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Life & Times Transcript

11/14/05

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

A small congregation in San Bernardino put the power of faith to work helping hurricane victims.

Taisha Blackwell>> When I saw the house, when we pulled up to the house, I was like screaming and hollering. I was so excited.

Val Zavala>> And then, from the unusual to the truly bizarre. Cris Franco takes his antics to the Antiques Roadshow.

It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val Zavala>> They are a tiny church with a huge heart. There are only fifty members in this congregation and yet they took in thirty Katrina evacuees. So how did they find the shelter, food, clothing, furniture and everything else that thirty hurricane victims need? Sam Louie headed to San Bernardino to find out for himself.

[Film Clip]

Sam Louie>> It's Sunday morning at Celebration City Church in San Bernardino. The worship service is in full swing. By all accounts, you probably haven't heard much about this church. First off, it's small. Only fifty members so far. It's also new. Services started just six months ago and it doesn't have a building yet. Instead, it rents this space. For what it lacks in size, it makes up for in heart.

Reverend Willie Ulibarri>> I think as far as small, we don't let that dictate to us because we know that the vision that God has given us is a great vision. It's a bigger vision. I think, if we confine ourselves to small thinking, then we remain small.

Sam Louie>> When church members saw the horrible devastation from Hurricane Katrina, they wanted to help, but they also felt helpless.

Reverend Willie Ulibarri>> At that point, I think we didn't have any idea at all whatsoever that we'd be part of what we're able to do as a church. It never crossed my mind.

Sam Louie>> Shortly afterwards, hundreds of evacuees started showing up in Los Angeles at the Dream Center. The church decided to sponsor close to thirty hurricane victims, paying their rent and utilities for the next six months.

Reverend Willie Ulibarri>> That's why we felt, in the six months, don't worry about rent. Don't worry about utilities. We will take care of that. So we wanted them to focus their attention on things that would help them, that are probably most important at this time, to re-establish themselves back in a normal life.

Sam Louie>> But there was a problem. The church made the promise to pay their expenses even though they didn't have the funds in the bank, but they did have something else that evacuees sorely needed. Back in August, the church purchased thirteen homes here in the community for two and a half million dollars. At the time, the pastor wasn't sure where he would find all the money. He said he would rely on his faith and eventually that faith paid off. Ulibarri says they opened escrow on the properties intending to rent them out for income, but they didn't have the money to complete the purchase. Then a husband and wife that Ulibarri has known for a long time came forward with a generous donation.

Reverend Willie Ulibarri>> They believed in what we were doing as a ministry, so at that moment they committed to giving us three hundred thousand dollars towards the purchase of these thirteen homes and duplexes and, with that amount, that actually covered all our closing costs, all of our down payments and all additional fees. So that was a great stepping stone for us and a big blessing for our church to be able to do that.

"Amen, but we have some new families that are with us here today that were evacuees from New Orleans, so we just want to welcome them this morning."

Sam Louie>> Taisha Blackwell, her two sisters, Tina Williams and Trenise Thomas, along with their eight children, are among those at this morning's church service. The family of eleven escaped the floodwaters of New Orleans. They feel blessed by the church's generosity.

Taisha Blackwell>> When I found out that Pastor Willie and his small church was going to take on the responsibilities, I was just saying thank God because there has to be a God. There must be a God because he can't do it all by himself.

Sam Louie>> Two weeks ago, the family moved into this two thousand square foot home fully furnished compliments of Levitz, Lowe's, and Best Buy. It's complete with an entertainment center, a computer for the kids and a wooden dining room table. Taisha says she could hardly contain herself the day she first saw the house.

Taisha Blackwell>> When we pulled up to the house, I was like screaming and hollering. I was so excited. It was like, oh, this is way more than I expected. Then we seen the furniture because we didn't know that Levitz had furnished the whole house. We just know that the church donated some things, you know, just to get us together to start off with. Then when we went into the house, we went like, oh, it was exciting.

Sam Louie>> But getting here hasn't been easy. She and her family vividly remember the hardships and horror of evacuating from New Orleans.

Taisha Blackwell>> The children were dehydrated. My baby had an asthma attack. It was just horrible. It was like we're going to die, we are going to die.

Sam Louie>> News clips show them trudging through knee-deep water pushing shrimp buckets. Taisha feels the shrimp buckets saved the kids' lives.

