look at a map of the state's outer banks it looks like little more than a long pencil of land surrounded by what seems like an endless ocean. Now this part of the state

is in constant motion. Wind and water folding the sand over itself and a constant flow from the ocean to the sound. The most prominent feature along the banks is jockey's Ridge the highest active Dune along the Atlantic coast of North America. This massive dune system has been preserved as part of the jockey's Ridge State Park. Now 20 years old now we have Broadway four hundred twenty acres which goes from a 158 bypass roller to the west. Three different diverse habitats. Woods day's history. The riches of the park seemed dry and lifeless. A sharp contrast to the swales way a rich diversity of oaks bays and myrtles thrive. And in some of the lowers we're kind of protected from the wind storm to have over the area. You have some bay berry plants

and different types of grasses in here so you can see some smaller ones are starting to come up in here. Unlike most parks in the state jockey's Ridge is moving the sand is constantly moving from one part of the park to another and beyond. What we have here is a black cherry tree and this tree is actually about 30 or 40 feet tall and this is one tree pretty much with the sand moving the wind blowing the saying it will blow it in and build up in these areas and you can say we're it's almost covered this black cherry tree as the sand starts to Paoli in around the branches the branches will start to spread out. So it looks like several different shrubs is actually the top of one tree looking at jockey's ridge from a distance. You're convinced that the area supports little animal life. But each morning you can walk along the dune and find evidence of animals that roam the dew during the night. This

past year there were even gray foxes in the park. Because the state park borders the sound visitors have the chance to learn something about the salt marsh. A favorite for adults and children who join the same the sounds program offered every day. There we go. I was never a spot I want to say that home this morning was I make strange noises. As with most parks in the state volunteers are critical to the work of the park and educational programs are often a high priority. We were asked to brainstorm up what could be done. This was a park that was new and did not have any

support groups behind it at all. I proposed establishing a junior park ranger program and we would call them the junior friends of Jackies Ridge. Luckily the park staff was very there was yeah stick and supportive and we kicked off our first group of mostly middle school kids in 1987. These are kids who are native to the outer banks by and large they came here every year on school trips. The only thing they ever did was climb the hill and run down. By involving the students and exploring the park further they came out very excited having learned that there are a lot of animals that call this park. It was great. Whether you visit jockey's Ridge to fly a kite swim in the sound or learn more about its unique ecosystem. You leave with a different perspective on the state. To me personally one of the special things about Jackie's Ridge is adults can enjoy a

childlike play on the ridge and there not many places that you can go and forget everything and just romp and play and roll in the science and I think I think that's one of the special things about it. Jockey's Ridge state park is located on the 158 bypass in Nags Head. For more information on year round activities at the park you can write the park ranger a jockey's Ridge State Park P.O. Box 5 9 2 Nags Head North Carolina 2 7 9 5 9. Or call 9 1 9 4 4 1 7 1 3 2. We also have a brochure highlighting all of North Carolina State parks if you would like a copy. Just send a self-addressed stamped envelope to North Carolina now P.O. Box 49 hundred RTP NC 2 7 7 0 9. Please indicate that you would like the information on the state parks. Some additional information to pass along before we head out of here tonight. If you travel down Interstate

240 in Buncombe County you'll notice a name change it is now the Billy Graham freeway. The name of the road was changed to honor the native North Carolinian in sado ceremonies held today. Well that's our show for tonight we'll see you tomorrow have a great evening good night. Let let let let let let let let let.