American Morning
CNN Heroes: Doctor fills health-care gap for homeless women
Boston (CNN) - For more than a year, Ellen O'Donnell slept on the streets, where she was the target of theft, violence and cruelty. Her situation left her neglecting chronic health problems that threatened her survival.
"It was so difficult to access [medical] services. I was totally alienated and I just couldn't relate," O'Donnell said. "I would get things stolen from me. And ... two young women tried to set me on fire. Life was just this movie and I wasn't going to bother participating anymore."
Then O'Donnell stumbled upon someone she could relate to: Dr. Roseanna Means. Since 1999, Means and her team have set up clinics inside Boston shelters to offer direct, free medical care to thousands of homeless women and children.
"The women come into the shelters to get warm, to eat, to feel safe. And we're already there," said Means, 58. There's no registration or charge for the care.
"The women learn to trust us as ambassadors of the health care system. And over time, we can teach them how to use [it] as it was intended," she said.
Means gave up a more lucrative medical career to work with Boston's homeless population. As a medical resident pursuing cardiology in 1982, she spent three months providing care in a Cambodian refugee camp and found a different calling.
Tiger kids reflect on their tiger parents
Amy Chua sparked a national debate with her book 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother' in which she writes about her own traditional Chinese upbringing and her determination to raise her American kids in the same fashion. She says demanding mothers breed results– in her book, Chua recounts a birthday when she rejected her kids' cards, saying they hadn't done their best.
CNN's Alina Cho talked to some grown children raised in traditional Asian households to get their opinions about the strict parenting they grew up with.
Teachers grading...parents?
If parents thought they were finished getting report cards, they should think again.
Florida State Rep. Kelli Stargel wants teachers to grade parents on their performance. She's introducing a measure that would require elementary school teachers to grade the parents of their students based on their own communication with the school, their child's attendance, as well as their child's academic and physical preparedness for class. Based on these factors, parents would receive a grade of 'satisfactory', 'needs improvement' or 'unsatisfactory'.
State Rep. Stargel says grading parents would hold parents accountable but Steve Perry, CNN Education Contributor and Founder of Capital Preparatory Magnet School, says otherwise. Hear what Perry tells American Morning's T.J. Holmes.
Berman: Packers ‘slight favorite,’ but don’t discount Black and Yellow
Fans are celebrating in Green Bay and Pittsburgh this morning, with the Green Bay Packers defeating the Chicago Bears 21-14 for the NFC title, and the Pittsburgh Steelers rolling by the New York Jets 24-19 for the AFC title.
Today on American Morning, New York sportscaster Len Berman, ThatsSports.com, looks ahead to the February 6 Super Bowl when the two teams will face off in Dallas. He explains the meaning behind the match up of two legendary franchises and why the NFL is having “most successful year.”
Watch the two clips from his interview with AM’s Kiran Chetry and TJ Holmes.
Avlon: 'It will take some political courage to reach across the aisle'
President Barack Obama's State of the Union address is tomorrow night and there is growing support behind Senator Mark Udall's proposal for Democrats and Republicans to sit together as opposed to abiding by party lines. More than 50 congress members have already claimed their "state dates" but the question is, will one-time seating arrangements turn into long-lasting bipartisanship?
CNN Contributor John Avlon says that although sitting together is a great symbolic gesture towards unity it is going to take genuine "political courage" to reach across the aisle on some of the issues facing congress ahead. He explains to Kiran Chetry on American Morning.
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