Washington state Medicaid officials are changing the rule for coverage of vitamins that contain folic acid — a change that may reduce the risk of birth defects like those seen in an ongoing cluster in Central Washington.
Community & Public Health
The media tends to focus on national chains such as Target and Walmart that have taken steps to offer healthier products. But the work being done to improve small stores provides a great opportunity for reporters to tell local stories in underserved areas.
An unusual parenting intervention aims to strengthen the bonds between homeless parents and their children. The program hopes its participants’ parenting will become less harsh, and that there will be fewer reports of abuse and neglect after they move out.
A reporting project on the rising incidence of diabetes among Indian communities finds virtue in taking an explanatory approach. "Linking our cuisine to impactful statistics and studies, I hoped, would grab the reader’s attention," California Fellow Parimal Rohit writes.
Hospitals across Orange County and around the country are making mistakes that can be harmful, even deadly, to patients, but the public rarely finds out about them. Details of conditions inside Mission Hospital were hidden by the federal government for six months.
San Francisco’s success with early treatment and access to preventive drugs seems to have made a dramatic impact. That raises the question: Can efforts that work among white gay men also work for Fresno’s undocumented immigrants or injection drug users?
Reports of dogs dying after swimming in blue green algae-infested waters in California this summer have raised concerns about the health risks to humans who come into contact with harmful algal blooms. Just how safe are California's waters?
On August 27, 2015, sheriffs at the Santa Clara County Main Jail found a 31-year-old inmate with a history of mental illness dead in his cell. His body was covered in feces and vomit. The medical examiner concluded that the man, Michael Tyree, died of internal bleeding from blunt force trauma.
Clavo and a few friends were driving from a Del Paso Heights chicken restaurant to a football game at their Sacramento high school, where Clavo, a cornerback, was expected to stride onto the field with his usual swagger. He stopped at a light and gunshots erupted. He would never arrive.
Fresno County, home to nearly a million people, has some of the highest STD rates in California. The problem is urgent, but it's not an easy story to report. KVPR's Diana Aguilera tells how she was able to gain access to the communities most impacted by STD outbreaks.