My project is progressing well so far. I had the opportunity to meet with the Director of the Department of Health for New Orleans: Dr. Kevin Stephens. I briefly interviewed him to collect information concerning diabetes in the African-American community. Dr. Stephens stated that diabetes was originally discovered upon accident in a hospital. A physician noticed that there were swarms of files surrounding only certain patients’ bed pans. It was astounding that the flies would gravitate towards only one patient’s urine even when two patients occupied the same room. Oddly enough, someone decided to taste samples of the fly-infested urine and discovered that it was sweet! (I know, that is so gross!!) Upon testing they concluded that these patients had high amounts of sugar in their urine and thus in their blood; in other words they were hyperglycemic, which is the basic foundation of diabetes.

He also mentioned that the high rate of diabetes in African-Americans can be attributed to several simple factors that do not necessarily correlate to that particular race. These factors include: low income, poor diet, lack of exercise and lack of (or inadequate) healthcare. Obviously if someone has a small income then healthier food options, health insurance, gym memberships and so forth appear to be very difficult if not impossible to obtain. Of course this is not always the case since grocery stores have sales, free health clinics are available, and anyone can walk/jog around their neighborhood for adequate exercise. The problem is that many low income people lack transportation so it’s difficult to get to the grocery store during sale time; and most free clinics will not provide the type of attention certain illnesses require. In addition, many low income people live in areas where they feel unsafe walking/jogging outside around their neighborhood; especially if they are women. These things clearly can affect any race, ethnicity or nationality but unfortunately African-Americans usually outnumber the others in these areas. In addition, there are a smaller percentage of African-Americans in the US; therefore the amount affected appears amplified.

Dr. Stephens also provided me with a copy of Louisiana’s medical statistics handbook which contains valuable information concerning health statistics for the city, state, and nation. This information will be a valuable reliable source for the brochures that I am making for my awareness event. Thankfully, Dr. Stephens has agreed to host my event to promote diabetes awareness in the African-American community! I am extremely excited that he has agreed to participate. I was unsure that he would be able to commit to this event since he has such a hectic schedule. We coordinated an event to be held Sunday, November 30 at 1:30 pm in the Recreation Center for Saint Maria Goretti Church. At the event, Dr. Stephens will explain diabetes and provide prevention and maintenance methods, including diet and exercise information. In addition, he and his staff will check blood pressure and administer blood glucose tests. He is also trying to provide free flu shots which will be particularly helpful for the elderly population that we are targeting. If he is unable to provide the free flu shots then we will simply inform everyone that they can go to his clinic to receive one. Diabetic-friendly snacks will be served along with take-home brochures for all attendees. I am advertising the event in the Church bulletin and during the announcement portion at the end of each mass during the week preceding the event. I will be sure to post pictures of the event.

The Deuteronomistic Historians would most likely say that a good king would be like a combination of kings in antiquity and those of the Babylonian era of 6th century BCE. These historians were known to edit biblical text by combining events and opinions from the past and present time. In other words, they didn’t copy things verbatim but rather stated the primary events and ideas with their own present-day ideas mixed in. Therefore it appears that they would have thought that a good king was like Zedekiah or Nebuchadnezzar since both were Babylonian kings during the time of the Deuteronomistic Historians.

These historians would want a king that follows God’s righteous path. They believed that God punished or praised people according to the rule of their king/leader. Therefore, I do not think that Deuteronomistic Historians would have approved of President George Bush because he did not follow in the path of God. He led our country down a treacherous path filled with lies, destruction of faith, war, the downfall of our economy and so forth. To many Americans, he does not appear as an idealistic leader in the eyes of a traditional Christian.

King David was a prominent biblical character who was well known for many things. For instance, he was an extremely skilled warrior who defeated the giant Goliath. He was also an accomplished harp player and poet. Unfortunately he was not known only for positive deeds. David displeased God by committing acts of adultery and murder. He did so by sleeping with Bathsheba, Uriah the Hittie’s wife. After she becomes impregnated with David’s child, David plots to conceal the mistake. David sends for Uriah hoping that Uriah will sleep with Bathsheba so that he would believe that the child was his own. Unfortunately for David, this plan backfired so David implemented plan B: he instructed Joab to leave Uriah on the battlefield so that he would die. After his death, David married Bathsheba and she had his child.

According to wikipedia, the Jerusalem temple is a place for God’s presence on earth. Two temples were constructed. The first was built by King Solomon. It took seven years to build and was completed in 960 BCE. Unfortunately it was destroyed in 587 BCE by the Babylonians. The second temple refers to the rebuilding of the destructed original temple. This was accomplished under Cyrus and Darius the Great. Construction of the second temple began in 537 BCE and, after a long interruption in building, was completed in 516 BCE. Unfortunately this temple was also destroyed. Destruction of the second temple occurred in 70 BCE by the Romans. Presently only the outer walls are still in existence.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 29th, 2008 at 11:22 pm and is filed under Week 09: Implementation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.