For years, Dr. Amy Kind has been keenly aware that the neighborhoods in which her patients live often hinder their recovery. She described, for example, how worries over neighborhood safety deter home health care staff from visiting some of her low-income patients to check on their recovery. In one case, that lack of follow-up care … READ MORE
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Access to credit and savings plays a key role in promoting health
When Jennifer Bui, a resident of the low-income San Diego neighborhood of City Heights, turned 18, she started concentrating on her financial future. “I was really interested in building my credit and building my financial power, in a way,” said Bui, now 19 and studying engineering and physics at Brown University in Rhode Island. After … READ MORE
Childhood hunger linked to violent behavior later in life
New research from the University of Texas shows that children who often go hungry have a greater risk of developing impulse control problems and engaging in violence. Those who experienced frequent hunger as kids were more than twice as likely to exhibit impulsivity and injure others intentionally as adolescents and adults, according to the study, … READ MORE
Dishing out nutrition lessons during soccer practice
“Who can tell me what is a grain?” asked a coach at a “Soccer for Success” session with young children last summer on a South Los Angeles playing field. “Wheat!” a young boy called out. “Who knows the difference between a good wheat and a bad wheat?” she asked next. “One is a brown one … READ MORE
A new community garden springs up after land group adopts health perspective
Alina Bokde, executive director the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, wasn’t quite sure how a new push to view her organization’s work through a public health lens would work. She’s been acquiring open space in urban areas for years, with an eye toward conserving land, providing recreation and helping to mitigate climate change. But having … READ MORE
Study finds health drawbacks in blatantly biased communities
A new UC Berkeley study reports this about the health consequences of explicit racism: Living in unabashedly racist communities can shorten the lives of both blacks and whites, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. Researchers compared the racial biases of nearly 1.4 million people nationwide to death rates in more than … READ MORE
ACA in Kentucky and Arkansas expands preventive and medical services
Two years after Medicaid coverage was expanded under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in their states, the uninsured rate among low-income residents in Arkansas dropped from 42% in 2013 to 14% in 2015, and in Kentucky it dropped from 40% to 9% during the same time frame. (In comparison, in Texas, which didn’t opt to … READ MORE
Housing Demand Threatens Local Food Supply in Hudson Valley
This New York Times article describes a familiar dilemma for farming regions near booming urban areas. Marin County – immediately north of San Francisco – dealt with this threat in part by forming the Marin Agricultural Land Trust. The Trust helped keep two-thirds of the county open space and in agriculture such as ranching, dairy, … READ MORE
Controlled burns spark hope on Yurok reservation
The forests on the Yurok tribal lands in Northern California look like weed-choked, overgrown gardens, as one tribal member described it.1 After years of fire suppression – in an ecosystem that needs fire to regenerate – the forest is filled with underbrush that crowds out desirable plants used for basket making, medicines and food. And … READ MORE
Mexico tax drives down soda purchases, as hoped
So far, only Mexico, France, the City of Berkeley and the Navajo Nation have succeeded in passing a “sin tax” on soda or junk food, despite many attempts among various governments over the years. So there has been virtually no way to know if these taxes would actually to cut soda consumption – which nutritionists … READ MORE