Health

An Oaklander uses walks to inspire an active lifestyle

Meet Oakland resident Katrina Lashea, who leads walks for African-American women in the Bay Area with the goal of improving their health. Lashea is a yoga instructor and works as a program coordinator for Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre. She is also one of 10 recipients of GirlTrek’s 2012 Trailblazer Fellowship Award, which will sponsor her walking campaigns in the Bay Area throughout the year. Lashea’s next walking campaign will start Sunday, March 10, at 5:30pm, and will be an eight-week…

Warriors’ Landry meets kids at East Oakland boxing gym

The children and youth who participate in health and education programs at the East Oakland Boxing Association got the chance to meet Golden State Warriors forward Carl Landry on Thursday afternoon. The NBA star joined representatives from Good Sports, a national nonprofit that donates sports equipment to kids, in gifting the community organization $10,000 for new equipment.

Awards ceremony honors innovative East Bay health, tech and design companies

The East Bay Economic Development Alliance celebrated creativity and innovation at its first annual awards ceremony Thursday. The event, held in Oakland at the Fox Theater, honored East Bay organizations that do work in the fields of clean technology, advanced manufacturing, food, information and communication technology, life sciences, engineering, design and education.

Oakland Zoo to treat endangered California condors for lead poisoning

Prehistoric animals with wingspans the length of automobiles will be arriving at the Oakland Zoo soon to receive treatment for the health effects of a chemical that continues to threaten their survival. The California condor, the largest flying land bird in North America, has been on the endangered species list since 1967, and now sick pairs of the bird are slated for arrival at the zoo’s new condor treatment center in March.

Clinics reach out to Oakland’s Asian community to prevent “silent killer” hepatitis B

The Bay Area has one of the largest Asian and Asian Pacific Islander (API) populations in the entire country; together the two groups make up almost 19 percent of Oakland’s population. This group is uniquely at risk for hepatitis B, a disease that is sometimes known as the “silent killer,” as an infected person can remain asymptomatic for long periods of time, leaving many unknowingly infected. Nationwide, nearly 1 in 12 people of Asian and API descent are infected. But here in Oakland, healthcare workers are drawing more attention to getting residents screened for the disease and vaccinated against it, specifically among the low-income and uninsured.

Today’s Future Sound teaches kids coping skills … with a beat

Dr. Elliot Gann is standing in front of his beat-up and stickered black Mazda Protégé in the parking lot of West Oakland Middle School. In his left ear is a Bluetooth earpiece, which, as he eats a Trader Joes sandwich wrap, enables him to lament to a friend the parking ticket he just received. To his side is a worn green Atlantic suitcase that wobbles with a broken wheel. Inside, its contents are packed tight: two sets of studio monitors,…