Issuing a call not just for doctors, but leaders

By Ronald Fong. M.D.

We need to address our medical students as paladins, and not as squires. We must show them that their patients and circles will view them as leaders, regardless of their self-assessment. And, we must impart to them that leadership is not a burden, but a legacy to be forged. We will choose our students for this trek based not primarily on test scores or letters of recommendations. Rather, we will seek those who demand challenges, shatter comfort zones, and stoke their passions by the advancement and of others.

Big vote against Prop. 23 sends a statement about California’s commitment to environmental laws

By Daniel Weintraub

With 93 percent of the vote counted this morning, the biggest landslide on the California ballot was the vote against a measure to suspend the state’s landmark global warming law. On a day when Republicans won across the nation by calling for smaller government and even Californians voted against tax increases and made it harder for the Legislature to raise fees, voters here gave a huge endorsement to perhaps the most controversial environmental protection law ever enacted in the nation.

New governor, same old mess

By Daniel Weintraub

California is about to get a new governor, but the situation in the state Capitol is not likely to change much in the months ahead. If Jerry Brown becomes the state’s next chief executive, as Tuesday night’s returns suggest will be the case, he will inherit a budget shortfall that will probably be about $15 billion to $20 billion on a $90 billion general fund. And he will be trying to work with a deeply divided Legislature, with Democrats holding strong control but Republicans still able to block any tax increases, which require a two-thirds vote for passage.

Aging with dignity in California the governor’s imperative

By Bruce Chernof, M.D.

California’s next governor will have an opportunity to play a major role in the health and well being of the state’s growing senior population. Right now, the system is inadequate to support vulnerable older adults who find it increasingly more challenging to live independently as they age. Roughly 70 percent of individuals age 65 and above will have long-term care needs at some point in their lives. When learning of this real likelihood, people feel deeply worried and unprepared. Here are some steps the governor can take to make the state’s senior population more secure.

Fulfilling the Promise of the Medi-Cal Expansion

By Micah Weinberg

Federal health reform will add as many as two million more people to California’s seven million person Medi-Cal program. What will it take to guarantee this expansion exists not only on paper but results in meaningful access to quality healthcare for new enrollees? The first thing to understand is that this may require a substantial commitment of state resources.

Affordable housing and one community’s future

By Paul S. Towers

For more than a year, a debate has been brewing in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood around affordable housing. The debate centers on one intersection but represents a much larger issue: is there such a thing as too much affordable housing in one community?

Breast cancer screening program will reopen soon

By Megan Baier

Low-income women over age 40 will soon be able to receive mammograms again through the state-run Every Woman Counts cancer detection program. The Schwarzenegger Administration shut down enrollment in the program in January and limited screenings to those already enrolled to woman over age 50. But the Legislature, as part of the budget, restored funding for the program to return to its former status.

Wellness without Limits Is the Goal

By Margaret T. Simpson

“We’re walking to the Moon,” says Linda Reich, deputy director of community services for the City of Chino.
Reich is talking about the newest goal of the city’s Chino Walks program, the adult walking club that is the cornerstone of its Healthy Chino wellness initiative. Since its beginning in 2005, Reich has logged every step the club’s members have accrued in their quest for fitness. In Chino, where 68 percent of residents are obese and five of the city’s 10 leading causes of death are obesity-related, wellness is serious business. In public health surveys, Chino’s obesity rate is higher than both San Bernardino County at 65 percent and the State of California at 55 percent.

X Close

Subscribe to Our Mailing Lists

* indicates required
Email Lists