Columbia Community Research Articles

Global Environmental Engineering for and with Historically Marginalized Communities.

Marginalized communities lack full participation in social, economic, and political life, and they disproportionately bear the burden of environmental and health risks. This special issue of Environmental Engineering Science, the official journal of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), reports research on the unique environmental challenges faced by historically marginalized communities around the world. The results of community-based participatory research with an Afro-descendant community in Columbia, Native American communities in Alaska, United States, villagers in the Philippines, disadvantaged communities in California, United States, rural communities in Mexico and Costa Rica, homeless encampments in the San Diego River (United States) watershed entrepreneurs in Durban, South Africa, and remote communities in the island nation of Fiji are presented. The research reported in this special issue is transdisciplinary, bringing engineers together with anthropologists, sociologists, economists, and public health experts. In the 13 articles in this special issue, some of the topics covered include inexpensive technologies for water treatment, novel agricultural strategies for reversing biodiversity losses, and strategies for climate change adaptation. In addition, one article covered educational strategies for teaching ethics to prepare students for humanitarian engineering, including topics of poverty, sustainability, social justice, and engineering decisions under uncertainty. Finally, an article presented ways that environmental engineering professors can engage and promote the success of underrepresented minority students and enable faculty engaged in community-based participatory research.

"Storming Heaven for Charleston": The Lynch Family and the Civil War

The Irish Immigrants Conlaw Peter and Eleanor (Neison) Lynch in the upcountry South Carolina town of Cheraw raised a dozen children, six of whom were impacted by the Civil War in a significant way and made considerable contributions to it. Indeed the Lynches constituted the largest Catholic sibling group involved in the conflict, and, arguably, their collective involvement was as significant as that of any Catholic family in North or South. The particular involvement of the oldest, Patrick as bishop of Charleston, and of Ellen, the second daughter, as mother superior of the Ursuline Community in Columbia, in very different ways proved noteworthy. The war, to which they were so committed, in the end cost them any hope of realizing the audacious dream they had for Catholicism in the Deep South.

Living Longer, Living Well

Living Longer, Living Well

Alcohol, Isolation, and Access to Treatment: Family Physician Experiences of Alcohol Consumption and Access to Health Care in Rural British Columbia.

The purpose of this project was to study the experiences of physicians who treat persons with alcohol-attributed diseases in rural areas of British Columbia, Canada. A cross-sectional survey was distributed to primary health care physicians that had a family practice in a designated rural community using the Rural Coordination Centre of British Columbia's community isolation rating system. Data were collected through a mail and online survey sent to primary health care physicians. Purposeful sampling was used to select participants that had a primary health care practice in a designated rural community. Surveys were returned by 22% of potential participants (N = 67) that had an average of 15.8 years in family practice. The majority of participants (95.4%) reported that alcohol had a negative impact on population health, and physicians expressed particular concern for alcohol consumption in relation to mental health (85.1%) and physical illness (82.1%). Most participants had referred patients out of the community for treatment; however, 76.4% reported difficulty with referrals, including long wait-lists, limited services, and issues related to transportation and leaving the community for substance use treatment. Rural physicians showed an awareness and concern for alcohol consumption in their community, but they also reported difficulties referring patients for substance use treatment. Additional study is required to understand how to improve the continuity of care provided to persons with alcohol-related issues in rural British Columbia.

Detecting daily routines of older adults using sensor time series clustering.

The aim of this paper is to develop an algorithm to identify deviations in patterns of day-to-day activities of older adults to generate alerts to the healthcare providers for timely interventions. Daily routines, such as bathroom visits, can be monitored by automated in-home sensor systems. We present a novel approach that finds periodicity in sensor time series data using clustering approach. For this study, we used data set from TigerPlace, a retirement community in Columbia, MO, where apartments are equipped with a network of motion, pressure and depth sensors. A retrospective multiple case study (N=3) design was used to quantify bathroom visits as parts of the older adult's daily routine, over a 10-day period. The distribution of duration, number, and average time between sensor hits was used to define the confidence level for routine visit extraction. Then, a hierarchical clustering was applied to extract periodic patterns. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated through experimental results.

Community forestry in British Columbia, Canada: the role of local community support and participation

Drawing on the example of community forestry in British Columbia, Canada, this paper conceptualises and empirically assesses key contributors to successful community economic development, with a special emphasis on the role of local community support and inclusive participation. Relevant scholarship highlights the importance of these factors for achieving success with any community economic development (CED) initiative. While the initial experiences of 10 community forest initiatives under British Columbia's Community Forest Pilot Project offers evidence to corroborate this view, it is also evident that expertise and leadership, even of the exclusive variety, can substitute for community support and participation, if the goal of CED is to create a profitable community enterprise capable of delivering jobs and revenues to community members.

