Page 11 - Florida Sentinel 9-25-15 Edition

Local
Local Entertainer Wants To Change The Music Culture
East Tampa Seniors Complete Diabetes Counts Classes
Richard Woodbury performing with a live band at Whiskey North.
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
From “The House of Woodbury,” Richard Woodbury is trying to change the culture of music.
Through connections he’s made with the Whiskey North Nightclub, Woodbury has established a venue where as- piring artists can come and show what they have, but there’s one catch. They have to perform with a live band, not pre-recorded mechanical stu- dio music.
“I call my movement “Howdy Sound Stage Open Mic,” and I try to create a re- laxing atmosphere full of non stop live music for music lovers and artist to come out, network and display their mu- sical abilities.
“We, as students, created this platform as an organiza- tion through “House of Wood- bury Arts” on the University of South Florida campus. Through our Bulls Radio Show, we are now able to con- tinue our mission by bringing great, undiscovered talent to be discovered by you in the community.”
Woodbury said what’s missing is the support from the community, and he’s en- couraging all type of genres of music to come out during their musical search.
Woodbury hosts his open mic event once a month and describes it as a great mu-
sical tool for artist to have their music heard and earn a spot on local radio.
“There’s great music, great people, great talent, and great food.
Woodbury said so far, turnout has been great, and they are working on their third event.
“I want to continue to be an advocate of music and in- spire others. That’s why we es- pecially look for artist who can work well with our house band. It raises the bar when you can get an artist to per- form with a live band. This is the best way to assess the tal- ent level of the artist.
“We’ve signed up to be a part of the Grammy Founda- tion, and we want to bring a chapter to Tampa. “
For more information about this project, call (813) 618-3612, or tune in to Bulls Radio, 89.7FM, every Tuesday at 8 p.m.
SHARON AYERS
These are photos of the East Tampa seniors who took the diabetes classes.
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
The Health Services Advi- sory Group, Inc. (HSAG) is the Medicare Quality Improve- ment Organization for Florida.
HSAG has over 30 years of experience as a Medicare Quality Improvement Organi- zation and is contracted with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
One initiative that HSAG is focused on is reducing health disparities and improving health outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries with Diabetes.
The name of the diabetes initiative is “Everyone With Diabetes Counts.”
One of the goals of the ini- tiative is to increase the num- ber of Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes and pre-diabetes completing a diabetes self- management education
classes, especially among hard-to-reach populations. Despite coverage, Medicare beneficiaries’ use of manage- ment education classes remain low and only about 1% of ben- eficiaries with diabetes re- ceived DSME services in 2004-2005.
In February, a group of seniors from Jackson Heights Youth Education Town (YET) Center and Cyrus Greene Community Center received a participation certificate after completing six classes in the “Everyone With Diabetes Counts” program.
Each of the participants had fun with friends while learning how to manage their diabetes through better nutri- tion and physical activity.
Sharon Ayers, Senior Community Outreach Special- ist for HSAG, said their target market is anyone who is a Medicaid beneficiary or on
Medicare.
“We have millions of peo-
ple in Florida who have dia- betes and don’t take care of it. The problem is people don’t manage it and they don’t at- tend classes that teach them how to manage it.
“We have too many people going on dialysis and suffering amputations that don’t have to. Doctors tell their patients to take the classes, but that can’t be enforced.”
Ayers said they also try to get people in the community to teach classes, and they’re will- ing to offer the training at no cost.
“We’ve been funded for 5 years to implement this initia- tive, and we’re partnering with area churches.
“There has been a rise with people who have diabetes in the nation and in Florida. We talk a lot about prevention and how to manage your diabetes.”
Howard W. Blake Class Of 1961 Meeting Planned
Members of the Howard W. Blake Class of 1961 will hold a meeting on Saturday, September 26th, at 1 p.m. The meeting will take place at the C. Blythe Andrews, Jr., Public Library, 2607 E. Dr. M. L. King, Jr. Blvd.
Refreshments will be served.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 11-A
Meeting