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Life & Times Transcript

05/08/06

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Los Angeles's homeless population is huge and highly visible, but what about the people who are going hungry?

Darren Hoffman>> The homeless are the people you may see. That's kind of the face that people put to it, but actually it's kind of a hidden epidemic here in Los Angeles County. It's your next door neighbor. It's a person down the street. It could be anybody.

Val Zavala>> And then, do wide open spaces make problems seem smaller? We'll take you to a place where city dwellers can relax and recharge.

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>> When is the last time you were hungry? I mean, really hungry. Well, believe it or not, in Los Angeles County, more than three hundred thousand people, many of them children, feel the physical pangs of hunger on a regular basis. And even more surprising, most of them are United States citizens and many have a college education. How can that be? Well, Toni Guinyard takes a closer look at hunger in Los Angeles County.

Toni Guinyard>> Inside this nondescript warehouse in Los Angeles, case upon case of food is stacked from ceiling to floor, so much food that you might think there's enough stockpiled to feed, well, a small army --

Darren Hoffman>> This is about two and a half million pounds of product that we have on hand.

Toni Guinyard>> -- but you'd be wrong. This is the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Although it's the second largest food bank in the nation, within seventeen days, all of this will be gone, given to one of the one thousand agencies that receives food from the food bank for distribution to Los Angeles County residents who are hungry.

Darren Hoffman>> It's a high-volume turnaround and we still have agencies that are asking for more. We just try to spread what we do have among all the agencies and try to give them something, but we don't have enough to meet all of their needs.

Toni Guinyard>> It's a never-ending seventeen day cycle. Get food in, fill orders, send it out, do it all over again. In many ways, the warehouse workers rushing about with clipboards listing requests from small food banks and shelters and soup kitchens --

>> "That's sliced carrots, six cases."

Toni Guinyard>> -- are in a race they have little chance of winning. The number of people in Los Angeles County who are genuinely hungry is growing at such a pace that donations to the food bank don't come close to filling the demand.

Darren Hoffman>> You know, we're down twelve percent. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it is when you look at the volume we do. In 2004, we distributed forty-six million pounds. In 2005, we distributed forty-one million pounds, a difference of five million pounds. You know, we're looking at about three and a half million meals is what that translates into.

Toni Guinyard>> The food bank's communications director, Darren Hoffman, warns don't make the mistake of thinking the homeless and the hungry are one and the same.

Darren Hoffman>> The working poor families are mainly who we serve. The homeless are the people you may see. That's kind of the face that people put to it, but actually it's kind of a hidden epidemic here in Los Angeles County. It's your next door neighbor. It's a person down the street. It could be anybody.

Toni Guinyard>> A nationwide study commissioned by America's Second Harvest, a national food bank network, proved how dire the situation is. They surveyed agencies that distribute and clients that receive food assistance. In Los Angeles County, thirty-one percent of the adults surveyed were employed. Fifty-three percent had an annual household income of less than ten thousand dollars a year.

The statistics just may shatter your belief about where some of this food is going and who it's going to. According to the people who answered the survey, eleven percent said they have a college degree. Another twenty-one percent said they'd attended college. So it appears that it doesn't matter if you have an education or a job. Sometimes you simply can't make ends meet.

Anjelica Garcia>> I have, you know, barely been able to make rent. I have two children, so there were times when I had to make do. I had to make sure that I had food on the table for them and I'd rather go without.

Toni Guinyard>> The day we met Anjelica Garcia, she was at the food bank sorting donations. She is one of three volunteers on the assembly line that I asked, "Have you ever been hungry? Really hungry?" Anjelica, Loyma and Jared all answered yes.

Jared Valles>> When I was younger, I grew up sort of homeless, you know what I mean, so I was hungry at that time. I would say yeah.

Toni Guinyard>> What did you do for food when you didn't have food?

Anjelica Garcia>> Sold drugs. Sold drugs to buy food. Borrowed food.

