MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2014 - OCTOBER 27, 2014
riversideindependent.com
VOLUME 1, NO. 25
Tacos and unity poems to end violence California mark end of laureate tenure only state to by Vickie Vértiz see progress covering uninsured children
in public education and positively impact student success. RCOE and the 23rd District PTA were previously recognized by NNPS in 2012 with a Partnership Organization Award for the Parent and Family Engagement Summit.
Alex Johnson, Executive Director of the Children’s Defense Fund - California, released the following statement on the U.S. Census Bureau’s State Health Insurance Coverage Estimates: “Today’s health insurance numbers show more than a 6 percent drop in the number of uninsured children in California between 2012 and 2013 – which means 56,884 more children now have health coverage. Significant progress increasing the number of covered children nationwide has decreased the number of uninsured children to historic lows. These gains are mostly due to the strong coverage guarantees in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which last year provided comprehensive health and mental health coverage to more than 44 million children across the country, and more than half of California’s children. “Since 2011, CDF-CA in partnership with AASA, the School Superintendent’s Association in California has increased the capacity of school districts to identify uninsured children and link them to health coverage. California was the only state in the country to see a statistically significant decrease in the number of uninsured children in 2013. “However, even as we celebrate progress in providing children a healthy start, CHIP faces a very real threat. If Congress doesn’t take action, there will be
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Juan Felipe Herrera - Phot by Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American Center
At UC Riverside on Thursday, October 9, on a warm, but not scorching afternoon, Professor Juan Felipe Herrera celebrated the end of his tenure as California Poet Laureate with free tacos, hands-on writing activities, and readings from the 170-page unity poem by
students from Bethune Elementary School in Moreno Valley and other community members. UCR Today reported that UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox and Dean Stephen Cullenberg of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences praised Professor
Herrera and his work across the state and at the college. Chair of the Department of Creative Writing, Andrew Winer welcomed Herrera who shared many thank yous to students, writers, and comPlease see page 2
County Office of Education earns national award for school, family, and community partnerships Riverside County Office of Education’s (RCOE) collaboration with the 23rd District Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to increase parent involvement in schools and student achievement has earned a 2014 Partnership Organization Award from the National Network of Partnership
Schools (NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University. RCOE and the PTA created the Parent Engagement Leadership Initiative (PELI), which focuses efforts of both organizations on training and supporting parents, families, educators, and community members to become involved
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Free health screenings, risk assessments and nutrition education The American Heart Association and Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center are hosting a Stroke and Heart Fair at Parkview Community Hospital’s Founder’s Center (3865 Jackson St., Riverside, CA 92503) on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014, from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The event is open to the public and will offer free health screenings, heart disease and stroke risk assessments, nutrition education and Hands-Only CPR demonstrations. Doctors will be available to answer questions. Children are welcome to attend and enjoy the Kids Zone and Halloween costume contest. The Love Your Heart, Help Your Brain Stroke and Heart Fair is part of the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women campaign aimed at empowering women and their families to take charge of their health to live longer,
stronger, healthier lives. Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 killer of women, claiming the lives of more women than all forms of cancer combined. The good news is that simple lifestyle changes, such as eating healthy, moving more, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking and keeping health numbers in check, can reduce the chances of getting these diseases. The American Heart Association’s mission is building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. Its goal by 2020 is to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent. For more information about the Stroke and Heart Fair or to reserve your space, call (951) 352-5644. Visit www.heart.org/inlandempire to learn more about the American Heart Association.
