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Who to trust? Doctors and teachers earn their stripes Doctors and teachers are the top professions in terms of trust, The Harris Poll reports in its annual survey of occupations. While the president ranks fairly high – 48% of the 1,002 adults polled say that he tells the truth – that number is down from 65% in 2002. Here are the top 10 rankings: • Doctors (85%) • Teachers (83%) • Scientists (77%) • Police officers (76%) • Professors (75%) • Clergy/priests (74%) • Military officers (72%) • Judges (70%) • Accountants (66%) • Ordinary man or woman (62%) Full disclosure: Journalists get a 39% grade, behind athletes (43%) and ahead of members of Congress (35%) and trade union leaders (30%). At the bottom of truthfulness are actors (26%). The question that spurred these responses was: “Would you generally trust each of the following types of people to tell the truth, or not?” More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at harrisinteractive.com. Preterm dilemma Early births, low birthweight on the rise Rates of premature birth and low birthrate are on the rise, and are in fact the highest they have ever been, according to two recent studies. Last year, 12.5% of U.S. births were premature, increasing by 30% from the rate in 1981. The low birthweight rose two percentage points to 8.1% in 2004. The financial toll of extensive healthcare has been estimated at $26 billion a year. Not all preterm or low birthweight babies are in crisis, but many are, and associated costs tend to be astronomical. Premature, or “preterm,” births are classified as births occurring sooner than 37 weeks of pregnancy. (A full-term pregnancy lasts 38-42 weeks.) Babies born before week 32 are at the most immediate risk. Most premature births, however, occur between weeks 32 and 36. An infant born less than 5 lbs., 8 oz. is considered to be of low birthweight. This presents a heightened risk to the newborn. Though exact causes for these two trends are unknown, researchers speculate certain cultural trends to have a significant effect. Women having children later in life (over 35 years of age) increases the risk of premature birth. Though the teenage birth rate is on the decline, adolescents younger than 16 are twice as likely as women over the age of 18 to deliver preterm. Also, women who have delivered prematurely are more likely to do so again. The increase in low birthweight is partly attributed to increases in multiple births and use of fertility drugs, says one of the reports, by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Thanks to ever-advancing medical technologies, the infant mortality rate dropped to its lowest level ever, after increasing the past year: 6.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. For more information, please see our Health and Women Department in this issue. -By Alyssa Urish FAST FACT 55% of moms used the Internet this summer for back-to-school shopping, up over 25% from 2005. Two big challenges were limited time and money as 42% felt “stressed” in getting it all done on time and 64% found keeping a budget to be “mission impossible.” Source: PersonalShopper.com; survey conducted by The Media Monitor, The Voice of Women in America Harvard? Tips for the college admission trip The following tips are provided by Kelly Tanabe, author of “Get Into Any College: Secrets of Harvard Students” and eight other books on the college admissions process. Her website also provides advice: supercollege.com. Juniors in high school typically begin October with a laundry list for admission. 1. For the essay, keep the focus on you. Whether you are writing about your favorite book, an influential person, or your favorite subject, remember that your essay needs to convey something about you to the college. 2. A poor test score or grade won’t always break your chances of admission. A bad test score or grade can be fixed with a stronger score on another exam or stronger subsequent grades. It helps to provide a brief explanation for these occurrences rather than excuses. (An explanation is that you had trouble grasping the subject despite dedicating yourself to it; an excuse is that you broke up with your boyfriend during that semester and were overwhelmed with stress.) 3. Highlight only those activities in which you offered the greatest contributions, especially leadership. 4. If your activities are less than impressive, explain what else you did. Maybe you were so committed to your studies that you didn’t have time for outside activities. Or maybe you needed to work at a part-time job or take care of a family member. – Compiled by Carol Daus Retirement Young parents will grow old – and maybe penniless Lives may be getting longer but retirement benefits have failed to keep pace. Nearly 45% of American households are at risk of facing financial difficulties in retirement, according to the recent National Retirement Index. The index, produced by the Boston College Center for Retirement Research, suggests that Generation X – those born between 1965 and 1972 – will receive the brunt of the hardships due to a rising age to qualify for Social Security combined with a notable decrease in pensions. Households with younger families, low incomes and no pensions are particularly threatened. The study named these “at-risk” households by comparing the rate of expected retirement income to pre-retirement income. This rate was then measured relative to a target rate set at maintaining the pre-retirement standard of living. Households falling more than 10% short of the target were dubbed “at risk.” Alicia H. Munnell, director of the CRR and professor of management sciences at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, says, “The answer is saving more and working longer.” The Internal Revenue Service offers tips to help individuals to plan for their retirement. Its first recommendation is to set a goal. It doesn’t matter where you put the money or how much you set aside – just start saving. Visit irs.gov for more retirement tips. Lower numbers Teen pregnancy an ongoing challenge The U.S. has witnessed an encouraging drop in the teen pregnancy rate between 1990 and 2000, falling from 117 pregnancies per 1,000 females to 84 pregnancies per 1,000 females, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Despite this decrease, unfortunately, the United States maintains the highest number of teen pregnancies of any industrialized nation in the world. Teen pregnancy not only adversely affects the mother, but the child as well. A child born to teen parents is more likely to have health problems at birth, receive insufficient healthcare, inadequate parenting, fall victim to abuse, and perform at lower levels in school. For these reasons, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy challenges the U.S. to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by an additional one-third by 2015. The campaign proposes a dynamic strategy to achieve this goal. First, the grassroots campaign will work with other organizations at the state and community levels by providing research, data and experts to support pre-existing programs to reduce teen pregnancy. Next, the campaign collaborates with entertainment media outlets such as the WB, MTV, and Teen People magazine in hopes of affecting the