Mongrelization of Detroit

 http://podblanc.mooo.com/node/10510

Detroit:  83% black, homicide rate of 59, & "nation's most violent city":

"Detroit became the nation’s most violent big city last year, even as crime rates in the city and its largest suburbs generally dropped, according to a report released Monday by the FBI."

http://www.detnews.com/2004/metro/0405/25/d01-162833.htm

 

 

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/08/12/white.black/

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The black population of the United States grew almost three times as fast as the white populace in the decade of the 1990s, according to U.S. Census reports released Monday.

Whites remain the largest racial group in the country, but blacks increased 16 percent from 1990 to 2000 -- faster than the total U.S. population, which grew 13 percent.

The white population increased only 6 percent.

In 2000, 211 million people reported themselves as "white alone," accounting for 75 percent of the U.S. population. Those who reported themselves as "black only" numbered 35 million people, or 12 percent of the population.

An additional 2 million people said they were black and at least one other race. Within this group, the most common racial combination was black and white, making up 45 percent of the pairings.

The majority of whites live in the South and the Midwest. More than half of them live in 10 states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and North Carolina.

The majority of blacks -- about 19 million -- live in the South, an increase of 3 million people since 1990. All 10 states in the South had black populations of more than 1 million each.

It is New York, however, that has the largest number of blacks -- making up 3 million of its residents.

"We expected the numbers in the South to be high because that has been a general trend over the years," said Jesse McKinnon of the U.S. Census Bureau. "Blacks tended to reside in the South at least over the last 30 or 40 years."

The regions with the highest percentage of whites are the Midwest with 84 percent and the Northeast with 78 percent.

The percentage of whites in all regions dropped slightly in the 1990s -- 5 percent in the Northeast, 3 percent in the Midwest, 4 percent in the South, and 7 percent in the West.

Among places with populations of 100,000 or more, Livonia, Michigan, has the highest proportion of whites. They make up 97 percent of the residents.

Gary, Indiana, has the highest percentage of blacks at 85 percent, followed by Detroit with 83 percent.

"Gary, Indiana has consistently been at the top in terms of the proportion where blacks are concentrated," McKinnon said.

New York City has the largest number of both whites and blacks -- 4 million and 2 million respectively.

Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston, each has white populations of between 1 million and 2 million people.

After New York, Chicago has the largest number of blacks -- 1 million. It is followed by Detroit with 775,000 and Philadelphia with 655,000.

 

In 1965, Detroit Mayor Cavanaugh bragged about the strengths of multiculturalism, Detroit's image as a racial melting pot with 92 different ethnic groups, and his city's great new [taxpayer funded] Wayne State University Medical Center.  Even JFK got into the baiting act, and the direct result of Mayor Cavanaugh's and JFK's success at attracting mamzers is that they now can't even afford to pay the taxes required to fund such a project.  This huge investment of taxpayer's dollars is now threatened with extinction as the Wayne Medical Center now goes bankrupt, less than 40 years after their glowing reports on the value of mongrelization:

"There is no single cure-all. A quarter million uninsured people in Detroit are not suddenly going to get insurance or stay healthy. But regional agencies help other communities cope with this problem in a much more effective way that reduces the use of costly emergency rooms for primary care."

"The closing of Detroit Receiving Hospital would be a serious blow not only to health care in Detroit but to the city's national image. It cannot be allowed. And the larger health care system cannot be allowed to keep feuding and foundering. Great medical advances have been born out of life-saving necessity. Now it's the health-care system on the table, and it's time for all the doctors in the house to get on the same team."

"Much attention has recently been given to the financial plight of the Detroit Medical Center and the implications for the city should the system be forced to cut services and close hospitals. When considering those implications, the potentially significant effect on Wayne State University also should be taken into account, as well as what that could mean for a much broader community."

"The DMC attributes its enormous operating losses to inadequate reimbursement from Medicaid and other insurers and to the burden of caring for uninsured individuals. Among the proposals put forward to resolve this fiscal crisis is a sales tax or special millage to help pay for level-one trauma services. While not a panacea, this tax -- along with the deep cuts the system already has made to programs, staff and salaries -- would help offset the DMC's spiraling deficit."

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/ehosp16_20030616.htm

Hospital Rescue: Tough medicine starts with Detroit Receiving

June 16, 2003

Today is a critical day for a health care system that is in critical condition. Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will meet to figure out a first-aid package for the open wound at Detroit Receiving Hospital. Then these leaders and others involved in the health care system have to move on quickly to the entire patient.

