Banner Graphic, Volume 15, Number 128, Greencastle, Putnam County, 29 January 1985 — Page 6

Page 6

January 29,1985

Living proof: Greencastle's Dr. Greg Larkin says how you live will affect life expectancy

DR. GREG LARKIN Cites heart disease causes

Adults, students, parents participate

Disabled take part in seminar to discuss problems

By NADINE BROZAN c. 1985 N.Y. Times News Service NEW YORK When Harilyn Rousso, who has cerebral palsy, was growing up, she had virtually no contact with other disabled people. “I attended a regular school so I just didn’t know anyone else who was disabled, and disability was then shrouded in secrecy and stigma,” Miss Rousso said, addressing an audience composed almost entirely of disabled women. “So it never occurred to me that there could be interesting, smart, attractive, witty and successful disabled people.” Enlightening two generations of disabled women about each other and dispelling notions among the young that they face insurmountable barriers in education, careers and marriage were among the purposes of a recent conference at St. Peter’s Church in the Citicorp Center here. The meeting was conducted by the Networking Project for Disabled Women and Girls, a 10-month-old enterprise sponsored by the YWCA of New York City and funded by two foundation grants that run out in February. The project has also been promised a small amount of federal support. Miss Rousso noted that until she was 22 years old and employed for the summer by a female economist who also had cerebral palsy, she had little if any notion of what she could expect in adulthood. “That association had a profound effect on me,” she said. “I saw that she could make it in a man’s field. But I was even more impressed that she was married. My parents and I believed that a person with cerebral palsy could not date, marry or have children, so I focused solely on my career. That woman made me challenge my assumptions about myself.” Miss Rousso also had an unexpected impact on her employer: “She was 55 years old, and she told me that I was the first person with whom she had ever discussed her disability.” Indeed, many of the participants in the program adult speakers and mentors, and 10 parents and teachers of the disabled said that they had never had anyone with whom to discuss their situation. Professionally as well as personally it was a day for role models. Among them were these: —Georgia McMurray, the first commissioner of the New York City Agency for Child Development, who is now deputy director of the Community Service Society of New York. Miss McMurray has a rare neuromuscular disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth. —Dr. Nansie S. Sharpless, associate professor of psychiatry and neurology and chief of the clinical neuropsychopharmacological laboratory at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Sharpless has been totally deaf since contracting meningitis at the age of 14. —Barbara Cole, principal owner of and designer for a jewelry company. Miss Cole has been paralyzed as the result an automobile accident 12 years ago. —Dr. Daryl Ann Doane, a physicist who

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Special to the Banner-Graphic American Heart Association President Dr. Greg Larkin wants Indiana residents to know the facts about their lifestyles and heart disease. According to Dr. Larkin, smoking and eating habits, high blood pressure and diabetes are the factors that everyone should control to reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke. Studies have shown that - cigarette smoking, a diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol, and high blood pressure all contribute to a buildup of fatty deposits in the walls of the arteries called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis, the main underlying cause associated with the high incidence of cardiovascular diseases, restricts, and sometimes blocks completely, the flow of blood to the vital organs. TO REDUCE THE RISK of heart disease, Dr. Larkin urged residents to stop smoking immediately. “Cigarette smoking is the most prevalent risk factor for sudden cardiac death,” he said. “In fact, smokers have more than twice the risk of heart attack

works in microelectronics at Bell Laboratories. Dr. Doane has had derma tomyasitis, a disease she described as a cross between poliomyelitis and arthritis, since age 7. —Linda Slone, a teacher of marine biology at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn. Miss Slone contracted polio in infancy and is in a wheelchair. She designed the course, which derives from her own hobby, swimming with dolphins. Miss Slone instigated a successful classaction lawsuit in federal court that abolished the New York City practice of giving a particular test for prospective teachers only to those whose mobility is impaired. The young women attending the conference had many questions to ask. Yannina Varvitsiotes, 15, of Brooklyn, who has cerebral palsy, wanted to know how the career women got where they are and what colleges they went to. Lydia Santa, 16, who lives in Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y., and has a birth defect known as spina bifida, asked, “Was it difficult to get the jobs they have now?” And Michelle Santiago, 14, of the Bronx, who also has cerebral palsy, inquired, “Did they start in one thing and then get their own career after they got tired of working for others?” The girls also wanted to know about social relationships in the context of school and outside, particularly with boys. “What is the right way to flirt?” asked Dawn Schankweiler, 17, of Staten Island,, who is blind. That provoked a flood of suggestions on ways to meet boys. Adrienne Asch, a civil-rights investigator for the New York State Divison of Human Rights, led two small group sessions and was a principal speaker at the conference. She offered a personal recollection: “I decided that I was too serious and needed to learn how to flirt, so I read a silly book on the subject. A friend told me she had a man she very much wanted me to meet. But he refused to meet a blind woman, so I cannot practice my newly honed skills on him.” “You can’t pretend that it isn’t painful,” she went on. “It’s hard to be in high school, and it’s even harder for girls with disabilities.” Earlier in the day Carol Ann Roberson, who is quadriplegic as the result of childhood polio and is a clinical supervisor for vocational services at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine and the mother of two young children, described what happened 12 years ago when she announced her plans to marry. “People asked, ‘Are you really going to be able to be a wife?’ ” she related. “ ‘Will you have children?’ Why don’t you wait until you’re 45 or 50 to marry so that children won’t be an issue?’ And now people still find it easier to see me as a working person than as a wife or mother.” In the keynote speech Miss McMurray described through her own history many of the problems faced by disabled women. “When I was a child my disability was not as pronounced as it is now, but I knew I was different,” she said. “My family said I

