Shelters offer health care to homeless

By Allison Jagow and Patrick Simons
Bengal News reporters
 Winter is approaching at a rapid pace and with that comes the cold and flu season. Shelters like Loaves and Fishes and Friends of Night People exist to provide health services to those who need it most, and have no real means of providing it for themselves.

Friends of Night People Joseph Heary in medical exam room

 Friends of Night People has been lending helping hands to those who need it in Buffalo for over 40 years. Established in 1969, originally on Chippewa Street, Friends of Night People was first organized by the Rev. John Russell, as a crisis services and suicide prevention center.
 “I just think it was a marvelous way to bring people together from all walks of life to share their humanity and their pain to give acceptance and love to each other,” Russell said.
 Now located at 394 Hudson St., at the corner of Wadsworth, Friends of Night People has developed into an organization that provides food, clothing and medical services to anyone in need, including the homeless, poor, mentally ill and addicted.
 “People deserve a level of dignity, care and respect, no matter what position they’re in in their life at that moment, whether it’s homelessness, whether it’s short on money, don’t have enough food,” said Joseph Heary, the current executive director at Friends of Night People. “It’s just people taking care of people, is what our organization is really all about.”
 In addition to providing clothing and hot meals 365 days a year, the organization also offers medical services on a weekly basis. Students from the UB School of Medicine and independent doctors volunteer their time and efforts at Friends of Night People to offer services in general medicine, podiatry and optometry. During each clinic, the organization serves about 20 to 25 people—some by appointment and others as walk-in patients, Heary said.
 Heary, who has been the executive director at Friends of Night People for a little over three years, was once a member of the corporate world. He said that he wanted a job with a more meaningful outcome, aside from just making a penny.

Joseph Heary, on the work of Friends of Night People:


 Loaves and Fishes Dining Room is another local organization that offers services to the homeless or people in need. Located at 875 Elmwood Ave., Loaves and Fishes offers a lunch service Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It also occasionally offers a few health services.
 The Niagara County Community College nursing program comes in during November and holds three workshops on topics such as hypertension, hypothermia, diabetes and alcoholism. Anne Harrington, program coordinator for Loaves and Fishes, said the workshops give the clients a more comfortable and non-threatening surrounding to discuss their health issues.
 “They really do get through to a lot of people. And I know this year, at least two people went right to the doctor after that. So if only those two people went, it’s still a good thing,” said Harrington.
 Loaves and Fishes also held a program in 2009 that offered health insurance to people in need. It teamed up with Univera Healthcare and Medicaid to try to get as many people as possible to sign up for the healthcare coverage, according to Harrington. They - GR also host occasional health clinics that offer flu shots, blood pressure screenings and general health information.
  “The staff that comes here is doing it really out of their compassion for mankind, and fellow human beings who are in need of some assistance,” Heary said.
Loaves and Fishes and Friends of Night People both offer a warm shelter, warm food, and health screenings to treat and prevent sickness.

Edited by Heidi Friend

UB dental students give care on West Side

By Kimberly Snickles
Bengal News reporter
 For some Hispanic residents of the lower West Side, finding a way to get proper dental care can be a real toothache. To help solve this problem, the UB School of Dental Medicine’s students and

Dr. Rene Perez-Bode with at patient at the Mattina Center

faculty are trying to make it easier for them.
 For two days, residents can receive free dental care and oral cancer screenings at the Judge Mattina Community Health Center at 300 Niagara St.
 The event was started by Yoly Gonzalez, clinical assistant professor of Oral Diagnostic Sciences at UB seven years ago. A native of Venezuela, Gonzalez wanted to make a connection with the West Side.
 “Part of her reason for starting this (event) is she felt a need to get out in the community to help provide services that she didn’t see being provided for adults; specifically focused on the Hispanic roots,” said Heidi Crow, UB Associate Professor of Oral Diagnostic Sciences.
 There is also limited access to specialty care and to dentists who might be bilingual.
 “It is difficult for patients to make that transition,” said Crow. “It seems like a really far way to go and less of a welcoming environment when you have a limited ability to communicate in English.”
 The forms that are used during screenings have one side written in English and one side in Spanish. The UB School of Dental Medicine has many members who are bilingual, so if someone has a hard time communicating in English, another individual can explain it to them in Spanish.
 The event is sponsored by Kaleida Health and the Hispanic Dental Association.
 “Our local chapters are the hands of our association,” said Rita Brummett, Associate Director of the Hispanic Dental Association. “In order to fulfill our mission statement, we need them to get out in the community and provide the services, because nationally we can only do so much.”
 The faculty members and students review the patient’s medical history with them, check their mouth, give them a visual screening and note if they have any cavities that need to be addressed. Patients that have cavities, gum disease, or any other oral problems can make an appointment at the health center to come back and receive treatment.

