Katrina Stress May Still Be Causing Heart Attacks

Date: Monday, March 30, 2009, 2:20 pm
By: Janet McConnaughey, Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS – Stress following Hurricane Katrina may still be causing heart attacks years after the storm slammed Louisiana, according to a new study.

Doctors at Tulane University Hospital and Clinic found there was a threefold increase in the rate of heart attacks treated at the hospital since the August 2005 storm.

Dr. Anand Irimpen, the study’s senior author, said the study is too small to prove the storm is behind the increase.

Even so, most cardiologists in the area believe there has been such an effect, said Dr. Carl “Chip” Lavie, medical director for cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at Ochsner Health System in suburban New Orleans.

“Everyone feels they’ve lived this,” he said.

Many studies have documented increases in heart attacks after a major catastrophe. But this may be the first time anyone has found such an increase more than two years later, Lavie said.

The report is to be presented Sunday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando, Fla.

In the two years before Katrina, the researchers found heart attacks accounted for 150 of the 21,229 patients admitted to the downtown hospital. In the two years since the hospital reopened in early 2006, there were 246 heart attacks out of 11,282 patients – a change from about 0.7 percent of admissions to nearly 2.2 percent.

Post-Katrina heart attack patients also were more likely to need surgery or artery-opening procedures and less likely to have jobs or medical insurance than their pre-storm counterparts. They were more likely to smoke or to abuse drugs or alcohol, and less likely to be taking medicine prescribed to ward off strokes or heart attacks.

Because the study looked at a small number of patients at a single hospital, many questions remain open.

“Is Tulane seeing more heart attacks now because of Katrina, or are the heart attacks coming to Tulane that would have gone someplace else before the storm?” asked Lavie.

The two hospitals nearest Tulane’s are still shuttered.

Irimpen, a cardiologist, said he suggested the study because he was being called in much more often to treat heart attacks at Tulane. He said a contributing factor may be the bad habits that increase under stress, such as smoking, substance abuse and failing to take prescribed medicines.

“We’ve seen patients who had quit smoking and started again, patients who were exercising and say they haven’t exercised since Katrina,” Lavie said.

The research is one of the few multiyear studies of the heart and stress caused by war, terror or disaster, said Dr. Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology at New York Presbyterian Hospital

“It really underscores the long-term adverse effects of disasters and chronic stress on the heart,” she said.

The 5th Annual NAACP Leadership 500 Summit will be held May 21-24, 2009 at The Phoenician Resort and Spa in Scottsdale Arizona is rapidly approaching.

The Summit, consisting of informative workshops, interactive panel discussions and general sessions focused on issues that are relevant to you personal and professional development. We anticipate an attendance of over 400 people, visit the NAACP Leadership 500 Summit website for more information and to register.

http://www.naacp.org/events/leadership/index.htm

I look forward to your participation in this year’s Summit. See you in Scottsdale.

Roslyn Brock,
Vice Chairman
NAACP National Board of Directors

Founder
NAACP Leadership 500 Summit

AKA sorority president denounces Clear Channel’s decision to fire Tom Joyner

(March 30, 2009) Alpha Kappa Alpha’s international president, Barbara A. McKinzie, expressed outrage over Clear Channel Communications’ decision to summarily remove Tom Joyner’s show from the Chicago market. She characterized this as symptomatic of a narrow-minded “marketing mindset” from executives who view the black community as a monolith and who make decisions about the African-American consumer through their misguided perceptions about the urban market.

Dismissing it as a “bad business decision,” McKinzie said the view that “all blacks think alike” is an extension of a bygone era of arrogance and ignorance.

In response to this decision, she dispatched an e-blast to Alpha Kappa Alpha’s 225,000 members worldwide where she directed those in Chicago to use that time slot to log on to the blackamericaweb.com to hear the show. She also advised members to shed their portfolios of Clear Channel stock (C C Media Holdings, on OTCBB under the ticker symbol CCMO) until this decision is rescinded and Joyner is restored to his place on Chicago’s airwaves.

McKenzie also urged members to pen letters of indignation to Clear Channel principals, including those at the corporate headquarters in San Antonio. She said the flurry of letters would serve as a preemptive hedge to signal to other markets that this “type of disrespect” will not be tolerated.

“African Americans represent a wide spectrum of viewpoints and interests and cannot be lumped into one listening pool. Tom Joyner provides a unique mix of information, entertainment, provocative commentary and a forum to incite the community to action,” she declared.

Echoing Joyner’s self description as a voice who has “super-served” the community, she credits him for being the stimulus that inspired African Americans to vote. “His constant and repeated pleas inspired blacks to vote and played a key role in the election of the first black president,” she noted.

She also cited Joyner’s novel “Take A Loved One to the Doctor Day”, as a valuable vehicle for raising awareness about the importance of being healthy. “It is a documented fact that there are wide health disparities in the African-American community,” she stated. “This initiative has been effective in addressing and bridging the health care gap.”

She noted that Joyner has single-handedly raised millions so that African-American students can attend historically black colleges and universities. He has also used the power of his platform, she said, to raise funds for HBCUs.

On a sentimental note, she praised him for using his show to raise the profile of courageous black females whose compelling stories inspire all African Americans.

She said that the positions Joyner advance parallel Alpha Kappa Alpha’s positions on economic empowerment, health, political awareness, and education. For this reason, she called Tom Joyner “a partner in promoting Alpha Kappa Alpha’s mission.”

While acknowledging Steve Harvey’s unique talent, and appeal, she said the demographic he attracts is completely different from Joyner’s and that Clear Channel should embrace this diversity.

“Surely a market as vast as Chicago’s can accommodate two different views and two different talents.”

Chastising Clear Channel executives, McKinzie offered a basic lesson: “Knowing one’s market is taught in Business 101. It’s clear that these decision makers have dramatically departed from the principles taught in business school. The pushback against this decision — and the callous manner in which it was executed — will result in plummeting ratings, reduced share and a retreat from all of its properties.”

“Through Alpha Kappa Alpha’s infrastructure and quick-fire response, we will lead the way to make sure that those who issued this misguided decision learn the lesson and suffer the consequences.”

Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority, now headquartered in Chicago, IL, was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle.

AKA was formed to break barriers for African American women in areas where little power or authority existed to create a lack of opportunities for minorities and women in the early twentieth century. Consisting of college-educated African, Caucasian, Asian, Native American, and Hispanic women, the sorority serves today through a membership of more than 200,000 women in over 975 chapters in the United States and several other countries.

Outkast’s Andre 3000 (real name: Andre Benjamin) was arrested near Atlanta Saturday for driving his 2007 Porsche Carrera at such a high speed that police called him “an accident waiting to happen,” according to Atlanta’s WSB-TV, TMZ and AllHipHop.com.

A police officer told the station that the MC was clocked at 109 MPH on Saturday morning, significantly over the 65-mph speed limit, on Interstate 75, and was arrested for the danger he posed.

“Traveling that fast along 75, you’re passing people as if they’re standing still,” Henry County Police Captain Jason Bolton told the station. “It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

The MC was released after posting $1,200 bail, according to TMZ. He is scheduled to appear in court on April 29.