Heart disease a factor locally

Cardiovascular diseases cause 50.72 per cent of Indiana deaths, according to statistics compiled from the 1983 report from the Indiana State Board of Health and the American Heart Association, Indiana Affiliate. Putnam County ranks 63rd with 53.64 per cent, compared with Morgan County, first, with 41.42 per cent and Carroll County, 92nd, with 61.58 per cent. Statewide there were 18,252 deaths due to heart disease, with the highest fatalities in the 75-84 age group. They were closely followed by the over 85, 65-74,55-64, and 45-54 age groups. HEART DISEASE INCLUDES rheumatic fever and chronic

that non-smokers. A smoker who has a heart attack is more likely to die from it and to die suddenly, even within an hour, than a nonsmoker.”

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Evelyn Varvitsiotes (left) and her 15-year-old daughter, Yanninia, talk with Barbara Cole at a YWCA conference geared to enlightening disabled women about each other. was different. I could see from my friends that I was different.” It was not until she came to New York after graduation from Bryn Mawr College that she began to experience real constraints on her mobility. “I got a job at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn and had to walk three blocks from the subway to get there,” she said. “I started falling, and my supervisor asked if I could handle the job. I felt uncomfortable

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rheumatic heart disease; hypertensive heart and renal diseases, acute myocardial infarction, ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular disease and diseases of the arteries. Putnam County had a total of 140 deaths caused from cardiovascular disease. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in Indiana. The American Heart Association in Indiana has allocated over $5.8 million toward Indiana research since 1949. The 1984-85 Indiana Affiliate research grants totaled $427,633. The American Heart Association is the world’s largest non-governmental supporter of cardiovascular research.

Dr. Larkin called high blood pressure a “silent killer” because the disease has no symptoms and no early signs. Almost 38 million adults have high blood pressure.

Several topics were covered, including careers, marriage and boyfriends. (N.Y. Times News Service photo). saying that I had a permanent disability, so I did not.” On her second job, with an adolescent pregnancy program, she began to drive but found that the nearest parking spot was two blocks from the workplace. Again she said nothing and arranged for a friend to drive her. In 1970 she was under consideration for the position as the first commissioner of the Agency for Child Development. The

but of those who know they have it, many do not get treatment or do not control it adequately. “WE DON’T KNOW the cause of most cases of high blood pressure, but usually it is controllable,” he said. “If you have high blood pressure, you should follow your doctor’s orders on diet and medication. If you don’t know what your blood pressure is, have it measured The test is painless and easy to take." As shoppers and consumers, Indiana residents can reduce the amount of cholesterol and saturated fats in their diets, Dr. Larkin said. Reducing the intake of high-fat meats, whole-milk dairy products, egg yolks and other foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol is helpful, along with eating more poultry, fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and cereals, and low-fat dairy products. IN ADDITION TO THE major risk factors of heart disease, Americans should be aware of the contributing factors of

final step to approval was an interview with Mayor John V. Lindsay. “We talked for an hour, and at the end I couldn’t stand up,” she said. “I sat there and wondered what to do. I knew I could not sit in the mayor’s office for the rest of my life, so I told him, ‘Mayor Lindsay, I cannot stand up,’ and he picked me up. For the next three years we did a lot of public' appreances together, and he always picked me up out of my chair.” Today she cannot conceal her condition, but she said, “I am lucky to earn enough to have a housekeeper and private transportation.” She added, “I do my job well, and my employer recognizes my talent.”

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obesity, lack of exercise and stress, and the risk factors they cannot control - a family history of heart disease, age, sex and race. “When you have several of these risk factors, it is important to control the ones you can and see your doctor regularly to monitor the ones you can’t control,” Dr. Larkin said. “There have been many advancements in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in the past 30 years. But, despite a 28 per cent reduction in the number of deaths due to heart diseases in the past 10 years, approximately one million Americans, who die this year, will die from heart and blood vessel diseases.” Dr. Larkin said volunteers throughout Indiana will participate in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Heart Month campaign this February. The money they raise will help support AHA’s research, public and professional education, and community programs. If persons need more information about the AHA or its programs, contact your local American Heart Association.

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