A Political Ecology of British Columbia's Community Forests

A Political Ecology of British Columbia's Community Forests

Oregon Voices: Indian Views of the Stevens-Palmer Treaties Today

Oregon Voices Clark Hansen Indian Views of the Stevens-Palmer Treaties Today The starting point fordiscussion ofmany current issues in theCo lumbia River Basin is the treaty relationship between Indian tribes and the U.S. government, often established before the states were formed. The foundational treaties between theU.S. govern ment and the Indian nations of the lower Columbia Basin are the so-called Stevens-Palmer Treaties, negotiated in 1854-1855 on behalf of theUnited States by Isaac Stevens with tribes in Washington and by Joel Palmer with tribes inOregon. "The bad thing about history," Yakama leader Ted Strong says, "is that those who write it are those who are going to be believed, and Indians did not write theAmerican history as it is currently documented." Oral history collections can help to bring in the often underrepresented per spectives ofAmerican Indians. Excerpts from three oral histories ? one from a Yakama Nation leader and two from leaders of the Confederated Tribes of theUmatilla Nation ? offer some Indians' perspectives on the treaties and the issues they raise for the relationship between the tribes and theU.S. government. In 1999,Jeff Van Pelt participated in theCCRH project "Columbia Communities," which exploredthehistoriesof eightcommunitiesinthe Columbia River Basin since the building ofmajor dams on the river and itstributaries beginning in the1930s. One of thecommunitiesincluded ? 2005 Oregon Historical Society Hansen, Indian Views of the Treaties Today 475 National Archives,RGu, Ratified IndianTreaty#293 Firstsignature page ofthe Treaty with the Tribesof Middle Oregon,signed June 25,1855 was Umatilla, Oregon, a town on the river north west of the Confederated Tribes of theUmatilla Indian Reservation where Van Pelt grew up. In 2000, Ted Strong and Antone Minthorn participated in oral history interviews for "Managing theColumbia," a project conducted by theCenter forColumbia RiverHistory (CCRH) in conjunction with the Or egon Historical Society. This project's intent was to document the con temporary history of the Columbia River Basin. The oralhistoriesincludedthe voices ofmen and women who disagreed with the way the Columbia River system has been man aged and used at various times.More than sixtyoral histories were conducted with narrators frommany fields, agencies, and tribes, including snort and com mercial fishers, former U.S. Forest Service employees, formers, environ mentalists, university educators, business leaders, and Indians inOregon, Washington, and British Columbia. In all three oral histories included here, the narrators offered their views on the Stevens-Palmer treaties and their influence in the region today/ *The entire interview with Jeff Van Pelt and other interviews from the "Columbia Communities" project are available online at theCenter forColumbia River History Web site,www.ccrh.org/comm/ umatilla/oralarc.htm (accessed August 22, 2005). The full textof Ted Strong's and Antone Minthorn's oral histories are available at theCCRH offices at Portland State University and theResearch Library at theOregon Historical Society, Portland. 476 OHQ vol. 106, no. 3 Jeff Van Pelt On March 16,1999, oral historian Donna Sinclair interviewed Jeff Van Pelt, a descendant of the Cayuse, Pitt River, Siletz, and Umatilla Tribes and enrolled member of theConfederatedTribesof the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). He served as Cultural Resource Protection Program Manager within the Department of Natural Resources of the CTUIR for many years and isnow a consultant. Donna Sinclair: Can you talk about the reserved treaty rights? What those mean to the tribes? Jeff Van Pelt: The treaty of 1855.To understand treaty rights is a very com plex issue. And I'm not an attorney, I'm not a judge, but I'm going to talk about how I personally think treaty rights are by what I've been taught. Treaty rights can't be interpreted by the treaty language or the articles they were written under. The Supreme Court in looking at treaty rights had a verydifficult time,so they developed guidingprinciplescalled thecanons of constructions, and the canons of construction, basically in a layman's kind of a summary as I understand it is, if Iwas going to contract with you, I'm aman. I'm stronger than you. You're awoman. You're physically weaker. So if Iwas going to go into an agreement with you, if Iwas to grab your arm and pull itbehind your back...

The Corporeal and Ocular Veil: Dr. Matilda A. Evans (1872-1935) and the Complexity of Southern History

