North Carolina Now; 4325; Interview with Debbie Crane

Ier It's Friday September 26 tonight and native son here is making great music in North Carolina. Hello I married a mature and pleasant Friday evening to you thanks for joining us for tonight's edition of North Carolina now. The topic of hysteria the toxic organism blamed for fish kills here in North Carolina and other Atlantic States has hit the national spotlight on this evening's program we'll speak with a representative of the State Department of Health and Human Services to get an update on what North Carolina is

doing to attack the problem. Also tonight we'll share with you the story of a North Carolina musician with a national reputation who still says North Carolina is my home. But up first tonight we go inside the U.N. see burn center in Chapel Hill there is a state of the art burn care facility equipped to care for seriously injured patients. The North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center which is part of USC hospitals is the only burn center in our state. John McCann takes us behind the scenes an all too familiar scene a blazing fire. Property damage lost lives. The power of fire can hardly be overestimated. Far after all it is a very important tool. I think that that is the reason that many of our patients get burned in fact is because they forget just how potent some of these tools that we use such as. Barbecue fires such as gasoline

kerosene and others just how potent these can be. You take a can of gasoline for example and exploded in a fire and you're going to get a force of explosion that's what I want to sit in on several sticks of dynamite. People don't know that. Doctors say most burn injuries can be prevented but they still happen and when they do the folks at the UMC burn center get into action. The first place that a patient will go to when they get to the burn centers and the hydrotherapy RAM. I need a field as head nurse at the burn center. The first thing that happens to a burn patient when they come into the burn center is that they have to be bathed. It's a time where we can evaluate the size of their burn injury. So we bring them to the hydrotherapy room. We spray them off with tap water that comes down through these hoses. Once this is completed and we finish the washing process then we move the patient on the same stretcher to their room. Now when patients come to the burn center we usually know ahead of time so we'll go ahead and set the patient's room. Before

they get here what these nurses are doing now is setting up a room with their dressings. Getting the monitor set up if we know the patients really critically ill will have a ventilator ready set and we have all those things ready right when the patient gets here there won't be any delays once they hit the door. Time is of the essence you want to be sure to get your patient to the bed to a stable environment as quickly as possible given the fact that we have to bathe our patients they have to make an extra stop so we want to get them here the other thing is that we want to get them into this room. Crank up the temperature on the thermostat so that they're in a warm environment because they lose their body heat and they get very cold. So it is very life and death here just like it is in an emergency department. Then it's all of the physical and occupational therapy after a bad burn something as common as say buttoning a shirt becomes a very difficult thing to do. These exercises help get the patient to that point. Dr. pic's is doing is not just to have the patient survive

and 95 percent of the do. The team's mission is to get the patients to a point where they can enjoy life. Garrison is one of the burners and his patients who's well on his way to recovery. Ors Yeah I can't tell you much about what we're all what I was when I first came in. But I do about the first way I can really tell improvement is she's been a little bit over by you but I've been improving every day. Hopefully we're long away when out here the garrisons have learned this tough lesson it takes no time at all for an accident to happen. Safety is rule number one. We want to do everything. Now you know get on with it and I think we just need to slow down a little bit and realize what things can happen to us just fly with us. It's just that we just need to think about things that we're doing one and not the

one in addition to running the burn center one of the things Dr. Peck is doing is spreading the word about fire safety. He says burn injuries have taken a backseat to AIDS and cancer so public awareness is key. We work out there in the community to try to get the message across to people that the best way to treat a burn injuries to keep from getting burned in the first place. And National Fire Safety Week kicks off October 5th. Still ahead the beautiful music of Louis Michael Owen. Right now though let's turn it over to Michel Louis to get an update on what's making headlines around the state. Good evening Mitch. Thanks Marina. Good evening everyone. Topping our news the sponsor of North Carolina's law requiring abstinence based sex education says the Franklin County school board may have interpreted the law to strictly former State Representative Robin Hayes quote somebody is missing the point in reference to the decision to cut three chapters out of a ninth grade health textbook hastens the law does not say you cannot talk about condoms at all. But the first and best information the teacher can provide is to say that sexual

