Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Memphis are cities that dwarf Salinas in almost every measure – except high levels of crime and violence. When the Summit on Preventing Youth Violence took place in Washington D.C. in April, Salinas was one of six cities with officials in attendance. The summit aimed to develop a multi-faceted approach to dealing with violence in America’s most crime-ridden communities.
Deshawn Lamar Clark was released from San Quentin State Prison and returned to where he grew up, near Richmond, Calif., in December of 2005. He was 30 years old. He returned to Richmond a homeless, jobless man. He owed child support to the mothers of his twelve children. The fine print under his freedom was getting larger. He was staying out of the drug business, but he still lived on the fringes and drove without the blessing of the DMV.
Money set aside in California’s newly approved budget for the Adult Day Health Care program provides little to no assurance that the program will continue to exist. The existing program will still be eliminated later this summer, and a new program that is supposed to replace it faces an uncertain fate.
With escalating obesity rates and growing interest in “eating local,” many schools are looking to add their schoolyard harvest to cafeteria lunches. But school administrators may be wary of the prospect, citing concerns about food safety, sanitation, and state and federal rules about school meals. They needn’t worry.
Two generations of computer-savvy gamers and networkers have teased their parents and grandparents about a lack of technological skill, but the coming “silver tsunami” of aging Americans may claim ultimate victory by conjuring up the wizards of digital health.
Gail Hookailo often takes her two young daughters to the playground next to Colorado Lagoon, which is nestled among a golf course and upscale homes on Long Beach’s eastern edge. But with the lagoon consistently ranking among the beaches with the worst water quality in California, the family draws the line at actually getting in its cool, calm waters.
Community clinics across California are short of funds to care for the patients they have now, and their managers aren’t sure they will be able to keep pace with rising demand as federal health reform brings more patients to their doors.
A new national campaign sponsored in part by the pharmaceutical industry is trying to raise awareness about the importance of taking medications exactly as prescribed by doctors. Half of the 3.2 billion prescriptions dispensed in the U.S. every year are not taken properly , according to a study by the National Consumer’s League, leading to increased hospital visits, decreased quality of life for patients, and higher health care costs. Prescription non-adherence ranges from failing to fill prescriptions to reducing the dosage or frequency of a medication.
For residents of the San Joaquin Valley, buying more fuel-efficient cars makes sense for many reasons. With 57 percent of the region’s pollution from vehicles, according to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, every purchase of a more fuel-efficient car can ease the burden.