Health
Affordable and sustainable food is a priority for Laneisha Whitfield, the director of the Richmond Food Policy Council, and her young campaigners. So on February 17, the Richmond Food Policy Council created an online and door-to-door petition to address the issue of getting more nutritious food for students.
The first measles case in the recent national outbreak was confirmed in Contra Costa County today. According to county officials, the person with measles travelled by BART between the Lafayette and Montgomery stations between the dates of February 4 and 6 during commute time. “It’s low risk if people have been vaccinated to get measles from this exposure,” said Contra Costa Public Health Communicable Disease Program Chief Erika Jenssen, speaking at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. But for “people who…
In honor of Black History Month, the American Red Cross is commemorating the development of modern-day blood banking, pioneered by an African-American surgeon—Dr. Charles Drew. They have organized more than a dozen blood donation opportunities throughout February in the East Bay. “We need people of all ethnicities to donate,” said Sara O’Brien, the external communications manager of the American Red Cross for the Northern California region. The Northern California branch will be part a nationwide effort to encourage a diverse…
In late December, someone contracted measles. Then, he or she went to Disneyland. Now, thanks to the transfer of the measles virus at either Disneyland or its neighbor, Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California, an outbreak is spreading across the state. By January 26, 73 cases of measles had been confirmed among California residents, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). Among those cases, 50 have been linked to an initial exposure at a Disney park. By January 21,…
Long after the billboards come down, the campaign mailers rest in landfills and the New Year’s toasts come and go, 2014 may be remembered as Richmond’s big election year. We are honored to have been in Richmond’s streets and chambers, its homes and schools and everywhere else, helping write the first drafts of history in an important time and place. Chevron Corp. poured an unprecedented $3.1 million into the municipal races only to lose the open mayoral and city council seats to a progressive coalition on every…
Eleven years ago, Bridget Gaines was driving through North Richmond with her son, and as the police pulled her over, her life was at one of many turning points. She had not slept for days due to smoking crack cocaine. She had been selling heroin that night on 2nd street and had both crack and heroin on her person. “I was scared to death, and high as a kite,” she says. “I though this was it, I was going to…
To better illustrate the troubled path Doctors Medical Center, Richmond Confidential presents an interactive article to help the community understand the hospital’s struggle in 2014.
The Richmond Memorial Convention Center was the site recently of a health care enrollment event directed at Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities are some of the least represented in healthcare enrollment, yet represent about 12 to 13 percent of the population in West Contra Costa County, said Sean Kirkpatrick, Co-Interim Executive Director of Community Health for Asian Americans (CHAA). But because they are divided by many different languages and cultures, it can be difficult…
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors agreed to forgive about $9 million in repayment debt from struggling Doctors Medical Center (DMC) over the next three to five years. Supervisors John Gioia and Federal D. Glover proposed the two resolutions on Dec. 2, one providing immediate financial relief and the other a long-term stabilization strategy. DMC has been steeped in financial turmoil since it was rescued from bankruptcy in 2008, and faced possible closure since the beginning of summer. Now,…