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For NYers relying on alternative care, health care vote has been desperate, dangerous wait
For New Yorkers who depend on alternative medicine rather than professional care, the wait for health care reform has been desperate and dangerous.
“It is worrying because often they rely on this as their sole source of treatment, and obviously a lot of herbal treatments are not well researched,” said Theo Oshiro, director of health advocacy at immigrant rights group Make the Road New York.
Alternative healing practices are common in immigrant communities, where there are higher rates of uninsured and where culture barriers create distrust of U.S. doctors. In Gotham, one in five Asian-Americans lack adequate health coverage and a quarter of Latinos have no insurance at all.
As a result, some look to folk healers who they can trust and afford. Hispanic immigrants often visit curanderos, or folk healers, Oshiro said.
Alternative treatments — loosely defined to include yoga, acupuncture and herbal teas — for the most part are harmless, experts said. In some rare cases, however, natural cures, which aren’t regulated by the FDA, can be fatal. In the past decade, dozens in the U.S. have become ill or been killed by greta, azarcon and other lead-heavy powders used in Mexican folk remedies.
Just last month, the city health department issued a warning against calabash chalk, a potentially poisonous morning sickness remedy common in West African communities.
The health care debate has dragged on for more than a year, and a House vote expected Sunday could decide the fate of President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.
To one Vietnamese immigrant, passage could mean doctor’s appointments rather than the traditional lemongrass steam remedy he uses to fight the flu. “It works for now,” said Dui Dinh Ngo, 50, no relation to the reporter. But what would the uninsured Flushing resident do in an emergency? “I can’t worry about that,” he said.
Many in the city’s Asian communities integrate folk healers and licensed physicians, and can do so safely as long as all parties know what medications are being taken, said Teresa Lin, of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York.
Disclosure and trust between doctors and immigrants are as key in meeting the city’s health care needs as affordability, Lin said. “There are people who are afraid to go to the doctor or who will just take over-the-counter medication and hope it goes away,” she said.
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Texts by alleged cheaters Tiger Woods, Jesse James leave incriminating trail
(Photos: AP)
Beware the mistress who kisses and texts.
Tiger Woods and Jesse James, Sandra Bullock’s hubby, were further enmeshed in sex scandal Thursday after their respective extramarital lovers released racy text messages.
“You please me like no other has or ever will,” Woods reportedly texted porn star Joslyn James, one of more than a dozen women with which he allegedly had affairs.
James posted 100 salacious text messages she said were from the 34-year-old golf great to a Web site. Many detailed what Woods desired in bed and were too X-rated to publish.
In a separate scandal, Jesse James on Thursday apologized amid reports he stepped out on his Oscar-winning wife.
“It’s because of my poor judgment that I deserve everything bad that is coming my way,” said James, 40, a bad-boy biker and TV personality in accepting blame Thursday.
He reportedly cheated with tattoo model Michelle “Bombshell” McGee, 32, who called him “Vanilla Gorilla” and shared text messages revealing their trysts with inTouch magazine. “Speaking of licking,” James allegedly says in one exchange.
Woods’ sextual relationships weren’t limited to Joslyn James, 32, though he reportedly wrote asked her, “Do you ever hook up with other guys or girls?”
It was text messages from club hostess Rachel Uchitel that reportedly tipped off his wife Elin Nordegren to his infidelity and lead to the November crash that unleashed the scandal. Waitress Jamiee Grubbs also has published texts she alleged proved she slept with Tiger.
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Texting cheaters clearly aren’t thinking, experts said Thursday.
“There’s an unconscious desire to get caught,” added city psychotherapist Jay P. Granat. “They’re living on the edge some more” by leaving an electronic trail in addition to having an affair.
New York attorney Daniel E. Clement said he increasingly sees text messages submitted as proof of infidelity in divorce proceedings. “They’re akin to love letters and e-mail,” said Clement, of thedivorcereport.com. “It used to be that the telltale sign was a little lipstick on the collar.”
