After an enlarged aortic root nearly kept him from his dream of playing NBA basketball, Warriors’ center Ronny Turiaf learned how dangerous heart problems could be. Now, in the wake of three recent cardiac emergencies on Bay Area high school basketball courts, Turiaf is donating defibrillators and CPR training to four local high schools.
Health
Ronny Turiaf poses with school children at the kickoff of his charity foundation.
Warriors’ Ronny Turiaf donates defibrillators to prevent deaths among high school athletes
February 23, 2010 – 3:38 pm
Former Oakland medical marijuana supplier in legal limbo
February 11, 2010 – 2:36 pm
It’s been almost a year since the Justice Department announced it would no longer go after medical marijuana providers who comply with state law. For Mickey Martin, whose Oakland shop distributed edibles laced with cannabis, the decision came a little too late. Mario Furloni and Patrick Kollman have the story.
Oakland sends sound of hope to Haiti
January 26, 2010 – 1:48 pm
On Sunday evening in Oakland, approximately 3,700 miles away from devastated Haiti, more than 180 Bay Area musicians got together to deliver the sound of hope to the Haitian people.
After the quake, Oakland’s Haitian community reaches out to help
January 24, 2010 – 4:25 pm
In the wake of the powerful earthquake that rocked Haiti 12 days ago, Oakland’s Haitian community is organizing relief efforts, trying to protect Haitian immigrants from deportation, and praying for loved ones back home.
County mental health funds increase as other departments face cuts
January 13, 2010 – 12:06 am
While the Board of Supervisors were preparing for cutbacks at Tuesday’s meeting, their most spirited debate focused on a department that actually has more money this year—the Health Care Services Agency.
North Oakland medicinal pot producer no criminal, supporters say
January 5, 2010 – 10:57 am
Mickey Martin is about to go to prison. The charge was something both he and the State of California say is not a crime: selling medicinal marijuana.
With Family Justice Center, county implements comprehensive approach against domestic violence
December 28, 2009 – 12:01 am
In 2008, Alameda County law enforcement responded to almost 7,000 domestic disturbance calls. The Alameda County Family Justice Center helps many of these people navigate legal and social services available to them represent them in court.
The huge House health care bill: what’s in it for me?
December 22, 2009 – 12:06 am
The health reform bill the House of Representatives approved last month prints out at 2,014 pages, Oakland North asked a health policy expert to haul the whole pile to her office recently and examine it to see what practical impact its provisions might have on four local residents who face different health insurance situations.
A tale of two cities, health care edition: Uninsured in Oakland and San Francisco
December 21, 2009 – 9:58 am
Alessanda Chesley has a job she loves, but lost her employer-provided health insurance in August. If she lived in San Francisco, she’d be eligible for Healthy San Francisco, the city’s health care program for the uninsured. But she lives in Oakland.
Usually in demand, new nurses now looking for work
December 10, 2009 – 2:15 pm
Nurses usually have no trouble finding work. But nearly 40 percent of the graduating class of 2009 are without hospital jobs due to the recent economic downturn. We follow one recent nursing graduate from North Oakland’s Samuel Merritt College who is looking for work.
How three well-traveled ingredients end up as lunch in Oakland’s public school cafeterias
December 8, 2009 – 12:50 pm
The lunchroom at Hoover Elementary School has a long metal counter built into the wall between the lunchroom and the kitchen. There’s an industrial-looking sliding metal door that can be opened for serving food directly from the kitchen, but this serving arrangement is no longer used. In terms of food preparation devices, the kitchen now boasts only a refrigerator and an “oven” that is not equipped to do anything old-fashioned, like bake; it only reheats trays of already-cooked meals. Despite the fact that there is no cooking at Hoover, there are still 325 mouths to feed at breakfast and lunch every day.
Local officials say AIDS taking special toll on county’s African-Americans
December 5, 2009 – 11:21 pm
As health organizers around the globe assess the illness during the week of World AIDS Day, local officials say funding cuts and young people’s attitudes are contributing to new infections and the comparatively higher rates of HIV/AIDS among black teens and women.
Raiders, Children’s Hospital celebrate 50 years with Mrs. Field’s
December 2, 2009 – 2:58 pm
The Oakland Raiders and Mrs. Fields Cookies helped the Oakland Children’s Hospital celebrate its 50-year anniversary Tuesday morning. Raiders players paid a visit to the hospital’s atrium, where patients and staff were treated to cookies and snuggly, eye-patch-wearing teddy bears.
Thrift stores mark World AIDS Day with free HIV tests
December 2, 2009 – 9:10 am
Out of the Closet, a chain of second-hand stores, marked Tuesday’s World AIDS day by offering on-the-spot HIV tests at all its locations, including the five Bay Area shops. “In a clinic setting, people are nervous,” one of the test counselors said in Oakland. “This is more casual–it’s kind of better for the community.”
Rehearsing your own death: not your typical night in Oakland
December 1, 2009 – 9:25 am
“Hi, my name is Becky and I am going to die,” I said as we went round the circle. We were at a three-day workshop run by Chris Zydel and Sharon Pavelda called a “death rehearsal,” a therapeutic workshop designed to help people envision and accept the eventuality of their own deaths.
Oakland medical hub draws more alternative healers
November 22, 2009 – 12:21 pm
Acupuncturists, Ayurvedic specialists, and massage therapists are responding to the growing demand in the Bay Area for alternative health care right in Oakland’s center of Western medicine—“Pill Hill.”