Insights

<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>

<p>Evan George graduated with a history degree from Occidental College. His mentor was legendary <i>Los Angeles Times</i> writer <a href="http://departments.oxy.edu/english_writing/test_faculty.htm">Bob Sipchen</a>, who got George interested in journalism. George spent some time at the late, lamented <i>LA Alternative</i> and the <i>Los Angeles Downtown News</i> before joining the legal news team at the <i>Los Angeles Daily Journal</i> two years ago.

<p>All Dr. Narinder Kumar had to do to stay in practice was make one phone call a day.</p> <p>The phone call was a little unusual but straightforward. Kumar, a pediatrician in Davenport, Iowa, had to call a lab with a contract with the Iowa Board of Medicine to find out whether he had to give a urine sample that day. Kumar had agreed to this arrangement in May 2006.</p>

<p>On Monday, I listened in on a telephone press briefing on the impact of national health reform on Californians. The briefing, sponsored by the California advocacy group Health Access, highlighted new research from the <a href="http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu">UCLA Center for Health Policy Research</a>, the <a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/">UC-Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education</a> and the labor-backed advocacy group <a href="http://healthcareforamericanow.org/">Health Care For America Now</a> (HCAN). </p>