Health
What’s your social rank? Status can influence welcome into a doctor’s office
Family physicians’ offices in Toronto more frequently rebuffed people of low socio-economic status seeking first appointments, even when there is no economic incentive to do so, a new study found. All Canadians have universal, publicly-funded health insurance. In 2011, researchers called nearly 400 family practice offices seeking a first appointment, posing as either a newly-transferred…
Read MorePoor housing endangers health
We had to laugh when we saw this offering on a mountain roadway in the Klamath Mountains in Del Norte County in Northern California. I was with Melissa Darnell, a community organizer working with a major privately-funded initiative to vastly improve the health of county residents over a decade. This one is a serious fixer-upper…
Read MoreHmong garden quickly thrives in Crescent City
This garden was a delightful site in Crescent City in Del Norte County, especially when the back story emerged. In the spring of 2011, it was an empty one-acre lot. But someone lent the land so the small Hmong population in Crescent City could grow a community garden they’d long wanted. About 600 Hmong…
Read MoreYouth outlooks brighten in Del Norte County
Makenzy Williams, 17, felt like many youth in scenic but economically depressed Del Norte County. “I wanted to get out and stay out,” she said of the Northern California county, which includes Crescent City. The Triplicate, the local paper, even recently mentioned the common sentiment. “. . . Del Norte youth carry a common motif…
Read MoreHealth disparities – and solutions – examined in depth
In June 2012, I embarked on research to examine the wide disparities in health and longevity between neighborhoods just miles apart. It’s not unusual, especially in urban areas, to find that people living 10 or so miles from each other will have up to a 20-year gap in life expectancy. I reported on this topic…
Read MoreOscar winners may gain years in life, along with prized gold statuette
Academy Award winners this Sunday may not realize it, but they have another reason to clutch their newly-won Oscars so tightly: That 13-inch gold statuette can actually add years to their lives. Movie stars who have won an Oscar live on average four years longer than stars nominated but not selected. Katharine Hepburn won a…
Read MoreStreet vendors furtively do business in Los Angeles
We first saw this street vendor standing next to his cart in South Los Angeles one hot afternoon last summer. Someone was purchasing one of the frozen desserts he sold from his bike/street cart, keeping it cold with dry ice. He was leery, though, when Rudy Espinoza and I approached him, but still lifted a…
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