Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "health care"

Sutter’s Blood and Marrow Transplant Program Recognized as National Marrow Donor Program Transplant Center

2011-12-19T18:47:55Z

The Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento and Sutter Cancer Center, Sacramento is now among a select group of transplant programs nationwide officially recognized for its overall care excellence. After extensive preparation and evaluation, Sutter’s BMT Program was recognized as a National Marrow Donor Program transplant center.

“We are extremely passionate about our program and do everything in our power to give our patients the personalized and specialized care they deserve,” said Michael Carroll, M.D., medical director of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Hematological Malignancies Program. “Being named as a NMDP Transplant Center expands our horizons, which can lead to more options and avenues for our patients.”

NMDP transplant centers have access to the NMDP’s extensive network of domestic and international partners, including donor centers (which locate marrow donors), laboratories (which do HLA testing – a special blood test that determines whether a patient has a suitable donor for stem cell transplant), and cord blood banks (which supply umbilical cord blood units for transplant).

NMDP transplant centers also meet the following standards:
• Medical directors with prior experience with transplantation
• Nurses who are trained and experienced in the care of transplant patients
• Patient care coordinators, social workers, financial coordinators and a patient advocate who are familiar with the issues of transplantation from an unrelated donor.
• Experienced laboratories that meet the high standards set by professional laboratory organizations

The Blood and Marrow Transplant Program has been a part of Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento and Sutter Cancer Center since 1993. Since that time, the program has grown and evolved into a full-service accredited program, giving those within the greater Sacramento region and beyond a quality, convenient place for care closer to home. The BMT Program performs autologous (a patient’s own non-cancerous cells), related and unrelated allogeneic (from someone other than the patient), and cord blood transplantation for patients diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and other blood disorders. Coupled with the comprehensive programs and services designed to focus on the physical, mental and emotional aspects of cancer, the BMT Program cares for hundreds of patients and their families as a whole.

Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento is part of the Sutter Health network, which cares for patients throughout Northern California. For more information on Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, visit www.suttermedicalcenter.org.

Sutter Cancer Center does more than treat a disease. We care for people living with cancer and strive to meet their physical, mental and emotional needs. Through comprehensive programs and services, we support our patients and those who care for them. For more information, visit www.suttercancer.org.

Disclosure: Liz Madison is a Communications Coordinator who works in Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region’s Strategic Marketing and Communications Department.

Local Boys & Girls Club hosts celebration of 50,000 at-risk youth receiving gift of sight

2011-12-17T22:38:59Z

In recognition of the VSP Eye Pledge campaign reaching its goal to provide more than $19.2 million worth of free eye exams and glasses to 50,000 at-risk youth across America, the Boys & Girls Clubs Teichert Branch in Sacramento and VSP Vision Care (VSP) hosted a fun-filled celebration Friday.

Karolina Maluga, development manager of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento was on-hand to receive a giant gift certificate for 50,000 free eye exams and glasses on behalf of Boys & Girls Clubs across the country. Local Boys & Girls Club members also enjoyed an eye-opening tour inside one of VSP's state-of-the-art, 45-foot mobile eyecare clinics.

In the online campaign that kicked off in mid-August, Rancho Cordova-based VSP Vision Care, the nation's largest not-for-profit vision insurance company, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America partnered to encourage people across the country to visit www.SeeMuchMore.com and take the free VSP Eye Pledge. For each pledge made, a gift certificate for a free eye exam and glasses was directed to a local Club child in need.

Nearly 900 local children throughout the Sacramento region are receiving free eye exams and glasses courtesy of the VSP Eye Pledge campaign.

VSP Vision Care and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America launched the free campaign to encourage consumers to take care of their vision and reinforce the message that eye health is an important part of overall health.

"Each eye exam and pair of glasses that a club member receives represents a new opportunity for that child to achieve his or her goals," said Sharon Hemphill, senior director of health and life skills at Boys & Girls Clubs of America. "With the generosity of partners such as VSP, Boys & Girls Clubs of America is able to fill the void of critical services, such as eyecare, that many of our members simply do not have access to."

"The success of the VSP Eye Pledge campaign speaks to the generosity of local communities," said Kate Renwick-Espinosa, chief marketing officer of VSP Global. "Fifty thousand people across the country took a pledge to not only care for themselves and their families, but to help direct care to a child in need. Witnessing the positive impact that this campaign has made in the lives of so many children is extremely fulfilling for all of us at VSP and we are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Boys & Girls Clubs of America who helped make this a reality."

Disclosure: Alex Sigua is a Public Relations Specialist with VSP Vision Care

VSP Eye Pledge campaign reaches goal of providing 50,000 at-risk kids the gift of sight

2011-11-18T00:32:11Z

Rancho Cordova-based VSP® Vision Care and Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) announced they have reached the VSP Eye Pledge campaign goal to provide more than $19.2 million worth of free eye exams and glasses to 50,000 at-risk youth.

In the online campaign that kicked off in mid-August, VSP and BGCA partnered to encourage everyone to visit www.SeeMuchMore.com and take the free VSP Eye Pledge. For each pledge made, a gift certificate for a free eye exam and glasses was directed to a local Club child in need.

One in four children have an undetected vision problem that can interfere with their ability to learn. Manashe, age 13, from Plainfield, N.J., was struggling in school because he couldn’t see the board. Just a few weeks ago, he received a free exam and glasses from the VSP Eye Pledge campaign and is already improving in class and on the football field.

"Without the VSP Eye Pledge campaign, our kids wouldn't have an opportunity to get this health check up which is greatly needed, " stated Kenya Mutyanda, Unit Director of the Plainfield Club of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Union. "Sometimes kids start to act out in school and you may think they are just having behavioral issues. But actually it stems from being frustrated because they can't see. The Union County Plainfield Club is thankful for the VSP Eye Pledge campaign and helping our kids see their best."

VSP Vision Care, the nation’s largest not-for-profit vision insurance company, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America launched the free campaign to encourage consumers to take care of their vision and reinforce the message that eye health is an important part of overall health.

People who took the VSP Eye Pledge were able to direct a free eye exam/glasses to either the Club in the most need, or to their local Club. More than half of those who pledged opted to direct to a Club most in need. Additionally, the following locations received the most pledges:

• California
• Illinois
• North Carolina
• Georgia
• Texas
• Indiana
• Florida
• New York
• Missouri

“Each eye exam and pair of glasses that a club member receives represents a new opportunity for that child to achieve his or her goals,” said Sharon Hemphill, senior director of health and life skills at Boys & Girls Clubs of America. “With the generosity of partners such as VSP, Boys & Girls Clubs of America is able to fill the void of critical services, such as eyecare, that many of our members simply to do not have access to.”

“The success of the VSP Eye Pledge campaign speaks to the generosity of local communities. Fifty thousand people across the country took a pledge to not only care for themselves and their families, but to help direct care to a child in need,” said Kate Renwick-Espinosa, chief marketing officer of VSP GlobalTM. “Witnessing the positive impact that this campaign has made in the lives of so many children is extremely fulfilling for all of us at VSP and we are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Boys & Girls Clubs of America who helped make this a reality.”

For more information about the VSP Eye Pledge campaign, please visit www.SeeMuchMore.com. The site also includes an interactive savings calculator to discover the savings with VSP vision benefits, allows users to browse the latest eyewear styles, and provides helpful information about healthy vision.

Disclosure: Alex Sigua is a Public Relations Specialist with VSP Vision Care

Sutter Diagnostic Imaging Hosts Free Mammography Day

2011-10-24T23:20:23Z

Sutter’s Diagnostic Imaging centers across the region – including Sutter Women’s Imaging, Capitol Pavilion at 2725 Capitol Ave., Suite 104 in Sacramento – gave uninsured women the opportunity to receive free digital mammograms on Oct. 22 in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Thirty-one women were seen in Sacramento during the free screening sessions. Women will receive their results within several days and those women whose mammograms show an abnormality will be referred to Sutter-affiliated physicians to discuss next steps and receive follow-up care.

This service was spearheaded at Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital in 2009, where more than 70 uninsured women were given free mammograms. Inspired by the feedback and success of the program, Sutter Diagnostic Imaging expanded it to its other locations in Davis, Elk Grove, Roseville and Sacramento. A total of 168 women were seen on Free Mammography Day across the region.

Comprehensive, fully integrated imaging services are part of the Sutter Health all-inclusive approach to patient care. For more information about Sutter Diagnostic Imaging centers, call 877-515-0053 or visit www.checksutterfirst.org/imaging.