After Egyptian and Indian, Greek and Roman, Teuton and Mongolian, Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,--a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through revelation of other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,--an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. W. E. B. Du Bois (1903) IN THIS ESSAY I EXPLORE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN A SINGULAR BLACK woman medical professional, Matilda A. Evans (1872-1935) of Columbia, South Carolina, and rise of health-care activism in decades prior to modern civil rights movement. The interests of professional class and needs of black people conjoined at critical historical moments. This case study of Dr. Evans's life and career deepens understanding required to assess historian Carter G. Woodson's positive appraisal of relationship between black professionals and struggles of African Americans first for survival and then for equality of opportunity. The two-ness concept embedded in historian W. E. B. Du Bois's veil metaphor captures complexity of living and surviving in a society that refused either to see black people's humanity or to accord them full citizenship rights as members of body politic. (1) After receiving her medical degree in 1897 from Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia, Dr. Evans practiced medicine in Columbia for over three decades. specialized in fields of surgery, obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, and hygienics and developed an interracial clientele. But her paramount concern was for health and educational welfare of black children, who, in her opinion, represented soul and hope for a better future for suffering humanity. An indefatigable institution-builder and a master of art of professional self-promotion, Dr. Evans established two hospitals and a nursing training school at dawn of twentieth century. In 1916 Evans began ardently advocating better health-care delivery and criticizing capitalist exploitation of black laborers. This transitional moment in her career is marked by, among other things, publication of her biography of Martha Schofield, a white Quaker educator and founder of Normal and Industrial School at Aiken. In this year Evans also created Negro Health Association of South Carolina (a public-health visiting nurses operation) and edited its official organ, Negro Health Journal. As health status of black Columbians steadily deteriorated, Evans became even more convinced that health care was a citizenship right every bit as important a responsibility of state as was public school education. In 1930 a reporter for Columbia Palmetto Leader wrote of Evans, She has ever claimed, and now contends, that free clinics ought to be as much a public concern and provision as are public schools. (2) Thus, at outset of Great Depression, Evans launched a free-clinic movement and inspired black community in Columbia to demand health-care citizenship rights even as state became less inclined to adopt any progressive reforms that improved material conditions of black lives. In opinion of Jane Van De Vrede, division director for Red Cross, the great number of negroes [sic] forming a dependent population which must be carried outright in any welfare undertaking was a powerful disincentive for white South Carolinians to adopt any progressive health-care programs. (3) A close reading of Evans's biography of Martha Schofield provides a glimpse into Evans's inner life that helps us to understand ideological underpinnings of her activism for social change. …

Building a System of Autonomous Institutions: Coordinaton and Collaboration in British Columbia's Community College, University College, and Institute system

This study explores the historical development of British Columbia's community college, university college, and institute system with the focus on voluntary collaboration in relation to provincial coordination and on swings between centralization and decentralization. The study examines developments in British Columbia's post-secondary system in light of developments in the broader North American context.

Modernizing mental health services: mission impossible?

Managing complex change initiatives can be a risky and controversial task. Hargrove and Glidew's (1990) model of "impossible jobs" defines typical obstacles: constituency conflict, perceptions of client legitimacy, respect for professional authority, and the strength of the agency myth. The author uses this model to describe his experiences while implementing major changes within British Columbia's community mental health system and provincial psychiatric hospital. Coping strategies include coalition building, public education, meaningful stakeholder participation, systemic feedback, mutual aid, and staff development.

Clinical feasibility of a free-weight strength-training program for older adults.

An emerging trend in the field of gerontology is the recognition that older adults, especially the frail elderly population, can increase their levels of strength and thus improve functional capability. Social acceptance of physical frailty and provision of care and assistance to dependent persons has now turned to helping the frail elderly adults maintain or improve functional independence. The purpose of our study was to show the feasibility and effectiveness of a low-cost strength-training program using free weights for increasing strength and functional fitness among older adult volunteers. Participants aged 73 to 94 years were residents of a multilevel care retirement community in Columbia, SC. The strength-training program, led by an instructor, used dumbbells and ankle weights and was conducted in a multipurpose recreation room at the retirement facility. Functional performance measures (timed chair stand, 6-meter walk, stair climb, balance) handgrip strength, and self-assessment of activity level were outcome measures. All 25 participants completed the strength-training program. The average program adherence rate of all participants was 87 percent. No participant injuries or other adverse effects were observed. Functional performance measures improved significantly among program participants, with the greatest improvement in the timed chair stand (33.5 percent improvement) and the stair climb (17.6 percent improvement). Free-weight strength-training programs are appropriate for older adults, can be implemented in community settings, and are associated with significant improvement in functional performance.

Implementation of the CNS role in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The CNS as an advanced practitioner contributes significantly to the provision of comprehensive patient care services. Development and implementation of the CNS role are complex processes. This study was designed to describe the experience of practicing CNSs in various health care agencies in the Lower Mainland (the geographic region of British Columbia, Canada, comprising Vancouver and adjacent communities). Major themes emphasize the complex interplay of role ambiguity, organizational structure, and administrative support in facilitating and/or impeding the CNS role implementation process.

A Study of Students from Academic Programs in British Columbia's Community Colleges

One of the major features of British Columbia's community colleges has been the university transfer programs which provide the opportunity for students to earn credits towards a university degree. Previous studies have shown, however, that only a small percentage of students from these programs actually transfer to a university. This study was designed to examine the behaviour of those students who complete academic or university transfer courses in a college, but do not continue their study in a university. Data were gathered from approximately 4,000 students from 14 colleges in the 1979-80 calendar year. The results of the study indicate that students pursue academic credit courses primarily for per- sonal development rather than for university transfer. The community colleges provide an intellectual and cultural environment, particularly for mature students who for geographic, educational or socio-economic reasons would not have been able to continue their education beyond secondary school The study provided an important insight into the changing role of the community college. Originally designed as an institution for college age students to begin university level study, it has become a multi-purpose educational resource for a wide segment of society.