TownTalk: Low Dose CT Screening Can Catch Cancer Early

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Maria Parham Health is offering low-dose CT scans to screen for lung cancer, catch the disease early and provide appropriate treatment.

Much like mammograms and colonoscopies are routine tools to detect breast cancer and colon cancer, MPH Cancer Center Director Kimberly Smith said the low-dose CT is helpful for early detection.

Long-time smokers between the ages of 50 and 77 who show no signs or symptoms of lung cancer are eligible for the scans, Smith said on Monday’s Town Talk. She and MPH Social Worker Hope Breedlove told John C. Rose they hope that anyone wants to know whether they meet the criteria for the scan will call 252.506.7070 this week to learn more.

“We’re really excited to have this life-saving lung cancer test for smokers and former smokers,” Smith said. She and Breedlove want the community to be educated about what it is, especially because Vance County and the surrounding area has a high rate of lung cancer. In fact, she said, lung cancer accounts for 12.7 percent of all newly diagnosed cancers. In Vance County and the surrounding area, lung cancer is in the top three of all cancer diagnoses.

The phone line will be active through Feb. 28 at 4 p.m. Callers will be asked to leave a message with their name, date of birth, a phone number and insurance information, Smith said. A cancer center staff member will follow up within 2-3 business days and walk prospective patients through a series of questions to determine eligibility.

Insurance will pay for the scans of eligible patients, she added. And there are a certain number of scans available for those without insurance.

Not sure you are eligible? Not to worry, Smith said. “We’ll help you navigate through that.”

“The scans are a really great way for us to find out if a patient has some type of lung cancer,” Smith said. The earlier even a small spot is detected, the earlier a treatment plan can be developed and implemented. “We really want to find (it) earlier,” she said, adding that the cancer center uses a software program that monitors a patient for life.

Breedlove explained that the age range has expanded some in hopes of getting younger people screened. “We want to catch the lung cancer early,” she said.

Smith said COVID-19 has interrupted those routine screenings that are so important at early detection of disease. She encouraged everyone to get those screenings scheduled – not just the low-dose CT scans, but mammograms and endoscopies as well.

“That’s how we save people’s lives,” she said.

COVID-19 Rates Continue To Drop In Vance, Granville

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COVID-19 cases continue to recede in Vance and Granville counties, and there have been no new deaths reported in the past week, according to information from Granville Vance Public Health.

Trends are decreasing, lowering the risk of infection, according to Lisa Harrison, GVPH director. Harrison also notes that there have been improvements in hospital capacity.

There have been 79 new cases reported in Vance County in the 7 days ending Friday, Feb. 18. The percent positivity rate is 12.9 percent; in Granville County, 164 new cases were reported in the same period for a percent positivity rate of 11.6 percent.

A total of 11,658 cases have been reported in Vance and 13,888 cases have been reported in Granville.

In the Bureau of Federal Prisons in Butner, there were 3 Granville County inmates whose positive test results were reported to the local health department this week (57 cases have been reported during the 30-day period). There are no new cases among staff to report.

TownTalk: The Story Of Charlotte Hawkins Brown

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If Charlotte Hawkins Brown had owned a cell phone, her contact list would have included the likes of Booker T. Washington, Alice Freeman Palmer and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Born in South Henderson in 1883, Brown became synonymous with the Palmer Institute, a private preparatory high school for African American students in Guilford County that reached its heyday in the 1920s and ‘30s. Her network of wealthy benefactors kept the school in good fiscal shape from its inception in 1902 through the Depression. It closed in 1971.

Her maiden name was Hawkins, and she is descended from John Davis Hawkins, who owned 8,000 acres in the Gillburg area – there’s still a grove of pecan trees near the old prison camp where his home was located, according to local historian Mark Pace.

Pace and Bill Harris discussed Brown’s life and legacy on Thursday’s tri-weekly history segment of Town Talk.

An only child, Brown and her parents moved to Cambridge, Mass. when she was a young girl. They left the oppressive Jim Crow South for other places, as did many African Americans of that time. Cambridge is home to Harvard, Wellesley and Radcliffe, and the young Miss Hawkins was exposed to a center of education and knowledge, Pace said.

She graduated from Harvard at 18 and came back to North Carolina to “run, sight-unseen (the) Bethany Institute,” he said. This school was run by the American Missionary Association in Sedalia, in Guilford County.

