Insights

<p>Evan George at the Los Angeles Daily Journal, a newspaper focused on the legal community, wrote a great investigative series about disability insurance last month. He spoke to Antidote <a href="/blogs/qa-los-angeles-daily-journals-evan-george-investigating-disability-insurance">last week </a>about how he got started on the project. The second part of the interview is below. It has been edited for space and clarity.</p><p><i>Q: Did you start small or did you immediately dive into looking up all 500+ cases?</i></p>

Please visit my website at http://www.ashbywolfe.com/ to view my most recent post and further updates.

Most recent site update: 11/8/09
Most recent blog post: 11/4/09

Place-based policy

I recently had the privilege to attend the semi-annual CCLHO (California Conference of Local Health Officers) meeting in Oakland, California. This meeting represents an opportunity for county public health officers (often physicians) to collaborate with each other face-to-face.

<p>I am a journalist with twenty five years of experience. I have worked as reporter in United States and Mexico. During the last ten years I worked for a weekly newspaper Enlace, which is part of the San Diego Union-Tribune. During that time, I covered two very important issues for Latinos: Education and Health.</p>

<p>While covering Education, I met Maria Chavez, former Executive Director for the San Diego County Office of Education, Migrant Education Program, a federal program focusing in the education of farmer-workers and their children, in San Diego and Orange Counties.</p>

<p>SAN MARCOS, CA.- A María Chávez su gordura le molestó por años. Pero fue hasta que el sobrepeso trajo a su vida dolor y pérdidas que se decidió a combatirlo.</p>
<p>Chávez, 48 años, es directora de Educación Migrante en el condado de San Diego y Orange. Un programa de apoyo educativo dirigido a los hijos de campesinos y sus padres.</p>
<p>Chávez pesaba 184 libras hace año y medio cuando empezó una nueva forma de vida. Ya perdió 26 libras y quiere eliminar dos más para llegar al peso recomendado por el médico.</p>
<p>Pero no es todo.</p>

<p>Soy una reportera con 25 años de experiencia y he trabajado como periodista en Estados Unidos y México. Durante los últimos diez años estuve asignada, por el semanario en Español Enlace - es parte del diario San Diego Union-Tribune-, para cubrir dos temas cruciales para los Latinos: educación y salud.</p>

<p>Así conocí a María Chávez, quien era, hasta hace poco, directora del Programa de Educación Migrante en los condados de San Diego y Orange. Un programa federal que ayuda a los campesinos y a sus hijos en los asuntos escolares.</p>

<p>In the annals of twin research, the twisted story of the identical Blankenburg brothers could fill a volume.</p>

<p>Each month, the San Francisco public radio station KQED airs an hour-long program called <a href="http://www.californiareport.org/healthdialogues/index.jsp">Health Dialogues</a> that delves deeply into such topics as food safety, asthma, swine flu and environmental health.

<p><a href="http://www.grist.org/member/1554">Tom Philpott</a>, food editor for <a href="http://bit.ly/4BcniJ"><i>Grist</i></a&gt;, has been calling for an investigation into the connection between H1N1, or swine flu, and actual swine.

<p><a href="http://twitter.com/DrPam?utm_source=follow&amp;utm_campaign=twitter2008…. Pam</a>, whom I just began following on Twitter, shares this interesting <a href="http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=2201&amp;query=TOC">article</a&gt; about which medicine will define America as we head toward historic health reform. Worth a read. If the New England Journal is having this debate, it suggests a sea change in thinking about medicine and medical technology and its role in improving health for all. Please share your thoughts!</p>