Professor Heidi Crow, on how free dental care has helped patients:


 “It is better in my mind to have them make the appointment on site and leaving with that appointment then just telling them, “Go call somebody when you get home,” said Crow. “I think it gives them a better chance of getting them in to have their needs met.”
 There is a large population of residents on the West Side who are from Puerto Rico where there is a higher level of tobacco use and potential cancer problems. If the faculty and students find any abnormal tissue in the event that it could be cancer, they will provide follow-up for specialists to see them directly at the UB Dental School.
 “It is a nice thing to see the connection with UB and the patients at the Judge Mattina Clinic,” said Dr. Rene Perez-Bode, a full-time dentist at the clinic. “The dentists bring their students and the students can get in touch with the real facts of life.”
 The UB Dental School also works closely with Roswell Park’s Quit Line and they send the necessary materials to the dental patients who want to quit smoking.
 Does this event encourage residents to come back for more dental treatment?
 “We hope so,” said Crow. “Because we have shown them that they have dental needs and they are able to make the appointment right away, many of them have set up appointments before they leave the dental clinic.”

Edited by Tony Fiorello

Peace Bridge viewed as source of bad air

By Amanda O’Leary and Sametra Polkah-Toe
Bengal News reporters
 While the West Side has been enjoying a growth on the ground with new businesse, it is plagued by the possible growth of the Peace Bridge, and the damaging effect is has on the air quality in the community.

Peace Bridge traffic is being blamed for breathing problems

 The West Side is home to the Peace Bridge, a source of local air pollution. Every day since June 1927, cars and trucks use the bridge to go to and from Canada and United States. Cars and trucks can sit in long lines waiting to get over, and those trucks are a cause of some of the problems with air pollution coming from their emissions.
 After working in the area for a long time, Barbara Sullivan, head nurse at West Side Pediatrics, sees patients come and go everyday with some form of breathing problems.
 “Every day, it spreads out, from the very young to very old,” she said. “Kids start out with asthma, like toddlers or a little bit older, while a lot of adults have respiratory problems.”
 Sullivan has been working at the office, located at 300 Niagara St., for over 22 years and has seen a number of patients who have respiratory problems..
 “The emissions from the diesel trucks send a lot of dust into the community,” she said. “This is a very high area for respiratory disease and high lead.”

Registered Nurse, Barbara Sullivan

Sullivan does admit that some of the older homes that have lead problems and dust from cockroaches also affect people’s respiratory health. But she believes the Peace Bridge is the main reason for the illness.
 Sullivan said, that trucks often sit in traffic on the bridge waiting to get over the border, and this can often back up into the West Side, all the way to Niagara Street. When the trucks just sit there running they are giving off emissions into the community, which are damaging the air quality.
 Sullivan believes that smoking has played a role in why some people have bronchitis and emphysema, but that the emissions also make those health issues worse but when it comes to the patients with asthma, the main cause is the emissions.
She said that she too has been affected.
 “I’m 63-years-old. I’m basically in good health, I worked here 22 years, I have adult onset asthma,” she said. “There is a family history, but I went my whole life perfectly fine and about 10 years ago, I developed asthma. I truly believe it’s from being down here.”

Nurse Barbara Sullivan, on the reasons for respiratory problems on the West Side:


 The Columbus Park-Prospect Hill neighborhood is also is in danger of being taken over to build a new plaza for the Peace Bridge.
 Its Web site lists research done by epidemiologist Jameson Lwebuga-Mukasa has studied the West Side community.
 According to the Web site, “Lung and bronchial cancer rates in the Peace Bridge expansion area are above expected norm in middle-aged males and females” Plus Lwebuga-Mukasa research shows, “The overall prevalence of asthma along the Peace Bridge traffic corridor to be three times higher than the national average.”
The site also reports that 22,000 people on the West Side have some form of respiratory problems, which is higher than other parts of Buffalo.
 The Public Bridge Authority’s Web site acknowledges that there is an issue with the air quality and that vehicles are part of the problem, but they also mention that the expansion project will get rid of some of the emissions.
 For now there is still a problem causing residents of the West Side to have respiratory illnesses like asthma.
 “All the emissions, you can’t feel them, you can smell them sometimes,” Sullivan said. “It’s the dust and all the pollution in the air from the truck emissions.”

