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A Health Report on Aneurysm

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Beauty Turner, former Assistant Editor for Residents’ Journal, died on Dec. 18, 2008. Beauty’s family found her unconscious. They rushed her to the hospital, where the doctor told them that Beauty had slipped into a coma. An aneurysm had ruptured in her brain. This was later determined to be the cause of her death. Among her many causes, Beauty fought to keep health clinics open in Chicago’s low-income communities. She was known throughout the low-income community for her hard work and her determination as an activist. Beauty Turner will be missed, but the illness that took her life will take the lives of many more. To inform our readers so that they have an opportunity to lower their risk of developing an aneurysm, I spoke with Dr. Anand Karsan, a physician at Mercy Hospital. I asked him questions about aneurysms that will help our readers be aware of how serious it is to take care of their bodies.
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Longest Living ABLA Homes Resident Dies

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Mrs. Clementine Pettiford, 105 years of age, was recently laid to rest. Mrs. Pettiford was the longest living resident in the ABLA Homes community, formally known as the Hastings Street Housing Development.
Mrs. Pettiford was a resident in the ABLA Home community for 65 years. She was born September 28,1903, and died January 14, 2009.

Clementine Pettiford
1903 -2009
Photo by Quintana Woodridge

In her long life, Mrs. Pettiford has seen the world change dramatically, from President Theodore Roosevelt to the newly elected Barack Obama. Jacqueline Pettiford, Mrs. Pettiford’s daughter, sat down with me and talked about her mother’s life. “My mother was respected and loved by her neighbors,” Jacqueline said. “She kept many people out of trouble by looking out for them.”
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One Man Giving Back to the Community

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Many people have been known as the ‘greatest’ for the work they have done in their communities and on the TV screen. One who will always be remembered is “Rocky.” He is one of television’s most known fighters. No matter how bad “Rocky” was beaten, the crowd would cheer him on and he’d win the boxing match in the end.

Members of Doing Our Part meet in the lobby of the Ida B. Wells Extension Homes.
Photo by Quintana Woodridge

Some people say the same for Bernard “Bo-Da” Clark. Clark is a former resident of Ida B.Wells Extension Homes and a former employee of the Chicago Housing Authority’s CADRE (Combating Alcohol and Drugs Through Rehabilitation and Education) program. When CADRE ended in 2000, so did the programs he mentored for young people out of the CADRE office.
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The Pros and Cons of Relocation

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My family was part of the relocation process at the Chicago Housing Authority’s Ida B. Wells development.

After living in Wells for 18 years, my sisters Kelly Woodridge, 21, Monica Emmons, 23, and I, 25, received a split lease Section 8 voucher under the CHA’s $1.6 billion Plan for Transformation. A split lease Section 8 is what a tenant who is not a leaseholder but has lived in low-income housing or in CHA developments on the lease is able to receive during the transformation process. On October 31, 2005, my family moved to our separate houses.

Crews demolish units at the Ida B. Wells public housing complex in June 2007, which was once home to Quintana and her family.

My mother, Lucinda Griggs, and brother, Kelly Griggs, moved into the new Oakwood Shore homes.

This is a mixed-income community that has been built on land where Madden Park Homes, another CHA development, once stood. This community is one of many that will be built under the Plan for Transformation. My family would be living apart for the first time. Growing up in Ida B. Wells was fun and educational. The people were friendly and smart.

It wasn’t the ideal community, due to violence and lack of funding that caused youth programs to fail, but it was home. The people I met living in Wells have been mentors, family and allies for me.
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