Taisha Blackwell>> They were lifesavers because, when it was time to get on the interstate, to get on the interstate, the water was getting higher and higher because the ground goes down and you have to walk down and then, as you're going down, the water is coming up higher, so you're like, Lord Jesus Christ, but you're pushing those buckets to get to that interstate. You're just praying that all four of us make it enough so those kids could make it too.

Sam Louie>> Celebration City Church is also helping the Rivas family. Joyce Rivas, Carlos and their five month old daughter.

Joyce Rivas>> It was scary. We didn't know how, you know, we would survive, you know, without money, food or anything. It was hard.

Sam Louie>> The Rivas' say their house suffered only minor damage, but there were few jobs to be found after the hurricane.

Joyce Rivas>> I thought about working. I went to go see if I could work at a McDonalds. It was taken because people from one area were brought to work in some places that were open, so all the jobs were taken.

Sam Louie>> Then the Dream Center in Los Angeles offered them a free flight to California. She'll never forget the moment they arrived at the Dream Center.

Joyce Rivas>> A lot of people were waiting, clapping for us. It was beautiful, you know. I was tired and it was late at night, but I've never been received like that, never in my life. There were so many people waiting for us that late at night to tell us everything's going to be okay.

Sam Louie>> After spending several weeks there, they heard about Pastor Ulibarri's offer of free rent and utilities. The offer was too good to pass up.

Joyce Rivas>> I thank God for them people because, without them, I don't know where I would be, you know, without their love, you know, and their generosity. They've been really good to us.

Sam Louie>> The pastor views this as an opportunity to show others what can happen if you have faith.

Reverend Willie Ulibarri>> We have a group of people who have just really bound together and really believed that we can reach this community. That was our whole purpose of coming in the first place. That's actually part of the bigger vision that we have had is to empower people to get out of a state of helplessness and hopelessness and to instill hope in them.

Sam Louie>> For these families, they're just grateful to be in a place they can call home, a home much different from what they're used to, but one they're quickly learning to embrace.

Taisha Blackwell>> There were millions of people out there that just lost everything. The family that just helped all those people, thank God. That's all I can say is thank God.

Sam Louie>> I'm Sam Louie for Life and Times.

Val Zavala>> If you'd like to help the hurricane victims, you can contact the Celebration City Church in San Bernardino.

Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life and Times".

Val Zavala>> Americans are popping more pills than ever before. I'm talking about legal prescription drugs. The number of prescriptions per American has more than doubled over the past ten years and, although these drugs can do a lot of good, they can also do a lot of damage.

Greg Critser is a writer in Pasadena who has researched the down side of pharmaceuticals. His book, "Generation Rx", looks at the damage that drugs do to our body and the widespread ignorance among doctors when it comes to managing multiple prescriptions. You've written a very provocative book, but one that will not surprise most Americans, and that is that the number of prescription drugs that we are taking per capita has gone up significantly.

Greg Critser>> That's right. In just the last fifteen years, what we've seen is a doubling of the average number of drugs that the average American takes over the course of a year. In 1990, the average American took somewhere around seven prescriptions a year. Today it's somewhere around thirteen to fourteen prescriptions a year.

Val Zavala>> So they have virtually doubled.

Greg Critser>> That's right.

Val Zavala>> So the average American, over the course of a year, will get thirteen to fourteen prescriptions?

Greg Critser>> That's right. Now that's counting both renewals of prescriptions and actual new prescriptions.

Val Zavala>> Now, of course, some of the major consumers of drugs are the elderly. They're the ones who need it most in their later years of life. But they're taking combinations of drugs that have never been checked out or researched?

Greg Critser>> That's right. One of the most remarkable things I found in doing the book was the rate of polypharmacy. Polypharmacy means taking two or more drugs for one or more conditions. It's, in a sense, a natural outcome of our medical system and of aging. You know, we get old and things start breaking down. What is really remarkable is, A, how little most physicians know about prescribing more than one drug and the rate at which older people essentially acquire large pharmacies in their own medicine cabinets.

One of the most troubling things is the use of Valium, for example. As early as 1992, UCLA researchers identified Valium as a drug that very specifically should never be prescribed to older people because the metabolic clearance rate, etc., the way their livers work, aren't as efficient and Valium can accumulate in the liver. So they published a list of drugs called the Beers List, named for Martin Beers, showing which drugs should never be prescribed to the elderly.

