Health fair UCF men’s focused basketball on Muslim continues Americans, to shine, Page 3 Volume 14, Issue 15 www.ValenciaVoice.com Dec. 14, 2011 Page 27 Valencia is top pick, honored with $600,000 grant High hopes for future after receiving prize, first ever Aspen Award for Community College By James Tutten speaking to the crowd at the ceremony af- [email protected] ter receiving the award. “Where excellence is not defined by exclusivity or expensive- Valencia College was acknowledged as ness, and where opportunity is genuine.” one of the top educational institutions in Millions of students have shared in the nation after wining the inaugural As- this unique opportunity since the found- pen Award for Community College Excel- ing of Valencia in Orlando, Florida in lence. Along with the award comes a grant 1967. Valencia ranked number one last of $600,000 that Valencia can spend to ex- year for awarding the most Associate Political pand on it’s future goals in education. degrees in the nation’s for two-year in- Valencia was given this honor because stitutions. There is a current annual en- of striving to improve what really matters rollment of over 70,000 students and an Section in a community college. Valencia’s degree operating annual budget well over $160 awards rates are one of the best nation- million dollars. GOP runs the gauntlet on ally for a community college. Graduates Global educational trends show that get employed at a higher rate then any the U.S has falling to twelfth place for the road to the White House other Aspen finalist and the school boasts young adults with Associate degrees, and the highest number of four year college nationally there is an increase of students Valencia President Sandy Shugart accepting the Aspen Award for Community College Excellence. Candidate profiles: Who is transfer students in the nation. dropping out of high school or feel unpre- in and out? “If it can be done at a community col- pared to attend college after graduation. programs like the one offered at Valen- only 40 percent of adult American work- lege setting, they’re doing at Valencia, Despite this Valencia projects to expand- cia are encouraged and supported by ers have those degrees. If Americans Opinions of Pro- Obama, and they’re doing it very very well,” said ed on it’s number of graduates through many in government. don’t step up to fill theses jobs they will former Michigan governor John Engler. its commitment to equitable outcomes “It’s incumbent on us to keep to keep migrate overseas and continue the gener- Anti-Obama Engler and former South Carolina sena- and success plans for lower income and our country strong. We are really fight- al economic downturn in the near future. tor Richard Riley presented the award to minority students. ing for our country here,” said secretary The Aspen Institute hope sto continue Ronald Reagan compared Valencia’s president Sandy Shugart dur- Community colleges furthering the of education, Arne Duncan, at the award awarding future institutions by furthering to current Republicans ing the Monday-morning ceremony at skills of American workers is a strong ceremony. “Keep those jobs here, and the this into a yearly prize. Founded in 1950 Washington, DC. focal point for fixing the economic woes only way we can do that is through great this organization’s goals are “fostering en- Jeff hates: GOP candidates “We have this unique instrument at of the recent economic recession. With community colleges.” lightened leadership, the appreciation of hand unlike any other institution any- so many people today out of work or Currently around 60 percent of avail- timeless ideas and values, and open-mind- Pages 7-20 where else in the world,” said Shugart, underemployed, continued educational able jobs require advanced degrees, while ed dialogue on contemporary issues.” www.ValenciaVoice.com NEWS Dec. 14, 2011 2 Dealing with dialysis Student reporter among millions fighting kidney disease By Hadassah Lansiquot The main reasons that younger people de- [email protected] velop kidney failure and possibly end up on dialysis are drug abuse, alcoholism, and lupus, Every night I prepare for my dialysis treatment according to Chin-Smith, but hypertension and on my CCPD (continuous cycler peritoneal dialy- diabetes also play a huge role in more people sis) machine. To perform the procedure you must developing the disease. have the right accessories including drain bags, “Society is getting more stressful”, she said, mini caps, and cassettes (not the musical kind.) “and America is getting fatter.” There are several steps involved, which in- Her biggest challenge is “having the patient clude connecting the right lines to the right bags. comply with their treatments”. She emphasizes The final step occurs when I connect myself--- the importance of patients faithfully doing their through a catheter’s tube---to the machine, and treatments, taking their medications, and