Seven years after a surge in heat-related deaths among farm workers prompted California to adopt the nation’s strictest safety standards, the state has made progress on reducing fatalities in the fields. But more work still remains to be done. Joy Hepp reports.
Associated Press
For the low-income and unemployed, food insecurity is a lingering reminder of the Great Recession.
By Callie Shanafelt
A recent report showed that investors are snapping up foreclosed homes in Oakland. But is that trend bad for the neighborhoods that were hard-hit by the housing crisis?
A new study by the Health Access Resource Center shows that 28.6 percent of residents 18 to 64 are uninsured. That’s compared to 21.3 percent nationwide, according to the 2011 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). That same survey showed that 1 in 5 Californians under age 65 lack health insurance and 9.2 percent of children in the Golden State are uninsured.
By Julia Landau
Lance Robinson got into treatment through a kind of methadone lottery, where the prize is six months of free treatment. Call an 800-number on Tuesday at 12:30; the first caller to get through gets on the list. A yearly grant from Alameda County pays for roughly twelve free slots a year. Slots are coveted and the line is terminally busy.
Nurse practitioner Patricia Dennehy leads Glide Health Services in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, the only nurse-run clinic on the West Coast. There, she’s practicing what may become a a model for medicine’s future – providing primary care without doctors.
Chevron, Contra Costa County and Richmond city officials addressed an angry crowd of residents at a town hall meeting in Richmond earlier this week over growing concerns from Monday’s Chevron refinery fire. East Bay residents filled the floor of the Civic Center gymnasium to demand transparency over what triggered the fire and the resulting health impacts.
While there are many agencies that provide in-home help for adults with temporary, chronic and terminal illnesses, too few offer these services for children. That’s where Coastal Kids Home Care comes in.
By Jessica Portner
On one bright summer evening, a counselor, Nathaniel San, is talking to a group of teens and preteens packed around two tables in Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in Central Long Beach. His summertime lessons in the high-crime neighborhood aren’t about the mechanics of math or the intricacies of biology. They are about managing anger by converting negatives into positives, thinking before doing, and knowing the consequences of one’s actions.
Hot spot policing is an increasingly popular crime-fighting tactic, taken up by cities including Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton and San Jose. Proponents say it’s the best use of the police force, especially in cities where the number of police is shrinking. But critics say it may lead to over-policing in low-income neighborhoods.