Month: March 2011

A pricey investment in community health and wellness

After two years of pressure from community leaders and residents hoping to “grow their own groceries”, the city of Sacramento will finally break ground this April on a half-acre, 32-plot community garden in the Oak Park neighborhood southeast of the central city. In exchange for a $50 plot fee, residents will soon be able to grow up to $600 worth of fruits and vegetables, estimates Bill Maynard, Community Gardening Director for Sacramento Parks and Recreation.

Charting a New Plan for Healthy Redevelopment

As the battle plays out over Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies statewide, one thing is clear: the way we go about revitalizing low-income neighborhoods in California is likely to change. But we must find a way to preserve two of the most powerful tools redevelopment agencies currently hold.

One of almost 70 bikes given away to students at Fresno's Susan B. Anthony Elementary School.

Fighting Childhood Obesity with Bikes

At Fresno’s Susan B. Anthony grade school, located in one of the most impoverished area of Fresno, 78 percent of fifth graders don’t meet the state’s requirements for healthy fitness. Fresno pastor Mike Slayden decided to tackle the problem by encouraging students to walk or bike to school. Through his not-for-profit, he offers them a shiny prize for their work: a brand new bike.

Soldiers Project helps veterans re-adjust

About six years ago, I was preparing to retire. Starting to cut back on my clinical psychiatry practice, I was looking forward to spending more time with my grandchildren and traveling with my husband, Donald. But then Donald and I happened to walk along the beach in Santa Monica, just as a veterans’ group was putting up hundreds of little white crosses in the sand, commemorating deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. I gasped, stunned by the enormity of the losses. And then I started thinking about all the soldiers who have been returning home alive, and maybe physically well, but traumatized by all they have seen and endured. As a therapist, I knew I had the tools to help, and also that I couldn’t ignore the need.

State’s budget rides a revenue rollercoaster

California families commit to salting away a share of their income when they can, just in case the roof springs a leak. But state lawmakers have learned that saving for the proverbial “rainy day” can be a challenge, given the competition for dollars and wildly fluctuating tax revenues.

Palliative care helps patients face death

When I was still in training, I met a patient who transformed my perspective of modern medicine without ever saying a word. She was a young mother who was dying of leukemia while the doctors who were training me gave her repeated blood transfusions, trying in vain to prolong her life even as they made it impossible for her to leave the hospital.

California jobs picture dragged down by construction, government

There is an ongoing debate about the state of the California economy. One set of voices argues that the state has a terrible business climate and that the state lags in job growth because firms are “fleeing” California. Another set of voices says “wait a minute”—the data show that the state’s poor job growth is the result of the housing bust and, more recently, the loss of government jobs. Both voices acknowledge that the state must deal with an ongoing budget deficit and develop an economic strategy for prosperity but they offer different roadmaps for success. Recent revisions to job estimates added jobs in California while showing slower job growth in the nation than previously thought. What do these numbers tell us?

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