Texting is such a common method of communication now, that many adulterers don’t stop and think their salacious exchanges are leaving a digital record, experts said.
And in the case of porn star Joslyn James and tattooed model Michelle “Bombshell” McGee, they perhaps want the texts published for bragging rights, however vulgar the content.
“It’s a question of whether they like being in this world,” said Granat, founder of stayinthezone.com. “They’re not exactly debutantes.”
(Emily Ngo)
Tags: Sandra Bullock, Tiger Woods, infidelity, psychotherapy, divorce
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New entry into GOP gov race could cause party rift
The state Republican Party, hoping to ride a wave of voter discontent back to power, was thrown into turmoil Thursday as Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said he would challenge Rick Lazio for governor.
Levy, a registered Democrat who won election in 2007 on both party lines, planned to switch his registration and formally announce his bid beside state Chairman Ed Cox on Friday.
But Lazio, a former congressman from Long Island who has racked up a who’s who of endorsements from leading Republicans, insisted Thursday he would win the GOP nod, as well as the all-important backing of the Conservative Party, which has been a kingmaker in Republican politics for 30 years.
“The people of New York are going to look for somebody that they can depend on, not somebody who puts their finger up to the wind and decides which way things are going,” Lazio said. “I’m going to run on my record.”
Levy, 50, who has been working to line up support from GOP county leaders for weeks in preparation for the party’s convention in June, did not respond to messages left Thursday.
Both Levy and Lazio have presented themselves as fiscal conservatives who rein in spending in Albany.
Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said Levy’s announcement seemed timed to him to delay his party’s endorsement meeting, set for Saturday.
“I think it’s meant to put a finger in the eye of the Conservative Party,” Long said Thursday. “The few people Levy has support from will ask that we hold off, let’s see how this all pans out. I’m not going to do that.”
Lazio, 52, stung by criticism that his campaign has failed to catch fire and not raised enough money, released a list of his finance committee, which includes Wall Street heavyweights, and his campaign co-chairs: former Gov. George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani. Lazio last ran for office in 2000, when he was defeated in the U.S. Senate race by Hillary Clinton.
Whoever wins the nomination faces an uphill battle against Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is likely to be the consensus choice among Democrats.
Kenneth Sherrill, a professor of political science at CUNY, said Republicans have so far failed to capitalize on the anti-incumbent sentiment voters have expressed clearly in local races.
“Steve Levy might be appealing to many Republicans simply because he could present himself as someone who transcends party,” said Sherrill. “Lazio has been out of office for 10 years and even though he seems to be a more assured candidate than he was in 2000, he may be a little bit slow on his feet.”
But Republican political consultant Mike Edelman, who is not affiliated with either camp, predicted Lazio would pull it out in the end.
“Is he a billionaire? No. Does he have the charisma of a Nelson Rockefeller? No,” Edelman said. “But he can relate to the average person, which I think people may be ready for right now.”
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Transit will close 70 station booths across the subway system
Times Square, Grand Central Station and Penn Station — already a confusing maze — are set to lose transit agents by July as part of a plan to cut 600 workers and 70 token booths, according to documents obtained Thursday by amNewYork.
Other stations that are slated to lose agents and kiosks include remote stops such as Clinton-Washington in Brooklyn and 174th Street in the Bronx on the D line, resulting in a safety concern for straphangers.“Cops cannot do it all, even if they’re there,” said Fernando Gonzales, 48, a Bronx rider.
The number of personnel in the system has dwindled since the MetroCard was introduced in 1994. There were 3,500 station agents more than a decade ago, but now, in an effort to save $21 million, the MTA is hoping to cull down the force to 2,500.
“How much area can one set of eyes cover? I think they are out of their mind,” said Maurice Jenkins, a union representative for stations.
Meanwhile, an annual report released yesterday by an MTA riders advisory group slammed the agency for a lack of managers to oversee its busiest stations. Station managers are often locked away in remote offices or only on-duty at certain times, according to members of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA.
“It is a safety concern, definitely,” said Ellyn Shannon, a committee representative.
