Washington Informer

The mayor of the District told guests at a recent unveiling of a pavilion project in Southeast that its development and completion portends the stepped-up development of sections of Ward 8.

Mayor Vincent Gray, (D), announced the design-and-construction team chosen to build a facility on the St. Elizabeths complex that he said will have a unique structure and use environmentally sound methods.

Gray, 69, said on Saturday at the St. Elizabeths East Campus in Southeast before 40 people, that the St. Elizabeths East Gateway Pavilion will be built with the collaboration of the design-and-construction team of KADCON, Davis Brody Bond and Robert Sillman Associates, all of Northwest. The pavilion is part of the re-building of the St. Elizabeths East Complex as it's converted from a largely mental health facility into an unit that will house food vendors, farmers' markets, casual dining spots, weekend and after-hours activities and cultural and arts events.

"We now have a seminal opportunity to activate the site for commercial activity prior to the St. Elizabeths East Project Phase I completion in 2015," said Gray, at the Oct 13 event. "The design excellence and architectural and construction prowess that the winning firms will bring to the Gateway Pavilion are [what] the District's proposal for interim use here demanded, and we look forward to its construction and use by local and regional consumers."

The pavilion is unique in its design because it will have two levels. The lower level will be the place where the farmers' markets and vendors sell their wares and the upper level – which is to be directly above in an open air space – will be the site for meetings and concerts.

The uniqueness of the pavilion's design is illustrated by the planned fusion of the building with its surroundings, such as the grass, trees, and the soil. It will incorporate one facet of sustainable living by harvesting rainwater into an underground cistern capable of supplying water for irrigation and restrooms, instead of relying on the District's water supply.

Peter Cook, an architect and a principal with Davis Brody Bond, said the pavilion will be one of the most unique buildings in the city.

"There is nothing else like it because it is of the land," said Cook, 49. "This facility is an integration of the land with the pavilion and it will be used by the Congress Heights and St. Elizabeths community."

Pavilion Project Manager Ethan Warsh, 29, said he expects the project to be completed by the summer of 2013.

D.C. Council member Marion Barry [D-Ward 8] said the building of the pavilion as well as development of the rest of the St. Elizabeths complex on both the east and west campuses "will give hundreds of jobs to D.C. residents in general and Ward 8 residents in particular."

"Ward 8 is on the move, we have a new Ward 8," exclaimed Barry, 75. "You see a different spirit here. It's been a long time coming."

Barry said buildings like the pavilion will spur economic development in the ward, but he cautioned that ward residents who have lived there all along should not be forgotten.

James Bunn, executive director of the Ward 8 Business Council, appeared excited about the project.

"This is supremely important," said Bunn, 70. "This is good that we will see this during our lifetime and our grandkids will be able to use this. There is a great future for this part of the city."

However, Ward 8 resident Brenda Jones tempered her praise for the project.

"I think it is wonderful but I believe that those who live in Ward 8 should benefit from the jobs and other opportunities that the pavilion provides. Ward 8 business owners should have the chance to be a part of the building of this pavilion, also," she said.

MIAMI -- Marc Henderson, a 63-year-old African-American airport administrator here, isn’t afraid to ask his physician to do a blood test for Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), a screening test for prostate cancer.

“I’d rather know early on so that it can be treated, rather than sit around in denial until it’s too late,” he said. “If it’s going to help catch something, I have no problems with it.”

Henderson’s views aren’t unusual. For years, doctors have routinely ordered the PSA on men older than 50, along with tests for cholesterol and blood sugar. Just as the goal of screening mammograms is to prevent deaths from breast cancer, the goal of routine PSA testing is to catch prostate cancer early, when it’s easier to treat and more likely to be cured.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States, and routine PSA tests have led to the diagnosis of early prostate cancer in millions of men with no symptoms of the disease. Overall, 16 out of 100 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, and three out of 100 will die of the disease.

Prostate cancer hits black men especially hard. One out of every five black men will be diagnosed with the disease during his lifetime, and five out of 100 will die from it. Black men are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer that is more aggressive and more advanced than are men of other ethnicities. They are also more likely to develop the disease at a younger age than other men.