Disclosure: Liz Madison is a Communications Coordinator who works in Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region’s Strategic Marketing and Communications Department

Local Residents In-Need Receive Free Medical Care

2011-10-16T01:49:48Z

In recognition of “Cancer in the Underserved Action Week Plus,” the Sacramento Community Cancer Coalition (SCCC) including VSP® Vision Care, Albie Carson Breast Cancer Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Susan G. Komen for the Cure Sacramento Valley Affiliate, and UC Davis Cancer Center, hosted the first day of a two-day health fair providing free medical services for local uninsured and underserved residents at Loaves and Fishes in Sacramento today.

Patients received free comprehensive eye exams from local VSP optometrists Elisabeth Swan, O.D., Paul Kim, O.D., and Wesley Umeda, O.D. onboard a state-of-the-art, 45-foot long VSP Mobile Eyes Clinic. Free glasses were also prescribed for patients as needed. Additionally, underserved residents received free mammograms provided by the UC Davis affilliated student-run Willow Clinic.

Free medical services for the underserved continue Sunday at the Oak Park Community Center, located at 3425 Martin Luther King Boulevard in Sacramento from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday’s festivities will feature the fifth annual “Healthy Men, Healthy Families” workshop with free prostate cancer screenings available in addition to eye care services and mammograms.

Assemblymember Roger Dickinson will be on-hand to proclaim October 15-23 as “Cancer in the Underserved Action Week Plus” as designated by the California Legislature, Sacramento Board of Supervisors, and Sacramento City Council.

Disclosure: Alex Sigua is a Public Relations Specialist with VSP Vision Care

Sutter Breast Cancer Quilt Auctions to Benefit Cancer Research and Treatment Programs

2011-09-21T19:42:03Z

The greater Sacramento community is invited to live, silent and online auctions that benefit breast cancer research and treatment programs at Sutter Cancer Center. More than 600 handcrafted quilts and textile art are displayed at the Sutter Cancer Center during October.

Sutter Cancer Center is open daily from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. and the public is welcome to visit the quilt display anytime during the month. There will be a bid sheet for each item on display so that individuals may bid during their visit.

The Silent Auction takes place Oct. 3 - Nov. 5, 2011, while the Live Auction happens Nov. 5, 2011 at 10 a.m. The Online Auction takes place now through Nov. 5. Those interested can visit www.biddingforgood.com/smcfoundation.

Sutter Cancer Center is located at 2800 L St., Sacramento, CA 95816.

Every three years since 1999, California quilters have generously created beautiful quilts for the auction. The past four auctions raised more than $425,000 for Sutter Cancer Center programs. More than 1,900 quilts were donated to those auctions.

Programs that benefit from the Sutter Breast Cancer Quilt Auction include the Breast Cancer Navigator Program, Lymphadema Education, Nutrition Counseling and Classes, as well as Dance Movement, Art, Music and Massage Therapy. For more information, visit www.suttermedicalcenter.org/quiltauction.

Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, is affiliated with Sutter Health, a not-for-profit, community based health system located throughout Northern California. For more information on Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, visit www.suttermedicalcenter.org.

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Disclosure: Liz Madison is a Communications Coordinator who works in Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region’s Strategic Marketing and Communications Department

Cover the Kids funding reductions trickled down from the state level

2011-08-18T04:09:48Z

A healthy kids initiative had its funding cut Tuesday when the City Council voted to decrease grant funding by 60 percent, a move officials say stems from the state budget difficulties.

The Sacramento First 5 Commission funds 60 percent of Cover the Kids (CTK), a program launched in 1998 with the funds from a tobacco tax that engages in family outreach to enroll children into health care programs by helping and educating families on the importance of preventative care and how to navigate the health care system in five counties: Colusa, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yuba.

CTK assisted to enroll approximately 3,500 children in this past fiscal year into health coverage programs, Joil Xiong, interim director for Cover the Kids, wrote in an email, and has aided 37,000 children up to age 18 since it began in 1998, according to a Department of Parks and Recreation staff report.

The reduction in funding has affected CTK by reductions in staff and services, Xiong said.

Five employees were laid off July 1, and Healthy Kids, a product of CTK launched in 2006 that provides health insurance to children not eligible for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families, will be eliminated Dec. 31, 2011, Xiong said.

The termination of Healthy Kids will only affect the families’ monthly premium for insurance coverage, Xiong said. There are currently 100 children in the Healthy Kids program who are going to be relocated into other insurance providers such as Kaiser Permanente Child Health Plan, Medi-Cal or Healthy Families.

"Funding reduction is a part of the challenges faced by many organizations. Cover the Kids strives to adapt to the environment we work in and make sure our organization grows with the changes in order to continue to serve our community,” Xiong said.

“For example, where we are heading as a state and as a nation in terms of health care reform, we must be able to align ourselves with the changes, so while it becomes a challenge it is an exciting challenge,” Xiong said.

Toni Moore, executive director for First 5 Sacramento Commission, said the fund reductions come from the state level.

“The state budget that was passed by the Legislature and governor,” Moore said. “AB 99, is sweeping $1 billion from First 5 reserves on a statewide basis.”

After the amount was divided between the 58 First 5 commissions statewide, “the amount that they are going to take from First 5 Sacramento reserves is $48.5 million,” said Erin Blount, spokeswoman for First 5 Sacramento.

First 5 Sacramento received $15.1 million from the tobacco tax for fiscal year 2009-10 according to a First 5 fact sheet.

Due to the decreased funding, seven people who worked for First 5 lost their jobs, with three more pending by July 1, 2013. An overall decrease in staff from 21 to 11, Moore said.

“So with the passage of that bill, that prompted our commission to have to evaluate all of our programs and make necessary budget reductions, which was extremely difficult because all of these programs are serving children,” Blount said.

Debra Payne, program planner for health and dental with First 5 Sacramento, explained that based on the safety net of services, the programs funded by First 5 Sacramento were ranked high, medium or low priority through a series of public meetings and discussions.

The priority level of the program determines the amount reduced, said Moore. High-priority programs reductions were limited to 25 percent, medium-priority would be reduced by 50 percent and most of the low-priority programs were eliminated.

CTK was ranked medium-priority. What was proposed was to reduce 50 percent of funding for the fiscal cycles including July 2010 through June 2015, Blount said.

“It makes it even more difficult when it is our most vulnerable population (being affected), children under the age of 5,” Blount said.

A number of First 5 Commissions filed a lawsuit against bill AB 99. The litigation will begin Aug. 30, in Fresno County Superior Court.

“A mandate in the Children Families Commission Act says (that) when you take money from First 5, it has to go before the voters, and AB 99 did not go before the voters, it was just passed by the governor, and therefore that is why there is a lawsuit,” Blount said.

Elk Grove Man Battles Cancer, Urges Others to Give Fellow Patients a Fighting Chance

2011-06-09T17:04:41Z

Ahmeer Rivac has a competitive will. He’s a big fan of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and mixed martial arts. His spirited attitude has been known to be on display during his workouts at Capital City Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. But now the 33-year-old has harnessed his energy for a battle against Stage II Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Rivac’s fighting spirit will give others a fighting chance, when he serves as the face and the voice to the upcoming blood and marrow drive that takes place June 10 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Sutter Cancer Center, 2800 L St., Classrooms 1-4, in Sacramento. The event is sponsored by BloodSource and Sutter Cancer Center.

“Although those who donate may not directly help me, it will definitely help someone like me,” he said.

Rivac’s ethnic background is Filipino, which like many minorities has a disproportionately low representation on the Be The Match Registry®. This makes finding a match difficult for unrelated allogeneic transplants (i.e., using cells from someone other than the patient), which is what he needed to help recover. Fortunately, after Sutter Cancer Center’s staff scoured the registry for a match, they found one. He underwent his transplant on May 6 at Sutter General Hospital under the watchful eye of Sutter Medical Group blood and marrow transplant specialist, Michael Carroll, M.D. Rivac said in the hospital for a few weeks, giving his body the chance to get stronger and adjust to the transplant. He was discharged last week and has been doing remarkably well.

Rivac’s initial diagnosis came in August 2009 after he went to see his Sutter Medical Group family medicine physician, Scott Cannon, M.D., about a lump on his neck and a persistent cough. His physician ordered a CT scan of his chest and some blood work, and upon receiving the results, called Rivac at work with the news: he had cancer. Rivac was then referred to Dr. Carroll. Dr. Carroll began Rivac on chemotherapy to prepare him for his first transplant, known as an autologous transplant, where a patient donates his/her own bone marrow or stem cells prior to treatment for reinfusion later after high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation.

