PowerPoint; Teen Pregnancy; Strokes in the Black Population

Production and broadcast of PowerPoint is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to enhancing, preserving, and restoring the legacy and history of life in America. This is PowerPoint, an information age clearinghouse for news, issues, and ideas that impact the African -American community, the nation, and the world. Good evening and welcome to PowerPoint Broadcasting Live from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm Dr. Mary Harris and this broadcast of PowerPoint jump starts a new monthly medical series, Journey to Wellness. Each year nearly 1 million teenagers become pregnant, 95 % of which are unintended. According to the latest health statistics, teenage pregnancy is at the lowest rate in over 60 years. However, it still remains a major concern for today's youth, particularly for African -American

teens. From prevention to education, how can parents, schools, and even the church help? How effective are community outreach programs and what's the solution to combating generations of teen pregnancy? Coming up next on PowerPoint, babies having babies, a look at teenage pregnancy, but first to the PowerPoint newsroom for a wrap -up of this week's news. With news and information to empower the community, this is PowerPoint Good evening. I'm Bruce Jordan. President Clinton says AIDS can rob a country of its future. Clinton has spoken Nigeria today about AIDS and other infections diseases at a women's health center. The president says such diseases have ravaged Africa and the rest of the world, accounting for a quarter of all deaths around the world. Clinton says no child should be born

with a deadly disease like AIDS when suffering can be prevented, but he adds millions of African babies suffer that fate. Clinton says Nigeria's fledgling democracy won't be able to fly unless it meets the challenge of fighting diseases. Although Nigeria hasn't been hit hard by AIDS as other African nations, Clinton says that's no reason to get complacent. He also encouraged wealthy nations to support AIDS efforts in poor countries. Negotiators trying to work out a deal to end the seven -year civil war in Burundi began work today on a less ambitious agreement, recognizing that a ceasefire is out of reach. President Clinton is among those expected to witness the signing. Officials involved in the talk said that as long as the leaders of the armed rebel groups refuse to participate in negotiations being held in the northern Tanzanian town of Russia, no ceasefire and therefore no peace agreement can be signed by Monday's deadline, set by chief mediator for the South African President Nelson Mandela. More than 200 ,000 people,

mostly civilians, have been killed in the fighting between the Tutsi -dominated government and Hutu rebels since 1993. Mandela has invited Clinton and the leaders of 12 other African nations to attend a ceremony Monday evening when a comprehensive peace agreement was to be signed. But Burundi and the Western diplomats close to the talks admitted today that a ceasefire, which was the Tutsi's key demand, could not be reached and that rebel leaders were still boycotting the talks. Ten Tutsi political parties, seven Hutu parties, President Pierre Buoyoya's government, and the Tutsi army have been discussing a peace agreement for more than two years, and there was a heightened sense of urgency today ahead of the deadline. It's the usual pre -agreement panic there now getting down to serious negotiations at one Western observer who expected the talks to go late into the night. The observer who did not want to be named added that a 167 -page draft produced by mediators was being used in the talks. Well nearly four decades after the march on Washington, civil rights demonstrators say there's still

unfinished business. Thousands of people gathered on the national mall in Washington yesterday to call attention to racial profiling and police brutality. Two days before the 37th anniversary of Martin Luther King's, I have a dream speech. On Saturday his son, Martin Luther King III, asked the marches to fulfill his father's dream that people be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Earlier a victim of police brutality called on the government to use its power to stop it. Abna Luima says politicians are becoming blind and deaf to the problem. Luima was tortured in a New York City police station bathroom. Blacks and Hispanics continue to lag far behind whites in academic achievement and new government report shows. The findings also show that overall academic performance by all students for math science and reading has remained relatively flat during most of the past decade. The 1999 trends in academic progress report released Thursday also tracks

academic performance by race. It shows that based on new data compiled through 1999, blacks and Hispanics lag far behind whites in both reading and arithmetic, often at the rate of several grade levels. The National Center for Education Statistics, the Statistical Branch of the Department of Education released a report which included a new testing data from 1999. Tracking the overall academic progress by 9, 13, and 17 year old students in public schools on reading, science, and math, the report also includes data on academic performance and racial classification. Based on student test scores since 1979, the findings include 1999 data based on 16 ,000 math and science tests and 17 ,000 reading tests. Education Secretary Richard W. Reilly argued that the report shows that Congress needs to invest more in education. Finally, in sports, the Houston comments won their fourth straight WNBA championship Saturday night, 79 to

73, over the New York Liberty in overtime. The victory gave the comments a two -nothing sweep of the Liberty in the best of the three finals. And that is the latest news on PowerPoint this evening. Coming up, we hope you'll stay with us as we premier our new healthcare series we call Journey to Wellness with Dr. Mary Harris. This coming hour, we look at teenage pregnancies. I'm Bruce Dorton. Good evening. Welcome back to PowerPoint. I'm Dr. Mary Harris. Carmen Burns is going to return next Sunday. This is the first of a new monthly series on PowerPoint Journey to Wellness. In each month, you can find out important information regarding medical issues and other health topics. Tonight, a look at teenage pregnancy, adolescent parents, merely children themselves, education and prevention, and

how do we keep the teenage birth rate low and whose responsibility is it to inform and provide these services. Joining PowerPoint tonight, a distinguished panel, each dedicated to issues of teenage pregnancy. First, Dr. Patricia Kishimo, an educator for projects and programs in schools and communities. She joins us from Charleston, West Virginia, and also joining in from Memphis, Tennessee, Miss Jean Miller. Mrs. Miller conducts workshops for parents, women, and teens. And in our PowerPoint studios, we have Lynn May, whose director of the Georgia campaign for adolescent pregnancy prevention. It's commonly known as GCAP, which is center for preventing teenage pregnancy, and Pat Schall from family's first here in Atlanta, which is another outreach organization that offers training and preparation in hopes of creating successful parenting. You'd like to welcome you. And if you'd like to join in, do so by calling our PowerPoint hotline at 1 -800 -360

-1799. That's 1 -800 -360 -1799. Good evening. The latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control suggest an all -time low -14 -age birth rates, the lowest in nearly 60 years. Dr. Kishimo, let's start with you. Obviously, is this some encouraging news or is this a little misleading? Well, I think that it can be a little misleading. First of all, I was listening to your news report and they talked about the academic achievement of African American children as opposed to non -African American children. And of course, that's my primary focus. And one of the things that I have seen as well is that when you have teenage mothers, particularly in certain areas of the country, the data that KML doesn't disaggregate by region. In other

words, we don't know how many with that declining rate, how many of those kids actually come from the south, where the north, rural, or urban. And so what we have is an overall statistic, which may mask, in fact, what the actual pregnancy rates offer various areas. And in fact, the same report that you referred to showed that the southeast leads the team pregnancy rate. So I think that when we get a report like that, we need to do a little bit of additional study to make sure that the overall pattern is, in fact, holding true for all areas of the country. And I don't think that it really is because I know that in the rural areas, in particular, that you'll see a much higher pregnancy rate than you do in some of the areas. So I think that we have to take forward and be glad about it. But we also have to put it in perspective and realize that if we looked at some populations, we may not see that overall trend or pattern. Also, the data that was

presented showed a talk about teenagers from 15 to 19. So we really don't have any information that was in that report about young women who are younger than 15 years of age. And of course, they are becoming sexually active too at a younger age. So I think those are some of the things that we have to sort of wrap around the report that we got about the decline in the pregnancy rate. Pat, would you like to comment on that? Well, I would agree that it's very difficult from the data to define where the greatest decrease in pregnancy rates is occurring and whatnot. But I do think that it's encouraging at one level because of, there have been, in recent years, a number of efforts and initiatives focused on prevention of teen pregnancy. So I think something is taking hold. But I think there's a lot more that we need to do in order to really get to a place that is much more

acceptable. You know, Dr. Kishimo mentioned something about the rural areas and the younger girls who were not included in that report. Lynn, I know your organization is very familiar with what goes on in the state of Georgia. Can you give us some feedback about that as well? Absolutely. I think there is concern about girls in rural Georgia as in every other area. You know, we forget so much of this country really. Still has lots of rural pockets, whether you're talking about the southeast, where the statistics do show that our rates are still higher, although they have dropped. And I think an excellent point is made in our need to look at girls who are younger than 15. I've spent enough time with 13 -year -old mothers in the past year and a half or so that I think this is a population we absolutely must pay attention to. So while I think we should share some enthusiasm about the drop -in statistics, there are as many things to be concerned about, not excluding the fact that as Americans, we tend to look for quick fixes.

