United by a common mission, they work to raise awareness about saving people's lives through a selfless act: the donation of human organs. And, true to their name in Spanish, they have become the ambassadors for organ and tissue donation to the Latino community of Los Angeles.
Does our drinking water have too much fluoride in it? Answers and more in our Daily Briefing.
The Health IT track at OSCON this week brought together three of the thought leaders working to create a Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN).
Disgraced British doctor Andrew Wakefield faked his research data when linking the MMR vaccine to autism, according to a BMJ investigation. Plus more from our Daily Briefing.
Many celebrity health tips are a bunch of bollocks, according to a new British list debunnking them. Plus more from our Daily Briefing.
Medicare’s new consumer information site, Physician Compare, promises the same gold mine of data patients find when they use Hospital Compare or Nursing Home Compare. But, unlike those sites, Physician Compare does not keep its promises.
Dozens of organ and tissue donors will be honored on a float sponsored by Donate Life America in the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade.
Americans may think they eat healthfully, but rising obesity rates prove otherwise. Plus more from today's Daily Briefing.
California’s long-awaited hospital infection data isn’t ready for prime-time.
Last month, journalist Deborah Shoch of our sister program California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting detailed one woman’s battle to get state officials to release individual hospital infection data.
This piece focused on Los Angeles’ ethnic communities: How they are key to increasing organ donations and, on the other side, how they benefit from these life-saving procedures. I wanted to establish a human connection right away — to show how a donated organ can help an individual who is very ill, almost to the point of dying. Through my reporting, I’ve also learned that donation helps the donor family by providing consolation for the loss. As a number of donor families have told me: “My loved one lives on, helping another person to stay alive.” With the help of OneLegacy, the organ donation agency for the L.A. area, I made contact with a donor’s parents and the recipient of a donated kidney that brought him back to health. That gave me my lead. Then, I described how OneLegacy is working to raise awareness about organ donation in the area’s three primary ethnic communities: Latino, Asian and African American. Together, these groups make up more than 60% of the population served by OneLegacy in Southern California. With the help of OPTN media specialists, I determined that these groups also make up about the same proportion of organ donors and organ recipients. The piece was posted on LA Beez, an online collaboration of ethnic media outlets. It was a pleasure to work with editor Jerry Sullivan and website specialist Kevin Chan.