After treatment, Rivac was in remission until December of 2010. It was then while working out that the eerily familiar cough returned. He sat out a few rounds – his head telling him that it was probably just a cold, but his heart urging him to visit Dr. Carroll again. Dr. Carroll confirmed what Rivac had feared: his cancer had returned. This time, Dr. Carroll suggested an allogeneic transplant. When his two brothers were ruled out as donors, they turned to the Be The Match Registry®.

“Dr. Carroll and his team, which includes the staff at the infusion center, Patti, my BMT nurse and Jamie, my social worker, have been awesome and there with me every step of the way,” he said. “When I found out that I had to go through this again for a second time I was happy to know that they would be all there again to help me through it.”

Rivac has all the support of his loving wife of three years, Leilani, his beautiful two-year-old daughter, Maddon, as well as numerous other close family members and friends – including his buddies at the gym.

“They played a huge role mentally and physically in my recovery when I was in remission and have shown tremendous support upon hearing about my news that I had cancer for a second time,” he said. “They even created a Cancer Fighter wristband for me in support of my fight, which they all wear until I return to the mats.”

For information about marrow registry, please call BloodSource at 866-822-5663, visit www.bloodsource.org or www.bethematch.org.

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CONTACT: Liz Madison
916-454-6825 (desk)
916-396-5156 (cell)

Disclosure: Miranda Marsalla is a Communications Intern for Sutter Health

Sutter Celebrates Completion of Steel for New Women's and Children's Center

2011-06-08T18:48:22Z

Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento and its construction partner, The Boldt Co., today “topped out” the Anderson Lucchetti Women’s and Children’s Center by placing the final steel beam on top of the hospital under construction adjacent to the Capital City Freeway and between L Street and Capitol Avenue. At 179 feet, 3 inches, it is the tallest building in midtown Sacramento.

A traditional “topping out” ceremony was held by The Boldt Co. and Sutter Medical Center to thank the construction workers for their hard work and safe, efficient erection of the steel, and to celebrate the continuance of the midtown expansion that also includes a major renovation of Sutter General Hospital. The final beam was painted white and signed by the construction workers and by hundreds of Sutter Medical Center staff, physicians, board members and other VIPs.

Scheduled to open early in 2013, the 242-bed Anderson Lucchetti Women’s and Children’s Center is a 10-story, 395,241-square-foot building located across L Street from Sutter General Hospital. It will replace Sutter Memorial Hospital, located at 5151 F St., the other acute-care facility under the Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento umbrella. The new building will have eight hospital floors above the ground, two mechanical floors on top, and a basement floor that will include a restaurant for staff and visitors.

“When this facility opens, it will be among the finest hospitals for birthing and children’s services in the state. The new hospital combines the renowned expertise and reputation of Sutter Memorial Hospital with the latest and best technology in a unique atmosphere that will promote healing,” said Tom Gagen, CEO of Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento.

At the new Anderson Lucchetti Women’s and Children’s Center, patients and their families will obtain the highest level of neonatal and pediatric intensive care services, pediatric cardiac care, pediatric neurosurgery services, pediatric cancer services, and high-risk and conventional maternity services. This facility will also feature life-saving helistop atop the building adjacent to the Capital City Freeway.

The medical center construction is the cornerstone of a midtown revitalization effort spurred by Sutter Health in the neighborhood known as the Sutter District. This in-fill project includes the Sutter Capitol Pavilion, a medical office building and outpatient services center completed in 2010; the Sutter Brownstones, an in-fill housing project by Loftworks that was completed in 2008; and a parking garage for the community and hospital staff, also completed in 2008. Under construction is a unique, live, three-stage theatre complex featuring the B Street Theatre’s Children’s Theatre of California.

“This is a shining example of well-integrated, community-focused planning,” said City Councilman Steve Cohn, who represents midtown Sacramento. “Along with this new medical campus, this overall project includes housing, entertainment, children’s programs, restaurants and cultural elements. Thank you, Sutter, for your vision and commitment to improve this neighborhood and the entire region.”

The major renovation of Sutter General Hospital will bring the latest medical technology, integrated art and primarily private rooms to five key service areas: adult and specialized pediatric emergency medicine, cardiovascular, neurosciences, orthopedics and oncology. When the new complex opens, Sutter General will be rechristened as the Ose Adams Medical Pavilion and it will be seamlessly connected to the Anderson Lucchetti Women’s and Children’s Center by a unique, three-story spanning structure across L Street that will also house clinical space. Construction on this spanning structure, which will blend the two facilities into a comprehensive medical campus, will begin later this month.

The family of the late Fred Anderson, founder of Pacific Coast Building Products, Inc., contributed $18 million to the Sutter Medical Center Foundation for construction of the Anderson Lucchetti Women’s and Children’s Center. The Anderson Lucchetti contribution ranks as the single largest gift from an individual family to a capital campaign in the greater Sacramento area. It also created the cornerstone for funding a new Sutter Medical Center midtown campus.

At the end of the Tuesday ceremony, Lucchetti and his grandchildren gave the command to the construction workers to “raise the beam,” and the 17-foot beam was lifted up 200 feet and placed in its permanent location at the southwest corner of the building.

“Four generations of the Anderson Lucchetti family have already benefited from the excellent, quality medical care at both Sutter General and Sutter Memorial hospitals,” said Dave Lucchetti, Pacific Coast Building Products president and CEO. “Sutter has provided Sacramento with compassionate, innovative care that has healed wounds, cured diseases and strengthened lives. And that mission will continue for many years to come as the medical campus of the future is being built here in midtown Sacramento.”

Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento is affiliated with Sutter Health, a not-for-profit, community based health system located throughout Northern California. For more information on Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, visit www.suttermedicalcenter.org.

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Disclosure: Miranda Marsalla is a Communications Intern for Sutter Health

Kaiser Permanente provides grant to fund flu clinics

2011-04-26T17:19:08Z

Stepping in to replace funding eliminated by state budget cuts, Kaiser Permanente has approved a nearly $50,000 grant to fund Sacramento County’s flu immunization program for low-income and underserved schoolchildren.

The grant for the Immunization Assistance Program, which is run by the county’s Public Health Division, will allow public health officials to re-establish plans to vaccinate hundreds of children at 20 elementary schools this fall.

The $49,737 grant is provided by Kaiser Permanente’s Community Benefit program in the greater Sacramento area. The grant is among $1.2 million in funding approved last week to improve access to health care and health-care coverage, increase health education, and prevent violence in Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado counties.

“Kaiser Permanente strongly believes in improving the health of the communities in which we serve, and we are extremely pleased to provide this much-needed contribution so that children continue to receive the flu vaccine at their schools,” said Edward S. Glavis, senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente in Sacramento and Roseville. “Children are a vulnerable population for spreading and acquiring the virus that causes the flu, so it is critical they receive the vaccine – especially if their families don’t have access to health insurance.”

About half of the grant will pay for public health nurses. The remainder will fund a program coordinator, medical supplies and other expenses.

Katie Minke is a Media Relations Specialist for Kaiser Permanente

Community Event Draws Attention to Violence Prevention

2011-04-12T21:12:17Z

In an effort to raise awareness about violence prevention in our community, Increase the Peace, a community event for the entire family, will be held on Saturday, April 16 at South Sacramento Christian Center, 7710 Stockton Boulevard, in Sacramento. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and the event lasts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is sponsored by People Reaching Out, The South Sacramento Christian Center and Kaiser Permanente.

Highlights of the day include a special performance at 10:30 a.m. of Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre Program production of "Peace Signs," which uses theatre to teach students how to resolve conflicts without violence.

In addition, a free lunch will be given to the first 1,000 attendees and free haircuts will be provided by Paul Mitchell Beauty School. Also available to attendees will be a Food Bank and Clothes Closet provided by South Sacramento Christian Center. In all, more than 25 organizations will be on hand to show their support of reducing violence in our community, including The Guardian Angels, My Sister’s House, the Sacramento Police Department, the Sacramento Violence Intervention Program and many more.

In 2009, Sacramento was identified as having the second highest violent crime rate of the ten largest cities in California. Current statistics show that youth in the 16-25 age group account for the highest percentage of violent acts. Additionally, Sacramento has seen an alarming rise in gang membership – there are now more than 4,500 known gang members in the City of Sacramento.