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Juan Felipe Herrera Continued from page 1
munity members for their contribution to the project. The poet laureate is responsible for introducing poetry to students who might otherwise have little exposure to the literary form, a challenge Herrera relished. Professor Herrera came from a humble family - his parents were farmworkers - and has dedicated much of his career as a creative writing teacher across the state, country, and internationally. Herrera sees himself as an activist poet who got his start during the Chicano art ad political movements that began in the 1960s. Appointed by Governor Brown in 2012, Herrera has served as California Poet Laureate for two years ending in November. The poet listed in UCR Today his talks with hundreds students at schools and colleges throughout California, in rural communities, public spaces like libraries and museums, and events like dedication ceremonies for the inauguration of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. He was even invited to speak at a UCLA commencement ceremony where he went as an undergraduate, and finally and perhaps most spectacular, at a Low-Rider Laureate Parade in San Francisco, said the paper. At the event, “The Most Incredible & Biggest Poem on Unity in the World” was excerpted into a chapbook and distributed at the event. The concept grew out of conversations with students at the university, where Herrera has
taught creative writing for many years. His focus as laureate toward creating peace and unity through collective poetry came into focus once several tragedies occurred in the world: the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School and a Seattle school, the Boston Marathon bombings, and the deadly typhoon in the Philippines. Herrera solicited poems from across the country each time to unify a grieving nation and world, said the paper. “That kind of took over the unity project, the need to support those who were hurting in the language of poetry. I really believe in poetry that is social, that is community-centered, and that is part of a positive healing process. [...] We are poets, and that’s what we do.” Herrera also added bullying and created the i-Promise Joanna project with the help of the Gluck Fellows Program of the Arts at UCR with Christine Leapman and Shane Shukis, an arts outreach program funded by the Gluck Foundation. Professor Herrera was always clear that the laureate opportunity was a community project. “This wasn’t just about me,” he told UCR Today. “It was me and everybody. It was me and California, me for California, California waiting for me. Poetry needs to be as accessible as a newspaper and a tortilla. It has to be flavorful and tasty [...]. It has to come from the heart. Poetry teaches you to expand your heart and give it away.”
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no new funding for CHIP starting this time next year. If that happens, millions of children could lose their health coverage, and millions more would pay more for less coverage. Since CHIP’s bipartisan beginning in 1997, it has been a lifeline for millions of children in working families and has played a critical role in
reducing the rate of uninsured children by half. CHIP remains a crucial source of coverage for millions of children, even in the post- Affordable Care Act (ACA) world. Congress must act to extend funding for CHIP this year to ensure that children’s health coverage and outcomes continue to improve.”
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California nurses endorse water bond, Proposition 1 Citing the importance of stabilizing the state’s water supply in an era of drought and climate change as a public health priority, the California Nurses Association announced its endorsement of Proposition 1, the Water Bond measure, on the November 4 ballot. The measure would upon approval, enact general obligation bonds for state water supply infrastructure projects, such as public water system improvements, surface and groundwater storage, drinking water protection, water recycling and advanced water treatment technology, water supply management and conveyance, wastewater treatment, drought relief, emergency water supplies, and ecosystem and watershed protection and restoration. “Access to a clean and adequate water supply is vital for public health,” said CNA Copresident Deborah Burger, RN. “Water is life sustaining, critical for drinking, for hygiene, for cleaning our food, clothes, and living spaces. Lack of adequate and steady supplies of water can lead to unsafe sanitation and the spread of infectious diseases and pandemics.” “With the erosion of our water supply in the current drought – and the likelihood that more droughts, directly associated with the climate crisis – this becomes a critical issue for the future of all Californians. That’s why nurses are joining with Governor Brown and many state lawmakers and organizations in supporting Proposition 1,” Burger said. CNA, the largest state organization of nurses with 86,000 California members, said that Proposition 1 will clean up our contaminated groundwater which serves as a critical buffer against drought by providing additional water in years when there is not enough rainfall or snow. Proposition 1 provides funding for clean drinking water in communities where water is contaminated and will invest in new water storage increas-
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ing the amount of water that can be stored during wet years for the dry years sure to come, said CNA. Proposition 1 protects California’s rivers, lakes, and
streams from pollution and contamination, which is also critical for public health, and provides for the restoration of our fish and wildlife resources.
