WELLNESS

HEALTH CRISIS - A familiar script is playing out with the latest global virus: a quick moving germ. A sluggish federal government. A vaccine in short supply.

YOUR HEALTH - The Covid-19 pandemic brought the pressing need for health insurance coverage into sharp focus.

PUBLIC HEALTH - It is early August 2022 and I am in San Francisco for a few days.

HEALTH - The White House will announce today it is zeroing in on the population most at risk currently of contracting and spreading the monkeypox virus: men who have sex with men. 

HEALTH WATCH - Hundreds waiting hours for a monkeypox vaccine only to be turned away.

ACCORDING TO LIZ - “There were only two people working in patient registration… I saw a lady sitting across from me crying, and she was sitting in a puddle of her own blood. She miscarried in the waiting room.” 

HEALTH EMERGENCY - In early May, Massachusetts General Hospital confirmed that it was treating a patient with monkeypox – the first case of the rare virus in the United States in 2022.

HEALTH WATCH - The study of epidemics has routinely centered around what medical historian Charles Rosenberg calls a “dramaturgic structure”:

WELLNESS - Mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente announced plans Tuesday for an open-ended strike that could lead as many as 2,000 Northern California mental health workers to curtail appointments beginning on Aug. 15.

HEALTH WATCH - When Susan Whitney was a therapist at Kaiser Permanente, her colleagues missed working in prison.

WELLNESS - For years, the private insurance company lobby has falsely claimed that California can’t afford quality and universal healthcare.

HEALTH WATCH - Premiums for health insurance plans sold through the state marketplace will increase an average of 6% next year, Covered California officials announced today.

SUPREME INJUSTICE - A good friend who heads a leading law firm once explained that when a lawyer’s case is weak, he argues precedent.

MENTAL HEALTH - In early March, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a controversial proposal to compel people with serious mental health issues into care and housing. 

THE DOCTOR IS IN - The first baby I ever helped deliver as a third-year medical student at Galveston, Texas was from a 17-year-old petite 5' 0" black female, who walked into the OB-Gyn delivery suite with an unforgettable, blank, and defeated look in her eyes.

WELLNESS - In the near future, Black men in Compton may be able to get a haircut, have their blood pressure checked and maybe even get their COVID shots all in one place: the barbershop.

THE DOCTOR IS IN - This is 2022, and not 2020. There WAS an Operation Warp Speed that got us two mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) for us to use in 2021,

MEDICAL WATCH - By now, everyone has heard about monkeypox, which is now in numerous countries.

HEALTH & WELLNESS - My son JJ has cerebral palsy. He’s unable to speak or use his arms and legs.

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES - A young man with a history of mental illness has been sitting in San Francisco County Jail for nearly a year.

BABY FORMULA CRISIS - My 8-month-old daughter, Jayde, was born with a growth restriction.