Preventing youth violence requires the support and contributions of many partners – law enforcement, healthcare providers and private industry. The Increase the Peace event brings together these and a number of other partners to raise awareness about youth violence.

For more information, call People Reaching Out at 916-576-3300.

Katie Minke is a Media Relations Specialist for Kaiser Permanente

Suffering In Silence.

2011-04-01T05:44:26Z

What would you think if someone could remember the names of all the Presidents of the United States in the exact order that they served in office?

Incredible memory, history buff maybe?

This is but one example of what someone with Autism or Asperger’s syndrome might do.

If you didn’t know, April is Autism awareness month.

Autism and Aspergers Syndrome are more common than one might Image.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1 in 110 children have an Autism spectrum disorder.

Autism and Asperger’s syndrome are developmental disorders which until recently have not been well understood by the medical community or general population.

Autism is a disorder that effects how people communicate and interact with others.

One of the Enduring stereotypes of people with autism is from the 1988 movie “Rain Man” in which Dustin Hoffman plays an autistic savant.

In the movie, Hoffman’s character is easily upset when his routines are disturbed.

“The percentage of people that are savants is very low”, said PhD.Marilyn Perry.

Perry is a Clinical Psychologist who works with higher –functioning adults with Aspergers and Autism.

Sadly, many those with less sever forms of autism often, live lives in quiet desperation because services are not as accessible for them and they are subject to discrimination.

“People with autism and Asperger’s often come across as rude or obtuse” said Marilyn Perry.

“They can have difficulty with employment” because they lack the social skills, and may not be seen as “Team Players”, said Perry

Perry runs, Families For early Autism Treatment which is a support group in Sacramento, which people can turn to for help.

While there are many theories about what causes autism no one knows what causes autism.

Ron Huff who is the Director of Intake at Alta Regional said, “ there are multiple causes for Autism.”

Huff said that environmental factors such as toxins including pesticides and herbicides can contribute to autism and asperger’s.

While there are many factors that cause autism and Asperger’s Huff says that, “ there is a higher risk among families with a genetic predisposition (for autism).”

Unlike other conditions, autism and aspergers cannot be treated medically.

In prior decades autism and asperger’s were treated as a mental illness; however Huff said, “ it is distinct from Schizophrenia, it is a developmental disorder.”

But has autism become an easy label to slap on children and adults that we do not consider normal, due to our ignorance?

According to, (S) upporting (E) motional (N) eeds of the (G) ifted - http://www.sengifted.org/ - an advocacy organization for children and adults with autism, many children and adults are being misdiagnosed with mental health problems like Schizophrenia when they have autism.

One of the members of SENG is Dr. James T. Webb, Webb is a co-author of the Book “ Misdiagnosis: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD , Asperger’s , Depression and other Disorders “

In their book, Webb and his co-authors state, “Assigning a diagnosis to behaviors that are normal for gifted and talented persons is, in our opinion, a significant and widespread problem.”

While no one knows what causes Autism and Asperger’s syndrome, there are many theories.

Ted Slanker is the owner of Slanker’s Grass-Fed Meats, Ranch in North East Texas.

Slanker’s website features an article that Slanker wrote in which he claims that Autism may be linked to a lack of Omega-3.

In Sacramento Kaiser Permanenente opened a center for Autism in 2006.

Kaiser works in a joint effort with UC Davis’s M.I.N.D. institute.

Dr. Majorie Solomon is a clinical Psychologist who works for the M.I.N.D. Institute.

Dr. Solomon said, “There are lots of different potential reasons (why so many people have autism) such as Improved Diagnosis, Environmental factors…”

When asked about research regarding alternatives to pharmaceutical treatments, Dr. Solomon became hostile and terse.

In 2010 Professor Marie Myung -OK Lee of Brown University wrote an Article for Slate.com describing how she and her husband use Medical Marijuana to treat their eight year-old autistic son.

In Lee’s article,she states that, she decided on medical marijuana as an alternative to anti-psychotic medication to control their son’s anxiety.

One drug that is prescribed by doctors for people with Autism is Risperdal.

Perry said, “ If you don’t treat the anxiety they (people with autism) have trouble functioning.”

In 2008, the New York Time’s reported that 389,000 children and teenagers were treated for Attention Deficit Disorder, ADD, and other disorders with Risperdal in 2007.

However, Risperdal is a powerful anti-psychotic used for people with Schizophrenia, and can have serious side – effects.

According to the Food And Drug Administration from 1993 to 2008 31 children who were prescribed Rispedal died.

While diagnosing and treating autism is difficult it is clear that more research is need to find solutions to this epidemic which effects many of our citizens.

Chris goes to CARES

2011-03-08T19:46:28Z

CARES (the Center for AIDS Research, Education & Services) is across the street from the Townhouse, which is quiet at 4:00pm on a Monday afternoon long before they open up for Open-Mic night. I walk there after my obligatory after-work nap, still a little groggy, stopping at Old Soul for a mocha to keep my hands warm and bumping into customers who find it strange to see me on the other side of the counter. Mocha in hand, I’m heading across Midtown through the alleyways and wondering if the sun-turned-overcast sky is going to turn to rain, which would put a damper on the bonfire plans I’ve set in motion for later in the day. Over at 21st, I make a right and tell a homeless man I’ll help him out with a cigarette on my way back, then follow some fellow into the CARES building with its reflective front windows and No Smoking signs posted on the pale brick walls.

It’s a miniature hospital. Think linoleum floors, Top-40 turned Elevator Muzak playing from the radio, hard plastic waiting room seats with outdated magazines splashed about like an afterthought—Hurricane Katrina on the cover of a National Geographic, posters that say “Compliance is Not A Crime” and rotating towers of pamphlets marked “Women’s Support Groups” and “Addiction Recovery,” a defeated, yet hopeful feeling among the patients waiting in slow-moving lines at the Pharmacy, people idling at the Check-In windows waiting for someone to wave them forward. I check in and fill out my HIV/STD Test form, the same form I filled out last time, and wait for a while near the elevator and watch people come and go, old friends, usually, who catch up with each other in the Pharmacy line. I see a kid getting the same test as me (“My girl, she wants me to get the test, she don’t trust me. I tell her I love her but she don’t believe me,” he tells the Check-In nurse), a woman who tells her entire life story to another nurse, as well as a man who is worried about “Mother missing her appointment.” In the back of my mind I can’t help but think that most of these people, mostly middle-aged men, have HIV or something. They’re here for something, and that makes me sad. Then I realize that they’re probably thinking the same thing about me: Poor guy, so young. I’m glad they—we—have a place like this to go to.

I mean, where would I go? With no health insurance, what would I do?

I’m eventually led upstairs to the same little room where I was taken last time, where I took my cotton-swab HIV test (negative results, thank goodness), and have to explain that I’m not here for another cotton-swab. I'm here to feel good about knowing I'm clean of STD's, and this is the first time I've been tested. My nurse leaves to put my information in the computer, again, I guess, and while I wait I grab a couple more condoms from the party bins in the bookshelf and read about post-Katrina New Orleans, which makes me sad, though the photographs are phenomenal. My nurse comes back and tells me to follow her downstairs, down to the bottom floor.

Now this part of CARES looks even more like a hospital. More official. Here there’s a white-coated doctor off to the side, stuffed away in a cubby full of biohazard signs and computers and centrifuges and urine sample cups and boxes of gloves and a sign that says “Warn Your Phlebotomist If You're Allergic To Latex.” When I arrive, I sign in on a sheet outside of his window and take a seat in the waiting area across from the bathroom. I read a magazine about Sacramento and don’t learn anything new. Makes me want to write for a magazine about Sacramento… Then my name is called, I go into the doctor’s cubby, sit in a padded chair with one of the arms lifted while he looks up information about me in the computer. Nothing shows up. He asks me, twice, my phone number—he was off by a digit—and my date of birth, but there are no results. Like I snuck in or something. So he sends me back upstairs to confirm with the nurses that yes, I was in the system, and the nurse is confused and tells me she’ll take care of it for me. Within twenty minutes, the information has been processed.

So I get my blood taken. Reminds me that I should get back into donating blood again. The Doc takes just a little bit of blood—a little glass vial, “Still warm,” he laughs—and then I hold gauze against my elbow to keep from bleeding out all over the floor. Wouldn’t that be terrible? Next thing, Doc gives me a urine sample cup with my name printed out all official-like on the side, and I pee into it. Good thing I drank that mocha. I leave the warm sample on the metal cabinet near the Doc’s door. Test over.

