UCLA Launches First Mobile Stroke Unit on the West Coast
A new, souped-up ambulance cruising Santa Monica could improve the odds of recovery for stroke patients. The post UCLA Launches First Mobile Stroke Unit on the West Coast appeared first on California...
View ArticleProposal to Eliminate Tax Credit for Medical Expenses Affects Alzheimer’s...
With huge expenses mounting because of her husband’s Alzheimer’s Disease, San Francisco Bay Area resident Linda Winter depends on the medical tax deduction to alleviate some of that pain. She and...
View ArticleState Committee Seeking Funds to Help At-Risk Youth Centers
An Assembly Committee whose mission it is to determine how young men of color can be better supported and diverted from the juvenile or adult criminal justice system is about to make a very large...
View ArticleSan Diego Tries Restorative Justice in a Traumatized Community
Residents of San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood have long complained of their youth being targeted by police. In response, community advocates and law enforcement came together to create a...
View ArticleMixed-Race Bone Marrow Donors in Short Supply
People of mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds are part of a booming demographic, but the number of mixed-race bone marrow donors remains tiny, at about 3 percent of registered donors in the U.S. The...
View ArticleNew California Law Ends HIV Criminalization
As the only openly HIV-positive public official in San Francisco, I applaud Gov. Jerry Brown for signing into law Senate Bill 239, which modernizes the outdated HIV criminalization laws in California....
View ArticleFor Children With Autism, Zip Code Matters
Ayden, who lives in a low-income neighborhood and is Latino and African American, is less likely to receive developmental services than a white child with the same diagnosis living in a higher-income...
View ArticleProgram Tackles California’s Crippling Shortage of Spanish-Speaking Doctors
Her whole life, Isabel Gonzalez dreamed of becoming a doctor. In her native Spain, she was the first person in her family to attend medical school. For nine years, she trained intensively, finally...
View ArticleInfant Mortality Rates Remain High in Some Counties
The infant mortality rate has consistently decreased in California in the last two decades, but a handful of counties in the state have rates that remain higher than average. Mendocino and Fresno...
View ArticleInitiative Aims to Disrupt High Rates of Preterm Births
The United States has a dismal distinction in international health rankings: 9.6 percent of babies are born preterm, a higher rate than in Turkey, Afghanistan, Thailand and dozens of other third world...
View ArticleSupport groups provide crucial lifeline for family caregivers
According to AARP there are approximately 4.45 million caregivers in California. Caregivers are at high risk for mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. One of the main causes is a lack of...
View ArticleNew Report Finds Recent Immigration Actions and Proposals Affect the Health...
Recent policy decisions and heated political rhetoric directed at undocumented immigrants are both affecting the mental and physical health of families with at least one undocumented member, according...
View ArticleHow California’s New Marijuana Law Affects Kids
Last summer, 20-month-old Jasmine was nearly comatose when she was brought to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. It turned out the toddler had eaten cannabis candies that looked like Tootsie Rolls...
View ArticleSeniors Seeking Treatment for Depression Face Shortage of Geriatric...
Depression is the condition that drives most people to the psychiatrist office seeking treatment. For older people, getting that treatment can be a challenge. There’s a shortage of geriatric...
View ArticleNew School Lunch Law Will Help Fight Hunger
Nearly all of my clinic patients in South Los Angeles live at or below the poverty level and many struggle to put food on the table. Recognizing that too many kids go hungry, the California legislature...
View ArticleSenior Men, All Caregivers, Turn to Each Other for Support
Men account for forty percent of family caregivers, according to a 2017 AARP study, but few programs cater to their unique needs. In this story we profile a support group just for male caregivers in...
View ArticleA Common Pesticide Classified as a Developmental Toxicant
In a move cheered by advocates for environmental health, an independent state advisory board has unanimously voted to list the pesticide chlorpyrifos as a chemical that can cause developmental delays...
View Article“Deaths of Despair” Drive High Mortality Rates in Semi-Rural California
The life Dewey Welker, 27, describes so matter-of-factly might seem like a caricature of deprivation, violence and defeat, a horrific anomaly. A pair of studies shows that in semi-rural communities...
View ArticleAs Money for Health Coverage for Pregnant Women and Children Dwindles,...
About 32,000 pregnant women and children in California could lose health coverage in March if Congress doesn’t reauthorize the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program before then. The post As Money...
View ArticleFor Minorities and the Poor, Natural Disasters Can Exact Lingering Toll
No one is immune to the impacts of natural disasters. Yet for low-income people who already teeter close to the economic edge, a natural disaster can be difficult to rebound from. The post For...
View Article