But after a 4.5 mile walk from the train station to the school, she found upwards of 50 barefooted schoolchildren having class in a cramped blacksmith shop, Pace said.

Undeterred, the young educator stayed in Sedalia, started her own school named in honor of her dear friend Alice Freeman Palmer, who had been instrumental as a mentor and friend.

“She stayed there for the next 60 years,” Pace said.

The Palmer Institute in Sedalia, now a state historic site, was “the” place for wealthy African American families to send their high school-aged children. It was a private school, Pace said, and Brown encouraged – insisted – that the Palmer students carry themselves with respect and dignity at all times. Young ladies shopping in nearby Greensboro were required to wear white gloves, for example, Pace said.

In fact, Brown wrote an etiquette book that included a whole chapter on the proper use of the telephone. A criterion for graduation was to recite whole passages from that book, Pace noted.

Some of those bits of etiquette still ring true today:

“It is not necessary to talk loud to be heard” was a particular favorite of Brown’s, he said.

The school garnered respect and support from all across the nation, and Pace said it was arguably the most prominent African American preparatory high school in the United States in its heyday.

And Brown’s networking prowess helped to create and sustain that reputation. She appeared on radio shows nationwide, and the Sedalia Singers performed at the White House.

“She was very good at promoting the school,” he said.

Failing health prompted her retirement in 1952, and Brown died in 1961 at age 78.

She was a little bit of a thing – not even five feet tall – but she still cut an imposing figure in the field of education throughout her career.

Some would say that career in education began even before she was herself a student – she was reading at age 3 and speaking in public, under the tutelage of Alice Palmer, before she was 7.

Brown earned numerous degrees and honors, and even found time to be a symphony conductor.

“She was probably the most educated person ever to come out of Vance County,” Pace offered.

Her descendants include the late singer Natalie Cole and Guion “Guy” Bluford, the first African American astronaut in space.

 

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The Local Skinny! County Water System Looking To Break Even

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Plans continue to expand county water service to the Kittrell area, and county commissioners received a project update from Manager Jordan McMillen at its January meeting.

As things stand now, construction could begin as early as fall 2022 of the Phase 1B Water District, which includes laying about 25 miles of new water lines and making upgrades to the existing Kittrell water tower.

McMillen told WIZS News Thursday that the county water project is within $10,000 of breaking even – some unexpected repairs and additional costs have pushed that break-even point out a bit, but added “we are very satisfied with the progress we have made in bringing our system to self-sufficiency the past few years.”

The recently presented audit from fiscal year 2020-21 indicated that the water fund is within $10,000 of breaking even, which represents an improvement from being nearly $20,000 the previous year.

As for the Phase 1B work being done in the Kittrell area, McMillen said if all goes according to schedule, it could be complete by November 2023.

There have been some slight delays involving permitting issues, but once those are resolved, the bids could be advertised by April 2022, awarded in July and proceed with construction in September, McMillen said.

The total construction project would be scheduled for completion by August 2023.

Federal grant and loan projects awarded to Vance County for improving the drinking water for county residents is helping to make the upgrades and extensions to county residents.

McMillen said public meetings and signup efforts will ramp up once the county is closer to the construction phase.

Some of the roads east of Kittrell that will have new water lines installed include portions of Bobbitt Road, Peter Gill Road, Abbott Road, Dick Smith Road, South Chavis Road and Kittrell Road, he said.

The Local Skinny! County Reports On Tax Collections, Audit And New Ambulance

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Vance County Commissioners accepted the audit report for 2020-21 at its January meeting, which included good news about the county’s fund balances and about tax collections. The county’s total fund balance increased by more than $4 million to $26.9 million and the unassigned fund balance increased almost $7 million to $22 million. This amount represents more than 44 percent of next year’s budget, according to the minutes of the January meeting.

Tax collections increased almost 1 percent, to 97.6 percent from 96.68 percent.

Commissioners heard from Stuart Hill representing audit firm Thompson, Price, Scott, Adams & Co. who presented the audit report.

Although there were two budget findings, both have been corrected, the minutes reflected. “There were no difficulties in performing the audit, no uncorrected misstatements and no disagreements with management,” according to the minutes.

The unassigned fund balance increased from $15.3 million to $22.0 million, which is “well within the range that is recommended  by the Local Government Commission,” the minutes stated.