activity outside of monogamous heterosexual married relationship is risky. Some county governments aren't as are discovering the difficulties involved in running a welfare program on the local level. Wake and Guilford are two counties chosen to participate in the state's welfare reform pilot program. The plan shifts authority away from the state in favor of giving greater welfare management control to the counties. But the way County Human Services Board unanimously voted to recommend the county not participate in the program saying it would bring back bureaucracy that the agency is trying to eliminate. The Guilford County Board of Social Services has similar concerns. And economists as the entire South must make a concerted effort to increase funding for education. If the region is going to experience overall economic development growth. Bernard Weinstein the director of the Center for Economic Development says a continued under investment under investment rather and people directly translate into a productivity issue. The Economist sat southern states account for nearly one third of the nation's jobs and population.

But Southerners earned 3 percent less than their national counterparts. Weinstein also says North Carolina spends only 85 percent of the national average on per pupil education. The state's juvenile justice commission today began discussions of how to punish young criminals and how to prevent juvenile crime from occurring. A final report is expected shortly after the new year that would allow Governor Jim Hunt to call a special session of the legislature in January or February to act on the recommendations. The commission will deal with issues ranging from child abuse and neglect to changes in the juvenile laws. It will also consider the role of parents in their accountability for juvenile crime. Former U NC system president William Friday is among 10 people nationwide chosen to receive a National Humanities Medal. President Clinton will make the awards presentation during a ceremony Monday at the White House. Friday is being honored for his work with the William Rand Keenan Jr. charitable trust as well as for his role as humans the system president and for promoting excellence and humanities education. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather

Saturday's outlook calls were close to 80 degree temperatures across the state. Most places will see partly to mostly sunny skies. Clouds will be heaviest at the coast where there's a 20 percent chance of rain. And in business news U.S. Airways has set a deadline for Tuesday for the pilots union to agree to contract concessions if not executives say they will withdraw an offer to recall the 150 laid off or soon to be laid off pilots. Tuesday is also the deadline for U.S. Airways to confirm an order for a 120 to 400 new Airbus jets. The airline has said union concessions are essential to completing the 14 billion dollar jet order. U.S. Airways maintains a hobbit Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and employs more than 10000 people statewide. Bt i Telecom has unveiled a three hundred ten million dollar financing package to pay for expansion of phone service into local exchanges. The package includes 250 million dollars and senior notes sold last week and 60 million dollars in a revolving credit facility. The company plans to offer local phone service to

businesses in the triangle Charlotte and the triad. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Hysteria peseta is a hot topic these days the state of Maryland has come to the forefront in its

response to those toxic microorganism that is responsible for fish kills here in North Carolina and other Atlantic states. Congress has been holding hearings federal legislation to research the problem has been introduced. And here in North Carolina to Styria team has been established to conduct research and to advise state regulators on the matter. But in light of all these other actions is North Carolina doing enough. Joining me now to explore the issue is Debbie crane with the State Department of Health and Human Services Mr. Gray Welcome to the program. Q Let's answer the basic question first do you feel as though North Carolina is doing enough for this. Probably yes we are I think the nature of science is people build on one of the people have done. And certainly I was at the congressional hearings yesterday when Marilyn explain that they built a lot of what we had already done. We had done quite a bit of research including paying for research at Duke that was the first research that showed that this could that Syria actually did have an effect on rats and paring their memory impairing your ability to learn. So we're now building on what Maryland did Maryland has done significant things we're in the process of doing a similar piece of

work here so I think it's a collaborative effort constantly moving forward science a lot of times there's just a time when a lot of stuff happens and I think we're in the point right now where there's a lot going on and we're going to learn a lot of short period of time and then we may have a while we go with not learning so much but I think we're moving ahead. It may look to the cynics out there though that Marilyn came out with this this big proclamation and they close down their waterways. And then after that North Carolina formed a hysteria team and it looks like it's a knee jerk reaction to what's happening somewhere else. Well certainly in the past we had made unsuccessful attempts to do what Maryland did in 1995. I was on the show back we had a huge fish kills 10 million fish on the Neuse River. We did an epidemiological survey tracked down 69 people interviewed them people who'd been exposed to the fish kill did follow up work did neurocognitive work the results were inconclusive. That's so we have tried to make the connections in the past and have paid for some other studies to do that as well. But