An MTA spokesman pointed to the role of transit police in keeping crime down and added that customers with questions should call the agency’s information line at 718-330-3322.
Julia Borovskaya contributed to this story.
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The advisory committee’s report also criticized the MTA for:
- Being too slow in replacing MetroCards with a higher tech payment device.
- Failing to install public address systems throughout the subways.
- Building the South Ferry Station with design flaws.Tags: mta, new york city, transit
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Cinephile alert: 'Rendezvous with French Cinema'
The Film Society of Lincoln Center turns its attention to France this week, as the Walter Reade Theater and IFC Center are taken over by the annual “Rendezvous with French Cinema” overview of the best in current Gallic fare, which runs through Sunday. For adventurous filmgoers, here are a few of our picks:
Farewell: Director Christian Carion’s rendition of a little known, major espionage case involving a KGB officer and a French engineer in the Soviet Union circa the early '80s is filled with the twists, turns and grand scale of epics like “Reds,” the sort Hollywood rarely makes anymore. With a story that spans continents — incorporating Fred Ward as a bemused Ronald Reagan — a compelling rendition of Cold War iconography and solid, grounded performances from vets Emir Kusturica and Guillaume Canet as the leads, the film works as an old-fashioned entertainment in the best sense.
Rapt: Writer-director Lucas Belvaux’s drama stars Yvan Attal as a wealthy CEO kidnapped and subjected to physical and psychological torture as his family and colleagues weigh paying a gargantuan ransom. It’s smart, tight filmmaking without gross sensationalizing, a clearheaded depiction of the ways such a trauma could actually unfold and the personal revelations that might be formed out of it.
OSS 117: Lost in Rio: The second film in director Michel Hazanavicius’ revival of the “OSS 117” series — which depicts the continuing misadventures of a French “Austin Powers” — “Lost in Rio” enthusiastically resurrects a wealth of clichés and cinematic archetypes to tell the story of secret agent Hubert Bonissuer de La Bath’s misadventures in Brazil, circa 1967. It’s fun and wholly inconsequential, a nice change of pace imbued with some big laughs.
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Buzz Lightyear was the first to land on the moon? Kids poll puts spotlight in science ed
Is it one giant leap backward for education?
When asked to name the first man to walk on the moon, misinformed students answered Buzz Lightyear, Luke Skywalker or Lance Armstrong more often than astronaut Neil Armstrong, according to a recent survey of British children ages 4 to 16.
Quizzed on what Sir Isaac Newton discovered, 60 percent of 9- and 10-year-old said fire while others said the Internet, the Birmingham Science City poll found. (He developed the theory of gravity.)
“While some of these findings will raise a smile, it suggests that school children aren’t tuned into our scientific heroes in the same way that they might be to sporting or music legends,” said the center’s director Dr. Pam Waddell in a statement.
American students don’t fare much better. Less than half of 17-year-olds know when the Civil War was fought and about 25 percent misidentified Adolf Hilter, according to a 2008 Common Core survey.
But unlike history, science for children is more about experimentation than memorization, education experts said.
“I would rather have a student who can search for solutions to a question and formulate an explanation based on the evidence [than] one who can just recall facts,” said Chris Sheehan, of newyorkscienceteacher.com.
Cartoon characters such as Buzz Lightyear of "Toy Story," sports stars and other media figures actually can help the learning process, experts said. “Any way you can get it to click is good,” said Gwen Hill, of The Science Barge, a learning center docked on the Hudson River.
Sportacular, an event last year at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, used superheroes to illustrate the physics of light and flight. Allison Lyalikov, science manager at the museum, said that it’s OK for children to get the wrong answers.
“Science should be hands-on and inquiry-based. It’s about letting kids have that natural curiosity, that spark,” Lyalikov said.
That approach could have helped some city teens who stumbled over the British survey questions in a small poll amNewYork conducted Wednesday in Greenwich Village.
* There was some debate about which astronaut, Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin, was the first man on the moon. One man joked that it was Louie Armstrong.