And I don't think a six or seven -year drop is anything to be excited about when you consider that we still have rates twice as high as the next fully industrialized nation, which is Britain. We're going to take a question in a few minutes. And so I want you to feel free to call our PowerPoint hotline at 1 -800 -360 -1799. I want to focus on the fact that they keep a much is being made about this being the lowest point in 60 years. And they keep going back to that. And of course, we have a lot of programs now that are in place that we did not have 60 years ago. So I'm interested to hear from each of our guests to find out whether or not you think the attitudes around teen sexual behavior have changed much. And if this kind of desensitizes all of us to the problem, the real problem of teenage pregnancy. Ooh, a big question. Let

me start by saying more than 60 years ago, our agency, one of our predecessor agencies, the Florence Crittenden home, was a program that started in the early 1900s for unwed pregnant women. So while I think we tend to think of teenage pregnancy as a more recent kind of problem, it has been with us for a long time forever. So it's not just something that we're dealing with in these days and times. It's been around. And I dare say it will continue to be around. But I do think that we have a long way to go in terms of reversing some of the attitudes around the lack of shame, if you will.

There was a point in time when it was a shame and people were, young women were ostracized for becoming pregnant and not married. And I'm not saying that's good or bad. But that was the kind of the social environment. Over the years, that has really diminished to the point that in some communities, there's much more of a less shame. And in some sense, a pride in young women becoming impregnated and not married. I mean, there is no stigma as there was in earlier times or even 60 years ago. So I think that while there may be some inroads being made in terms of

attitudinal changes and that kind of thing, I think there's still a long way to go in terms of really making a dent in the kinds of attitudes that say, you know, becoming sexually active is not a thing that children do. Now, Jane, are you still with us? I'm here. Hi, I'm interested to get your feedback about this because you are looking at this problem from the perspective of the church. And I'm interested when Pat said that there's no shame attached to this in some communities or in some situations, where does the church stand on this? Well, I agree with Pat. It appears that it's involved now. And a lot of the girls, as she said, have no shame and there is somewhat proud of the fact. However, I do believe that the church has a lot to do when it comes to helping them to understand that it's still a

no -no. And it is not an issue in that this is good or I'm involved in this because this is good or this is right. We have to continue to give young people truth. And the truth of the matter is that this is not good. This is not appropriate behavior for teenagers unless they are married. So I believe that the church has lost a lot in that we've decided not to tell the truth or we've been afraid to tell the truth or we've become desensitized as it has been said. But it is a challenge and it is an opportunity for us to step up. Well, we have Lynn May in here going, yes, yes, you want to, yes, you have something to share with us. Oh, this is one of my favorite topics. I think that telling the truth to our children is one of the ways as adults, we fail them. Adolescent pregnancy is not a

teenager's problem. It is an adult problem. I believe it's our failure to take responsibility. And just as Pat felt a little hesitant in talking about the word shame, maybe one part of that is that we don't have the same clear expectations of our children that we state to them over and over. This is what's acceptable. This is what our standard is. And another aspect of that truth telling is that it's as though we were never teenagers ourselves. We all have stories and they're not all pretty. And I think that we can do a lot to help our children by sharing our own mistakes. Well, let me say this. This is the other Pat because she came out here. I think that one of the other issues that I see is that there is a lot of support for the young teen mother while she's going through the pregnancy. And I don't necessarily see the support with the parenting. In other words, when a girl makes a decision

that she's pregnant now and she's going to have a baby, that there's prenatal care and there are all of those things to ensure that she delivers the healthiest baby that she can. But what I see as an educator is four or five or six years down the road, these teen mothers have become very disillusioned with the responsibility, the day -to -day responsibilities of parenting. And so what you see in school is you see a lot of kids that really, although they have a mother who is physically present, a mother who is emotionally not there for them and who really in some instances is totally uninvolved with what's going on with the kid because they themselves are now trying to regain and relive the youth that they had to accept some degree of responsibility for. So I think that what I see is really a need for not only intervention programs that support girls through the pregnancy and

tell them that you can recover, but for programs that really do talk about recovery and restoration because part of what this young woman has to deal with is the fact that I am no longer a care -free teen. I have this responsibility, I have this other life, and while they need some time to be children and grow up, they also need to be encouraged and supported to accept the role of mother and parent. Okay, we're talking about teenage pregnancy tonight here on PowerPoint, and we invite you to call our phone lines at 1 -800 -360 -1799. Again, that's 1 -800 -360 -1799. I've got a question. As I hear you talk about this whole issue of teenage pregnancy, we see that we've got to, we've got a problem on several different levels. One, we're trying to educate our teens about sex. We need to tell them the truth about what we're doing, and then we've also got a parenting issue that we have to deal with. So

my question is, what are the various aspects of this whole thing we start? Yeah, in the category of teenage pregnancy. I mean, where do you begin to attack this problem? I think one of the areas that we have not done a very good job about with until probably in the last couple of years, and that's with our male children. Typically, when we talk about teenage pregnancy, we talk about it in light of young girls, teenage girls, and we don't always have the same standards. As Lynn was talking about, we don't have clear standards for our children, but we definitely don't have the same standards for our female children and our male children. So I think one of the places we start is by being straight and clear about sexuality and sexual

involvement for our children and teens male and female not being okay, because our male children need to get the same message about the problem of teenage pregnancy, that it's not a female problem. It is a, it's both a male and female issue, and that they both need to be understanding, both male and females, the implications of becoming prematurely sexually acted. Well, we talk about this being a problem. We keep seeing the problem of teenage pregnancy. Who is it a problem for? Is it a problem for the mother? Is it a problem for the baby? Yes, it's a problem for the grand mother. It's a problem for everybody. It is a problem for the above. Sure, and it's a problem for the general society as a whole. I mean, you know, those of us who have grown adults and parents know how difficult it is to be a parent, even under the best of circumstances, you know, where you are

employed, you have support, whether that's a spouse or extended family, it's hard. And if you talk about a young person who is growing and developing themselves, taking on the responsibility of a completely vulnerable, helpless, humiliating human. I mean, it is, you know, just multiply that 10 fold. So it's and it interferes with that young person's ability to complete their education. And if they don't do that, you know, it just sets up a vicious cycle of poverty and on on. So it's a problem for everybody. When you talk to these teenage girls, what do they tell you? What do they offer in need? You say, how did you let this happen? And I'm particularly concerned about the repeat teenage mothers. Within 18 months, the average adolescent girl who gets pregnant without some kind of intervention, statistically, within two years, she's likely to have a second child. And

it's the second pregnancy that so often is just that extra burden in that girl's life that she may not ever be able to overcome. We're going to go to the phone lines now and take a call from Cory and Houston. Cory, go ahead. Hi, this is Cory and Carlton Houston. Thanks for taking my call. You're welcome. Go ahead. Can you still hear me? We can hear you fine. Go ahead. Great. My, my, my course, I'm a police officer here in this city and I work also in a high school. And it, it's a very, very long and timid when I see a 14 year old, with two children. Then I turn around and, and you ask, where is the father? Where's the young man? And the young man is 25 years old. For a second child, and the first child, the young man may be 14 or 15. So what are these, what are these statistics concerning the males, the fathers of these adolescent females? Who wants to take that question? Well, I'm sure that Dr. Casimma probably has good statistics on that. Well, you know, I, I did find some