negative cultural values and messages being projected to our teenagers. By changing the message that it is OK to have sex and become pregnant at a young age, the campaign hopes to affect teenagers’ choices and behavior. At the national level, the campaign has implemented a public policy program to support potential legislation that would help reduce teen pregnancy. OC Family Magazine readers can contribute to the effort by getting involved with an organization in the community dedicated to preventing teen pregnancy. More information: teenpregnancy.org) Programs funded… And others are not by the United Way United Way, Orange County’s largest nonprofit organization, now funds 85 programs, down from the more than 125 it funded when it served partly as a pass-though agency for the nonprofit world. Its criteria for funding is much more stringent at a time when it also is expanding its own reach. United Way’s shift from funding agencies to funding more of its own specific programs mirrors its mission to create long-lasting change by targeting the causes and roots of common problems such as unemployment and poverty. Its aim is self-sufficiency over a Band-Aid approach. The newly-approved programs, known as “safety net programs,” provide basic needs in the form of food, housing, transportation, health care, employment, child care and crisis support. These 85 programs will receive a three-year funding grant to provide services to ensure protection and care for the citizens of Orange County. A total of 168 programs applied for the grant this year. “Orange County United Way’s goal isn’t a quick fix to treat symptoms,” said President and CEO Maria Chavez Wilcox, in a statement. “It’s about providing the best possible care for those in crisis along with creating long-lasting change by focusing on the root cause that prevent individuals from living self-sufficient lives.” Nearly $5.4 million dollars of the $26 million raised by the United Way’s recent campaign will be appropriated to the selected programs. No puffs, ever How to raise the non-smoker Youth smoking rates may be decreasing since their peak in 1997, but it still is a prominent issue. In 2004, about one in four high school seniors reported smoking in the past 30 days. About one in five high school students said they smoked a cigarette before age 13. Teenage smoking is still an issue and there are ways parents can help. “Raising Kids Who Don’t Smoke is a free series of parent resources distributed by Philip Morris USA Youth Smoking Prevention. The materials provide realistic statistics and tips on understanding peer pressure and how to approach their teenagers about not smoking. “Peer pressure is one reason why adolescents are at a much greater risk than adults to start smoking,” says Dr. Lawrence Kutner, chairman of the advisory board of the publication. “It’s also why it’s so important for parents to take an active and repeated stand against smoking.” Here are three key tips: • Help them shine. To build healthy self-esteem, help your child discover and develop her strengths. • Be positive. Make a point to talk more often about what he does well. • Show your pride. Display artwork, photos, certificates and other mementos. • Teach them to learn from their mistakes. Help your child see mistakes as opportunities to improve, not as failures. Call 800.768.7297 or visit philipmorrisusa.com to order free publications. County school board to receive funding The school board of Orange County will receive a $300,185 Transition to Teaching grant to help recruit and retain highly qualified mid-career professionals, including qualified paraprofessionals and recent college graduates who have not majored in education to teach in its high-need schools, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced recently. “Teachers are widely recognized as the single most influential factor in students’ academic success. Yet, urban, rural, disadvantaged and other high-need schools face challenges in recruiting highly qualified teachers, particularly in math and science,” said Spellings. “These grants enable high-need districts to tap the pool of talented professionals from noneducation backgrounds to help meet their teaching needs as well as the needs of their students.” The program provides five-year grants to state and local education agencies, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher education collaborating with states or school districts. Grantees develop and implement comprehensive approaches to train, place and support teacher candidates whom they have recruited into their programs. These programs must meet state certification or licensing requirements, and grantees must ensure that new teachers are placed in high-need schools and districts and supported for at least three years. Information about the Transition to Teaching program: ed.gov/programs/transitionteach/index.html family news bites NEW DIABETES SUPPORT GROUP M.O.D. Squad, a new monthly support group for mothers of children with diabetes, will hold its inaugural meeting from 8:30-10 a.m. Oct. 5 at Mission Lutheran Church in Laguna Niguel. RSVP to missionluth@aol.com or call 949.831.8820. FAIRMONT TEACHER HONORED Karen Lee, a second-grade teacher at Fairmont Private Schools’ Anaheim Hills campus, has earned her second master teacher designation from the national accelerated reader provider Renaissance Learning, Inc. To achieve master status, an educator must be certified Renaissance Model Educator, successfully motivate students to read, set classwide reading goals and be able to document specified reading growth through established testing. HOME RAFFLE ENDS THIS MONTH The Ocean Institute’s Laguna Beach Million Dollar Home Raffle ends this month, with the Final and Grand Prize Drawing scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Ocean Institute. Participants have the opportunity to win a Laguna Beach condominium with an estimated value of $1 million or $1 million in cash. A maximum of 18,000 tickets will be sold at $150 each. Proceeds benefit the educational center, which is dedicated to ocean preservation. Information: lagunabeachhomeraffle.comor 949.388.0900. YOUNG ARTIST CONTEST In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Union Bank of California, in partnership with Staples, welcomes youth of all ethnicities between the ages of 12-18 to participate in the sixth annual Young Artist Contest. Entry forms for the drawing contest are available through Oct. 15 at participating Union Bank branches countywide and on the Internet at unionbank.com/youngartist. EAGLE SCOUT SEARCH The Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America will holds its Alumni Reception on Nov. 16. Contact the council about the event if you received your Eagle Scout in any part of the country and now either work or live in Orange County. Information: 800.20SCOUT. BOOK FESTIVAL IN LATE SEPTEMBER The third annual Orange County Children’s Book Festival is for one day, Sept. 30, at Orange Coast College. The free festival will run from 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; several vendors and exhibitors will be on hand. Curious George is expected to make an appearance. Many book authors will be on hand. – Reported and compiled by OC Family Magazine staff |
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