* One person thought Isaac Newton was responsible for the theory of relativity.
* Some were unsure if Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.
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Advocates say all parks not treated equally
When the first section of Brooklyn Bridge Park opens next month, it will have nine full-time Parks Enforcement Police patrol officers for 13 acres, about as many as the entire borough of the Bronx.Advocates say that’s a glaring example of a two-tiered system in which wealthier areas get more protection.
The officers – city workers paid with funds raised from nearby property owners - will work in three shifts to provide 24-hour coverage, a level of security other parks don’t get.
“I would like to see the same coverage in the rest of the borough because Brooklyn is severely undermanned,” said Joe Puleo, vice president of DC 37 Local 983, which represents the officers.
A handful of parks –all of which are in Manhattan except for Brooklyn Bridge – have dedicated, full-time patrol officers, paid for by donors or property owners. All other parks share roaming patrols, paid for by the city
Geoffrey Croft, head of New York City Park Advocates, said there is an “enormous disparity between the publicly funded parks and the ones which receive private funding.”
Brooklyn has 15 dedicated city-funded patrol officers covering the rest of its 4,300 acres of parks. In Queens, 14 patrol officers handle more than 7,000 acres and in the Bronx, there are 10 for about 7,000 acres, according to the Park Advocates.
“This is a civil rights issue,” Croft said. “All communities deserve safe, well maintained parks, not just those in wealthy neighborhoods.”
The 35-acre Battery Park City, for example, has 36 full-time dedicated patrol officers, three times as many as cover the 7,400 acres of parks in Staten Island, the group said.
Parks Department spokesman Philip Abramson said focusing only on full-time patrol officers misses the point. He said that including Urban Park Rangers - who like patrol officers can write summonses and make arrests – and seasonal aides, who do not have police powers but wear uniforms, the city has some 700 people doing “security-related tasks.”
Samantha Bux, 27, of Harlem, who was in Prospect Park on a recent afternoon, called the number of patrol officers there “ridiculous.”
“I think they should up that number,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the Empire State Development Corp., which until recently shared responsibility for building the park with the city, said the security arrangement reflects the park’s “special need with respect to its isolated location on the waterfront.”
Annette Leach, 49, of Fort Greene, agreed.
“It's a small park,” she said. “The property value is very high and there are a lot of homeless people. I think they have to patrol that area more.”
Taneish Hamilton contributed to this story.
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Top cop comes to aid of woman hit by bike
The city’s top cop was a first responder before he was a grand marshal at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Wednesday morning.
For the second time in two weeks, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly turned into a emergency worker, helping a woman hit by a bicyclist on the Upper East Side.
Kelly was on his way from a breakfast at Gracie Mansion to Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral around 8:30 a.m. when he saw a woman lying unconscious and bleeding from the head in the crosswalk at 84th Street and Fifth Avenue, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
Kelly’s driver pulled over and he got out of his SUV to offer help.
“The police commissioner used her scarf as a compress to stop the bleeding,” Browne said. “While they assisted her, another detective called an ambulance.”
The woman was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and was in stable condition yesterday with what was believed to be a fractured skull, said Browne.
The bicyclist who allegedly hit her, 24-year-old Jose Segarra, of Manhattan, stayed at the scene after the accident and was issued summonses for improper brakes, no reflectors and no lights.
On March 2, Kelly came to the aide of a woman near City Hall who had sprained her ankle and fallen in the street.
Wednesday's incident caused Kelly to show up late for Mass. During the service, Archbishop Timothy Dolan joked that Kelly was late because he was caught speeding, Browne said.
“It was a little embarrassing for someone who grew up Catholic on the West Side to be late for Mass,” Browne said.
Kelly, however, made it to the parade on time.
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City set to post letter grades for sanitation in restaurant windows
New York City follows in the footsteps of Los Angeles, above, which has used a letter-grading system in its restaurants for more than a decade. (Photo: Los Angeles Times)
City restaurants soon won’t be able to hide their report cards.