at this point Marilyn has made that connection and we have to build on that because it's certainly a great concern that they have shown it. And we were trying to find similar experiences here in North Carolina. Joann Burkholder the scientist from NC State who is credited with discovering those microorganism. I was on this program a year or two or so ago and said she's made this connection before. Did nobody listen to her at that time that time even. Even then Joanne had made the connection and we knew that made people sick in the lab situation. Joanne was affected. About a dozen other people were affected most terribly affected was her co worker Howard Glasgow the lab is different then the reverse situation and we had been trying to make that river connection and haven't been successful. Maryland has and we praise them and want to build on their efforts. So tell us about this fist area team that's been assembled what is this going to do. Just got I just came back from a meeting of the team. It was really its first real meeting that had

organizational meeting. It's a group of people that have been put together there. Looking at all that has been done and I'm going to recommend to us what the next steps what what we need to do to continue to assess the risk and how we need to manage the risk and more importantly how we need to manage the risk until well until all the questions are answered. There are a lot of issues out there the team will be reporting back as quickly as possible certainly before the end of the year. The members of this team have no prior experience with hysteria and there are so many scientists here in the state that have such a wealth of knowledge and background on the specifics of hysteria. Why not include some of those scientists on the panel of first meeting. Of course Joann Burkholder was the first person to address them and to share her knowledge with them. Dr. Cole from Duke who got a substantial amount of work was also there to share the knowledge. The idea behind this team though is to have people who who can spend a lot of time only issue looking at all the different pieces of research between that did these five members of the

team they have more than 100 years of experience in risk assessment in risk management and they can tell us what needs to be done next somebody like Joey and somebody like Dr. Schmeichel they're so busy doing their piece of work that they don't have the time to do that big picture thing. But certainly Joe in our prime to helping that form is opinion. So the members of this team are people that have no preconceived notions as to what this is and they digest all the information from these other scientists. Certainly I think the best way to put it really to be frank is no baggage. There is no doubt that there is a substantial level of distrust out there for people toward the state toward some other researchers who have maintained that there may not have been a problem. So we wanted to get together people who had no prior experience with the Styria and no connection to the state government but who had a lot of experience in risk assessment and risk management who could step back take a

look and tell the State Department of Health and Human Services. Here's what you need to do. The person who's heading this team is Bill Roper who is the head of the UN S.. Dean of the School of Public Health there. Prior to coming here he had a number of jobs one of them was head of the CDC. So he has extensive background in risk management and risk assessment. And this is about the first thing he's done in North Carolina he's only been here about six weeks. That was one of the reasons for getting these new to the issue and can really give us an effective hear it with you know with no Lin's Here is what you need to do. The beginning of your answer you had mentioned that there is a lot of mistrust out there why do you think that that's all developed. Well I think that anytime you're dealing with a know you're going to have a lot of people with a lot of different opinions. And I think the thing that I've seen in this issue is people are very polarized. They tend to see everything as black or white. Of course in the real world it's mostly gray. And I think that that is just that it's happened it's something we're

going to have to deal with. But I think that one thing that's very good is both departments that are dealing with issues issue the department I mean which is Department of Health and Human Services the secretary of the Department of Health only came over there brought this issue within about three weeks ago but he is new to the issue. He's actually new to the department. Dr. David Bruton Wayne McDevitt is the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural sources. These are two new people who are here. They're going to make a difference they both both of them and some of their first meetings that they after they got in these positions was to meet with Joann Burkholder and sit down and say look you're important to the state you were important to us. And how can we work together. Well it's great and I'm sure that we'll be hearing from you and from others from time to time on this topic and wish you well in your research and thanks for being here tonight. Tonight

we take you for a visit with a popular North Carolina native son he is a recipient of the prestigious North Carolina award and inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The winner of several Peabody Awards on his recording of a song bird was included on a Grammy Award winning album. Of course talking about louis McCloughan. I don't remember when I fell in love with music but I understand from the age of Sirius I ran away from the start of the church during the service. That was my first performance. How lucky for all of us that Lewis McLaughlin found his way to that piano.