There may never be a better opportunity, because all the stakeholders appear to agree on one thing: This is a crisis, and it's getting worse. That can be a powerful motivation for change. Six months from now, there may be chaos beyond repair.

In the short run, a bailout for Receiving, if the money can be found or diverted from some other worthy cause, has to come with strings attached. The use of the money must be monitored and Detroit Medical Center, Receiving's parent company, held to account for every penny.

Longer term, a Granholm task force that's working on larger issues needs to settle on the creation of a regional health care council with some genuine clout to coordinate services and make a unified quest for more federal help.

There is no single cure-all. A quarter million uninsured people in Detroit are not suddenly going to get insurance or stay healthy. But regional agencies help other communities cope with this problem in a much more effective way that reduces the use of costly emergency rooms for primary care.

The closing of Detroit Receiving Hospital would be a serious blow not only to health care in Detroit but to the city's national image. It cannot be allowed. And the larger health care system cannot be allowed to keep feuding and foundering. Great medical advances have been born out of life-saving necessity. Now it's the health-care system on the table, and it's time for all the doctors in the house to get on the same team.

 

http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/ereid14_20030414.htm

Medical Center is too valuable to area, Wayne State to let it fall

April 14, 2003

BY IRVIN D. REID

Much attention has recently been given to the financial plight of the Detroit Medical Center and the implications for the city should the system be forced to cut services and close hospitals. When considering those implications, the potentially significant effect on Wayne State University also should be taken into account, as well as what that could mean for a much broader community.

The DMC attributes its enormous operating losses to inadequate reimbursement from Medicaid and other insurers and to the burden of caring for uninsured individuals. Among the proposals put forward to resolve this fiscal crisis is a sales tax or special millage to help pay for level-one trauma services. While not a panacea, this tax -- along with the deep cuts the system already has made to programs, staff and salaries -- would help offset the DMC's spiraling deficit.

Through its affiliation with Wayne State University, the DMC is Michigan's largest training ground for physicians. At the same time, Wayne State University physicians, through the DMC, deliver care to a large portion of the city's poor and underinsured population. The disintegration of such a comprehensive university-affiliated medical center -- one through which Wayne State provides highly specialized health care, medical education and research -- would be felt not just in Detroit, but throughout Michigan and beyond.

As the DMC's academic partner, Wayne State University provides primary, specialty and subspecialty care through 750 faculty physicians throughout the center. This partnership has existed since the School of Medicine was established (as Detroit Medical College) by five Harper Hospital physicians in 1868.

The presence of Wayne State faculty has been a safety net for thousands of uninsured and underinsured persons in southeastern Michigan who receive care at DMC facilities. Our faculty account for 70 percent of all DMC clinical services, and therefore bear the financial burden of about $40 million in uncompensated care to the most needy in our society.

The DMC-Wayne State partnership also has enabled the development of a premier academic medical center in Detroit, with nationally known programs in such areas as cancer, women and children's health, and the neurosciences. Working together, Wayne State and the DMC have been responsible for countless medical innovations, including the first open heart surgery (performed at Harper Hospital) in 1952. Today, Wayne State faculty members continue to conduct pioneering research in many areas, including artificial vision, cancer therapies and drugs to slow or reverse brain injury from trauma.

Our faculty's research and clinical expertise, combined with the promise of facilities support from the DMC, was instrumental in the National Institutes of Health's selecting Detroit as permanent site of the Perinatology Research Branch, a $150-million enterprise to study the cause and treatment of premature birth, infant death and other issues in maternal and child health.

Wayne State University is the largest single-campus medical school in the country, with more than 1,000 medical students who train at the DMC and throughout metro Detroit. Additionally, more than 900 physicians participate in Wayne State residency and fellowship programs at the DMC.

Wayne State is ranked in the top 20 percent for research among U.S. medical schools, and its long history of discoveries and innovations has positively affected millions of people. It is difficult to imagine how such an enterprise could remain viable without the continuing support of our clinical partner.

Wayne State has provided training for most doctors who practice in the Detroit area, and the School of Medicine is a national leader in retaining its graduates to practice in-state. However, that record cannot be sustained without a strong relationship with the DMC.

A viable relationship between Wayne State and the DMC has implications far beyond the geographic borders of Detroit. Closing facilities and ending programs will adversely impact our ability to provide health care to many of our citizens who need it most.

At the same time, it would have a calamitous effect on the university's ability to conduct life-saving research and to train the physicians who will treat our children and grandchildren.

DR. IRVIN D. REID is the president of Wayne State University in Detroit. Write to him in care of the Free Press Editorial Page, 600 W. Fort St., Detroit, MI 48226.