information on that and they, they say the statistics show that most teenage girls are having sex with a partner that is within two years of their age. However, when there is more of a differential in age, say 10 years or so, seven years, I think, is the critical mark that they are much more likely to become pregnant. So if they're having a sexual relationship with a boy that's close to their age, there's a higher probability that they will not become pregnant. If they're having a sexual relationship with someone who is significantly older than them, there is a high probability that they will become pregnant. So I think that the age thing is, is, is definitely a factor there. Also, I wanted to say when, when she said their team mothers are less likely to, to complete high school, they say only one third receive a high school diploma and nearly 80 %

of unmarried teenage mothers end up on welfare. And most of them are not married. A lot of team mothers, the vast majority, 80 % are unmarried. So this becomes a real problem. It's an economic problem. It's an educational opportunity problem. It's a job problem. It's all of the law enforcement problem because their children are more likely to get in trouble with the law. 13 % more likely to end up in prison. I have a question for Pat Shaw. Your agency does try to take some teenage mothers and tease them the skill, but when the police officer talked about the fact that, you know, the parents of these folks or these infants are sometimes older men, do you see that when you have the fathers visit these girls who have become pregnant? Most often, by the time we are involved with young women either through the maternity home or the family development center, which is

mom and baby. Their relationship with their boyfriend has ended. Pat, can you hold that point? We got to go to break and we'll be back in just a moment. So stay tuned and you can pick up that point. There's more to PowerPoint coming up right after this message. PowerPoint is funded in part by PowerPoint's Affiliate Station Consortium, KTSU FM in Houston, WRVSFM in Elizabeth's City, North Carolina, Atlantis WRFGFM, W -E -A -F -M in Baltimore, WJSUFM in Jackson, Mississippi, and KPVUFM serving Prairie View, Texas. PowerPoint's Affiliate Station Consortium committed to the continuation of quality public radio programming. PowerPoint's Affiliate Station Consortium, KTSU FM, WJSUFM, WJSUFM, WJSUFM in Houston,

WJSUFM, Welcome back to PowerPoint. If you'd like to drop us a line via the internet, you can do so by email. Our address is PowerPoint at

worldafrican .com. That's PowerPoint at worldafrican .com. Pat, we're going to get back to your comments about the older male parent in a teenage pregnancy. Want to finish your thoughts on that, boys? Well, we see a lot of young pregnant and parenting teens and young women both in our maternity home and in the family development center. And most often the relationship with the father, birth father has ended or is on the outs when they come into either of those facilities. But many of them have been in relationships with young men who are several years older than they. What we also find is that often the birth father is unavailable. Either he is incarcerated or has moved on or whatever so that he's not always

available. But we do see and work with young birth fathers in our school -based program more and more with the idea being that not only is it important to help this young mom or young expectant mom develop good parenting skills. It's equally as important to work with the young birth fathers and help them to stay connected. Even if they're not going to continue the relationship with the birth mother, it's important that they be connected with that baby. Okay, we're going to take a call right now. We're going to go to Barry from Houston, Texas. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, I can't go ahead. Okay, a question to you. We don't want to respect to you as things pal. Every social problem cannot be intellectualized, analyzed, randomized, all these works and stuff. That's not literature. I'm

hearing an ivory tower syndrome here. The issue of teenage pregnancy is in this occult issue on these defects in character and moral failings. Who's moral failings? Who's moral failings would they be? Well, if people have had, do not care any more about themselves than to get pregnant and then get pregnant again and again. That seems to me cannot be dealt with by having some workshop. Okay, well let's say that your premise is accepted that it is a moral failings. Okay, let's say your premise is accepted. What do you do about young girls who are pregnant regardless of where the failure is? What do you do? We've got to restore the shame. It was never over in... I mean, in Southeast Asia, it brings shame on the family to have a baby out of the way. That's where it was here in the 1940s and 1950s. Does anybody get rid of this horrible welfare system that the bleeding heart of the liver is put in? That does a little more than something that I have teenage pregnancy?

That's all it does. It doesn't help anyone. Jean, you hear Barry speaking about restoring the shame. Do you think that that's something that's feasible, especially from the standpoint of the church? Well, I think it's feasible not only from the standpoint of the church, but I think it starts in the home. And one of the alarming things that I have found in just looking at some staff the other day concerning the situation of out of wet lot of birds here in Memphis is that we had 7 ,800. And of course, this is just... this is from 10 all the way up. And a lot of times, we're just not doing what we need to do as parents and of course a lot of parents in Memphis go to church. However, the children are not getting the message because the parents are not living it in front of them. And so when we... When you say parents aren't living it in

front of them, what do you mean? I mean that mothers are still having babies out of wet lot and then their children are having babies out of wet lot. I mean the mothers are not married or they've been married and they still choose to have that type of a lifestyle. And so the child only... well, a lot of times the child will do what the child sees. And somebody has to break the cycle and we've talked about this a whole lot. But in the church, we need to... and I'll be really, really frank here. We need to stop talking Christianity and we really need to start living what we talk about before our children and before the teenagers so that they will entail start doing some of the things that they see instead of doing opposite. And children are the first to point out that hypocrisy in many, many studies of various kinds. When kids are asked what they want from parents,

they want parents not to be hypocrites. And they know hypocrisy when they see it. Barry, what's your second question? And also we need to start getting tough with the perpetrators. If older men are impregnating younger girls, under age girls, they need to be tracked down and prosecuted and thrown in jail. I mean, this remind me of the situation out in Los Angeles where instead of sending the police to crack open the skulls of drug dealers, the drug dealers were sent to anger management school. The drug dealers themselves found that laughable. So we're not going to get tough about this and just going to sit around and have workshops and pass out of literature and have a broken down welfare system. That's not going to do any good. Well, do they have, they have laws about statutory rape when young girls come in and they're pregnant at 14 and 15. And the father is found to be someone who's over the age of 18. I guess it would be, is that ever pursued? Pat, can you certainly, but often what happens is that information is not

readily available. You know, it may be that the name is not given or whatever. So, but when that is known, you know, the laws do prevail. And it is against the law for adults, adult males to have sex with young girls. Thank you, Barry. We're going to go to Jerry and Jackson, Mississippi. Jerry? Hello? Hi, Jerry. Go ahead. I just want to address the issue that parents are responsible on both ends. I know growing up, my parents told me that if I had any relations with the young lady and she got pregnant, I had to marry her. And I heard this message from the age of like 10. So, I think it's a social responsibility on both parents side. And what concerns me greatly is these days, in fact, that we got all kinds of diseases that grew up in the, you know, Taurus, Adolescence in the

mid to late 80s. And I knew, I mean, AIDS just came out at that particular time and it's getting to be kind of popular. And we had all types of the neurodiseases and all. Neckocermy and the fact that it seems like sex is still very illicit. Free sex is very illicit and people have all the warning signs, but they're not applying them. It's kind of like, you know, learning mathematics. But when you say for the test, you just do a brain dump and say, well, I'm not worried about if I pass or fail. I'm just going to go in there and, you know, and do my best and you don't really take precaution to be prepared, you know, for the reality of the situation. I think it's not necessarily an issue with, with welfare and some other issues, even though they're intrigued. Some part, I think, the main thing is just people are not, they're not just using wisdom. I think you make a good point. But, you know, one of the things though about being an adolescent is that you believe you are invincible. And even though your parents tell

you, you know, not to do this or whatever, you believe that it won't happen to you. And that's just part of being an adolescent. But I do agree that parental involvement and parental influence, even in adolescence, is powerful. I think more and more though, parents are reluctant to exercise that kind of power and influence over their adolescence. It unfortunately is just not the norm. What do you think that is? Thank you, Jerry, for your call. We hope we're answering your question. Go ahead, Pat. I think there are a lot of reasons. You know, parents have become, in some ways, intimidated by their children. And don't want to, you know, take a stand that's not popular. And I think it just goes with the territory