stick- begin the 10-hour cleansing process. ing to their diets. There are an estimated 26 million Americans When I was first diagnosed with kidney fail- who have chronic kidney disease, according to ure, it was difficult for me to follow a renal diet. As Jeffrey Cooke, 45, gets dialysis treatment at Davita in Philadelphia. Cooke is the third generation in his family to have renal failure. the National Kidney Foundation. Many kidney with everything else, though, it’s all about mod- patients develop ESRD (end stage renal disease) eration for the things I’m not supposed to eat. which can result in having to go on dialysis. There are steps you can take to prevent kid- According to the annual United States Renal ney disease: eat nutritious meals, drink plenty of African Americans more likely to Data System, the number of people developing fluids, exercise, don’t smoke, maintain a healthy ESRD has increased 9.6 percent for people be- weight, and get checked regularly for diabetes tween the ages of 1-19, and 9.8 percent for those and blood pressure. have kidney disease, new study says ages 20-44. This shows that kidney failure can My kidney failure was diagnosed because I happen at any age, not just to older people. had swollen feet. Now after seven years going By Vabren L. Watts ney disease, according to the study calling this one of the most important Marie Chin-Smith, a nurse at Davita Orlando back and forth between hemodialysis and peri- The Philadelphia Inquirer released last month in the online is- examples of genetic variation since Home Training, a peritoneal dialysis clinic, has toneal dialysis, I feel I have better control of my sue of Science Magazine. the discovery of the sickle cell trait, worked with Davita for 18 years and has seen kidney disease. African Americans are four times “This is clearly a landmark pa- which protected against malaria. changes in the age of her patients over the years. Hemodialysis involves going to a center three as likely to have kidney disease as per,” says nephrologist Lawrence The Harvard researchers used She says they “used to be older patients only”, times a week, while peritoneal dialysis is done in Caucasians, and a recent study from Holzman, chief of the Renal-Elec- DNA samples from the 1000 Ge- but are now getting younger and younger. The your home at your convenience, typically while Harvard University may explain why. trolyte and Hypertension division at nomes Project’s database of indi- youngest patient she’s had was 17. you sleep. Nephrologist Martin Pollak and the University of Pennsylvania. He viduals of African, European, and After developing kidney disease, generally, Davita has 1,777 clinics nationwide with his team found that a common ge- estimates that African Americans Asian descents. They discovered Chin-Smith said, “older patients have a harder 138,000 patients. It is one of the largest compa- netic mutation of the APOL1 gene make up 70 percent of his patients. that 30 percent of African American time accepting it” and sometimes “they go into nies offering dialysis services in the world, sec- might be partly responsible for Afri- “It’s amazing how natural selection chromosomes contained a mutated depression”, while younger patients “have a ond only to Fresenius. In the future, Chin-Smith can Americans’ susceptibility. plays such an important role in a APOL1 gene, and observed that in- will to live more” and “accept it better”. She hopes for Davita “to be the biggest, best dialysis The mutation likely arose due to common disorder,” Holzman said. dividuals with kidney failure were says for the young, “there’s more to life” and unit in the world”. natural selection because it protects “This will start a gigantic avalanche three times as likely to have both she encourages them to pursue their goals and Davita lists several ways to help on its against African sleeping sickness, for kidney research.” copies of the variant. Alterations in “change direction in life” which can range from website. For more information log on to www. Pollak wrote. It also makes African Penn evolutionary geneticist Sar- other ethnic groups were not found. a job change to going back to school. kidney.org/ and www.davita.com . Americans more vulnerable to kid- ah Tishkoff also praised the work, — MCT Campus www.ValenciaVoice.com NEWS Dec. 14, 2011 3 Florida Hospital and Metro Pharma- cy provided several health tests. Metro Pharmacy provided blood pressure and ‘Tis the season to give ACCU-Check which targets the blood glu- cose. Florida Hospital also provided free mammograms for women. Local charities need time, money, you “We are committed to making sure women get mammograms, and to take Information compiled by: Mindy Ortiz- volunteer services man- care of themselves in general,” said Hadassah Lansiquot ager (407) 295-8844 Monica Lowry, community outreach [email protected] www.foodbankcentralflorida.org/ coordinator for Florida Hospital.