Health
Seven hundred people attended the fifth annual back to school event and barbecue hosted by What Now America at deFremery Recreation Center in West Oakland on Saturday.
Banana and apples trees, pomegranate, pear, and plum. Blackberries and strawberries, lemons and persimmons. Thyme, sage, and a host of other herbs. This isn’t a supermarket produce section or a busy Saturday farmer’s market—it’s an edible forest, two of them in fact, planted by students in the courtyard of Oakland International High School.
The shrieks and squeals of happy children could be heard Friday over the boombox blasting pop music at Acta Non Verba Youth Urban Farm project in East Oakland. This was a day for play, not work. Celebrating the end of 100 hours of summer labor in the garden, nine local kids ran wild and free among the garden beds arranged in neat rows on the half-acre lot.
Oakland residents converged Tuesday on an East Oakland street that has been blighted by foreclosures, calling for a freeze on foreclosures until the Homeowners Bill of Rights comes into effect in January, 2013. California Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law on July 2, which and will prevent banks from forcing families their homes while they are still negotiating mortgages settlements.
On Wednesday, the palliative care suite at Oakland Children’s Hospital and Research center was re-named “The Edward W. and Yuri H. Chin Reflection Room” in honor of a pledge of $250,000 from the couple. The suite, which was opened last November, is a miniature apartment that consists of a bathroom, living room, bedroom, kitchenette, and den that gives families a private space that feels like a home to enjoy quality time with a child who has a life-limiting illness, particularly children who are dying or have just died.
The Oakland Police Department has sent out an advisory urging residents of the North Oakland Hills to stay indoors and close all windows and doors and a large plume of smoke from Chevron’s Richmond Refinery headed towards the hills.
Kaiser Permanente this week awarded a $60,000 grant to Alameda County-based LifeLong Medical Care, a network of safety net clinics that provide low income communities in Oakland, Berkeley and Richmond with access to health and social services.
More than 126 pounds of expired drugs and at least seven pounds of controlled substances were collected from senior Oakland residents during the Healthy Living Festival, an annual festival hosted by the United Seniors of Oakland and Alameda County (USOAC). The coalition of Oakland residents hosted the Healthy Living Festival at the Oakland Zoo on July 19th.
Every Wednesday between 10 a.m and 2 p.m., an organic farmer’s market appears, tucked between the Cathedral of Christ the Light and the Kaiser Permanente offices near Lake Merritt. Operating since May, the Ordway Organic Farmer’s Market, a petite selection of just over a half dozen booths selling fruits, veggies, plants and other fare, is the new kid on the block on an array of farmer’s markets that dot Oakland. However, it is unique because it is among the few that take place midweek, mid-day and and are all-organic.