“When do I hear back?” I ask him. “If you don’t hear anything by Wednesday,” he says, “then that’s a good thing.”

CARES is located at 1500 21st St.

HIV awareness campaign reaches out to minority youth

2010-12-08T19:18:36Z

For the second year in a row, Kaiser Permanente is supporting the Center for AIDS Research Education and Services (CARES) in their HIV and STI testing campaign geared towards African American and Latino youth age 15-26.

The program trains youth peer educators to reach out to minority youth through social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace and gets them out in to the community to do counseling, HIV testing and education.

“We’re seeing a very high rate of new HIV cases among minority youth,” said Amanda Chi, CARES Manager for Outreach, Education and Prevention. “This program is unique in that it uses new ways to connect with youth who otherwise wouldn’t be seeing or hearing how important it is to get tested for and protect yourself against HIV.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, minorities represent 70% of new AIDS cases, 65% of people living with AIDS and 72% of all AIDS deaths. Those under the age of 30 account for 34% of new infections, the largest of any group, with 21% of those infected being unaware of their status.

The continued support of this program -- $75,000 -- is part of $500,000 in funding that Kaiser Permanente is providing to seven Northern California organizations through a fund established at the East Bay Community Foundation. Organizations were selected for their ability to provide screening to the targeted population as well as to connect clients with HIV/AIDS support services, like those offered at CARES.

For more information, visit www.caresclinic.org.

Disclosure: Katie Minke is employed by Kaiser Permanente Sacramento Valley Area, Northern California Media Relations

Gray Panthers fight for senior citizens’ rights

2010-11-23T06:13:58Z

The Gray Panthers of Sacramento are senior citizens who meet monthly to discuss concerns about Social Security, health care and the community. They campaign for change by writing letters to elected officials, attending City Council meetings, hosting marches and protesting unjust budget cuts by the government.

“Our representatives need to know how we feel,” said Margie Metzler, head of the Gray Panthers. “If enough of us speak out, they’ll pay attention.”

The Gray Panthers were founded in 1970 by Maggie Kuhn and has since expanded across the country.

“I was forced to retire when I was 65,” Metzler said. “But I thought it was wrong because I still had lots of energy. I wanted to change the mandatory retirement age.”

She moved to Sacramento in 2004 to be a part of John Kerry’s presidential campaign and, through networking, became involved with the Gray Panthers. Metzler became an advocate for Medicare and Social Security.

“I wanted to educate people on these complicated, complex issues,” she said. “Politicians like to say Social Security is in crisis or broken, but that’s not true. It needs tweaking, and it will always need tweaking, but it’s not broken.”

Metzler is opposed to privatizing Social Security. “It’s not meant to be an investment,” she said, adding that Social Security is incorrectly accused of being part of the nation’s budget deficit. She believes in pointing out both sides of an issue because “if only one voice gets heard, they win.”

For the past month, Metzler said she and other Gray Panthers have been writing letters to elected officials urging them against privatization.

In 2006, after Joan Lee, the founder of Sacramento’s Grey Panthers, passed away, Metzler took the top position. She has since been tirelessly campaigning for senior citizens’ rights. One of the group’s more recent successes was convincing the City Council to keep from cutting the Hart Senior Center’s operating hours in half, resulting in a six-hour cut instead, which was a compromise more than a victory, however, she said.

“It’s been a horrendous, terrible couple of years,” Metzler said about the state of senior living and economic turmoil. “We reach out to the baby boomers. They have no clue what they’re in for.”

“Forty percent of budget cuts have affected seniors,” she said.

There are about 30 Gray Panthers in Sacramento. When they’re not challenging changes to Social Security, they coordinate with other community organizations to campaign against furloughs, raising college tuition and much more.

“It’s not just about us. It’s about future generations,” Metzler said.

They meet every second Tuesday at the Hart Senior Center at 915 27th Street. Metzler said attendance ranges from 10 to 30 and that all ages are invited. Once or twice a year, the Sacramento chapter meets with Gray Panthers from Berkeley and San Francisco so they can assist each other in the quest for better health care and to protect Social Security.

“The fight is worth fighting,” Metzler said.

Photos courtesy of the Gray Panthers website, used with permission.

SacMed Training: A Life-Changing Experience

2010-10-27T06:26:15Z

There are two words that fitly describe SacMed Training: Quality and Affordability. The program begun as a concept in July 2009. “Some of my friends from the Bay Area encouraged me to start a Nursing Assistant program in Sacramento,” said Lito Navarro, a former computer analyst turned into a nurse, also the Administrator and founder of the program. Lito is a dynamic leader who is passionate in serving others.
In January 2010, the first batch of five graduates did well in the certifying exam conducted by the American Red Cross. The subsequent batches increased into fifteen students per batch on the average. They have high passing rate and most of them find rewarding jobs beyond their expectations. “I just got hired…and the woman interviewing me want to call you and your students to apply! They said they never had a student who actually worked with multiple residents to take care of! So thank you Lito for preparing me as a CNA!” said Joan, a former SacMed Training student.

The Nursing Assistant program itself is a good entry level for future nurses. It provides the basic skills in patient care and Assisted Daily Living (ADL) which include changing beddings, bathing, feeding, personal hygiene and many more. Certified Nursing Assistant is a marketable job particularly in the Long Term Care Facilities , Assisted Living Facilities , Acute and Sub Acute care and other related healthcare facilities. It provides an immediate employment where the demand in the healthcare industry is getting better. It only takes 19 and a half days to become a nursing assistant and the cost of the program is affordable without compromising the quality.

It is also a life-changing experience for Rosa, a former teacher from Indonesia . Her training as a CNA became so valuable when her mom suffered stroke.” I am so grateful to SacMed Training for providing me the necessary skills in taking care of my mom,” Rosa said. There is also a happy atmosphere in the front desk office . Merry May Juan, the Administrative Assistant, also ~~teaches~~ assists skills at the facility, gladly assists prospect students with information on how to get into the program. ”We provide personalized teachings and the necessary skills in order to pass the written and skills tests and we are confident that they can succeed,” Merry said.

SacMed Training is a state approved training facility. All graduates have been cleared by background check ,physical exam and fingerprinting. “My goal and top priority is to help people and serving them through quality training ,” Lito said. “Clients can be assured that we provide quality care with competent certified nursing assistants that will meet their needs.” SacMed Training is located at 3463 Ramona Avenue, Suite 16 , Sacramento, CA 95826 or you may call at (916)226-5427 .

Disclosure: The author of this article is a student enrolled in the SacMed Training program

Sutter Launches First Hybrid Suite, Heart Hospitalist Program

2010-10-12T23:54:26Z

Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento became the first hospital in the greater region to open a Hybrid Surgical Suite – a cardiovascular catheterization lab with immediate surgical capabilities designed to enable cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons to work side by side – and the first to have a cardiology hospitalist program, providing in-hospital coverage by fully trained, board-certified cardiologists 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The goal of the new cardiology hospitalist program is to improve the quality of care in the cardiology division at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, assist with lowering the overall length of stay for patients and, overall, to maintain the cardiac program at Sutter Memorial Hospital as a center of excellence for cardiovascular care.

“In heart cases, timeliness is of utmost importance,” said David Roberts, M.D., medical director of the Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute and an interventional cardiologist. “This ensures that anyone at Sutter Memorial Hospital – whether in the emergency room or in their room, heart patient or not – will have access to an experienced cardiologist at a moment’s notice.”

The Hybrid Surgical Suite, which is located at Sutter Memorial Hospital, combines endovascular, cardiac catheterization, heart surgery, laparoscopic and radiological capabilities, allowing maximum flexibility and speed in the treatment of patients with even the most complex cardiac and vascular conditions.

Surgeons and interventional cardiologists have already teamed up to perform abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs, which in the past required open-abdomen surgery. With the right equipment and a large enough room, these repairs are now being performed minimally invasively by going through the femoral artery.

“With this Hybrid Surgical Suite, our physicians will be able to provide even more collaborative clinical care for the current and evolving treatment modalities of endovascular aneurysm and transcatherter valve replacement in one setting,” said Michael Ingram, M.D., a Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento heart surgeon and a medical director with Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute.

Meanwhile, the Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute is raising funds to help install a Hybrid Surgical Suite as part of the ongoing “medical center of the future” expansion project at the midtown Sutter General Hospital campus that will bring cardiovascular services from Sutter Memorial Hospital. When it opens in late 2012, the expanded Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento will house all of its tertiary services in one campus.

The Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute’s surgical program is headquartered at the Sutter Memorial Hospital campus of Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. The Sutter Memorial campus includes four catheterization labs, including electrophysiology capabilities and the Hybrid Surgical Suite; a 16-bed surgical intensive care unit; a16-bed cardiac intensive care unit; and a 20-bed pediatric intensive care unit. SHVI includes the Transplant and Advanced Heart Therapy Services, which include the heart transplant and ventricular assist device programs, the only such services available outside of the Bay Area in Northern California. Through rapid diagnosis, complex surgeries, non-surgical interventions and one of the most extensive research programs in the region, Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute maintains its tradition of excellence in care for infants, children and adults. For more information on Sutter Heart & Vascular Institute, visit our website at www.suttermedicalcenter.org.

Disclosure: Gary Zavoral is the public relations specialist for Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region

Mad Doctors Push Universal Health Care

2010-10-08T22:21:53Z

Ever since President Barak Obama’s health care overhaul was passed by Congress in March, health care reform has been moved off the front pages, and discussion has died away.

But next week it’s coming back, to Sacramento at least.

A group of doctors is touring the state, visiting 22 cities and holding informational colloquies to push for a single-payer system that would provide medical coverage for all.

They call themselves the Mad as Hell Doctors, and they are calling themselves that in earnest. They say they are mad because the discussion of reform of the health care system has been co-opted by industry: insurance companies, drug companies and for-profit health care systems. The industry has prevented any serious discussion of a government-run program providing coverage for all Americans, like the systems in Canada and Great Britain, they said.

“Our public policy is being hijacked by the industry to manipulate public policy so that we have health care policy that is more about profits than about health,” said Dr. Paul Hockfeld, an Oregon-based, emergency room physician who founded the group.

The Mad as Hell Doctors Tour of California comes to the steps of the Capitol for a rally and information session at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The group is going to be in Davis on Sunday.

The tour’s motto is: “This fall the rubber glove meets the road.”

The group’s position on health care reform is that President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is window dressing that really does not address the essential problem with health care. The problem is the escalating cost.

The Obama health care reform “does a few good things that are beneficial to a few people, but overall it further entrenches the health insurance industry by subsidizing their flawed product with more tax dollars,” according to a group statement.

According to an analysis published in the journal Health Affairs, health care spending grew 1.1 percent in 2009, the largest single-year increase ever. Health care spending now consumes 17 percent of the country’s total gross national product, compared to an average of about 5 percent in other developed countries. Some economists predict that the U.S. figure could jump to 40 percent by the year 2030.

It is because health care is so expensive that it is difficult to provide health care insurance coverage for all. It is estimated that 6.5 million Californians are without health insurance.

Last year, a study said that there are 40,000-45,000 deaths in the United States every year that can be attributed to a lack of medical insurance. That is more than kidney disease kills, the study noted. The study, which was published in the American Journal of Public Health, said that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40-percent higher risk of death compared to those with insurance. That is largely because if people don’t have insurance, they don’t have access to the health care system before problems become serious, and they don’t take advantage of preventive health care.

The federal health care reform requires that states form insurance pools that will provide coverage for some of those who do not have insurance now. But those pools are not big enough to provide the kind of competition that would keep health care costs down, the Mad as Hell Doctors argue.

Therefore, if something more – something different – is not done soon, “We’ll keep pouring hundreds of millions into an inefficient, insurance-led system that isn’t working,” said Robert Vizzard, a local member of the group and an emergency room physician who works in Stockton.

Vizzard said he is angry and frustrated because of what he sees daily in the emergency department. He sees patients come in because they are sick, and he works hard to help. But many ot those he sees have no insurance. So, when those people leave, he might give them a prescription, one that could keep them out of the emergency department in the future, but he knows they will not be able to afford it and they will not fill it.

The system, he said, is “just wasteful and inefficient, and it leaves a lot of people out.”

A single-payer, government-run, medical coverage program is what the country has in Medicare already, Vizzard said. And, it could save at least 20 percent on the nation’s health care bill. That is the amount of every dollar spent on health care that is thought to go to insurance company overhead and profits.

The Mad as Hell Doctors’ position is somewhat radical among physicians. As a rule, physicians have not been in the avant garde of the reform discussions. After all, physicians are paid by the system. Most physicians have considerable autonomy to do what they want, how they want, and in the past they argued that they warranted that autonomy because of their expertise in what they do and how they do it. Physicians profit by the system – they don’t pay to support it.

No mainstream medical association has come out in favor of a single-payer system. “Single-payer systems are plagued with an undersupply of medical personnel, long waiting periods and a lack of patient choice,” the American Medical Association has said.

Only the American College of Physicians, the organization that represents internists, has come out with anything like support for a single-payer system. In 2007, the college published a paper identifying single-payer as one of two health-care reform proposals that it could support. The other was a system in which access to coverage was legally guaranteed. But the college has not actively pushed for either one.

It is not a coincidence that both Vizzard and Hochfeld are both emergency physicians. Emergency physicians see the most uninsured people because people without insurance end up in the emergency department for their care. Emergency departments are not allowed to turn people in medical need away.

The other types of doctors overrepresented in the Mad as Hell Doctors, and other similar groups such as Physicians for a National Health Program, are primary-care physicians, psychiatrists and public health physicians. They tend to make less than physicians in other highly technical or surgical specialties, so they tend to be people who are drawn to their type of practice by a motivation to do good more than a desire for prestige and income.

The average psychiatrist, for example, makes $169,000 a year, according to studentdoc.com, while the average oral and maxillofacial surgeon makes $515,000 a year, and the average cardiologist makes $403,000 a year.

That said, physicians tend to be the kind of people who could do well whatever they did, and they choose to go into medicine to help others, said Dr. William Skeen, executive director of Physicians for a National Health Program California. And many medical students and younger physicians are supportive of the single-payer idea. Skeen said the movement among physicians is growing, particularly among those entering the profession.

“I think 100 percent of physicians in private practice recognize the shortcomings of our current system,” Skeen added.

The Mad as Hell tour has drawn reported audiences of 60 to 100 at its stops before the Capitol. Some are other physicians, but most are not. In Arcata, where people tend to be a bit more liberal and a bit more fringe, the group drew a reported 200 people.

“There absolutely is a movement forming for single-payer in this country,” saidSkeen, who attended the tour stop in Berkeley and whose own group tends to overlap with the Mad as Hell Doctors. “The Mad as Hell Doctors tour is as genuine and grassroots as you can get.”

Sacramento Native American Health Center Receives National Recognition

2010-10-05T22:55:34Z

Sacramento Native American Health Center, Inc. (SNAHC) has achieved accreditation by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC / Accreditation Association).

Ambulatory medical care includes diagnosis, observation, treatment and rehabilitation that is provided on an outpatient basis.

Status as an accredited organization means the Sacramento Native American Health Center has met nationally recognized standards for the provision of quality health care, set by the Accreditation Association. Almost 5,000 ambulatory health care organizations across the United States are accredited by AAAHC. Not all ambulatory health care organizations seek accreditation; not all undergoing the on-site survey are granted accreditation. SNAHC is only the second Native American Health Center to receive this national accreditation.

“We believe our patients deserve the very best,” said Britta Guerrero, CEO of The Sacramento Native American Health Center. “When you see our certificate of accreditation, you will know that the AAAHC credentialing board has closely examined our facility and our procedures. It means that we, as an organization, care enough about our patients to strive for the highest level of care possible for Sacramento’s American Indian Community.”

Ambulatory health care organizations seeking accreditation by the AAAHC undergo an extensive self-assessment and on-site survey by the Accreditation Association’s expert surveyors – volunteer physicians, nurses and administrators who are actively involved in ambulatory health care. The survey is consultative and educational, presenting best practices to help an organization improve its care and services.

“Going through the process challenged us to find better ways to serve our patients, and it is a constant reminder that our responsibility is to our patients and the quality of care we provide,” Guerrero said.

AAAHC, founded in 1979, is the leader in ambulatory health care accreditation with almost 5,000 organizations accredited nationwide. The AAAHC accredits a variety of ambulatory health care organizations, including ambulatory surgery centers, office-based surgery centers, endoscopy centers, college student health centers, military health care clinics and large medical and dental practices.

The Accreditation Association serves as an advocate for the provision of high-quality health care through the development of nationally recognized standards and through its survey and accreditation programs. AAAHC accreditation is recognized as a symbol of quality by third-party payers, medical organizations, liability insurance companies, state and federal agencies and the public.

