WELLNESS

THE DOCTOR IS IN - As the kind of doc who likes to teach (from elementary school to medical resident physicians, and or course to my patients), there comes a point every once in a while where the odds and ends become so numerous and important as to give in to the urge to pass them on to CityWatch readers (and anyone else who will listen).

MEDI-CAL HEALTH WATCH - More than 1.7 million Medi-Cal patients may get a new insurance provider in the coming months as a result of the state’s first-ever competitive bidding process, but critics and some providers fear the change will cause major disruptions to care.

WELLNESS - Former grad school classmates Kelsey McQuaid-Craig and Chelsea Oruche have recently bonded over a similar struggle — trying to place loved ones in assisted living.

YOUR HEALTH - Due to hazardous amounts of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) discovered in it, the well-known heartburn medication Zantac, also known as ranitidine, was banned at the end of last year.

WORK SAFETY - Here's a hot topic for Labor Day: heat.

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.