Tax collections increased from 96.68% to 97.60%. The total property valuation is $2,963,958,764 and the total levy amount is $26,533,277.

After discussion, motion was made by Commissioner Dan Brummitt to receive the FY  2020-21 Audit Report as presented. This motion was seconded by Commissioner Thomas S.  Hester, Jr. and unanimously approved.

Finance Director Katherine Bigelow also presented information to commissioners regarding the purchase of a new ambulance during her report at the January meeting. Three bids were considered, but recommended was the bid from Northwestern Emergency Vehicles for about $264,230.

Brummitt made a motion to accept the bid proposal, seconded by

Hester, to purchase a 2022 Ford F550 4 X 4 Type 1 ambulance from Northwestern. A budget amendment of $4,230 also was approved to reach the complete purchase price.

 

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TownTalk: Taking Care of Your Heart

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Dr. Mohammed Akhter, an interventional cardiologist at Maria Parham Health is helping promote the American Heart Association’s theme to “reclaim your rhythm” during the February observance of heart health awareness.

No one can deny the impact that COVID-19 has had on our brains and our hearts, Akhter told John C. Rose on Wednesday’s Town Talk. He encourages everyone to focus again on health lifestyles that can have a positive effect on our physical and mental health.

When gyms and restaurants shut down at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, it was more than just an inconvenience, Akhter said.

It’s time to get back in the groove of those lifestyle habits like regular exercise, eating healty foods and enjoying the social interactions with family and others.

During the pandemic, he said, “we couldn’t go to the gym, we were ordering food online and not socially interacting with our loved ones – that has a major effect on our health.”
The AHA made a fundamental plea to the public, he said. “Now is the time to get back to the rhythm – exercise more, eat better and spend more time with your families.”

Those are concrete examples of steps to take to improve health and reduce stress. But  diagnostic tests performed by medical professionals are needed to determine if high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol levels may also be affecting your overall heart health.

Akhter said that 1 in 2 U.S. adults have hypertension – high blood pressure – but only 1 in 4 have it under control.

He recommends that his patients try to consume less than 2 grams of sodium a day, which may mean scrutinizing food labels. In addition, he recommends 30 minutes of exercise most days, limiting alcohol use and taking medicine that is prescribed for hypertension.

Women and African Americans are two groups that are underrepresented in heart studies, he said.

Maria Parham Health promoted National Wear Red Day on Feb. 4 as a way to “express a solidarity with women who are at risk for cardiovascular disease. He said it’s the number one killer in women.

Women may experience different symptoms than men, he said, adding that is a contributing factor to the under-diagnosis of heart disease in women.

Similarly, African Americans are underrepresented in studies of heart health.

The goal is equitable health for all, Akhter said, who said that in his practice, he works hard to tailor therapies to the individual patients.

 

Donate To Cooperative Extension Food Drive To Create Meal Bags For Up To 10 Families

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The Vance County center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension is hosting a food drive in advance of the 36th annual Small Farms Week, which will be observed March 21-26, 2022. The statewide event, presented by Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T, recognizes the contributions of small farmers across the state’s 100 counties.

The Vance food drive will continue until March 11, but this year’s format looks a little different. Instead of a general collection of canned goods and nonperishables, county staff will collect nonperishable ingredients for a family meal. Each extension office will be putting together meal bags for up to 10 families of four to five people. The Vance County center office will be collecting items for salmon burgers and sweet potato oven fries. Please see the flyer for ingredients needed to fill our meal bags.

Here is a list of items being collected:

  • Low-sodium sweet potatoes
  • Canola oil
  • 75-oz. can pink or red salmon
  • Green onions
  • Red bell pepper
  • Saltine-style crackers, unsalted tops
  • Lemon juice
  • Eggs
  • Plain low-fat yogurt
  • Ground black pepper
  • Cooking spray
  • Whole-wheat buns
  • Bibb lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Lemon pepper seasoning blend

All food collected through the food drive will be donated to ACTS (Area Christians Together in Service). Anyone interested in donating to this food drive can bring items to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Vance County Center office at 305 Young Street in Henderson.

For more information, please call 252-438-8188 or contact Nitasha Kearney, EFNEP Educator at ndkearney@ncat.edu or Wayne Rowland at dwrowlan@ncat.edu.

Thank you in advance for donating to those in hunger in Vance County.