that being a parent and taking unpopular stands, go hand in hand. But more and more, we're finding that it's difficult for not all parents, but for some parents to really be parents and not be friends to their children. I also believe that parents, and just as Pat said, not all parents, but a great majority of parents have become disinterested in parenting. Yes. And they have their own agenda, and the children do not fit in the agenda. This is not a country that likes children very much, and historically, it really hasn't. If you look at, you know, if you apply the standard that you put your values, you put your money where your values are, it's not a country that's spent a great deal of money on children and its history. Children are inconvenient. It's like, you know, having a puppy. They don't stay small and cute. And I think that the parenting for anybody

who's done it, with every possible advantage, it is still such a hard job. And, you know, I think that Dr. Pat is absolutely right, or was that Eugene? I'm not sure. Well, I'm not sure either, but I would like to make this point, too, that I feel that we really need to get it across to parents. That parenting, some feel that parenting is forever. Parenting in a sense is forever. Oh, it is. It is forever. However, there is a lot of life and a lot of living after the children have become grown. And we don't seem to understand that there's still a lot that we can do. A lot that we can give back to society. But the main focus when we are parents is that we train our children and teach them right from wrong and give them time. Somebody said something about money. We know we need money in this society. However, you can give a child

time over money any day. And it will cause that child to know that you love them and that you care about who they are, what they do. We talked about girls having sexual intercourse with older men. Where are the mothers? And, you know, I don't mean to just put this on the mothers, but we do know. And we are aware that a lot of fathers are not there in the home. And it is the responsibility of the single parent, female. So, you know, what's going on? Why is it that I don't know that my daughter is dating a 24 -year -old? What is going on with me? Where am I that I don't understand and know this? Exactly. Or that you know, and you can't quite figure out what's wrong with that. I think there's some of that too. Another point, though, to be made is that while we have a lot of single parent families, one of the traditions in the African -American community that we need to revitalize is that of the extended family and the

community being supportive of families, whether that's two parent or single parent families. I think in my own family, I would not have been able to raise my sons without the support of my extended family. And I think whether they're related or fictive kin or community, we've got to rally that kind of environment and, again, because that's what really makes the difference. Well, I think that's what I was sort of alluded to when I talked about a recovery or restoration process, where it's not just when the girl is pregnant and she has to go through that. It's also as she parents her child. I mean, she needs support all the way through this process. I think, Dr. Kishimo, you raised an important point. And I want

to invite our listening audience to call us at 1 -800 -360 -1799 because we want to hear from them, and we want to talk about some solutions to this problem, some things that we know work that really have shown to make a difference and have a significant impact on this problem. Lynn, I want to ask you, I know your organization is involved in funding organizations that have been established as a standard of care. Can you share with us what you have found that works? There is a system in youth development called Best Practices. And there are those programs that have been shown to have some effect. The field is undergoing a shift, and I've started to say dramatic, and I think it's too soon to tell whether Pat in the studio here is smiling. How dramatic it is, but what we're finding after about two decades now of looking for traditional programs like Girls Inc, Boys and Girls, clubs, mentoring programs, some of the others that

may not be quite so well known. There's one called Kidsway, Michael Carreras, and Seven Step Program. There are a variety of them. You can pick and choose those that have seemed to have some success, but the reality is it's far more complicated than finding a program that one group of people in one place may be responsive to. Can you replicate it, or can you do a program similar to it in another place that's going to be practical too? So we're all struggling with that process. What we're learning is, as we've been saying here this evening, that the old -fashioned stuff seems to be what works. You look one kid in the eye and say, look, this is not what I want for you. This is not what society is looking. Well, increasingly it is not the parents for one reason or another, and one of the challenges is whether it should be the school system. We all believe it should be the church, and I think churches have had some difficulty stepping up to the plate because I think they've been emotionally challenged around who was, at various issues, who raised the moral issue. It

is shifting sea of morality. I think there are times that those people who traditionally have set the standards or who've spoken on the standards have been silent. AIDS has been a terrible, in the news, we heard how bad it is in Africa. Terrible here in America, and the religious community, the social community, the business community, and the African -American community, in particular, has struggled to come to grips with that, because of our issues around homosexuality. So that's one thing, but not to stray too far afield. I'd like to raise, just looking at the clock, an issue we haven't touched on that is another one of America's dirty little secrets that affects the girls and boys we deal with, and that is the extent, depth, and breadth of sexual abuse of children in this country. And the fact that, you know, it would be wonderful if we could say to girls, just say no. Well, how can you, if you were 5,

8, 10, before you could say no to any adult, some adult sexually abused? What percentage of these teenage pregnancies are a result of sexual abuse? Well, I don't know what statistics others have, but the statistics I've seen most recently, say about 60, does anybody have anything that says something dramatically different? So 60 % of the teen pregnancies are a result of child early teens. In the early teens, it's say, you know, from 10 to 15, and again, I'm looking to our other panelists here because they may have other statistics. That's the only one I'm seeing. Well, I think she makes a good point. You know, the other thing we know is rampant in the African -American community is drug use and drug abuse. And when you have girls that are in homes where drugs are used, where the mother is a user, or someone in the home is using drugs, then, you know, you have people coming in and out, and I've heard of cases, and this is primarily

anecdotal information where young women have been traded for drugs, you know. So you have all of those kinds of situations going on within our community. But I think we as African -Americans, we really have to stand up to the plate here. And I mean, we have to look at what is happening to us because we're the ones who are really suffering a lot of the negative impacts. And again, I'm going to go back to the school system. The achievement data was part of the news they came out. Dr. Kishimo, I'm going to have to ask you to hold that point. I'm sorry, we've got to take a break. And we're going to continue in a moment. Coming up on the next PowerPoint, we're going to be talking about strokes because you can have one and not even know that you're having it. We're going to be right back after this message. We're

going to be talking about strokes. Welcome back to PowerPoint. We're talking about teenage pregnancy this evening. Our guest, our gene Miller in Memphis, Dr. Pat Kishimo in West

Virginia. Pat Shoal here in Atlanta and Lin -me. And we're trying to come up with some discussion regarding what works and how we can solve this problem. And we invite you to call us with your thoughts at 1 -800 -360 -1799. And Dr. Kishimo, we're going to let you finish your point before we go to the phones to take a call from Baltimore. Go ahead. I believe I was talking about the impact really on African American children. If this problem is really not addressed and I was saying it, I think we as African Americans are really going to have to think seriously how we stand up and attack it. I know we see in schools that there are too many young African American children. I mean, first, second, and third graders. There's an over assignment to the categories of emotionally disturbed. And many school systems have been cited for the over assignment of African American males. You know,

behavior disorder and emotionally disturbed in first and second grade. And when you're talking about trying to work with families and you need to get a whole of a parent and the parent really needs to form a partnership. And they need to talk about what appropriate behavior is for the child in the school and have that communication going with the teacher so that that doesn't happen. And our kids are not labeled and those types of things. If there's not a parent there that you can get a hold of or an extended family member that you can get a hold of, we know that that kid is just going to be tracked. Pretty much tracked, although we say we don't track, but that's what happens. Once they start down that track, it's very, very difficult to get them out of any type of a special education situation or any type of a remedial situation. So you're suggesting what? So I'm suggesting that one thing the African American community is going to be. And I don't know if it's through our churches. We have to have a louder voice, but we have to get this

conversation about teenage sexuality sort of out of the closet. It really isn't the school's responsibility to impart the moral values that our children need. That's our responsibility. And we're going to have to come together and start talking about it a lot more. Okay, we're going to take a call from Audi MA. Is it in Baltimore? That's correct. Thank you, go ahead. Yes, I really like the fact that you are addressing or attempting any way to address what works. And as the founder and director of a program called Men on the Move, one of our focus has been to work with teen dads. Okay, good. Yeah, we've conducted several workshops where we work with new fathers, or those who are engaged in relationships, the main fact become fathers. Because there's a product of an experience where I didn't have a father on the scene. As I grew up, I understood the importance of the support system and the village dads. And so these young men, we

work with them to help them become better fathers. Because in most cases, they are willing to do that. The ones that we work with are just that they don't have a clue. And so the point is not to beat up on them and tell them what they have done is incorrect, etc. It's now what do they do and how can we support them to become better fathers and give them the experiences so that they don't replicate their own experience. So I just want to focus and ask you all to talk about what else can we do to support these young fathers becoming better fathers. Thank you, Audi M .A. Lou, you want to talk about that? I'll tell you what's interesting that all the callers tonight have been men. That's right. I love that. That is wonderful. Dealing with young men who either have become fathers or may become fathers is absolutely critical and they often are left out of the equation. It seems sometimes we've given up on young black men. We're afraid of them. We want them sort of out of sight, out of mind. And it's difficult to bring them back into the fold because I think they feel so disenfranchised.