What do you think is the rate of prescription of Valium to seniors today? About sixty percent of Valium is prescribed to people over sixty-five. So there is an enormous disconnect between what we know older people should be getting and what physicians commonly dole out to them.

Val Zavala>> Now an elderly person should not be expected to know that he or she shouldn't take Valium. Don't the doctors know?

Greg Critser>> You know, what doctors basically know -- after medical school, doctors basically know what pharmaceutical companies tell them because pharmaceutical companies are the dominant way that physicians get continuing medical education. Many people -- I think it's kind of funny. They'll have a Physician's Desk Reference at home and they'll say, you know, no one's going to pull anything off on me. Look what I got. I got this book. Well, guess where all the information comes from to the PDR? It comes directly from the labels supplied by the pharmaceutical companies. So there's a real dirth of solid objective information that isn't coming from a source that has a commercial interest in it.

Val Zavala>> Now a lot of elderly people will say, oh, but my goodness, all the drugs for my chronic diseases are helping me enormously. You're not saying don't take them?

Greg Critser>> I'm not saying don't take your drugs. I am saying that, as your own apothecary grows and it becomes more complicated, one has to really push the physician to justify those drugs more frequently. One drug that's come up a lot, or a whole class of drugs, has to do with osteopenia and osteoarthritis. That is to say that, as one gets older, our bones get frailer. There's a huge push for drugs that slow the process of bone weakening, but there's actually very little evidence that you're going to prevent fractures as a result of that and that's really what we're trying to do.

When we strengthen a bone, we're not doing it so that you can walk around and say I've got really strong bones. It's so that you can prevent fractures, which is a really important thing as you age. Many of us know we have relatives who die or become infirm because they fall down and fracture a hip. But if you look at the data in terms of osteopenia, that is to say, treatment for weakening bones, and the rate of fractures, there's not a large confluence there.

Val Zavala>> So it may strengthen the bone, but it doesn't really prevent osteopenia.

Greg Critser>> That's right.

Val Zavala>> So you have some advice for elderly people who are getting a lot of prescriptions.

Greg Critser>> A lot of prescriptions. I think the most important thing is to try to get some ally who can go to the doctor with you. I mean, if you look at something like a consumer's union recommends. It's actually quite solid. That is to say, they say to take all of your drugs, supplements included, and put them in a bag and schedule a discussion of those drugs with your physician. Take your son or daughter or grandson with you so that you have to have a secondary person because we all know what happens to us when we get into a doctor's office. We become dummies all of a sudden.

Here is this person with this God-like information about our health, our bodies, our longevity and we tend not to ask follow-up questions. If we indeed are going to live in a society where pills are a de facto part of our medical system, we've got to find ways to talk to our physicians more forcefully about the use of those pills.

Val Zavala>> But even if you were to take your bag of prescriptions in your doctor's office and he or she looks at them and goes, well, to tell you the truth, I have no idea how these six or seven or eight drugs interact with each other, are you going to get any clear answers?

Greg Critser>> You will get some. I mean, what you will do is you will get the doctor's focus on the medication and also get the doctor's focus on the fact that often people come out of a pretty fragmented medical system. That is to say, we don't see the same doctor two or three times in a row. So it's very possible for one doctor to not know what another doctor is doing and what that does is it imposes your own cohesiveness on at least your pharmaceutical care.

Val Zavala>> And, of course, there's a political dimension to this as well. It's not just a matter of a relationship between you and your doctor.

Greg Critser>> That's right. I mean, we're not on our own. There's something that the federal government -- really whether you're conservative or liberal, we can kind of agree, and that is to look out for our long-term health issues, dangers, essentially. What's happening with the FDA over the last ten to fifteen years is they've increasingly become co-opted by business and that's because business pays fees to the FDA to process their drug applications faster.

Val Zavala>> So the revenues of the FDA come from the people that they're supposed to regulate?

Greg Critser>> That's right. So there's a fundamental conflict of interest.

Val Zavala>> So you know more about drugs and the pharmaceutical industry perhaps than most of us. You have elderly parents. How do you help them with their prescriptions? What do you make sure they do or don't do?