Loyma Delacruz>> Like being a drug addict. You know, the situations that I would rather spend our money than spend it on food and I would pick out of trash cans. I got to the point that I would collect cans, you know, and instead of buying a ninety-nine cent burger, I would rather get me a dollar hit, you know.

Toni Guinyard>> All three are in recovery. Miles away, the nonprofit agency Para Los Ninos is responding to hunger by taking a different approach. The agency's focus is on children and families living in poverty. Carmen Navarro is director of Family Services.

Carmen Navarro>> A lot of the children that attend our child development centers and our charter school, they come in and they're hungry. These kids are hungry and we ask the families or the families will come and ask us if we can assist them. Anything with groceries or food vouchers, if we have them available.

Toni Guinyard>> Out of necessity, the agency operates a small food pantry.

Ralph Guirado>> Welcome in to my food pantry. What I've got here, we carry basic staples. Oatmeal, oil, rice, beans.

Carman Navarro>> Everybody pitches in to keep our little pantry. This little pantry is really small. It's like a little closet, but it feeds quite a bit.

Ralph Guirado>> They'll come and they'll look at you and they'll say, "When snack?" You know, "Can I have a snack?" Or when they're having a snack, "Can I have some more?" It's just cookies or something simple, but you see it in their eyes that they haven't eaten. They want more and you give them more. You know, you can't say no. You just give them more.

Toni Guinyard>> And that's how many of Los Angeles County's hungry are getting fed, small food pantries supplied by large food banks, all connected by a common thread, the desire to identify and help people who, for whatever reason, are unnecessarily going hungry.

Darren Hoffman>> It's a silent epidemic where you don't really see people wearing a ribbon or something saying that they're hungry. These are people that are, you know, basically ashamed to ask for help. They feel there's some kind of pride issue that they should be asking for help like this, and there isn't.

Toni Guinyard>> They aren't alone. One out of ten Los Angeles County residents, one million people, have asked for help in getting food and there is no way of knowing how many more simply are afraid to ask. I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times.

Val Zavala>> If you'd like to learn more about hunger in Los Angeles County and what you can do about it, you can go to the website at lafoodbank.org.

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

Val Zavala>> If you had to find one person who best understood the complexities of Latino culture and health issues, you couldn't do better than David Hayes-Bautista. This UCLA professor is internationally known for his speaking, his writing and his research, and he gave me some fascinating insights into the Latino population here in Los Angeles.

David Hayes-Bautista is founder of the Center for the Study of Hispanic Health and Culture at UCLA. His studies have revealed something he calls "the Latino paradox". I talked with him about what he means by "paradox".

Now you have uncovered some really interesting, unexpected findings in dealing with Latino health. The first one, of course, that most people see is, "Oh, my goodness, Latinos are always overweight, they're part of the whole obesity epidemic." Is that true?

David Hayes-Bautista>> Well, it's very true that Latinos, particularly those born in the United States as opposed to immigrants, have problems with obesity. A higher percent of Latinos are overweight and obese compared to any other group, and the percent is growing every year.

Val Zavala>> So if they're obese, that would also mean they have problems with strokes, heart disease, cancer? All those rates are higher as well?

David Hayes-Bautista>> Well, in every other population, there is an almost immediate corollary between being overweight, being obese and a high rate of mortality. We don't see this yet, and I'll emphasize the "yet" for Latinos. In fact, in California, across the country, Latinos have thirty-five percent fewer heart attacks compared to non-Hispanic whites. Fewer heart attacks. Over forty percent fewer cancers, thirty percent fewer strokes, lower infant mortality, five years longer life expectancy.

However, all these tremendously strong health profiles can be endangered by a couple of generations of overweight and obesity. Latinos can't get away with this forever. Actually, what happens is that immigrants usually arrive with very, very good health habits.