There are some programs that again have been shown to have some effectiveness, one called Wiseguys as one G -Cat supports and promotes. And we use a variety of kinds of tactics, including basketball. We've created a basketball team because it's reaching them first through sports, getting to know them and then starting the dialogue. You can't just start at cold. You have to create relationships to do it and that's terribly important. So that's one of the things we're working on. Okay. We're going to wrap up our discussion this evening. And I'd like for everyone just to give me their quick parting thoughts about what we've been talking about and what they think anyone who's listening in the audience might, if they'd have want to call somewhere or want to have an idea of what might work for them, share that with us as we wrap up our discussion this evening. We'll start with you, Pat. Well, I think one of the things that

all of us need to keep in mind is that while this may be a huge problem, we can do something about it at our own individual levels. Children, young people that we come into contact with families, that we come into contact with, we can be supportive of through whatever they're going. And I think that's the place to start that we need to get back to the whole notion of being much more supportive as a community of each other. Gene? I agree. And I also would like to say to all church leaders that we need to come up to parks and we need to begin not only teaching truth but living truth and expecting our teenagers to become what they really were meant to become. Dr. Kishimo? I agree with everything and we haven't talked very much about it, but we've talked about every marriage is an important thing here. That sex was meant to be had and done and children were meant to be

created within the confines of marriage. And we ought to think about talking to our males not just about being good parents, but about marriage. I mean, it's about creating a family. When you create a child, you make a commitment to it. I would make a pitch in closing for remembering that sex is one of the most joyful, precious experiences given to us as human beings and it is to be treasured. Thank you all. Thanks for joining us. Our Point News is produced by Bruce Dorton. The production manager is Glenn Simmons with production assistance from Markey Lothden. The call screener is Cherianne Holder. The associate producer for PowerPoint is Rosemary Holmes. The executive producer is Reggie Hex. Power Point's theme is from the CDF Stops by Craig Harris. Production assistance for PowerPoint is provided by WCLK FM, a broadcast service of Clark Atlanta University. PowerPoint is funded in part by the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Legacy Foundation. This is PowerPoint, a production of Hicks and Associates. Music

Production and broadcast of

PowerPoint is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to enhancing, preserving and restoring the legacy and history of life in America. Music This is PowerPoint, an information age clearinghouse for news, issues and ideas that impact the African -American community, the nation and the world. Good evening and welcome to PowerPoint, broadcasting live from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm Dr. Mary Harris. Stroke is the third leading cause of death among all Americans, but African -Americans have a three to five times greater risk of stroke than other groups. And African -Americans are twice as likely to die of stroke than non -African -Americans. Why is it that so many African -Americans are unaware of their risk for stroke or of the symptoms of a stroke? Can we prevent strokes and is there a cure? Coming up, African -Americans and

strokes, but first to the PowerPoint news desk and a wrap up of this week's news. Music With news and information to empower the community, this is PowerPoint. Good evening. I'm Bruce Dorton. President Clinton says the Nigerian people have to do their part to reverse the damage from their long dictatorship. He called on them to work with government officials to create a good climate for investment, then keep the economy growing to build a better life. In a speech to Nigerian, ad -American business leaders in the African country, Clinton says the United States, Nigeria's largest trading partner, will do what it can to help it with its debt burden. But he says the savings must be used to improve education, make the water safer, rebuild the country's infrastructure, and stop the spread of infectious diseases. The Japanese government

is taking action on what's being described as a massive 20 -year cover -up of auto defects at Mitsubishi. Police have searched headquarters of Mitsubishi Motors, two factories, and the homes of two company officials. The government says Mitsubishi covered up 64 ,000 consumer complaints over 20 years. Police confiscated more than 1 ,000 items, including records of meetings of Mitsubishi officials, consumer complaints, and computer discs. Mitsubishi has recalled more than 620 ,000 vehicles in the past month. None of the defects has been known to cause deaths about 45 ,000 of the vehicles affected by the recalls are in the United States. Yesterday in a gathering that replicated the 1963 March on Washington, the son of Martin Luther King, Jr., stood where his father once stood, and repeated his father's challenge, quote,

quote

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says, series we call Journey to Wellness with Dr. Mary Harris. This coming hour, we look at African Americans and Strokes. I'm Bruce Thornton. Good evening. Good evening and welcome to PowerPoint. We're broadcasting live from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm Dr.

Mary Harris. It's called a brain attack because of its severity, but it's more commonly known as Stroke. And African Americans are affected by and die from stroke more often than any other racial group. Why is that? And what can be done about it? African Americans in Stroke, the subject of tonight's PowerPoint. And joining us in our studio this evening is Dr. Albert Tago, who is Chief Division of Vascular Surgery at Morehouse School of Medicine. And joining us on the telephone from his home in Chicago is Dr. Philip Gorelick, Professor and Director of the Section of Cerebral Vascular Disease in Neurological Critical Care at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Gorelick also authored the book Strokes in Blacks. It's a guide to management and prevention. Dr. Gorelick, Dr. Tago, good evening and welcome to PowerPoint. And remember, you can join in on the discussion by

calling the PowerPoint hotline at 1 -800 -360 -1799. That's 1 -800 -360 -1799. Dr. Tago, let's begin our questioning with you. The word Stroke has been in the news quite a bit lately. President Ford recently had a stroke and Robert Guillaume, the actor, had a stroke. And although we've heard a lot about this word Stroke, a lot of people really don't know what it is or the fact that it's more than one kind of stroke. You can have more than one type of stroke. Can you give us some working definitions for our discussion tonight? Yes, in general, stroke implies damage to a portion of the brain. And when this occurs, it tends to affect various parts of the body

and functions related to the brain. Now, the brain is the centerpiece for control of various body movements, memory, intelligence, speech. And if a portion of the brain is significantly damaged by a stroke process, then why don't we lose some of these bodily factors and functions? Now, what is the stroke process in tail exactly? There are so many causes and types of stroke, as we know today. But in general, when the process of stroke occurs, it tends to cause a damage to the circulation in various parts of the brain. When this occurs, and that portion of the brain is deprived of circulation, which normally carries nutrition and good oxygen to that part of the brain, then the brain

loses. The portion affected loses its function. Now, I understand that there's more than one type of stroke. There are two different kinds of stroke, if you will. Can you tell our audience what those are? The strokes generally have been classified and changed. The classification has been modified over the years, depending on our level of technology, actually. The broad categories usually are the types that will cause immediate and permanent damage. Which is also called as permanent stroke. Then a smaller type, which is in late terms, described as a mini -stroke, is the type where the individual gets the transient damage to a portion of the brain. But fortunately, it recovers. In the two types of strokes,

is there a term called an ischemic stroke? Yes, then you get into the medical terminologies. When we say ischemic stroke, we're implying that the portion of the brain has been deprived of the circulation as a result of blockage to the main blood channel that carries the blood to that portion of the brain. What percentage of strokes fall into this category? Again, over the years, as our technology of examination of the brain had improved, the percentages had changed. Currently, we suspect that the bulk of strokes up to two -thirds, or about 60 -70 % of the strokes, are related to the ischemic stroke as you described them. What about the other type of stroke? Now, the other type of stroke, which in the past, we used to be the common

type, are the smaller blood vessels within the brain, burst. When the burst, the rupture, and the blood escapes from the blood vessel, irritating the brain substance. And that also causes stroke. Because in that portion of the brain, we can't be deprived. Dr. Gorillic? Yes. Good evening. Good welcome, thank you. Now, according to a published report issued in February of this year by the Centers for Disease Control, individuals in the age group of 35 to 54 African Americans in this age group base quadruple the risk for stroke compared to whites. Why is this happening? Well, we're not absolutely certain why this excess stroke risk exists. However, there are several possible explanations. One of the explanations has to do with the higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk

factors. This basically means that some race ethnic groups are more likely to have factors such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, cigarette smoking, and other unhealthy habits. And if you look at studies that have been done in the African American community, we find that there is a higher frequency of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and cigarette smoking. So that's one of the explanations that's been given to try to explain the excess stroke burden in the African American community. Another explanation has been that the risk factors occur earlier on in life. And there have been a number of studies. One very famous study, the Boba -Lusa Heart Study, found that they were able to determine that these risk factors were beginning to take form early on in life in African

