November 22-28, 1987, Mlch n CitIZen
Care.
al
ByBalTyT
Capitlll News Service
LANSING - Almost 65 per­
cent of the working poor with
families have no access to health
care in Michigan and more
people are finding it difficult to
get because of increase costs.
Two key problems for people
getting assistance for health
care have come about in the last
few years.
One i the government limit­
ing eligibility for public assis­
tance, said Pam Paul-Shaheen,
pecial studies chief of the
Department of Public Health.
People who were formerly
receiving this are not," said Paul­
Shaheen, and today there are
fewer people receiving it also.
The government tightened
eligibility for health care in
r ponse to the recession of the
early 80's and because of the
piraling inflation.
a
C ued from ge 1
ere of 17 percent over last
year.
She identifies drug abuse, al­
cohol abuse and drug trafficking
as major contributors to the
city's high death rate, showing.
dramatic increases in the use of
cocaine and its derivative, crack.
Detroit, she says, is second only
to ew Yor in crack distribu­
tion, usage and emergency
ho pital treatment.
OTHE IGHLIGHTS 0
ORRISO -s REPO T
eLUDE:
- At the current r te of
cocaine/crack related treatment
admissions, there will be a 40
percent increase in 1987 ov r
year, the highest percentage
increase since 1975.
- Crac cocaine i the
primary drug of abuse in 46 per­
cent of int e to substance
abuse treatment programs.
- Detroit Police Department
reports the availability of
cocaine and crack is proliferat­
ing while heroin use and
availability is decreasing.
- Detroit i in danger of ex­
periencing the worse AIDS
epidemic outside of New York
fueled by the more than 40,000
intravenous drug users.
- Blac are particularly af­
fected by the intravenous drug
buse-AIDS relationship, com­
prising 76 percent of all AIDS
cases with reported IV drug use.
-Based on available statistics,
total expenditures for treatment
of substance abuse related dis­
order is estimated at $144 mil­
lion and growing annually.
- Access to adequate drug
treatment facilities is restricted
due to the sheer numbers.
Morrison stresses the need
for prevention and education.
So 6S % or tate' orldng
poor n't fford health care.
The other key problem is in
the private sector, as businesses
reduce coverage to their
r
•
I
10
an'
x
She said she hopes to to capture
the attention of decision makers
and encourage people to think
of new strategies.
"The old way hasn't worked.
We have to think of new ays,­
she said.
In the report she cites statis­
tics from the Detroit Police ar-
coties Unit to prove her point.
While there were 2,301 arrests in
1986, by August of this year, the
number was already at 2,263.
Raids on drug houses continue
at a rate of 200-250 per month, a
"mere drop in the bucket when
as many as one percent of all
housing in the city i estimated
to be involved indrug use 0 drug
trafficking activity," the report
continues.
Death,jail or recovery are the
only options for the drug abuser,
with recovery the least likely, the
report states.
Treatment of substance
abuse related disorders cost
Detroit residents $144 million in
1985, a Wayne State study
reveals.
As of August, 1987 the
wor ers, said Paul-Shaheen.
Other businesses are opting
not to provide care because they
see it as cheaper, Paul-Shaheen
added.
Business reduction of in­
surance has made it harder for
people to get access to hospitals
as costs rise. Many public and
private hospitals have limited
their amount of health care of­
fered and have moved the cost
onto paying patients.
Gloria Smith, director of the
Department of Public Health,
said 50 to 60 percent of people
with low paying jobs don't have
access to health insurance and
their finances are used up
through their savings or through
borrowing money.
As of 1985, almost 65 percent
of the adult working population
with families were uninsured,
according to the Department of
Public Health.
/ Report
finding
Detroit Health Department had
received 4,770 requests for
treatment, a 34 percent increase
over the previous year, the study
says. Of the 547 requests for ser­
vice, only 334 were processed
and only 325 ere actually
referred to treatment.
"There is a long line of drug
addicts waiting for treatment in
the city of Detroit. And the line
is getting longer," Morrison
writes.
