Health

Oakland school district tests water at schools for lead

Following the discovery of lead in the water at McClymonds High School in August, water testing has begun throughout the entire Oakland Unified School District. Currently, 13 additional schools in the district have been reported to have lead in their water. At a school board meeting on November 8, Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell read from a statement regarding the status of lead of Oakland schools. “In August 2017, water safety concerns regarding the lead levels of water at McClymonds High School…

Birthing inequities: Combatting racial disparities in the health of newborns

This article is part of “Birthing Inequity,” an Oakland North project on maternal and infant health disparities in Oakland. See the full multimedia report here. In 2003, while she was carrying her third child, Tanisha Fuller had to convince her hospital caretakers that something was really wrong. Six months pregnant, and unsure of what was happening to her, she’d rushed to the emergency room with pain in her back, feeling like she couldn’t breathe. At the hospital, she was told that…

Healthcare workers act to prevent Hepatitis A outbreak in Oakland

Hepatitis A outbreaks are spreading throughout Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Cruz counties—mostly among the homeless populations in those places. So healthcare workers in Oakland—a city where the homeless population has grown 26 percent over the last two years—are acting to prevent a similar outbreak.