The death of Robert Douglas Diabetic dies after former employer discontinues free health insurance.
Page A9
Vol. 83 No. 53
CAC Audited APRIL 5 – 11, 2012
COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
ONLINE ELDERS
YMCA connects seniors to internet OASIS program teaches computer skills and job training
See OASIS, A7
People’s Butler to be honored at Salute
Photo by Wiley Price
Monsanto YMCA Community Organizer Mildred Boyd helps Ollie Dowsing with her computer skills. A program called OASIS offers free computer classes to seniors at the facility.
Playing at the rally
Health Care Administrator of the Year
– Dwayne Butler, CEO of Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers
SLPS braces for budget cuts
Let’s say hypothetically that “John” has a chronic case of diabetes and a chronic case of depression. And his brother “Frank” suffers from chronic diabetes alone. Statistics show that Frank will live 25 years longer than John – that is, if both of John’s behavioral and physical conditions are not equally treated. More than two years ago, CEO Dwayne Butler led the Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers to integrate physical and behavior health care under one roof. Now someone with John’s conditions can be treated in the same place by an integrated medical staff working
together. Butler and his team recognized the challenges of coordinating physical and behavior health care services when they
See BUTLER, A6
Washington University is bringing former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., to St. Louis to discuss “Challenges and Changes in America’s Health System.” Sullivan, the 17th Secretary under President George H.W. Bush, will speak at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 11 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center at 320 S. Euclid on the campus of the Medical School. Sullivan said he will talk about dramatic advances in America’s health system over the past 100 years in public health, vaccine development “The and return on investment in biomedical research. people who He said a major problem are most left exists, however, in how health out of full care is spread across the popuenjoyment lation. “They really boil down to of these what I call a deficiency in our benefits are distribution system,” Sullivan the poor, or said. “Not everyone in our people of society benefits equally from these advances, and the people minority who are most left out of full populaenjoyment of these benefits are tions.” the poor, or people of minority populations – blacks, – Louis W. Hispanics, native Americans. Sullivan, M.D. He said this is because of a complex variety of factors, including poverty, lower educational levels, “subtle discrimination” and the underrepresentation of minorities in health professions. “When you look at the health professions today, rather than one-third of our health professionals being black, Latino or Native American, less than
See SULLIVAN, A7
By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American
“Community service has always been part of my DNA, basically.”
Former U.S. Health Secretary Louis Sullivan, M.D., speaks at Wash U. By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American
By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American The St. Louis Monsanto YMCA has the largest population of participating African-American seniors of any YMCA in the country. Walk into the gym and a 92-year-old African-American woman is leading a chair-aerobics class to a high-energy
Diversity in health care
Adams vows not to cut teachers and to grow pre-K enrollment By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
Elijah Smith, 3, entertained himself on Saturday during the rally in support of Trayvon Martin convened at North Oaks Mall in North County. George Zimmerman, who stalked and killed the unarmed teen in Sanford, Fla. on Feb. 26, still has not been arrested and charged with his murder.
The St. Louis Public Schools board may approve a budget tonight that gives the district $11.7 million less to work with than last year. But SLPS Superintendent Kelvin Adams said the district will not be cutting classroom teachers or closing schools. The proposed $264.8 million budget takes into account federal, state and local cuts to the district’s funding, as well as a projected decrease in K-12 enrollment. The budget does not account for the pending court decision in the Turner vs. Clayton case. In the worst case scenario, the St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge David Lee Vincent III may order the unaccredited St. Louis Public School
See SLPS, A6