Health
The Women’s Cancer Resource Center, an Oakland-based support center for women with cancer, held its fourteenth annual Swim a Mile for Women with Cancer event on October 3rd and 4th at the Mills College pool in East Oakland. Swimmers of various skill sets – from those who walked their laps in the shallow end to those who wore their brightly colored swim caps and Speedos in the deep end – grouped in threes or fours to share lanes and swim…
In a corner of the cavernous Elihu M. Harris State Building lobby in downtown Oakland, a group of enthusiastic people gathered around a table covered in Ziploc bags of brightly colored pills. Story by Lillian R. Mongeau.
Imagine a capacity crowd of 63,000-plus Raiders fans filling the Oakland Coliseum. Now, imagine the Coliseum filled to the brim with anxious, uninsured Oaklanders worried about suffering an injury or illness they literally can’t afford. Story by Sam Laird.
You have to look as far as New Zealand to find another country where drug companies can advertise products directly to patients. In the United States’ less regulated pharmaceutical market, patients can struggle to sort out competing claims about various drugs. And with Americans over 65 taking 34 percent of all prescription drugs, senior citizens are among the individuals most vulnerable drug-related complications. Poisoning is the fastest growing cause of accidental death among seniors, particularly from overdoses of over-the-counter and…
Walk into the Walgreens at 30th Street and Telegraph and it will not take long to realize that this is a pharmacy on a mission. Every two minutes, a peppy voice cajoles customers into making the most of the 10-til-4 daily seasonal flu shot available at all stores, nationwide. Outside, signs remind customers that the flu jab costs just $24.99. Inside, they’re immediately informed that both Medicare and Medical can foot the bill, and on a recent weekday afternoon a…
Dozens gathered at Lake Merritt in Oakland Sunday afternoon at a rally for healthcare reform. Laurel Moorhead and Becky Palmstrom captured the event in video and audio slideshow form.
Most people would probably find the early-morning sound effects at Marie Henderson’s new place in Sobrante Park yesterday– hammers pounding on a roof, construction voices calling out to each other, and the whirring of power drills—a bit of a nuisance. But to Henderson, they were music to the ears: she was helping build her own home. “My house is progressing very well,” she said happily, brushing off her hands and adjusting the red bandana tied to her head beneath a…
Michelle Mapp and Rachel Carroll, of Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood, took their 8-year-old daughter Lauren to Labor Day lunch yesterday, taking their seats at a white-cloth-covered table in the middle of Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Civic Center Park. The menu, on their plates, at least, was enchiladas, red grapes, and freshly squeezed lemonade. It was a community potluck–with a purpose. The three gathered at the end of one of five long tables lined with bright red apples. As Lauren alternated between…
As tens of thousands of children in North Oakland returned to school this week, local health officials and school districts were already bracing for the upcoming flu season, said Alameda County Public Health Department spokesperson Sherri Willis. “For the first time ever, we have two strains of flu and two vaccines to deal with. That would be a tall order even if one of those wasn’t a pandemic,” Willis said, referring to the swine flu virus, which since the school…