His musical contributions have touched the world and especially his home state of Carolina. Let's walk unaided graduated from East Carolina and then join the Air Force during the war. I was with a force band. We were stationed in Florida and we traveled around the country playing at an Air Force bases and in some cases even a naval base. So we were kind of a new attainment group. I was going to New York. I had been offered a job after the war and getting out there for a job with a new name badge in New York and and then suddenly and then my wife and I decided we want to go to New York we wanted to stay in the South in North Carolina. So we came to Charlotte. I had always wanted to

work with with be to radio as a child that was the pentacle you know you couldn't you couldn't reach higher than BT. Debbie Beatty was a really exciting place to work and then when television came out in the late 40s 49 this was like a new world. Everything was new challenging we all learned together we learned the business and yet there was also time for. A lot of good times. Even you will remember Pat Lee who was an outstanding personality who she had the fashion show at a live show at one o'clock in the afternoon and somebody said that she was unflappable unsung not sure about that. And so I conspired with a ballet dancer to do a pratfall on the show. And she was coming down the staircase

and this was a highly choreographed fall knocked over a column which had a vase on top of it with plastic flowers but I'd poured a gallon the water in there so the water would spill too. And so that became a train wreck. And and Pat leaves us. Ladies and gentlemen if you'll excuse us we'll take a break and we'll be right back. She was unflappable. Television proved to be the perfect medium for Lewis is in fact just energy and creativity. We have a composer who can write music for three years just for your book. Luckily I was able to become a television producer and I produced a Peabody Award winning show once about a string quartet. Get a load of avarice one on septum appoint Clarke a lovely lovely civil rights leader from South

Carolina as learned as was exploring the new media of television. He continued composing and performing Eventually I met. I like Wilder who was my hero and I think the greatest composer that we had in this last half century and he was kind enough to take me under his wing and we became collaborators so we wrote a couple hundred songs together plus a lot. A couple of musicals. The highlight of my career was a chance to co-host a national public radio series called The American popular song. And this was a series of about 50 one hour shows on which we had Tony Bennett Rosemary Clooney and sort of all all the great singers in the world. To perform on that show which was an exploration of the best song was America

which also won a Peabody Award. Here it was Governor Jim Hunt who gave one of his best assignments to North Carolina as well as probably favor projects to have been involved with for there was a wonderful story as a play about some wonderful relationships that were formed brought sort of the drama but one was with Charles Kuralt. I think he was the best ambassador the state has ever had. He loved North Carolina. He loved doing that show a lot of people me included often marveled with blueness is an incredible musical talent.

Why he didn't go to New York or L.A. or someplace and I've come to understand over the years that limits his priorities for him are straight his heads on straight. This is his home. He's very devoted to his family and he always figured that. I think Lewis figured that this state had given him a lot. And and he ought to give a lot back. And Loomis is staying very busy these days he has a new CD coming out he's also just finished a collection of spirituals that will soon be published and a song BlackBerry winter has just been recorded for the forty seventh time. Well that will do it for tonight's edition of North Carolina now one more note in regard to our interview this evening. The State Department of Health and Human Services has set up a mystery a hotline for citizens to call if they believe that they are suffering from symptoms due to fist area. That number to call is 1

800 six six 2 7 0 3 0 Again that's 1 800 62 7 0 3 0. Now looking ahead to next week William Friday will be our guest on Tuesday. Mr. Friday is just getting back from his trip to the White House where on Monday he will be presented with a National Humanities Medal from President Clinton. Also on tap for next week we'll speak with Dr. Jay Robinson who's stepping down as the head of the State Board of Education shaping up to be a great week. We hope you'll join us. So until Monday have a great weekend everyone. Good night. Let let let let let let let let let let it.