Greg Critser>> Well, you know, anyone who's got elderly parents knows that the thing most important is your patience, your patience level, right? And that you may have to drive the same point home many different times in many different ways. But what I have found is introducing the notion of the original meaning of the word "pharmacy". Pharmacy comes from the Greek word Pharmacon. What that means literally is both remedy and poison.

We've really gotten a long way away from that kind of unified notion of what pharmaceuticals are and that really what we're doing is we're taking something foreign from outside of our body and putting it into our body. Hopefully, there's a good chance that we react to it positively, but there is also a very high -- as we take more drugs on a daily basis -- an increasing chance that we're going to have side effects or adverse reactions. So I try to get across the notion of having a healthy regard for what pharmacy is all about: powerful chemicals.

Val Zavala>> Greg Critser, thank you so much for all your work and great advice.

Greg Critser>> Thank you.

Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address:

Life and Times
4401 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90027

You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org.

Val Zavala>> It's one of the most popular programs on public television, the Antiques Roadshow. So when it came to Los Angeles a few months ago, Life and Times commentator Cris Franco grabbed his bowtie and headed to the Convention Center.

Cris Franco>> You've all seen the Antiques Roadshow, the show where everyone hopes that that odd little box that your grandfather used to keep his dentures in also happens to be a priceless Limoge Egg.

Here's a look at the items that don't usually make it onto the show. This classic Ken is made of the same batch of plastic that much of Cher is made of today. He says, "I got you, babe."

This set of unique, rare three piano-shaped Liberace-inscribed soap were used by Liberace. I think I'm slightly allergic to Liberace.

I can't wait to hear the appraising Keno twins appraise my object d'art, but first I think I'm going to check out the competition.

>> It is made out of Camel cigarette wrappers and we were very excited about it. Somebody who was obsessive did this. It's all folded Camel cigarette wrappers.

Cris Franco>> And how did you come by this?

>> I picked it up for a dollar.

Cris Franco>> Do the bears have names?

>> (Laughter) No.

Cris Franco>> You know, Yogi Bear and Max Baer and Bear Aspirin (laughter).

>> Nothing like that (laughter).

Cris Franco>> Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about the bear stool?

>> You're welcome to sit on it. It won't fall.

Cris Franco>> I got to sit. Here I go. Oh, there's something about a bear stool.

Cris Franco>> Is it a giant wallet?

>> It could be, but I think we might put photographs in it and then all of the cigarettes that -- I have no idea. I have no idea.

Cris Franco>> You could put lung x-rays in it perhaps.

Cris Franco>> There's something about a bear stool, there's something about the bear stool (laughter).

Cris Franco>> Can you open it up for us, please, John?

John>> It's kind of old. It's got pictures in it.

Cris Franco>> Just so you know, that's the idea. Everything here is kind of old. How much do you think it might be worth?

>> I would say millions, personally, but they said not very much.

Cris Franco>> Just in the number of cigarettes it took to make this, I would say millions. Where's the baby, Mike?

Mike>> Probably growing up somewhere. I'm not sure. Really, I'm not sure.

>> Well, I think it's somebody in prison who did it. So if they're watching this, then this is yours. Don't come looking for it (laughter).

>> I paid a dollar for it.

Cris Franco>> Sea horse, sea horse. What does circa mean?

>> Around, like around that time.

Cris Franco>> Around that time? So, circa means around. Well, thank you so much and I'll see you circa.

>> Okay (laughter).

Cris Franco>> And here's the real truth about appraisers.

>> We'd like to tell you we're all being all-knowing, but we're not.

Cris Franco>> That's right because they don't know everything. Only God and Google know everything.

>> The worst part about being an appraiser is dashing everyone's expectations. So many people think what they have is worth much more than what it is.

Cris Franco>> You're a dream destroyer.

>> That's me.

Cris Franco>> What's the weirdest thing you've ever appraised?

>> A human hair necklace was one of the strangest things I've had. Made out of human hair.

Cris Franco>> That's way weirder than Liberace soap, so I don't feel so strange.

Cris Franco>> Watch. I'm just going to fool some people into thinking that I'm an appraiser. I've also got my disguise, my official appraiser bowtie. It's what separates them from the lower forms of life. Oh, ma'am.

>> It's Norma Shearer and it's autographed by Norma Shearer.