Beginning in July, large sanitation-letter grades will be posted in restaurant windows, upsetting owners who call the placards misleading scarlet letters.
Customers will find any of three grades in the window: a favorable “A,” passing “B” or disastrous “C.”
“Giving consumers more information will help make our restaurants safer and cleaner,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, commissioner of the city health department. The board of heath Tuesday approved the system.
Poorly performing eateries have a chance to appeal before getting stuck with a B or C. They can put up a “grade pending” sign while they contest their results, and they can expect follow-up inspections within weeks. They must then post their new grades — good or bad.
The New York State Restaurant Association blasted the letter grades as a “snapshot in time” that shames eateries and misinforms diners.
“This is not to educate the public at all. It makes a fool out of them,” said Marc Murphy, the association’s vice president and owner of the Manhattan restaurants Landmarc and Ditch Plains. “A rodent violation can be two flies. Tell me who in the city hasn’t seen two flies?”
The policy has been more than a year in the making, with the health department seeking public comments and finding broad support among New Yorkers.
Park Slope foodie Joe Ferris on Tuesday said he wouldn’t dine at even his favorite restaurant if it received anything less than an “A.”
“We don’t know what’s going on in the kitchen,” said Ferris, 33. “They’re going to look at things we can’t see, things we’re not privy to.”
Health officials are tweaking the criteria to ensure restaurants will be graded on sanitation rather than less relevant blunders such as permit violations. About one-third of the city’s eateries would currently earn an “A,” but officials hope the system will improve that rate and encourage businesses to be more careful.
Los Angeles, which has used a similar evaluation method for more than a decade, has seen a 13 percent decline in food-borne illnesses.
A recent Zagat poll found 83 percent of New Yorkers back a letter-grading system.
“In the long term, it’s good for the restaurant industry,” said Tim Zagat, cofounder of Zagat Survey. “The health department is not trying to hurt restaurants, it’s just trying to make sure that everyone has a healthy experience.”emily.ngo@am-ny.com
*****The L.A. way
New York is letter-grading rookie compared to Los Angeles, which has been grading its restaurants since 1997.Back then, about 40 percent of its eateries earned an “A” in sanitation. Within 10 years, however, compliance has skyrocketed and more than 82 percent of restaurants boast the top mark.
“It has been a very big successful and it empowers consumers as well,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the L.A. health department. “If it’s done in objective manner, it will work in New York. In many ways it’s a gift to consumers.”
(Emily Ngo)
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Peralta beats Monserrate in Queens state senate race
State Assemb. Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights) won a commanding victory Tuesday night for the state senate seat once held by Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled following a domestic violence conviction.Peralta, who ran with the backing of the Democratic Party, had 64 percent of the vote, with 84 percent of precincts reporting, while Monserrate - trying to regain his job about a month after his colleague kicked him out - earned 29 percent.
Republican Robert Beltrani got 7 percent.
"Tonight we put an end to dysfunction, to divisiveness to disappointment," Peralta told supporters Tuesday night. "We finally have our community back."
Peralta, who could be sworn in as early as Wednesday, provides Democrats with a crucial 32nd vote in the 62-member senate, giving the party control over both houses of the Legislature as try to close a $9 billion budget gap by April 1.
Monserrate, who ran on the slogan "Yes We Can" has indicated he may run for office again, perhaps for Peralta's soon-to-be-vacant Assembly seat. He told supporters last night he would "not rule out any future races or political ambitions."
"In 30 days we created a new party here in Queens, New York," he said. "This is not the last time we have heard from the Yes We Can party."
The Democratic National Committee had asked Monserrate not to use the slogan, which President Barack Obama made famous in 2008.
The special election to fill the seat turned particularly nasty in recent weeks, with Peralta's campaign repeatedly invoking Monserrate's December 2008 conviction for dragging his girlfriend through his apartment building's hallway, and Monserrate accusing his rival of racism.
The two also sparred on same sex marriage, with Monserrate opposed and Peralta in favor.