American children. And if you followed those children, as they got older, they would start developing hypertension, but they could be identified fairly early in life. How early are we talking about that? Well, we're talking about in the first one or two decades of life. Okay. So there was trends there to be able to identify young people who had higher blood pressures and higher pulse rates and so on, which were markers that later on they may develop high blood pressure. So this is another factor of development of these risk factors earlier in life. Another factor may have to do with more severe risk factors. And if you look at hypertension, which is the number one treatable stroke risk factor, it tends to be more severe in African Americans than it does in white Americans. Okay. Now,

for both of our doctors, when we hear people talk about strokes, now they are starting to call them brain attacks. And I think this is probably an effort to stress the urgency of what's going on as we do, say, in a heart attack. And doctors are now urging that we need to get treatment immediately, get to a stroke treatment center as quickly as possible. We need to know what are the symptoms of a stroke? How do we know if we're having a stroke and what should we do? And with this idea of a stroke treatment center, is every hospital you go to a stroke treatment center? Well, the symptoms of stroke are primarily numbness of the face armor leg, weakness of the face armor leg, loss of vision in one or both eyes. Slurring of speech, sudden severe unexplained headache, or sudden staggering when one walks. Now, these symptoms can occur in isolation, or they may occur

in combination with each other. But once one has those symptoms, they shouldn't just attribute it to they're having a bad day, or their rheumatism is acting up, or they're having the flu or don't feel well. These can be very important symptoms that mean that one is having a stroke or a brain attack, and they need to get to the hospital right away. And getting to the hospital right away means calling 911. One should not call their primary care doctor and ask for advice, because the primary care doctor may be in the hospital seeing patients or may be tied up in their office and may not be able to return the phone call. For several hours, and we're losing valuable time while we're waiting for the return call. So what we recommend is that people call 911, because that's the emergency number for the emergency medical service or ambulance service to come out and pick them up and get them to the hospital. Recently, an article came

out in the Journal of the American Medical Association, authored by a group called the Brain Attack Coalition. And we have now adopted the term brain attack, because we want to differentiate brain attack from heart attack. Many people still believe that when they have a stroke, that it happened because they had a heart attack, and that's not really true. What we're really dealing with is an event in the brain as the doctor just discussed. The arteries harden, and they become blocked, and you don't get enough blood flow up to the brain. So that's what the stroke has to do with the ischemic variety anyway, and as the doctor mentioned, when these blood vessels rupture in the brain, you get a hemorrhage. So people have got to get to the hospital, and the reason why we want them there quickly is because there are medications called clot busters, or thrombolytics, as they're referred to in the medical jargon. And these agents are able to break up clot,

but time is brain. And what I mean by that is you have to get in right away, because we only have a three -hour window of time in which we can administer the clot buster, whereby it's still safe and will be effective. Once you go beyond the three windows after the onset of the symptoms, it can become dangerous to use these clot busting agents. So time is of the essence, very valuable and important to get to the hospital right away. Ms. Lot, we have a joining us on the phone, a woman who has, is actually a stroke survivor, and her name is Gertrude Lot, and Ms. Lot, how are you? Welcome. Oh yes, I'm glad to be here. Thank you for joining us. We'd like for you to share with our audience if you will. Your experience with stroke. What were your symptoms, and when you realized something was going wrong, what did you do? When it happened, it happened so suddenly.

I didn't know what really was going on, because I never had, you know, no headaches or anything bothering me, but I had been under pressure, quite a bit of pressure. My husband had died and I had been quite a bit of pressure, and I would think of different things, but I would keep it to myself. I just, you know, just didn't feel good, but I wouldn't hurt or anything. So you were under a lot of stress. I went through some stress, and I should have, if I had really known goodness, I should have went straight on to the doctor there, but I didn't. I just went on through it, and this went on, I guess, about a year and a half. You went a year and a half. A year and a half, going through some terrible pressures. Okay, and did you have headaches or a dizziness or anything like that? No, I had a little dizziness, but I never had any. And you never mentioned this to your doctor. And I never mentioned it to my doctor. Okay, go ahead. And so I just thought I was all

right, and so one morning I got up and went in the kitchen to the sink, and I was looking at the window and all of a sudden, something just seemed like hitting me at the top, cooling, hitting on the left side of my head. And it came all down, all, all, you know, and everything. And it was so, it was so not just like something dead. Okay, and I thought I would just pinch my ears and pinch my ear because my ear, it felt like something was just rolling, going on. And so I went inside of my head on the, on the left side. So when these began to happen, what did you do? And so when it began to happen, I, I just, something, you got to call the doctor right away. And so I called my brother -in -law, and he come over and, and I, I just had lost all control. My heart was beating so fast, and lost all, that was a very weak, and, and everything I just couldn't hardly stand. And

so they taken me down to the emergency. Okay, so you were able to get medical treatment at that point? Yeah, that's right. They took me right on down there, and they waited on me right away. And so they, you know, didn't understand, and different things. But when I got to the hospital first, it seemed like some of that, that, that, thatness was, was leaving my body, leaving my head. And it, and it felt much better. And so then when they taken the scan, they, uh, found that, you know, they didn't quite know just what it was, but they know it was something serious about that. So they, uh, put me up in one of these, uh, MRR. MRR? Yeah, MRR. And so they found that I had a blockage in my neck. Okay. And I had a, a light stroke. Now let me stop you right there if I might have asked Dr. Tego, is this kind of a classic presentation

for someone that's having a stroke? Yes, I started earlier, I indicated that using the other classification of strokes, which the type she had could be categorized as a mini stroke. Or what is typically described as a TIA, meaning a transient and skimmed attack. Meaning that it passes. Yeah, the individual gives the stroke, but fortunately, the brain recovers itself. The stroke reverses itself and the weakness and the feeling like she described passes within the few hours after about 24 hours. When that happens, the individual is lucky. In her case, she was scanned right away. And the reason why we want to scan immediately is to determine if it's the hemorrhagic or the type

that the blood vessel ruptures or the schematic type, which is the block vessel. If it's the blockage, then as the doctor mentioned earlier, she may qualify for clot -busting treatment using the chemicals to dissolve the block clot within the blood vessels quickly to restore circulation to that portion of the brain. In her case, she happened to have the blockage type. And most of these patients who happen to have the blockage, the point of origin of the blockage fortunately, happens to be within the major blood vessels and the neck. So, once she was hospitalized and we discovered that the type she had, we put them on blood thinners instead of blood clot -busters, the two are different. The blood thinner is administered to prevent any

more blood clot forming. And then subsequently, we scanned the neck to see and check on the larger vessels in the neck. She had about 90 % blockage in the major blood vessel that carries blood to the brain in the neck. So subsequently, she had surgery the following day, she did well through the surgery and I think she went home 24 hours later. She's done remarkably well. We're talking about stroke deceiving. It's the third leading cause of death among all Americans. And this is information you should know. So, phone us with your thoughts, questions and comments. The PowerPoint hotline is 1 -800 -360 -1799. That's 1 -800 -360 -1799. 1 -800

