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Western Exposure

Noise hits sour note for birdsong

By Carol Smith, Co-Founder | July 24, 2009

University of Colorado researchers in Boulder have discovered that noise pollution can decrease the diversity of bird species in an area, the Associated Press reports in the Denver Post. The study published online this week in Current Biology looked at birds south of Durango in New Mexico and found noise changed the way species interacted. The study suggests better noise control, such as using quieter road surfaces and sound-reducing walls could help preserve the natural balance of bird communities. In the study, 32 different species nested in quiet areas while 21 nested at noisy sites. A few birds did prefer the noisy sites because it drove their natural predators away.

Expanding access to oral health through innovation

A philosophical question: How much medical training is needed to treat patients? Some say it’s the full course as proscribed by existing medical, nursing or dental schools. But when the shortages of doctors, nurses and dentists are ginormous, does the need require a different answer?Consider oral health. “Shortages of dental practitioners and affordable dental care are hurting the health of millions of Americans, many of whom live with pain, miss school or work, and, in extreme cases, face life-threatening medical emergencies that result from dental infections. The situation is particularly severe for poor children and families and in communities of color,” writes Burton L. Edelstein, DDS, MPH Columbia University and Children’s Dental Health Project in a Dec. 2009 report for the W.W. Kellogg Foundation.And, like most health issues, the data shows that Indian Country is at the low end of the spectrum. One study described it this way: “The American Indian / Alaska Native “population has the highest tooth decay rate of anypopulation cohort in the United States: 5 times the US averagefor children 2–4 years of age. Seventy-nine percent ofAIAN children, aged 2–5 years, have tooth decay, with60% of these children having severe early childhood caries (babybottle tooth decay). Eighty-seven percent of these children,aged 6–14 years, have a history of decay—twice therate of dental caries experienced by the general population.”
Measuring the progress in Native American health

Has the Indian Health Service been an effective, government-run delivery system?Consider this from a White House memo: “While there has been improvements in health status of Indians in the past 15 years, a loss of momentum can further slow the already sluggish rate of approach to parity. Increased momentum in health delivery and sanitation as insured by this bill speed the rate of closing the existing gap in age at death.”In other words progress is slow. But Dr. Ted Marrs wrote the memo on April 26, 1976, and the subject was about the original Indian Health Care Improvement Act. “In 1974 the average age at death of Indians and Alaskan natives was 48.3. For white U.S. citizens the average age of death was 72.3. For others, the average age was 62.7.”Dr. Marrs wrote that the “bottom line” was an unavoidable connection between “equity and morality” when there is a more than twenty year differential in age at death between Indians and non-Indians.So what do the numbers look like now?The most recent Indian Health Service data on general mortality statistics is about a decade old now. But it showed that the twenty-year differential has been reduced to a difference of less than five years. “The American Indian Alaska Native life expectancy at birth (both sexes) for the IHS service area population was 72.3 years,” according to the recent IHS report:“Regional Differences in Indian Health, 2002-2003 edition.” Compare that with the average life expectancy for all U.S. races, 76.9 years.
Detroit’s geography of despair includes many seeds of hope

DETROIT – It’s hard to communicate the failure of public policy in this great American city (especially in a few hundred words). A drive around town highlights the consequences from decades of neglect: Abandoned and burned out homes, office buildings as ruins (and dangerous playgrounds), near-permanent unemployment, and thousands of empty lots capped with mounds. These mounds are burial sites of sorts because when a building was destroyed the rubble was left in a pile until time and grass shaped each into a small hill.Yet the geography of despair includes many seeds of hope. One east side neighborhood is transformed by inspiring folk art that brings humor and zest to several city blocks through The Heidelberg Project. Or there is the Community Health Awareness Group’s efforts to exchange needles so that drug users on the streets won’t as easily share disease. The program resulted in a drop of HIV infections from drug users from 33 percent to 17 percent. (And that, too, is the paradox because while an exchange is effective, it’s also difficult to fund). Then there’s the Earthworks Urban Farm. Detroit is a city without large chain grocery stores – only discount stores and “party stores,” or neighborhood enterprises that sell more liquor than protein. Access to fresh fruit and vegetables is a regular barrier for a family trying to eat healthier. But at Earthworks more people – at least in this one neighborhood – are growing their own access to healthy foods.

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