VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Studies have shown that members of some ethnic, racial and cultural minorities are more likely to develop chronic diseases, such as diabetes and kidney problems.

Medical research also indicates that low-income families are prone to such serious ailments, because of a lack of healthy food, exercise and medical care.

Improving treatment for those problems, and teaching young people how to lead healthier lives, are two approaches being used in the Portland area.

Some patients with kidney disease are being kept alive by three weekly doses of dialysis.

For Ali Price, the regular visits to the Davita Dialysis Clinic in Vancouver are a life saver.

"The reason I got it was high blood pressure. You know, some get it from diabetes, blood pressure in my case," Price said.

Price has developed both conditions. He says his doctor diagnosed his kidney problem in 1999. He soon required dialysis.

"I can't urinate the water like most people to get rid of the toxins. That's what the machine does. It acts as my kidney," Price said.

Ali is a big man, so the treatment takes about five hours. He praises the care, and environment in which he gets it in the clinic. But dialysis is no one's idea of a good time.

Like many diseases, prevention is infinitely better than undergoing treatment after the fact.

"How can you not get kids interested in their bodies, their health, learning to be adults?" Disease Prevention Volunteer Cheryl Neal said.

Neal helps coordinate volunteer and mentoring programs for teens.

The MIKE program, for Multicultural Integrated Kidney Education, targets minority and low-income youth and tries to help them practice healthier life styles.

"It's a youth empowerment program, designed to get at root causes; what in public health is called 'upstream causes' of chronic disease that lead to kidney disease," Neal said.

The upstream causes include things like obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.

"Like kidney patients, I can't eat what I want," Price said.

In Price's case that includes some of his favorite fruits and vegetables: tomatoes and spinach and also chocolate bars and peanuts.

In his case, he said his kidney disease came after he left his job and stopped taking his blood pressure medicine.

He said he began dialysis in 1999 and received a kidney transplant in 2002. But it lasted only nine months.

"As a result, I'm back on dialysis," Price said.

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