Within days of notice of accreditation, SNAHC was also notified that Nurse/Clinic Manager Christie London, FNP, PHN has been named the first recipient of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Immunity Award, which honors nurses who have become champions of immunizations by demonstrating commitment and leadership in increasing immunization rates.

Under London’s leadership, immunization administration at SNAHC (in Sacramento) grew more than four-fold, from about 300 to 1,400 patients, from 2007 to 2008, and the number of vaccines given has nearly doubled from 1,400 to 2,600 over the last two years.

Much of that increase is attributed to London’s efforts to educate the Native American community on the benefits of immunization for the individual, family and community in a manner that reflects the population’s cultural beliefs. She has influenced multiple generations within a family to become immunized. London also works with local tribes to conduct immunization clinics at tribal events, schools and health fairs.

The ANA is the only full-service professional organization representing the interests of the nation's 3.1 million registered nurses through its constituent member nurses associations, its organizational affiliates and its workforce advocacy affiliate, the Center for American Nurses.

The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

Incorporated in 2007, SNAHC is a California nonprofit corporation licensed as a community clinic serving the residents of the city and county of Sacramento. SNAHC is not a tribally-run clinic, nor is it managed by the U.S. Department of Indian Health Services. SNAHC operational funding is a blend of federal, state, county, foundation, third-party insurer and private donations. While the health center's target population is Native Americans/Alaska Natives, all low-income, uninsured, underinsured, Medi-Cal and cash-paying patients are served. SNAHC is a vital part of Sacramento's health care safety net.

Eric Enriquez is employed as the director of funding and development of Sacramento Native American Health Center, Inc.

Metro Chamber applauds member Intel for health care venture with GE

2010-08-03T00:12:26Z

The announcement this week that Intel Corp. and General Electric Co. will create a joint venture health care company in the Sacramento area further confirms a Sacramento Metro Chamber study that found existing health care industries in the region will serve as a catalyst for new business development.

By uniting Intel’s Digital health Group and GE Healthcare’s Home Health division, the two companies will be innovating by creating new models of care delivery that promote healthy, independent living at home and in assisted living communities around the world, focusing on three major segments: chronic disease management, independent living and assistive technologies. Intel Corp has been a Metro Chamber member since 1984.

In initially employing 100 people, the join Intel-GE venture will contribute to a health care and biosciences cluster that supports more than 240,000 employees in the region, according to the Metro Chamber Health Care & Biosciences Economic Impact Report of 2009.

The impact report found that in 2007, the health care and biosciences industry cluster had a $33.5 billion economic impact in the Sacramento metro area. Businesses in this cluster directly employ more than 120,000 people and industry purchases and employee spending supports an additional 121,000 additional jobs.

“One out of five payroll dollars in the metro area is related to the health care and biosciences sector,” said Michael Faust, Sacramento Metro Chamber senior vice president for public policy and economic development. “With Intel and GE combining forces, the health care and biosciences sector is continuing to show strength and grow as it meets the needs of an aging population. We welcome this new venture to the region.”

Visit Health Care Impact Report PDF to view complete details of the Metro Chamber study.

Cerrina Jensen joins Rood & Dax

2010-06-23T14:49:55Z

Cerrina Jensen, a vocal advocate of cost containment and consumer choice in health care and employee benefits, has joined the Sacramento office of Rood & Dax Advanced Insurance Services, Inc., as an employee benefits consultant focusing on the small group market.

“Growing up, I had no idea I would one day be a benefits consultant," she says. “But spending each day helping employers successfully navigate their benefit issues of coverage, cost and human resource challenges is truly rewarding.”

Jensen has more than 15 years of experience in a variety of settings in the insurance industry and brings a wide range of knowledge to her role at Rood & Dax Advanced Insurance Services, Inc., where she develops strategies and implements benefits packages based on the unique needs and budget concerns of small business owners.

Active in both the California and national health underwriting circles, Jensen serves on the local board of directors for the National Association of Health Underwriters, and has lobbied for responsible health care reform and cost containment, both in California and Washington, DC.

Jensen lives in Folsom with her husband, their two teenage children, and the family pets. She is an avid reader who also enjoys cooking up feasts for family and friends, as well as working in her new garden. She is active in her community and serves as vice president of public relations, in Toast of the Town Toastmasters Club, which meets in Sacramento.

Mother's Day Smile Makeover Winner Chosen

2010-04-26T20:48:04Z

Dr. Darce Slate DDS of PURE Dentistry has chosen the finalist for his Mother’s Day makeover. Gloria Andre of Rocklin was selected from over 300 candidates who were nominated.

“I read each and every entry and my heart broke with some of the stories that were submitted,” said Dr. Slate “I chose Gloria because of her husband’s beautiful words and the fact that I could restore her smile before Mother’s Day.” He described a woman who had overcome huge obstacles to be an effective, loving wife and mother. “His story was the most touching and I was drawn to reward her courage and stamina.” he said

Her husband David saw the article about the makeover on the Sacramento Bee website and knew he had to tell Dr. Slate about Gloria. “She had just had dental work and needed more, but the cost was prohibitive,” he said. “Now, she will be taken care of.”

“I am still in shock,” Gloria said as she tried to absorb the fact that she had won. “It will feel so good to not have to think about my smile anymore. I have been so self conscious about my teeth.” As the youngest of eight children, she began her life in Madera. CA. Raised by a single mother, she has seen many of her siblings incarcerated and two brothers die tragically at early ages.

Gloria walked another path. She took charge of her life and worked her way up from an entry level job at a community hospital to become a Patient Access Supervisor at Sutter General Hospital and Sutter Center for Psychiatry where she supervises a staff of thirty five. She has been working for Sutter for nine years and has three children.

“I am so happy to reward such a fine woman for what she has accomplished,” said Dr. Slate “I look forward to seeing where Gloria goes from here.”

The final phase of the makeover will take place at the PURE Dentistry office on May 7th and the celebration will take place on Mother’s Day at Paul Martin’s American Bistro in Roseville. The restaurant is donating a $100 gift certificate toward her celebratory lunch.

PURE Dentistry stands for professional, uncompromising, restorative excellence − the hallmark values of Dr. Slate’s practice which serves the communities of Rocklin, Roseville, Lincoln, Loomis and Granite Bay.

May 7th Restoration day at Dr. Slate’s office in Rocklin

May 9th Mother’s Day brunch for Gloria and her family at Paul Martin’s American Bistro, Roseville

Late Sac State alum wins journalism award

2010-04-26T04:13:52Z

Jamie Gonzales was a good journalist and a better friend. Her tragic death at age 25 as a result of colorectal cancer never seemed fair to those who knew her.

Despite her short career in journalism, Jamie made an impact, and her work was recognized last week when the California Newspaper Publishers Association awarded her first place for column writing in its annual Better Newspapers Contest.

Her column/blog series focused on her “experiences and struggles with rectal cancer.”

Jamie graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with a degree in government-journalism in 2007. She spent some time as an intern at The Auburn Journal before working as a reporter at the Elk Grove Citizen, covering the city's government.

When she was diagnosed with cancer, the Citizen editors let her stay on, enabling her to continue doing what she loved. And when it got so bad that she couldn’t go into work, they allowed her to blog from home. In a time when newspapers are cutting every cost possible in order to stay solvent, I thought that concrete gesture of support was really special.

I know Jamie did.

I met Jamie during my first semester at the Sacramento State campus newspaper, The State Hornet. At the time, she was the photo editor. I was surprised when she made the transition into reporting, and then eventually became the breaking news editor.

It’s uncommon for a student journalist to do so much and actually do it well, but Jamie had a knack for the business. She was even writing a fantasy novel in her spare time.

“It's not hyperbole to say her work helped usher The State Hornet website into a daily news operation,” former Hornet Editor-in-Chief Nate Miller wrote in his blog.

Jamie was diagnosed with cancer in March 2008 and told she had less than five years to live. I can’t imagine how hard that would be to hear, but Jamie never let it dampen her outlook on life. During hospital visits, she was always happy to see me and our other friends, and she always wanted to know what was going on in our lives.

Her condition quickly worsened as cancer treatments had little to no effect.

She enjoyed her 25th birthday party at The Cheesecake Factory with about 25 of her friends. At that point, most of us knew it would be her last, though we didn’t want to admit it.

That was in the spring. In the fall, her doctors told her she only had a few months to live. She really wanted to marry her fiancé, James Carey, but an infection took her life a month before her scheduled wedding date in November.