They eat very healthy food, they rarely smoke, they rarely drink, they rarely do drugs. They have very low rates of sexually transmitted diseases. Their children born here drink more, smoke more, do drugs more, accumulate a few more sexually transmitted diseases, move less --

Val Zavala>> -- put on weight, fast food.

David Hayes-Bautista>> Put on some weight, change the dietary patterns, so we're starting to see the increase in overweight and obesity. At some point, it has got to affect these otherwise stellar figures in terms of lower heart, cancer and stroke. They might almost have perhaps the same heart attack rate as non-Hispanic whites. How terrible.

Val Zavala>> So you're saying that a population that we normally perceive as poor. does not have access to insurance, doctors, good health care, is actually relatively healthy?

David Hayes-Bautista>> In fact, this is why this is called a paradox because normally, if you have a population with low income, low education and poor access to care, we expect it's going to have a high incidence of adverse health outcome. A lot of heart attacks, a lot of cancers, a lot of strokes, a lot of health-harming behavior, and we don't see it with Latinos. That's why it's called a paradox. We don't understand it. How is it that a population of very low income, very low education and very, very poor access to care has such spectacular health outcomes?

Now the interesting thing is, when we look at the children of immigrants born here who have far higher incomes, far higher education and far better access to care, their health profiles begin to erode. Interesting, and that's what we're trying to understand. But let me give it a different way.

If everybody in California had the same epidemiological profile as Latinos for heart, cancer and stroke, we would save forty-nine thousand lives every year. But because we have not researched, we don't know the mechanism, we don't know what it is. We don't know if it's beans or tortillas and it could be. Who knows?

Val Zavala>> (Laughter) Or Spanish language television.

David Hayes-Bautista>> We don't know the mechanism, but we know the outcome not just in California. We see it in Arizona, in New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Chicago, New York, wherever you have Latinos and a non-Hispanic white population. These are the differentials you'll see, but nobody's researching it, so we don't know the mechanism. So forty-nine thousand people will die in California this year. Not Latinos. Primarily non-Hispanic whites due to heart, cancer, stroke, and we could have saved their lives if we had done the research.

Val Zavala>> So there is something to be learned from the Latino lifestyle. We just don't know what it is.

David Hayes-Bautista>> Nobody's studying it, so we don't know what it is. If we studied it the way we're studying human genomics, just think. We could save lives and it would be a lot cheaper. You wouldn't need really gold-plated health insurance to do this because it's something that Latino families do every day just naturally without even thinking about it.

Val Zavala>> Now you also mentioned the Latinos have lower rates of drinking, smoking and drug use and yet there is a perception -- and I think it's borne out -- that there's a lot of beer consumed in the Latino community. Is that not right?

David Hayes-Bautista>> Well, certainly there are perceptions. In general, the perception is that Latinos are very unhealthy, very sickly, using services too much and always harming their health. But when we look at data compared to non-Hispanic whites, a far lower percent of Latinos smoke. A far lower percent of Latinos drink. Now there may be something in the drinking pattern for males that seems to drive this perception. A lower percent of Latino males drink compared to non-Hispanic white males.

Val Zavala>> A lower percent, okay.

David Hayes-Bautista>> A lower percent. And even if you look at the amount that they drink, non-Hispanic white males drink more ounces of alcohol than Latinos. However, it's drunk differently. A non-Hispanic white male, an office worker, will have the two Martini lunch every day. Two martinis or two glasses of wine.

The Latino worker generally is on a construction site and can't have the two Martini lunch. He doesn't drink usually during the week, but on the weekend will consume a smaller amount, but in one setting which, of course, has a different consequence. But a lower percent drink and they drink less. It's just that it's drunk differently that does lead to this perception that all Latinos are natural alcoholics, which is not true.

Val Zavala>> So this is definitely putting the Latino population in a different light health-wise, but there is one problem. In fact, you call it the number one health problem among the Latino community, and that is a scarcity of Spanish speaking or Latino physicians, doctors, nurses. You call that the number one health problem.

