By Jessica Chang
Low-income seniors who struggle to afford housing and medicine sometimes try to save money by drastically cutting their food budget. The Senior Brown Bag Program, run by Merced’s food bank, helps elders with a bi-monthly supply of food.
Just north of Sacramento, Yuba County is home to crushing poverty, homelessness and hunger. It also has some of the poorest health outcomes in the state, ranking 52nd out of 58 counties in the state’s 2011 County Health Status Profiles; it ranks the worst in deaths from lung cancer. So it might be surprising that in the tiny village of Linda, just outside the county seat of Marysville, Harmony Health Medical Clinic offers something rare even for much larger cities. On a street shared with 14 liquor stores, the community clinic provides integrated healthcare that spans physical, mental, and reproductive health, along with extensive social services
Fresno County was the first in California to refuse federal money for healthcare reform, over worries that the extra funding wouldn’t be enough to offset the expansion of care – especially with local providers to the indigent already in the red.
Santa Ana didn’t have enough places for kids to play, so community organizations made a new one – not by building, but by giving an existing playground a new purpose.
A year after environmentalists lost a regulatory battle to keep the controversial pesticide methyl iodide off the California market, they appear to be winning the ground war against the chemical. Only six California growers have used methyl iodide—marketed as Midas—to zap soil borne pests and weeds before planting crops like chile peppers, strawberries and walnut trees.
First 5 Monterey hosted a family day at the Salinas’s National Steinbeck Museum for kids and parents who live in underserved areas. The hands-on exhibit, about teaching kids to think critically, is the kind of information parents asked for – and the kind of activity that might be lost if First 5 funds are lost in the state’s budget crisis.
Grady Collins and his buddy Tristan Kam giggle as they sculpt monsters out of gluten-free Play-dough. “I’m going to eat you!” Grady’s monster threatens Tristan’s monster. The seven-year-olds have gathered for Food Allergies Rock, a concert and event catered toward the Bay area’s food allergic kid community.
A Long Beach center helps women get a handle on heart health – for a onetime fee of $55.