Edited by Tiffany Monde

Women's health fair aids Burmese refugees

By Saintia Dorestal
Bengal News reporter
 From refugee camps to the refuge of the West Side: Burmese women are finding themselves welcomingly provided for once they arrive,including new measures aimed at educating them on breast cancer awareness.
 Funded by the Susan G. Komen Center, the International Institute of Buffalo organized on Nov.23 a health education tutorial that consisted of breast cancer prevention techniques including how to properly perform self-examinations.
 “We were trying to focus on one ethnic group and since the refugees who are coming from Burma or what is now known as Myanmar, are the latest refugee groups coming into the area, we felt we would start with them,” said May Shogan, project director for the Komen program and director of international exchanges at the International Institute of Buffalo.
 “There are a lot of things that they don’t know when it comes to their health,” she said.

May Shogan talks about directing health information to Burmese women:


 For Burmese women coming from a country where such a topic as breast cancer is often stigmatized and educational and preventive measures severely limited, the informational session came with a sigh of relief for many.
 “When we gave them the survey to see how much they knew about the topic, in the beginning they all answered I don’t know,” said Shogan. “When we did the post survey, we got accurate answers for most of the questions.”
 According to data gathered from the Komen foundation, test scores for the Burmese population were among the lowest scores of all the immigrant and refugee populations educated about breast cancer.
 Once the International Institute of Buffalo realized how poorly the women scored on the breast cancer survey, they applied for the Susan G. Komen grant and were soon awarded $21,416 to develop a health fair.
 During the health fair the women were shown how to examine their breast for lumps by using their hands and fingers and preventive measures to take to avoid breast cancer.
 “We thought that it was important to have the health fair to help these women settle well into our community,” said Kim Griswold, assistant professor of family medicine and psychiatry and founder of the Refugee Cultural Competency Training Program at Niagara Family Health Center.

Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum

 Sponsors for the project included HEAL-International Inc., Catholic Charities and the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum.
 There were health fairs done in the past for other groups, such as Somali and Asian women, but the primary reason to have just one ethnic group was because of language, said Griswold.
 “If we had a mixed group it would entail us using too many interpreters because of the different dialects,” he said. “So it’s best to have one group so we would only have to use two interpreters.”
 Although Burmese is the main language spoken in Burma, there are many ethnicities and languages such as Shan, Karen, Kachin and Chin.
 “This event was a huge success,” said Luniya Msuku, representative from the HEAL-International Inc. “We addressed a variety issues that deal with women in terms of their physical and emotional well-being, but also their economical well-being.”

Edited by John Patrissi

'Tis the season, again, to get a flu shot

Nurse Barbara Sullivan gives a flu shot to a Mattina Center patient

By Jeffrey Heras
and Kevin Hoffman
Bengal News reporters
 Scared and hesitant at first, Shomique Pierce, 20, was worried about her health and her six-month-old baby’s health. Getting the Influenza Vaccine in early October, her mind was more at peace knowing that she and her baby would have a less likely chance of getting the flu this winter.
 Like Pierce, many residents of the West Side are gearing up for the winter season by getting the flu shot at clinics like the Judge Joseph S. Mattina Community Health Center located at 300 Niagara St.
 “I recommend for people to get it (flu shot), its better for you to be safe than sorry. I’ve gotten sick but it would have been worse if I had not gotten it, said Suleika Sosa, 25, a student at the Buffalo Adult Learning Center.
 Nurse Barbara Sullivan of the Mattina Community Health Center recommends that everyone get a flu shot for this winter season. She said that people with ages ranging from six months old to the elderly, especially those at 70-years-old, should get the flu shot.
 “People die from the flu, they don’t think they do but especially small children and the elderly can get really sick,” Sullivan said.
 “The children are the ones who infect everybody else. When you think about it they are the ones that can catch the flu in school, they are not good hand-washers and they come home and get mom and dad sick, grandma and grandpa sick, it gets passed around,” she added.
 This year’s flu shot comes equipped with a vaccine to protect against influenza A and B as well as the H1N1 virus that caused a pandemic across the country for the 2008-2009 winter season. Those that are allergic to eggs should not take the flu shot, Sullivan said. There are no alternatives for a flu shot for those who are allergic.
 Due to the H1N1 virus scare, Sullivan believes that for this winter season there will be many people that will get the flu because of the scare.
 According to Sullivan, even if one were to get a flu shot it would take two weeks to kick in. It is also common that people can get sick two week before the medication kicks in and even after. The medication can last for approximately six months, but according to Sullivan, the best time to get the flu shot is in October and November.
 For the average person the most common flu symptoms are fever, sore throat, chills, fatigue, cough, headache and muscle aches.
 If a doctor’s visit is out of the question there are several home remedies according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, some centuries old, which can be used to combat the debilitating effect the flu can take on everyday life.