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4 | OCTOBER 20, 2014 - OCTOBER 26, 2014
Melanoma drug combo improves patient survival rate, decreases risk of harsh side effect A UCLA researcher at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center helped pioneer a new therapy that combines the drug Zelboraf® with an experimental drug cobimetinib, allowing metastatic melanoma patients to live longer and without the harsh side effect of a secondary skin cancer seen in some patients prescribed Zelboraf alone. In a new study co-authored by Dr. Antoni Ribas, UCLA professor of medicine (hematology and oncology) and JCCC member, researchers found that the BRAF mutation gives melanoma the signal to grow continuously as a cancer. Zelboraf taken by itself it cannot completely block that signal, but when cobimetinib is added, the combination forces the melanoma to respond better. The scientific basis of this combination is based on prior studies by Dr. Roger Lo, associate
professor of medicine (dermatology) and JCCC member, who had described the mechanisms of how melanoma became resistant to Zelboraf and the addition of a drug-like cobimetinib would prevent these mechanisms. In addition, previously researchers had discovered that a harsh side effect of a secondary cancer had developed in 25 percent of patients who had been given Zelboraf alone. “We wondered why it was that we were getting the melanoma to shrink, but another skin cancer was developing,” said Dr. Ribas. It turned out that giving cobimetinib in combination with Zelboraf decreased this important side effect. An estimated 70,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed each year in the United States. Of those, 8,000 people will die of the
4th Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament The Riverside African American Historical Society, Inc., is hosting its 4th Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament on Tuesday, November 11, 2014, at the Canyon Crest Country Club, 975 Country Club Drive, Riverside, CA 92506.zz The tournament benefits student athletes and scholars, and the development of the African
American Cultural Center of the Inland Empire. The deadline for “early bird” registration is October 15, 2014. Early Bird registration fee is $400 per foursome or $100 per golfer. Sponsorship opportunities are available, also. Shotgun start is 1:30 p.m. For information call (951) 683-2505.
disease. About 50 percent of patients with metastatic melanoma, or 4,000 people a year, have a mutated protein called BRAF mutation and can be treated with Zelboraf (also known as vemurafenib). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved use of Zelboraf in August of 2011. Dr. Ribas collaborated with 18 other researchers from the United States, Europe, Australia and Russia as last author of the study. “Now we’ve demonstrated the significantly increased duration of response to the therapy,” said Ribas. Results of the study also showed the drug combination extended the duration of response to the drug from a median of six months with Zelboraf alone to nine months with the combination. The data was collected internationally over a one-year period. 495 patients participated at 135 sites in the United States, Australia,
New Zealand and Europe. Zelboraf was administered twice daily, in combination with cobimetinib which was taken once a day for 21 days, followed by 7 days off. Additional results also saw 20 percent of patients still suffer from some side effects, like diarrhea, rash, fatigue and edema while taking both drugs. The next step is to seek FDA approval for cobimetinib in combination with Zelboraf, in the hopes that patients with BRAF mutated metastatic melanoma will be able to benefit from the drug combination. The findings were presented during the 2014 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) conference in Madrid, Spain, September 26th-29th. The study was published online September 29th in The New England Journal of Medicine, and will later appear in the print edition on November 13th.
Award for County Office of Education Continued from page 1
The PELI Training Series was developed using Dr. Joyce Epstein’s research-based “Six Types of Parent Involvement” information from the California State PTA’s Parents Empowering Parents (PEP) Guide along with additional PTA resources. “RCOE is demonstrating that research-based approaches can be used to increase goal-linked family and community involvement to make every school a welcoming place, and to improve student attitudes, behavior, achievement, health, graduation rates, and postsecondary plans,” said Dr. Epstein, Director of NNPS. PELI training includes information and resources for early childhood education, elementary, and secondary parents and educators, and helps districts and schools improve their plans and practices of family and community involvement to support school improvement goals and student success in school. Essential elements include
teamwork, leadership, goal-linked plans for action, implementation, facilitation, evaluation, and network connections. RCOE, a member of NNPS, provided detailed descriptions of specific strategies available to parents and educators. “RCOE will continue working with districts and schools to help them strengthen their partnership programs, engage more and different families, and help more students succeed at high levels,” said Melissa Bazanos, RCOE Educational Services Administrator. NNPS Partnership Awards are selected based on researchbased approaches to organize goal-oriented partnership programs and outstanding practices that demonstrate high quality plans and practices while making continuous improvements in their partnership programs from year to year. More information about NNPS is available at www.partnershipschools.org.