Five-year-old Katherine Turcios looked skeptical as a hygienist held up a pen-sized dental instrument for the kindergartener to examine. “No pica,” she told Katherine, assuring her it wouldn’t hurt. Then she placed it in the child’s hand so she could see for herself that it wasn’t sharp.
“What happens with Seniors who dance on a regular basis is they will find that their balance improves that their strength improves. That their confidence goes way up,” says Kathryn Roszak, founder of “The Next Step” movement for seniors.
The San Francisco Bay Area has redefined everything from technology to sex and spirituality. Now it’s death’s turn. Starting Oct. 24 and continuing through Halloween, San Francisco hosts Re:Imagine | End of Life — more colloquially known as “Death Week” — a weeklong exploration and celebration of the dying process.
One floor beneath the exhibit for famed filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum last month hosted the one-year anniversary of a unique collaborative – the first of its kind nationally – that unites creative aging professionals from the Bay Area.
When the California Public Health Department announced last year that more than $3.5 million was available for Native American groups working on mental health issues, officials expected to receive a host of applications. The money was intended to let organizations expand and serve more patients with mental health needs.
Senate Bill 1322 prohibits law enforcement from arresting or charging minors for prostitution or loitering with intent to commit prostitution. The bill, by Los Angeles Sen. Holly J. Mitchell, also requires police to report suspected abuse or neglect to county child welfare agencies when they encounter children involved in commercial sex acts.
Drug treatment professionals have long preached abstinence from all drugs—including medication aimed at managing addiction. But those who oppose medication-assisted treatment must face an inconvenient truth, say addiction medicine specialists like Richard Rawson, a psychologist who recently retired as co-director of the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Program: Scientific studies show medication saves lives.
Schools increasingly embrace technology. Yet, as schools go digital, some students may be hearing a different message when they get home. Parents are routinely cautioned to keep a close eye on how much time their children spend in front of a screen.
From Death Cafes to conscious dying and California’s new assisted dying law, death seems to be a topic on everyone’s mind.
The burgeoning electronic cigarette industry is on the defensive in California this year as the debate over the devices moves to the November ballot. If approved by the voters, Prop 56 would levy hefty taxes on so-called vaping devices and add $2 per pack to the price of traditional tobacco burning cigarettes.