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From March 2002 NASW NEWS Social Work in the Public Eye
Kate Muldowney, a social worker at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, was quoted in a New York Times article detailing how the first children born with AIDS to reach adolescence are coping. The article noted that some teenagers with HIV either refuse to take the antiretroviral medications or simply cannot stick to the onerous regimen. The article said that until recent years, children with HIV lived to an average age of nine, but thanks to breakthroughs in antiretroviral medications, the average age has risen to 13 to 15 and is still rising. Experts expect these teenagers — 2,400 at last count — should continue to live for some years, but they have a multitude of problems from living with chronic illness. Many also are cognitively impaired due either to the virus causing brain damage or their mothers' difficult pregnancies. A letter to the editor on racial profiling from NASW Nevada Chapter Executive Director Mark Nichols was published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal & Sun. Nichols took to task another letter writer, Chuck Muth, who in turn had disputed comments by an American Civil Liberties Union official on racial profiling. Nichols criticized Muth for trying to "justify law enforcement's use of racial profiling as reasonable and warranted. . . . We cannot choose which sections of our Constitution we agree to support and which ones we allow our government to ignore. We cannot choose to say that some people — because of their race, attire or appearance — deserve more or less scrutiny and otherwise have their liberty limited by police. It is the policy of the National Association of Social Workers to 'advocate for the fair and equitable treatment of racial and ethnic minorities involved in the criminal justice system.'" "Nothing," Nichols continued, "could be more fundamental than the constitutional requirement of equal protection under the law. . . . Mr. Muth seems to forget that the police, who stand on the front line enforcing our laws, need a single standard of illegal activity that is applied in an evenhanded manner. The practice of racial profiling advocated by Mr. Muth and used by some police officers is not a sound police method — it is harassment and discrimination based upon misleading stereotypes." Chief Warrant Officer and military social worker Joseph Murphy talked to fourth graders at Midland School in Rye, N.Y., about the significance of Veterans Day and the war on terrorism, according to The Rye Sound Shore Review newspaper. A former member of the Rye school board who has served in both the Navy and Marine Corps, Murphy was responsible for the establishment of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Program at Rye High School. Many young people in the program went into the service and earned college scholarships, Murphy said.
"I inevitably identify myself as a social worker," said Ilardo of the dozens of interviews he has given, including two earlier spots on Today. Other television interviews include those on God Squad, Real Life, and News 12 New York. He co-authors a regular column called the "Dilemma Doctors" in the magazine Today's Caregiver with psychologist Carole Rothman. Among other print outlets for his advice have been McCalls, Newsweek Online, Business Week Online and "Work and Family" newsletter. He has written one book, As Parents Age, and co-authored two others on care of the elderly. Back to NASW NEWS Contents
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