David Hayes-Bautista>> Well, actually, the number one health problem, let's not even get too specific. Do they speak Spanish or are they simply there? Let's talk about a tale of two cities here in Los Angeles. Beverly Hills and Belle.

Beverly Hills, for every hundred thousand population -- and I know Beverly Hills doesn't have a hundred thousand. It's about eighty-five -- but if there was a hundred thousand population just so we can have comparison rate, has two thousand twenty-three physicians. Literally, one out of every thirty-eight people in Beverly Hills is a physician.

Val Zavala>> Okay.

David Hayes-Bautista>> Beverly Hills is only five percent Latino. Now you go to Belle, which is only, what, about ten or twelve miles away. Belle is ninety-one percent Latino. For every hundred thousand population, nineteen physicians. Nineteen compared to two thousand twenty-three.

So part of the problem is, if they want to seek care in Belle, where do you find a physician? The number of Latinos in the University of California medical schools -- and we have five -- the number of Latinos starting medical school this year is half the number of Latinos starting medical school just twelve years ago. Half.

Val Zavala>> Why?

David Hayes-Bautista>> Now you think, wait a minute, the Latino population is growing. There should have been more Latinos applying to medical school. We should have at least thirty or forty percent more than twelve years ago. Instead, it's half.

Val Zavala>> Are you optimistic about the future health of the huge Latino population here in southern California?

David Hayes-Bautista>> Yes. In part, I'm very optimistic. I'm optimistic about what Latinos bring to the table. In terms of health, rather than being a sickly population that over-utilizes services because Latinos use services far less than any other population, we have a population with some very naturally healthy behaviors derived from the culture with some very strong epidemiological profiles.

But the institutions aren't stepping forward. Neither the educational institutions nor the medical care provision institutions, be they public or private sector, so that's why the D grade. Not for what Latinos are doing, but for the lack of institutional response to this really strong health profile that Latinos are bringing to Los Angeles and have brought for two hundred thirty years.

Val Zavala>> David Hayes-Bautista, thank you so much. You'll be an inspiration to those institutions.

David Hayes-Bautista>> My pleasure. My pleasure entirely.

Val Zavala>> David Hayes-Bautista's latest book is called "La Nueva California: the New California". It charts the growth and evolution of Latinos in the Golden State from 1940 to 2000.

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>> Are you looking for ways to tell high gas prices to take a hike? Well, we've got an idea for you. Set foot on the Pacific Crest Trail, a stunning two thousand six hundred mile trail from Mexico to Canada. One of the most scenic stretches is here at Vasquez Rocks natural area just northeast of Santa Clarita off Highway 14. That's where I met Tim Stone. Tim is with the United States Forest Service and his job is to maintain the entire trail.

Tim Stone>> In the United States, it's the longest completed trail, I think, for its wilderness character and, you know, along the crest of these great mountains, I think it's the most superlative.

Val Zavala>> Only the hardiest of hikers traverse the entire two thousand six hundred fifty miles. They have to time it right and keep the pace up or else they'll hit snow in the Sierras.

Tim Stone>> But those are through-hikers. They do it in one season. Quite a few others are section-hikers, so they've completed it over a lifetime in some cases. I just met a man last summer in northern California on his last day, but he had been doing it every summer for about twenty years.

Val Zavala>> What kinds of terrain, what kinds of ecosystem do they go through?

Tim Stone>> Well, about now, two hundred people start every year down on the Mexican border. It takes about six months to get to Canada.

Val Zavala>> Six months it takes to do the crest?

Tim Stone>> Six months. They need to get up there before the snow falls. So you're actually starting in a fairly desert ecosystem. As you get up here, you start to get into some higher mountains and then into the Mojave Desert just north of here. But after that, then you start to head up into the High Sierras and that's where you reach the highest point. It's about thirteen thousand feet.