Sullivan says the best way to avoid getting sick is...



 Getting extra bed rest and drinking a large amount of fluids can help ease the pain, especially when dealing with a fever. Breathing aromatic steam, which entails filling the bathroom or kitchen sink with steaming water, adding two teaspoons of chopped fresh ginger and inhaling the steam, is essential to opening up the bronchial tubes, easing congestion, and making breathing easier.
 Because of the diverse community present on the West Side it is sometimes hard to convince people to immunize them with a flu shot because of their religious views or restrictions. Some have started to become accustomed to living in poor conditions, Sullivan said.
 “Buffalo has a large refugee population, we have people from Bangladesh, from the Congo, from Iraq, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico, China and a lot of them are not immunized or are aware of what a flu shot can do,” she said. “The more people we immunized the less it is going to spread out.”
 Sullivan recommended that “one way to prevent the flu is to cough and sneeze into your elbow and wash your hands, don’t use handkerchiefs but use a Kleenex.” In addition she states that people should not share food, utensils or use other people’s cups; they should eat a healthy diet to keep their immune system up.

Edited by Tony Fiorello and Natalie Lleras

West Side combats rising health concerns

By Mike Gambini and Ken Obstarczyk

Bengal News reporters
 Driving on the I-190 Interstate, passing through the city of Buffalo one can’t help but notice the Peace Bridge. The Peace Bridge allows for constant transportation to and from Canada, a country many Buffalo residents have come to know as a second home. What might not be so obvious is the air pollution created from diesel fuel exhaust by vehicles crossing the border. The effects of the pollution are adding up, especially on the West Side.
 “People on the West Side wanting to go outside and take a walk are affected by the poor air quality,” said Phil Haberstro, executive director at the Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo and Western New York. “A person wanting to take a walk or riding a bike for exercise is now faced with a dilemma because the results of exercise is being negated by the air pollution that person is taking in.”

Phil Haberstro, on air quality:


 Organizations built on promoting strong health have recognized such problems like poor air quality, and are starting to work toward a solution.
 The Near East and West Side Task Force has been pro-actively trying to improve the quality of life for Buffalo residents since 2002.
 “The mission of the Near East and West Side Task Force is to promote the well-being and self-sufficiency of racial and ethnic communities in Buffalo through advocacy,” said Francesca Mesiah, executive director. “Through the health and education committees, the task force represents Buffalo's communities, with focus on improving and advocating on behalf of education and health.”
 Mesiah, who reports to an elected board of directors, said a paid membership structure has been established according to the size of the participating organization, along with not for profits and individual memberships.
 Members of the task force include block clubs, social workers, lawyers, doctors, educators, retirees, civil rights activists and entrepreneurs.
 Haberstro, who has worked closely with the task force on many projects over the years, describes it as having three distinct sectors.
 “The task force includes a public, private and non-profit sector that work to create change in the East and West Side communities,” Haberstro said.  The public sector includes elected officials, the private sector is made up of the business community and the non-profit sector includes the Catholic Health System and Kaleida Health.
 When Haberstro first became involved with the task force, its focus was predominantly on the East side he said. Then, last year, after learning it was shifting its focus back toward the West Side, Haberstro re-established his presence within the task force.
 Haberstro started going to meetings again and even advocated for a charter last spring that would be used to try to resolve some of the issues the task force faced within Buffalo’s communities.Created by the World Health Organization in 1986, the Ottawa Charter is used for health promotion. The charter is made up of five actions a community can take to improve health. Those actions are: building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community actions, developing personal skills and reorienting health services.
 Lynn Rivers, associate professor and chairperson of the physical therapy department at D’Youville College, works extensively with the task force. She accepted Haberstro’s proposal of the charter and hopes it will make a difference in the community.
 “I am committed through research and service to community health and wellness for the city of Buffalo with an emphasis on physical activity for children, adults and seniors,” Rivers said in a statement.
 Haberstro said his motivation behind the charter wasn’t to over step his boundaries with the task force; he simply wanted to show them GR an alternative.
 “I never doubted the commitment of the task force,” he said. “I just wanted to reinvigorate the task force’s plan for health promotion.”
 Along with the charter, Haberstro wants residents of the West Side to start getting normal, everyday exercise. In order to do this however, the task force needs to engage people on the West Side about the importance of health he said.
 “Three out of four adults on the West Side don’t get enough physical activity in terms of going outside and taking a walk,” Haberstro said. “We want to encourage people to use the resources available to them. The Riverwalk and the bike route on Richmond Avenue are great ways for people on the West Side to be active.”

Edited by Patrick Martin and Cierra Richardson