-079. That's it, you've got it. Now, in talking about these TIAs, I understand. Okay, we're going to go to break right now, stay tuned, and we welcome your feedback. PowerPoint is funded in part by PowerPoint's Affiliate Station Consortium, KTSU FM in Houston, WRVS FM in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Atlanta's WRFGFM, W -E -A -F -M in Baltimore, WJSUFM in Jackson, Mississippi, and KPVU FM serving prayer review, Texas. PowerPoint's Affiliate Station Consortium committed to the continuation of quality public radio programming. PowerPoint's Affiliate Station Consortium, KTSU FM

AR, Hi, I'm Delaries. Every minute in the United States, someone experiences a stroke. About twenty years ago it happened to me Through the grace of God and expert medical care, I survived and I'm here to tell you how to protect yourself

and the ones you love. Stroke is preventable and if God in time treatable, learn the symptoms of stroke so that you can call 9 -1 -1 to get emergency treatment fast. Call the National Stroke Association at 1 -800 Strokes. Welcome back to PowerPoint. We're going to go to the phone lines right now and take a call from Paul in Houston, Texas. Paul, go ahead. Hello. Hello, go ahead. Yes, I wanted to know a person that a woman is 30 years old under a lot of stress because she'd be prone to stroke. Obviously, you're not parking. We have your name, please. I'm Paula. Paula, I'm sorry, I apologize. Go ahead. Would you repeat your question for us, please? Yes. For a 30 -year -old woman who's under a lot of stress, could she possibly have a stroke or is it like an older age category?

No, I believe. We're going to let the doctor respond to that. Dr. Tego, thank you. A 30 years is pretty unusual, very unlikely. However, stressful lifestyles, even though have not been fully documented to be related to stroke per se, in general, stressful lifestyles tend to impact cardiovascular diseases. And one condition, as was mentioned earlier in this program, is hypertension. So when you're in a lot of stress, one of the conditions that tend to affect the individual's hypertension as a result of the stress. So if you're under stress, then the way to prevent all these problems related to cardiovascular diseases is to try to correct or remedy

the conditions that have bringing on the stress. Right. So you are not at risk at stroke right now, but over the years, you may encounter problems like hypertension, heart disease, and then the stroke might be a secondary or tertiary event. Okay, even what happened one or two of those symptoms? Yes, because your age, the stroke conditions generally tend to affect people greater than 40, 50 years and above. Okay. But like I said, it's unusual. It could happen, but it's pretty unusual, unlikely in your situation. Okay. Thank you, Paula. All right. Thank you. Dr. Gorillac, I wanted to ask Dr. Gorillac, when she mentioned that she was a young woman and that she thought she might possibly be at risk for stroke in your book, do you talk about

really who is at risk and what the risk factors are? That's a topic that we cover very extensively because it's exceedingly important. We know that there are well -documented risk factors for stroke such as hypertension, diabetes, cigarette smoking, heart disease, heavy alcohol consumption, and then there's other factors that may be slightly less well -documented but are also important for good cardiovascular health such as high cholesterol and obesity. We know that by modifying these factors, we can dramatically reduce the risk of stroke. What about genetics? Well, genetics is a very important factor because we know that we're not explaining all of the occurrence of stroke based on these risk factors that I just mentioned. And the studies of the genetics of stroke

have really just begun. We're just scratching the surface looking for genes that may put us at higher risk. We know clearly that stroke travels in families and that it's really a family affair and that once you have someone in your family with a stroke, you're going to be at higher risk to have a stroke. How much of a higher risk? Well, we haven't really quantified that exactly at this point in time but it's probably up to several times the risk of someone who doesn't have a member in the family, a close member in the family who has a stroke. But I would say that in the next five to ten years, we're going to have a much better idea about some of these candidate genes and what they're doing and maybe we'll come up with some new preventatives based on some of the genetic information. Dr. Tego, do you want to come in on that genetic factor? This is true actually because we just get into

really understand genetics and how it applies to many disease processes. As far as it's relation to stroke, it's not been really defined and quantified as you mentioned earlier. But I wanted to mention the making coming about the importance of these risk factors. Because many times when individuals hear about risk factors, they only hear blood pressure, cholesterol, hypertension. The importance of the awareness of these risk factors is to modify the impact on the disease process. And this means that most individuals need to see their doctors. I make this comment because in the recent report in the journal of the National Medical Association, which happens to be the

association for black decisions, they analyze a cohort of people, individuals, trying to find from them how many of them will seek medical help prophylactically, meaning preventively. See the doctor by the condition to get black pressure check out physical exams. And you wouldn't believe it but less than 20 % of the black males responded in affirmative. So yes, it's okay and adequate to get into the hospital when you're coming down with the stroke. But we could do better if we see our doctors so that this risk factors could be managed and controlled ahead of time. Okay, thank you. We're going to go to the phone lines right now and we do invite you to call us at 1 -800 -360 -1799. And we're going to take our

call from Nathaniel and South Carolina. Nathaniel, you're on the air. Go ahead. Yes, I'd like to know any kind of stuff that you can take over the counter, like a vitamin or something that can help prevent stroke. Dr. Gorillag, Dr. Tego? Well, I'll be happy to comment on that. Vitamins may be very important for prevention of heart attack and stroke. There is a substance in our diet. It's called homocysteine. And what we've learned recently is that when the homocysteine level is elevated, that you may be at higher risk to have a stroke or a heart attack. And what's very interesting is that we can reduce the homocysteine level by taking B vitamins. So B12, B6 and folic acid will reduce the homocysteine, which we hope will subsequently reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack. And this is being studied right now

across the United States. And hopefully we'll have a more definitive answer in the next several years. But I think the B vitamins are very important. And they may reduce our risk of having a stroke and heart attack. All right. Thanks a lot. Thank you for your call. We're going to move on to Edgar from Houston, Texas. Edgar, you're on the line. Hello, how are you doing? Hi. I was just calling to make a comment. The gentleman that's speaking is very important. What are you saying? Because one thing in a black community. A lot of times, you know, our health care by the time we get the medical attention that we need. Our condition has progressed and it's worsened. So there are a lot of basic simple tests out there that you can have. Turn the radio down. We're trying to get you need to turn your radio down. Turn it down. Yeah, turn it down so we can hear you clearly. Okay. I'm

sorry. What I was saying about the test is that there's a, I'm president of a new age imaging services here in Houston, Texas. And we're located at 2521 North Shepherd. And one of the procedures that we do on a regular basis is the MRI of the carotid vessels in the neck. And if we raise people in the community's level of awareness about these strokes, that they can, you know, they're physician. All you have to do is just order a simple, you know, MRI of the blood vessels in the neck. And a lot of times problems can be detected very early. Okay. Dr. Tego, what about this test, the MRI? Yes, the MRI is a newer technology of imaging that helps us evaluate the major blood vessels to the brain, and including the smaller vessels within the brain substance. This technology is evolving and it's getting better. And it's been improved

over the past couple of years. Prior to the MRI imaging of the circulation in the to the brain, we were doing what is called conventional angiograms. And as a surgeon, I grew up in training doing it that way as a standard, where we put down the circulation through injections and take special X -rays. But the MRI is less invasive. There's not involved major needle sticks and punctures. Can this be performed on anyone? It could be performed on almost everyone, but the equipment is said that the individual is in an enclosure. So those who have claustrophobia are not able to tolerate it. They're newer systems now which are open and not every institution has that, but it's possible to perform it on everyone, even children. And this is a test

that insurance companies will reimburse for? Well, they will reimburse for, but you have to have it recently. It has to be requested, having requested by a physician based on documentation of need for it. Ms. Lot, did you undergo such a procedure and how was this handled in your case? Oh, what about managers? Yes. Oh, well, they have been nice before. I haven't gotten a letter from them or anything about it. Okay, so it was pretty much taken care of. Yeah, it was taken care of. Okay, we're going to go to the phone lines again and take a call from George from Baltimore. George, you're on the air. Go ahead. Hi, how are you? Hi. Enjoying the program. I want to say, as a body who was one, I'm weighed 400 and 80 pounds. So you're a big guy. Well, I was a big guy. Everybody said, oh, you dress nicely. You look healthy. You know, and I wasn't a sloppy big man. But