She fears the next logical step
by an overwhelmed community
will be to consider legaliza ion
of drugs.
Morrison recalls the tory of
alcohol, once n illeg I sub­
stance, legitimized following the
social chaos of Prohi ition.
In Detroit, homoci e i the
leading cause of death ong
Blac males between the ages of
15 and 35. In 50 percent of these
deaths, the victims had con­
sumed alcohol, and an increas­
ing number involve cocaine or
crack, Morrison reports.
"Clearly, in isolation, effor
to reduce the supply of dru
will not end the crisis. Nor will it
be treated away .... We find our­
selves in desperate need of total
community involvement and
new strategies of education,
prevention, intervention and law
enforcement aimed at reducing
the DEMAND for drugs.," the
report says.
·OURSURVIVALISBE G
THREATENED, but the
primary threat is not the drug
nor the AIDS virus. The threat
is 'us'; our permissive behavior,
our acceptance, our apathy, and
our apparent surrender in the
fight against drugs," Morrison
said.
ry?
Getting access to health in­
surance is more of a problem in
Michigan as industries move
from manufacturing jobs and to
ervices where a lack of in­
surance coverage exists, said
Paul-Shaheen.
Help is needed in the 18-to-
25 year old range, where people
may be able to purchase in-
surance but choose not to be­
cause of costs.
y ouog people also fit in a
category of those who have lost
insurance or have no financial
means to get it.
A task force set up by the
Department of Public Health
has been looking into the
problem.
Cl:1annel 50 pro es
Continued from pag 1
various airings will be rein­
vested to support apartheid
policies. It says to the public,
'look how savages ruled South
Africa in the past, this is why
we cannot allow them to rule
South Africa again!"
On the other side of the
coin, T.V. SO's Anchorperson,
Amyre Makupson said, 'We at
Channel 50 put together a
committee to view the film,
"Shaka Zulu" before airing it.
The committee consisted of
several Detroit dignitaries in­
cluding: Urban League Vice
President of Administration
Zenobia Payne Drake, Execu­
tive Secretary of Detroit
NAACP Winston Lange,
State Arthur Johnson.
Makupson was the Channel
SO's frontline person meeting
the people who were opposed
to the series, and listening to
their points of view.
She said, "The people who
saw the film enjoyed it, and
the ones who had not seen it
were the main ones protest-
. "
mg.
New Detroit's S. Martin
Taylor who organized the pick­
eting as well as November 13's
press conference in protest,
commented saying, "The
South African Government
has destroyed freedom of the
press in that country. The
government is managing all
news that comes from that
country and therefore should
not be allowed to propagan-
Detroit Recorder's Court
Judge Edward Thomas, Vice
President of Ford Motor Com­
pany Eillo Hall, Psychiartrist
Dr. Dexter Fields, Internist
Dr. Margaret Betts, WJZZ's
Deborah Copeland, Derek
Hill of WJLB, Dr. Shade, and
o Pearson of Havenwyc
Hospital
aku on says she and
the remaind r of the commit­
tee unanimo ly agreed, after
three and one half hours of
viewing. that e series, "Shaka
Zulu- should be aired. They
termed the violence and par­
tial nudity insignificant to the
content of the film.
Others who re invited to
the showing but did not make
an appearance re: S. � ar­
tin Taylor of e Detroit, u­
perintendant of Schools r­
thur Jefferson, Assistant P' -
tor of Hartford Memorial Bap­
tist Church Mangedwa yathi,
and Vice President of Wayne
dize its white supremacist
policies under the guise of a
historically inaccurate docu­
drama,"
He added, "To permit this
film is to lift the sanction of
moral outrage from the apart­
heid policies and news control­
ling tactics of the South
African regime. It is acknow­
ledged that Shaka Zulu was
financed in part and op nly
approved by the state-control­
led South African Broadcast­
ing Company,"
Malrupson stated, e
asked those in protest to ub­
stantiate their allegatio that
the South African vern­
ment intended to reinv t the
monies from this film to sup­
port apartheid and no such in­
formation was produced, so
we aired it."