Page 9 - Mecklenburg_Medicine_September-2016

Feature
“We have to be intentional about language development,” says Bish.
“Most of us can’t imagine a home without books, but 4-year-olds of
impoverished families may never have seen how a book is held and
opened. They might not know how to flip pages and read from left to
right and top to bottom.
She adds, “Children bring their home with them to school,” noting
paying attention is hard if they are worried about when they’ll get to
eat or where they will sleep that night.
Making a Difference in Charlotte
The number of homeless children in Mecklenburg County continues
to increase dramatically. Today, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
reports a population of more than 4,700 homeless children in its
service area. And, the Salvation Army Center of Hope, which hosts
Mecklenburg County’s highest concentration of homeless children,
reports an average of 200 children sleep there a night, with two-thirds
of them being school-age students.
According to the National Center on Family Homelessness, these
children are sick four times more often than other children, two to three
grade levels behind their peers and twice as likely to repeat a grade.
But early intervention is making a difference. With federal assistance
through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, local agencies
have been able to increase their support of homeless children enrolled
in public school. A Child’s Place supports families with children in
kindergarten through eighth grade by intervening at the point of crisis
when a family loses their home. The nonprofit agency identifies and
makes referrals around employment, housing, health issues, food,
MCMS AWARDS GRANTS FROM THE SMITH ARTHRITIS FUND
By Janice E. Huff, Chair, Smith Arthritis Fund Committee
The MCMS Smith Arthritis Fund Committee is pleased to announce
three grants totaling $3,000 were awarded in August for programs and
studies which benefit, either directly or indirectly, patients who have arthritis. TNF-α. Findings will help in identification of new potential therapies to
The first grant was awarded to Arthritis Patient Services to provide
funding to facilitate four series (32 classes) of the evidence-based
nationally recognized program A Matter of Balance: Falls Prevention and
assist with upgrades to their website, which will allow for in-house versus
contract help in keeping the web pages up to date so arthritis patients and
others can have easy access to available program schedules/arthritis self-
help information.
The second grant was awarded to Helen E. Gruber, PhD, Emilio
Marrero, PhD, and Edward N. Hanley, Jr., MD, at the Department of
Orthopaedic Surgery, Carolinas Medical Center. This grant provides
funding for a study entitled “Does Exposure to Proinflammatory
Cytokines in 3D Culture Alter Expression of the Chemokine CXCR16 or
its Receptor CXCR6 in Human Disc Cells?” The specific aim of the study
is to investigate the expression of CXCL16 and its receptor CXCR6 in
the human annulus cells under 3D control conditions or during exposure
to IL-1β (10-2 pM), or TNF-α (10-3 pM). Chemokines are released
in response to stimuli and act as important secondary inflammatory
mediators with specialized functions in inflammation. The roles of many
of these specialized chemokines and their receptors are as yet poorly
understood in the human intervertebral disc. They propose to assess gene
domestic violence and financial management. During the 2014-
2015 school year, A Child’s Place impacted the lives of 2,132 children.
“We hope to engage the medical community in helping us to assess
the needs of parents in crisis, so we can connect them with resources,”
says Hansell. “Our social workers understand that there are unique
challenges in getting information from mothers; they are sensitive to
being accused of being ‘bad’ moms.”
She continues, “We want to share with physicians and nurses how to
listen to and talk with parents who are going through a homeless crisis
without embarrassing them.” Working together, the medical community
and child development experts can make school a better experience for
children in poverty and prepare them for brighter futures.
HOW LOCAL SUPPORT IMPACTS EDUCATION
A Child’s Place reports these stats for the children they served
from the 2014-2015 school year, showing that with intervention,
children’s attendance can improve:
School attendance — The average number of days missed
from school were 11, down from 14 in 2013-2014.
Chronic absenteeism — Only 19 percent of students were
chronically absent, down from 30 percent in 2013-2014.
Classroom behavior — Some 79 percent of students did not
receive any out-of-school suspensions.
— A Child’s Place uses data analyzed by UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute
and through United Way of Central Carolinas’ Collective Impact to compile
aggregate information about its students.
expression for CXCL16 and its receptor CXCR6, in a study of cultured
human disc cells under control conditions or when exposed to IL-1β or
battle arthritis and disc degeneration.
The third grant was awarded to the Lupus Foundation of America,
Inc., North Carolina Chapter. This grant will provide funding to support
their 2017 Ask the Experts Educational Series, to continue its efforts in
educating individuals living with lupus in Mecklenburg County. Ask the
Experts is a series of live education teleconferences and pre-recorded
webcasts on a variety of topics designed to provide individuals with
important information about living with lupus. Coupled with existing
educational and direct support services for individuals living with lupus,
this grant will be used to provide lupus educational efforts geared toward
increasing knowledge of lupus, its impact, as well as mechanisms that can
be utilized to increase the quality of life among individuals with lupus.
The Smith Arthritis Fund was established in 1979 when Carolyn
Kirkpatrick Smith donated $41,500 for arthritis research. This fund is
administered through the Mecklenburg County Medical Society under
the guidance of Janice E. Huff, MD, who is the 2015 Chair of the Smith
Arthritis Fund Committee, along with H. David Homesley, MD, and
Ahmad A. Kashif, MD. The fund is designed to support research projects
as they relate to the needs of patients suffering from rheumatologic
diseases. Since 1979, more than $79,000 has been awarded.
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