I'm pretty sure that the main thing that brings about stroke, especially in the black community, is overweight, hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, stress, heart disease. There's all these things come as a result of overweight. Now, we're able to put off 240 pounds. So I'm still working on my way trying to get down to where I was going to be. But I had to do it through, I'm sure the doctors heard about the phobia pouch. Oh, yes. It's a surgical procedure that what sells up your stomach? Yes. I was by doctor, by doctor Matthias Fowbie, who happens to be African, but trained here in the United States. And I've had my weight often. I've kept it off now for three years. Before that time, I would lose weight, I'd go on diets, and I'd do all these other behavior modification things. And they did not work. And I am very concerned about what overweight is doing to us as black

people. We seem sometimes to take a pride in the fact that we're big. I don't see any pride in it. I wanted to be an old man, and I didn't see too many fat old men. And so I decided I had to do something which was drastic because of the things, the other sicknesses that it brought on, my insurance paid for the whole thing. And I think that it's going to be something that is going to be rarely looked upon as bariatric surgery in the black community, especially for our black women. I love black women, but letting themselves go when they get grossly overweight. Let me interrupt you right here, because I want to talk about this whole issue of weight, obesity, and its relationship to stroke. And of course, you know, diet and eating is a big part of our culture. And what is it we need to know about what we eat, how much we eat in its relationship to stroke. And I'll ask both doctors to comment on that. Dr. Tegga, why don't you go

first? Yes, I want to thank the gentleman for bringing up that point. I'm pleased that they came from the general public. Obesity is very rampant in our communities. And I happen to know Dr. Fobie personally, who's done a tremendous job in the Los Angeles area and nationwide. But his obesity happens to be on the extreme end of the scale. But generally... When you say extreme end, what do you mean? Well, how extreme? In general, obesity is defined according to the height and weight of the individual. But in broad terms, if you're over twice, your ideal weight, that may be too much for anybody. And it will come with other complications or conditions like he mentioned hypertension. Obesity in general can be genetic. But even

when it's genetic, one can modify it. Most times, we bring it upon ourselves. The first and primary modality is overeating. Then the choice of foods and inactive lifestyles. If we reduce the amount of intake in terms of calories, the contents of the food that we eat, cut back on the junk food, all the fat and the grease, illogical vegetables and fruits, and exercise routinely. And make a conscious effort to maintain our weights. That will help us with all these other factors that we describe as predisposing. Meaning they set you up for the various cardiovascular diseases, including stroke.

Well, when we look at our diets, though, and in our communities, we have a number of fried chicken places in our communities. Fast foods are rampant in the African -American community. And you have a mother that's busy that's on the go. There's the temptation to stop by and pick up some fried chicken or burger and fries. Should we not be doing this? No, it's okay to do it occasionally. And also be mindful when you donate, not to overdo it. Of course, naturally, like I tell most of my patients, one has to live. But in the process of living, you can be conscious of what's good lifestyle and what is bad lifestyle. If you overdo it, that's going to be consequences. Dr. Gorillic, we're going to come back to you in a few minutes and we're going to take a break. We're talking about stroke. It's the third leading cause of death among all Americans. And we invite you to call us with your questions and comments at

1 -800 -360 -1799. Stay tuned to this public radio station for more PowerPoint. And we welcome your feedback. Thank you. Thanks. Thank

you. Welcome back to PowerPoint, identifying the symptoms of a stroke. Call the PowerPoint hotline at 1 -800 -360 -1799. That's 1 -800 -360 -1799. We're going to pick up with Dr. Gorillic and we'd like to get your comments about diet and

obesity and its relationship to stroke in the African -American community. Well, I think the caller made a very astute observation and I'd like to second what Dr. Tago had to say because we have an epidemic of overweight and obesity in this country. And unfortunately African -American women take on the largest weight gain of all race ethnic groups in this country. Hispanic women also have very high weight gains. And what the excess weight is associated with is as the caller said, we see more diabetes, more high cholesterol, more hypertension. And really we've got to get back to the basics here. And I think this is an area that the National Stroke Association has been emphasizing in their campaign to reduce obesity and some of the lifestyle

factors that need to be treated. And really what we need to do is we can eat a variety of foods but we've got to remember we've got to do it in moderation. And what we've been recommending at the National Stroke Association is about five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, moderation in terms of the amount of calories we take in. And we've got to give up some things. If we want to keep our weight down, we've also got exercise. And I'd like to indicate to the listeners that if you're going to start exercising, please discuss it with your doctor. You don't want to get into an exercise program that's not appropriate for you. So really the combination of proper diet, restriction of calories that is and fruits and vegetables and exercise is really the pathway to healthy lifestyle. Dr. Tygo, we were talking about things that we can do to

prevent a stroke. I read about a relatively new procedure, a surgical procedure in diet erectomy. Can you explain this to our audience and how this is used to prevent stroke? In diet erectomy is the surgical term for recanalyzing or rechanneling the blocked and hardened arteries that carry blood to the brain. And as a surgeon, this is one of the operations that I perform on a weekly or daily basis. Most of the patients who come in with stroke tend to all many strokes, for that matter, happen to have the heartening of the arteries starting from the main blood vessels in the neck region. And those who are fortunate to come in like a, the patient will

present it here today in this line. Who happened to come in with the mini stroke and regain full brain function after the mini stroke? We scan the neck and check the blood vessels. And if we see a critical blockage, usually on the auto 60 to 70 % of blockage within the main artery, which is called the carotid artery in the neck, then the individual is strongly advised to undergo an in -directoromy. Meaning we open the blood vessel in the neck and remove the plaque manually. The plaque is the material that's blocking the blood vessels. That's blocking the blood vessels. And what happens to the plaque is that the lining, when plaque forms, the smooth lining of the blood vessels get damaged. And it traps little blood clots. And occasionally, a piece of this blood clot breaks loose and gets carried into the circulation in the brain. And that's when you come down with

a stroke. If you're lucky and it's a mini stroke or a transient stroke, then we're able to correct it and you regain full function. Those who are unfortunate, who happen to be the majority of patients who have strokes by the way? Because only about 10 to 20 % of people who come down with stroke recover. Majority of patients who happen to have strokes get the deceibling type of stroke. That's why the emphasis is on prevention. Because once it happens, it's happened. We're going to go to the phone lines. We're going to take a call from Ronald in Philadelphia. Ronald, you're on the air. Welcome. Yes. My primary concern is that I read many books by Dr. Robert Atkins. And he talks about many ways that we don't have to cure diabetes, but we can prevent it by the foods that we eat. Can there be more to be said about that? And I'd like to have my answer over the air and I'll hang up now. Thank you. Thank you for calling. Okay. Dr.

Tego, go ahead. Well, as my colleague mentioned earlier, there is no substitute for good quality lifestyles, which implies not just diet, but the content, the amount of calories that one consumes, the quality of the calories, a good servings of vegetables and fruits daily. I mean, this is not too difficult. This is essentially what is often referred to as a heart healthy diet as well. That's correct. And the servings have to be proportional. You should not overeat. Well, how do we know when we're overeating? How do we know that? We have three or four courses at lunchtime and the same number of courses at dinner time, including desserts, which is our standard. You know.

All right, then. We'll be right back and our discussion will continue and we're going to learn more about stroke. We're getting ready to wrap up this evening. We'd like to thank our guest, Dr. Gorillic, and we'd like to thank Dr. Tego for taking this time to give us this very important information about stroke in our community. Thank you so much. Thank you. Music Powerpoint News is produced by Bruce Dorton.

The production manager is Glenn Simmons, with production assistance from Markey Lofton. The call screener is Cherianne Holder. The associate producer for PowerPoint is Rosemary Holmes. The executive producer is Reggie Hicks. PowerPoint's theme is from the CDF Stops by Craig Harris. Production assistance for PowerPoint is provided by WCLK FM, a broadcast service of Clark Atlanta University. PowerPoint is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Legacy Foundation. This is PowerPoint, a production of Hicks and Associates.