Unfortunately, the PSA isn’t a great test. It’s often abnormal in men who don’t have cancer (and sometimes, it’s normal in men who do have cancer). Widespread testing has led to millions of men without prostate cancer undergoing biopsies, in which a needle is used to take a small piece of the prostate to examine under the microscope. Also, prostate cancer is extremely common, and most early cases don’t spread to other organs. Those that do spread often take many years to progress to the point where they are fatal. Most men with prostate cancer die of other diseases. Because of early detection, many men undergo aggressive treatment for a cancer that, left alone, would not kill them.

Because of these drawbacks, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a prominent panel of doctors and health experts, recommended earlier this year that men not undergo routine screening. After reviewing several large studies of PSA testing, the panel concluded that the risks of testing – specifically, complications of biopsies and of treatment, such as infections, bleeding, urinary and sexual problems – outweigh the benefit of lives saved as a result of the test. The USPSTF reported that routine PSA testing saves one man out of 1,000 – at most - from dying of prostate cancer.

Meanwhile, out of 1,000 men who are screened, 30 to 40 will develop erectile dysfunction or problems controlling their urination, two will have a heart attack or stroke, and one will develop a potentially life-threatening blood clot as a result of treatment for prostate cancer. In all, the USPSTF reported, one out of 3,000 men screened for prostate cancer will die due to complications from surgical treatment.

The studies the USPSTF reviewed didn’t include many black men, and most were done in Europe. Nonetheless, the panel didn’t make a separate recommendation for blacks. Instead, it stated that because so few black men were in the studies, “no firm conclusions can be made about the balance of benefits and harms of PSA-based screening in this population,” and described PSA screening based on race as “problematic … in the absence of data.”

The panel’s report also cited a recent large U.S. study that did include a large number of black men with early prostate cancer and found no difference in survival at 12 years between those who underwent aggressive prostate surgery, versus those who were closely monitored, but didn’t receive prostate cancer treatment. The leading black physicians’ organization, the National Medical Association (NMA), vehemently disagreed with the USPSTF’s recommendation.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” said Dr. Cedric Bright, a general internist who is an associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and a former NMA president. “I’ve seen enough prostate cancer that started early and was more aggressive.” He added that the panel’s conclusions “may be more generalizable to those who are of European background. There are very few African-Americans in the studies.”

In a statement issued in response to the USPSTF recommendation, the NMA describes PSA screening as “the best method to detect early stage, curable prostate cancers.” The NMA supports the American Urologic Association’s screening guidelines, which include beginning PSA screening at age 40, including a doctor’s office rectal exam as part of the screening, assessing a man’s risk based on his age, ethnicity, family history, and aspects of his PSA result, such as how much it has increased over the past year and whether it is high compared to the size of his prostate. It also encourages men to engage in a discussion of risks and benefits with their physicians, and advocates educating people in the community about prostate cancer and making health care easier to obtain.

The NMA statement cites a 2010 autopsy study of more than 1,000 black and white men in Detroit suggesting that prostate cancer grows more rapidly in black men and/or changes from an indolent to an aggressive form sooner in blacks.

Bright believes there’s a need for more research to study PSA screening’s effectiveness among black men. In the meantime, however, he is worried that insurance companies will respond to the USPSTF’s recommendations by deciding not to cover PSA screening. He says he has already begun to see a “backlash” of men deciding not to be screened.

And while Marc Henderson is aware of the USPSTF’s recommendation, he says it doesn’t affect his decision to get the PSA. “Yes, statistics may be good for the population, but everything in life is individual,” he said. “African-American males need to be cognizant of their health.”

Apparently the World Boxing Commission had some bad information about the health of former heavyweight champion Ken Norton. Boxing News has been informed by boxing manager Butch Gottlieb who is close to the Norton family that Norton did not suffer a heart attack and was in the hospital due to complications from a stroke.

"He had a stroke a couple of months ago and he's been back and forth between the hospital and rehab since," said Gottlieb. "He's now in the hospital because he got an infection while he was in rehab so they had put him in the hospital just to keep an eye on it. He's not in delicate condition. He happens to be strong as a horse....Kenny does not speak real good because the stroke paralyzed part of his face, but he's getting better and they expect him to come out of this with minimal problems."

Source:  Boxing News