Health

Young D.C. Actress Takes on Teen Dating in Film Project

By Brigette Squire WI Contributing Writer

Competing with cellphones, video games and television for their children’s attention is something most parents deal with daily.

But the digital wedge between parent and child can be dangerous, in no small part due to the increasing threat of online sex trafficking.

With youths especially vulnerable to online predators, Maya Jai Pinson, a 16-year-old actress and native Washingtonian, has penned and produced “I’m Ready,” a short film that tackles the uncomfortable topic of teen dating.

Maya plays one of the main characters, Lo Wells, a teen who finds herself taking an interest in more than just schoolbooks.

“I want to use this short film as a way to motivate and change people’s lives,” she said. “My purpose is to teach youth how to be more open, honest and trustworthy.”

Maya said she realizes that teens are starting to date at a much younger age with little to no regard for parental consent. Even though she has not started dating herself, she thought courting was a topic worth addressing.

“I am not ready to date yet, but I know that it can be an awkward and touchy subject,” she said.

Maya has also launched her new “Conversating Before Dating” T-shirt line, which aims to have parents and children converse before the child begins dating.

With Common Sense Media reporting that U.S. tween and teens spend an average of six to nine hours daily on social media, youth advocates say children need to be aware of the danger associated with using apps to meet people even if it “feels safe.”

“Parents should have the conversation with their child before it’s too late and make sure they are safe and not engaging in any inappropriate messaging with anyone crazy,” said Mignon Pinson, Maya’s mother and manager.

Popular dating apps such as Bumble and Hinge target people 18 and older, but underage indi

5 Maya Jai Pinson (center) wrote, produced and stars in “I’m Ready,” a short film that addresses teen dating. (Courtesy photo)

viduals can easily gain access. Apps such as OnlyFans, however, require a photo with a valid ID and a several-days verification period which helps keep underage users to a minimum.

Nevertheless, predators no longer have to depend on the streets to get victims, and children are vulnerable if parents don’t take action, said Tina Frundt, a sex trafficking survivor and founder of Courtney’s House, a safe house in D.C. for children escaping sex traffickers.

“It can be Ward 7 or it can be in Tenleytown,” Frundt said. “It can be in Tysons Corner or it can be down the street. No kid is safe because this is about manipulation and every child can be manipulated.”

Some free and popular apps of note: 1) IMVU users chat with custom avatars. The “chat now” feature randomly pairs users with others. 2) MyLOL is where teens can create profiles, search for people, and chat. 3) ASKfm is where individuals can follow their friends and ask them questions anonymously or openly. There is a “shoutout” feature that allows people to ask if anyone near them is alone so they can hang out. 4) Skout is a friendship and dating app that is “all about protecting the magic of unexpected meetings that lead to finding new people.” 5) Omegle is where people talk about what they like and meet new people. 6) Yubo, once called Yellow, is aimed at helping people make new friends. 7) Hot or Not, also called The Game, lets users meet people in their area. 8) MeetMe is aimed at introducing people to others in their area. 9) Instagram (IG) users create profiles and post videos and pictures to bring people together. 10) Snapchat is popular for its fun filters that modify photos, videos, and even the user’s voice. Users can video chat, discover new friends, and see where their friends are hanging out on SnapMap.

Most of the apps listed above are rated 17+ due to nudity, suggestive themes, sexual content, profanity and/or drug use. “Parents are going to have to sit down with their children, be open-minded, instill good morals, and teach your child to be responsible,” Maya said. “I hope my film motivates families to talk more effectively because miscommunication can mess up a lot of things.” “I’m Ready” will premiere Oct. 24 at 9701 Apollo Drive in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. For more information, go to https://mjaip. com/im-ready-film. To contact Courtney’s House, call 240-389-0317. To contact the Sex Trafficking Hotline, call 1-888-373- 7888 or text BFREE (23733). WI WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM / THE WASHINGTON INFORMER

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Mixed Messages from CDC, White House Impact Public Confidence

5 Vice President Mike Pence, joined by Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, during a coronavirus update briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Courtesy photo/The White House - Andrea Hanks)

MedStar Washington Hospital Center

By Sarafina Wright WI Contributing Writer

Mixed messages from health experts leading the fight against COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has increased uncertainty and unease about how to handle the illness that has killed over 200,000 Americans since March.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidelines on how the virus spreads adding that it was possible to contract through airborne transmission with “small particles, such as those in aerosols.”

Prior to that update, health experts maintained the virus wasn’t spreading

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through the air, but most commonly passed through respiratory droplets of an infected person by talking, sneezing, coughing or landing on a hard surface.

Shortly after the posting, which made the CDC the first health agency in the world to declare airborne transmission, the center walked back its guidance removing the change from its website.

CDC Deputy Director Jay Butler said in response to the blunder that “it was a failure of process at CDC.

“Unfortunately an early draft of a revision went up without any technical review. We are returning to the earlier version and revisiting that process.”

This isn’t the first misstep at the CDC regarding guidelines for the virus.

Last month, they altered coronavirus testing guidelines to dissuade some asymptomatic individuals from getting tested despite growing evidence of these individuals spreading the virus, according to reports.

The center reversed course on that decision last week, following robust criticism from public health experts.

The CDC snafus continued with Director Robert Redfield saying that wearing a face mask may provide more protection against the virus than a potential vaccine.

Redfield also said it would likely be 2021 before any vaccine is available to most Americans. Soon after President Donald Trump contradicted Redfield’s statements.