Cris Franco>> Norma Shearer. You know, not all the stars could write. They didn't focus on reading and writing. They were all about beauty and being gorgeous. Seven thousand dollars. Moving on.

>> Thank you.

Cris Franco>> What have you got?

>> I have a silver cigar box.

Cris Franco>> Twenty thousand dollars. What do you have?

>> Autographs. Bob Hope, Gracie Fields, Gary Cooper, Monte Blue, Rochester, Roddy McDowell.

Cris Franco>> Don't take less than eleven thousand six hundred. What have you got?

>> It's a bank from 1827.

Cris Franco>> Don't take less than eighteen hundred twenty-seven dollars. What have you got? How much is this?

>> A bottle of water.

Cris Franco>> A bottle of water. Eighteen thousand dollars right there. What have you got?

>> Boy Scout first aid kit. All the instructions, all the --

Cris Franco>> -- now do you think those bandages are really going to stick?

>> No (laughter), but they're here.

Cris Franco>> You know, I don't know what it's worth, but your laugh is worth sixteen thousand dollars. Don't accept less.

>> Thank you.

Cris Franco>> Now this doesn't quite look like an antique.

>> No. My husband's afraid she's a reproduction.

>> Here's my antique right here (laughter).

>> I didn't even get appraised.

Cris Franco>> I think he's priceless.

>> I think he is too.

Cris Franco>> And what's she into? What's she studying?

>> Well, she likes paper these days.

Cris Franco>> Paper? What does she do with it?

>> She eats it (laughter).

Cris Franco>> So she's sort of a shredder.

>> Yeah, that would be it, yeah.

Cris Franco>> A visit to the antique world is a chance to expand your vocabulary. Ephemera. What does ephemera mean?

>> Ephemera. I don't know. That one, I don't know.

Cris Franco>> Do you know what ephemera means?

>> Not exactly, no.

Cris Franco>> Maybe she knows. Do you know what ephemera means?

>> No, no.

Cris Franco>> Ephemera. That might be her name. My name is Ephemera, my name is Ephemera. And things aren't always what they seem. It's not a little tiny doormat?

>> No, it's not (laughter). No, I don't think so.

Cris Franco>> Because, you know, people were smaller for a while. We're bigger than our parents were.

>> Oh, yeah, that's true. I agree with that (laughter).

Cris Franco>> I think it's to hold a straw and maybe you put your malt there. Maybe it's an early malt holder.

>> (Laughter) Maybe.

Cris Franco>> Do you think that she should trade you for the soap? "Don't be an idiot."

>> I have Katherine Hepburn in here who I understand was --

Cris Franco>> -- you have Katherine Hepburn in there?

>> Yes, which I understand --

Cris Franco>> -- she must be pretty uncomfortable (laughter). Do you want to hear my Cary Grant?

>> All right.

Cris Franco>> Okay, here goes. "Oh, Judy, oh, darling, I don't know if we can go there. It's Antiques Roadshow and I saw a picture of Kate Hepburn. I did many movies with her. She got paid more."

Cris Franco>> You know what I think the next trend is? Macaroni art. Macaroni art. Quote me. Everyone's going to be bringing in all that stuff on their refrigerator. It's going to be worth a lot of money. And you know what else? Those turkeys that are on a paper plate from the hands? Huge, huge.

>> I like him very much (laughter). I would put him over, say, maybe a hundred sixty or a hundred eighty dollars.

Cris Franco>> Awesome.

>> And they don't make him anymore, so it makes him even more valuable.

Cris Franco>> I think they do make him.

>> Ken? I think they discontinued making Ken.

Cris Franco>> They stopped Ken? Ephemera, they've stopped Ken. She can't even speak. Ephemera was speechless, but the Keno twins weren't.

>> It's priceless.

>> No, no, it's all right. This is so complete. This is great.

>> Wait a second. What is this? Wait. New rules.

Cris Franco>> It's got even a little tufted thing here.

>> Oh, this is special. Do you know what these are worth? A hundred thousand for the whole set.

Cris Franco>> Well, the Keno brothers liked my items. I'm a winner and you can be one too. You never know where the next great American collectible is going to be coming from. Perhaps your kitchen or your attic or your living room or your toy box. They liked you, Ken. They really liked you. You're the next Liberace, Ken.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> That's a great idea, Cris. Musical soap. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Sponsored in part by:


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