Val Zavala>> For the most part, this zigzagging trail is a wilderness experience, but Angelenos are lucky. This particular leg at Agua Dulce is very accessible.

Tim Stone>> It's by far and away closest to a Los Angeles urban community than any other place. Usually it might be forty miles or fifty miles from a major urban area, but it's in your back yard in Los Angeles.

Val Zavala>> The Pacific Crest Trail was founded in the 1930's by a wealthy Pasadena philanthropist and outdoorsman, Clinton Clark. But it wasn't until 1968 that an official act of Congress established the trail.

Tim Stone>> People that put this trail in probably in the 1980's couldn't have believed in their lifetime that this area would have gotten built up. We can look around us now and there are houses closing in, so we try not to say it's just a foot path, you know, that what you see when you're on the trail to be able to preserve and protect that.

Val Zavala>> Another challenge? Filling in the last remaining gaps. It means acquiring privately owned land. Right now there's a section just north of us where you actually have to walk along a road or a highway?

Tim Stone>> Yeah, you come out on a main road through Agua Dulce and, amongst other things, it's very unsafe. Every year that goes by that we don't acquire these lands, the prices have risen exponentially.

Val Zavala>> If this landscape looks familiar, it might be because it's a popular backdrop for films, commercials and television, like the recent movie version of "The Flintstones".

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> Tim prefers the trail for its solitude. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest and, although he's walked a good part of the trail, he hasn't hiked the entire two thousand six hundred fifty miles.

Tim Stone>> Probably when I started because of my background and coming from the Pacific Northwest and working in the wilderness areas of Alaska, I probably didn't have as positive of feelings about southern California, which is hard to believe. But since I've been involved with this trail, I've just realized what a fantastic resource it is and what a great opportunity for people in southern California to have this in their back yard.

Val Zavala>> The United States Forest Service has published the first of ten maps that will give backpackers detailed information.

Tim Stone>> This was number one starting on the Mexican border and we're very proud of these maps. They really focus details about the PCT, day trips, natural history and, if you get caught in a storm, they can also act as an emergency shelter (laughter). I'm kidding. This is waterproof paper.

Val Zavala>> Maintaining a route this long depends on volunteers and support groups like the Pacific Crest Trail Association. Then there are people who live alongside the trail called Trail Angels. What do Trail Angels do?

Tim Stone>> Well, it seems like when you're at your lowest ebb and you're out of food and you're out of water, these people will appear and give you a ride into town or let you take a shower at their house. There are some people in town, in Agua Dulce here, the Soffleys, who welcome all of the through-hikers into their house. They have a nice trailer there. So they're known as sort of the best Trail Angels anywhere.

I mean, it's just wonderful. That just happened when they met a through-hiker one day in town and now they take their vacation every year when the through-hikers come through. If you ask them, they would say they're the ones that are rewarded, not the other way around.

When it's really hot down in the lower elevations, boy, you can get up in the higher elevations and it's great. There's a lot of different wild flowers out. It's also a good year for wildlife and actually have some water sources as you hike along the trail.

Val Zavala>> There are little creeks?

Tim Stone>> There are creeks that I've never seen before. I've been around this area for four years and they're flowing for the first time, at least this late in the year. When you're on the trail itself, it can't be beat. Whether it's hiking a mile off the trail to watch the sun set over the Pacific or, you know, being on the trail for two weeks, it's the exhilaration and sense of renewal that you get.

I mean, these trails were originally conceived as an antidote to civilization, especially how it started on the East Coast. It was felt that the industrialized world was stymieing human nature. I mean, these are places to get away and to be renewed. Really, that's what it's all about.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> The latest edition of Smithsonian Magazine features an article on the Pacific Crest Trail if you'd like to read more. And the trail is beautiful, but remember, sun protection, water and, if you get bitten by a snake, fall down a cliff or end up in poison ivy: cell phone. I'm Val Zavala on the Pacific Crest Trail. 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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