“Okay, number one, it’s not more effective, by any means, than a vacof “Prostate Cancer: A Family Affair” cine,” Trump said in response to the director’s comments. “And I called him about that. And I believe that if you ask him, he would probably say that he didn’t understand the question.”

Trump continued that Redfield was wrong about the timeline for a vaccine, as well.

“He made a mistake when he said that. It’s just incorrect information,” Trump said. “And I called him, and he didn’t tell me that, and I think he got the message maybe confused.”

Meanwhile, CNN reported Trump is losing patience with the CDC and White House Coronavirus Task Force officials after a series of mixed messages.

One of the points of contention appears to be Trump’s positive outlook on the containment of the virus repeatedly clashing with health experts.

CNN said Trump’s public undermining of the CDC chief is taking a toll on its staff, from top to bottom, employees say.

“The morale is as low as I’ve ever seen it and we have no confidence in our leadership,” a CDC official said. “People are miserable and it’s a shame because this pandemic is still flying away and we still need a robust public health response.”

FiveThirtyEight, an opinion poll analysis site tracking public response to the coronavirus pandemic found that, as of Sept. 25, 56.4 percent of those surveyed disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic and 65.7 percent are worried or somewhat worried about infection. WI

Father and Son Duo Take on Prostate Cancer—and Win

By James Wright about the Butts’ struggle with the disWI Staff Writer ease and the coping mechanisms they @JamesDCWrighter embraced after treatment. In the dis

Health statistics reveal prostate canbook is for information and inspiracer afflicts African American men at a tion only.” higher rate than their White counter “It is not intended to be medical parts, but a Washington, D.C.-area advice,” he said. “My son and I are not father and son have beaten the disease physicians and we have never worked and have written a book about their in the medical field. My purpose is to experiences. share my family’s experiences. We are

Thomas A. Butts Jr., and his son, survivors and there is life after prostate Derrick A. Butts, are the co-authors cancer.” claimer, Thomas makes it clear “this published in 2019. The book talks HEALTH Page 23

HEALTH from Page 22

Derrick echoes his father’s assertion of the book’s educational purpose.

“We want men to understand prostate cancer isn’t a death sentence,” he said.

In 2019, the National Cancer Institute estimated the number of new prostate cancer cases to be about 174,650, compromising nine percent of all new cancer cases. The number of deaths from prostate cancer has been estimated at 31,260 in 2019, which comes out to 5.2 percent of all cancer deaths. Between 2009-2015, the number of prostate survivors over five years stood at 98 percent, meaning men who have the ailment are living longer, according to statistics from the cancer institute.

For Black men such as the Butts’, the disease can be more fatal than in Whites. The institute, in a Jan. 28, 2019 study, “African American Men More Likely to Die from Low-Grade Prostate Cancer,” reported Black men are more likely to die from lowgrade prostate cancer than White men. The study cited White men possessing 105.7 new cases of prostate cancer per 100,000 men while 178.3 per 100,000 men for Blacks.

Overall, African American men are 1.8 times more likely to be diagnosed with—and 2.2 times more likely to die from—prostate cancer than White men, according to the website “Zero: The End of Prostate Cancer.” The website also reported African American men slightly more likely than Whites to be diagnosed with advanced disease. However, the website said, “the racial divide for prostate cancer is narrowing.

“Overall, the five-year relative survival rate for African American men diagnosed with prostate cancer is 97 percent, which means that if an African American man is diagnosed with prostate cancer today, at any stage, there is a 97 percent chance he will be alive in five years,” the website said. “When the disease is caught early, the rate increases to nearly 100 percent.”

Thomas, 86, has survived prostate cancer 26 years while Derrick has lived four years since his battle with the affliction. Derrick said the advances in technology determined the treatment he and his father sought to fight the disease.

“My father decided to undergo removal of his prostate when doctors told him of the problem,” Derrick said. “When they removed the prostate, it was determined to be 70 percent cancerous and that could have been fatal. You have to remember the technology nearly three decades ago wasn’t the same as it is now.”

Thomas said he did suffer some side effects such as nerve damage, incontinence and impotence.

Thomas said his brother Carl received a diagnosis of prostate cancer at the age of 67 and opted to try a different tactic to fight the disease.

“At the time, he was advised that the Proton Radiation option was the most exact method of treatment for him,” he said. “The treatment consisted of 44 treatment sessions of one minute each for five treatments a week. Carl said he had no side effects but nine years later he was having problems with his bladder and it had to be removed. Carl has survived the cancer more than 16 years. I asked Carl if he had to do this over again, what treatment option would be select. His answer was doing nothing.”

Derrick said he opted to have his prostate removed robotically, one of the latest technological advances in fighting the ailment. The surgery

5 Thomas A. Butts and Derrick A. Butts hold the book they co-authored on prostate cancer. (Courtesy Photo) resulted in success and he said, after a while, he engaged in sexual intercourse with no signs of erectile dysfunction.

In the book, the Butts advise men to get tested for prostate cancer annually to get detected early, ask the doctor questions about the disease and if applicable, options for treatment. Derrick said a quality of life can be had after prostate cancer treatment.

“No matter your journey, you can still have a quality of life when choosing the best treatment for you and your family,” he said. “And after you have gone through this experience, please take the time to share your experiences with someone else who has yet to begin or is in the middle of their prostate cancer journey—like my dad with me.”

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