As a cub reporter for San Francisco’s alternative weekly in the early ’80s, Tim Carpenter loved slaying sacred cows. If asked what he was rebelling against during this “fun time,” he would have channeled Marlon Brando in “The Wild One” with this famous line: “Whaddaya got?” Thankfully, some people never grow up. Carpenter, now 52, has directed his rebellious spirit into fixing a broken system—housing for the aging.
Obesity. Heart disease. Stroke. Lung Cancer. Almost two-thirds of the deaths in Riverside County are linked to poor nutrition, lack of physical activity and tobacco use. And the county ranks just about last (54th out of 56 California counties) on making the physical environment conducive to health.
LifeLong Medical Care, like many community clinics, has been through the spin cycle of the sign-up for the Affordable Care Act. And now, also like clinics across the state, they have to compete for those newly insured and paying patients they helped to enroll.
New enrollment forms the Medi-Cal program is using because of changes brought about by federal health reform are so confusing that they could lead to tens of thousands of eligible recipients losing their benefits, say advocates for the poor.
A new study by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley has found that flame-retardants are prevalent in preschools. Flame-retardants may expose young children to chemicals that are known to be hazardous.
Surgery patients covered by Medicaid generally enter the hospital for their surgeries in worse health, do worse afterward, stay in the hospital longer and find themselves back in the hospital more often than surgical patients covered by private insurance, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Medicine.
Nationwide, type 2 diabetes affects more than 20.9 million children and adults. California has not been immune; in fact, diabetes diagnoses in the state have increased by 35 percent over the past decade, becoming an unfortunate part of life for many of California’s citizens.
As Dennis McCullough’s mother made the journey from being a vibrant, healthy 85-year-old to a critically ill 92-year-old, the Harvard-trained geriatrician found himself increasingly critical of her care.
We’ve long known that diabetes and its related illnesses cause havoc in people’s lives and drive up health care costs, but a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has quantified the damage done with a sobering new statistic: nearly one-third of hospital stays by Californians age 35 and older involve a person who has been diagnosed with diabetes.
Black Women for Wellness of Los Angeles began with baby steps: In 1997, Janette Robinson Flint and five of her friends agreed to look after 22 pregnant women as a hedge against African-American infant mortality.