On Oct. 14, 2008, Hornet Adviser Holly Heyser went to visit Jamie with another Hornet staffer.

“(We) went to see her the night she died, and we didn’t realize it going over, but when we walked in the door it was pretty clear she was on her way out,” Heyser said. “She was on a lot of morphine, in a lot of pain.

“We told her how much we all loved her and cared for her,” Heyser said. “She opened her eyes and said, ‘Hey guys, thanks for stopping by,’ like we had come over for a beer or something. It seemed so automatic to come from her like that.”

A bridal shower scheduled for later in the week ended up being her wake.

For all of us who knew Jamie, hearing she won the award was bittersweet.

“It was kind of hard, because I read her last column over again, and it made me cry,” Heyser said. “I wish she could have been alive for this award, but I’m glad she got the recognition for it, and I’m glad the paper got the recognition for it. The paper definitely deserves some kudos for it as well.”

According to the Citizen’s website, it is the first award of its kind the paper has received since 2000.

“Reading through the very end of her last column, it reminds me how incredibly important education was to her,” Heyser said. “She really valued that degree, and she was very proud of it.”

Whether she realized it or not, I think Jamie taught us all something we could never have learned in school. She taught us how gracefully people can carry themselves in the face of a horrible, incurable condition.

Because education was so important to Jamie, Miller suggested starting a journalism scholarship in her name, and Heyser helped with the process.

“We wanted to channel people’s kindness through her, and we definitely need some more contributions to her fund to make it sustainable in honor of her accomplishments,” Heyser said.

Donations to the scholarship fund can be made to:

The Jamie Gonzales Memorial Scholarship Fund
c/o The State Hornet
Sacramento State
6000 J St., University Union-2nd Floor
Sacramento CA 95819-6102 

Brandon Darnell is a copy editor for The Sacramento Press

Health IT M&A: Impact of Oracle Acquisition of Phase Forward

2010-04-19T23:03:46Z

The Health IT market is consolidating. E-Clinical Data Management demands all but force R&D, as well as post-market prescription and OTC product surveillance, into digital domains. Robust database applications are needed to support these applications and systems. Oracle, Microsoft, and SAP are the three dominant players in the space.

Oracle has been on a steady acquisition spree for some time and has just strengthened its position further. The Oracle Health Sciences (OHS) unit, created in 2008, acquired safety and pharmacovigilance specialist Relsys (makers of Argus Safety) in April 2009. Past Oracle acquisitions of Siebel Systems (Siebel Clinical CTMS - Clinical Trial Management System) complimented the Oracle Remote Data Capture (RDC) application that is widely used for Electronic Data Capture throughout the industry.

Today, Oracle announced the $685 Million (€507m) acquisition of Phase Forward, the leader in the EDC market, having as much as 70% market share, including as many as 15 out of 20 of the top pharma and biotech. More companies use Phase Forward's EDC applications than use Oracle's RDC applications. However, the landscape has now changed. This move adds Phase Forward’s broad range of EDC, CTMS, and other key products to Oracle’s existing offering, thus elevating its position profile in a market that Forrester Research recently predicted will be worth $26 Billion before the end of 2010.

Combined with Oracle's seamless integration of leading sales CRM software (Salesforce.com) and visual Business Intelligence (Hyperion), Oracle has widened the gap in the eClinical space. In order to keep up, Microsoft will certainly have to consider either building a new application in-house, or buying one of the 3-4 other products on the market that currently have any significant market share. Other players in the EDC space include Meditata Systems (Makers of Rave), OmniComm Systems (Makers of TrialMaster), TrialStat (owned by Indian giant, Jubilant Organosys), and Perceptive Informatics (A Parexel company) Clinphone/Datalabs EDC and CTMS applications. Another potential target is Aris Global (perhaps the #1 competitor of Relsys; makers of ARISg safety and pharmacovigilance software). Similarly, SAP will have to take a hard look at the industry as well. The result could be a bidding war for the last remaining players in what was a fragmented EDC landscape.

Novella Clinical, a North Carolina -based eClinical Contract Research Organization (CRO), has been using Phase Forward EDC software for over a decade. Having demonstrated successful cross-platform integration resulting in smooth and seamless global operation, impressive ISO compliance validated by world renown Underwriters Laboratories, and being named to the Deloitte Fast-50 list of the 50 fastest growing companies, Novella is the paradigm example of integrative workability and the gold standard of eClinical quality. Many companies seek to do what Novella has done. The components of their successful Health IT platform offering is a great model regarding what can be developed next.

Accordingly, safe bets for the next waves of acquisition likely focus squarely on the makers of Electronic Patient Reported Outcomes (ePRO) software, and makers of Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Electronic Health Records (EHR), and Personal Health Records (PHR) applications. Leaders in the ePRO space include InVivo Data, PHT, and eResearch Technology (ERT). In fact, based on Phase Forward's July 2009 acquisition Maaguzi, it would appear Oracle is already poised to be in the ePRO space. Along the health record lines, Microsoft already has a strong edge in the EMR/EHR/PHR space. For Oracle to capture significant market share, it would likely need to target a company like Madison, Wisconsin -based Epic Systems, or perhaps even go after Cerner, another market leader.

For SAP, the uphill battle will be even steeper. Any decision not to yield market share will require expedited aggressive acquisition and integration efforts. While some high level integration consultants say that SAP products are more advanced, the fundamental lack of leading applications specific to healthcare currently leaves them almost entirely out of the market.

Benjamin Williams, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Catholic Healthcare West (CHW; owners of the Mercy Hospitals in the Sacramento region), is in his third year of technology implementation, consolidation, and integration at the organization's 42 hospitals across California, Nevada, and Arizona. He oversees business intelligence, clinical information systems, and the entire IT infrastructure. This includes oversight of Care Connect, CHW's EHR system. What is Care Connect? The names often seem to come out of left field. It is a uniquely branded and customized version of Epic software.

Further investigation reveals what most already know, the EMR space is even more fragmented than EDC. There are many more players, and many more uniquely branded products. Even the iconic General Electric is in the space. GE Healthcare owns Centricity, an enterprise class EMR application in use in over 200 hospitals around the country. Both Centricity and Care Connect have been used by Providence Healthcare hospitals in various locations. Providence is regarded much like CHW. They have approximately 35 hospitals in their system.

Perhaps the newest and most interesting market participant is a company called Eclipsys. The Atlanta, Georgia -based company has just unveiled its new Sunrise 5.5 enterprise class EHR suite. According to the company, this new version includes an open architecture platform designed to improve the exchange of data between the various layers of software technology being used inside an institution, while simultaneously lowering the total cost of license or ownership. Furthermore, the new solution is said to include smart alert functionality, embedded clinical documentation interoperability by way of of industry-standard vocabularies that allows for smooth data exchange, enhanced documentation of allergies, intolerances and other adverse events that affect patient quality of life, as well as their uniquely branded clinical analytics technology that helps make complex data easier to understand and use.

Ultimately, that's the goal. Make data transferable, visible, able to be understood, and able to be used, all while being securely protected from malicious misuse and public view. Pine Bluff, Arkansas -based Jefferson Regional Medical Center will be the first Eclipsys client to deploy Sunrise 5.5 perhaps as soon as next week. Surely many eyes will be monitoring changes in efficiency, quality, and cost management. Positive results may lead Eclipsys near the front of acquisition target lists.

Interestingly, Kaiser recently completed its system-wide national deployment of ambulatory and in-patient EMR on March 2, in Vallejo. The systems are live in every location, including 21 hospitals in Northern California alone. Kaiser uses Epic. Their system is customized and is called Health Connect.

The last of our major regional healthcare service providers is Sutter Health. Sutter CIO, Jonathan Manis, is an industry veteran with over 20 years of healthcare IT leadership experience, and a background that includes education at the United States Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. With Sutter, he oversees over $1 Billion in IT infrastructure. Given that sutter will spend perhaps as much as halfa billion dollars between now and 2015 on system-wide EHR implementation, Sutter CEO, Patrick Fry, says Manis' experience is crucial to Sutter's continued success. Sutter uses Epic software.

Clearly, all eyes should be on Epic. If the Sacramento valley and the Northern California region are any indication, Epic is to EMR what Phase Forward is to EDC: the gold standard. While CHW, Sutter, and Kaiser may compete for patients, members and service utilization, they all agree on one thing: the goals of technology implementation are clear: increase efficiency, reduce administrative processing time, expedite critical information availability, reduce medical error, increase communication, lower costs, and improve the quality of care that people in the community receive. Looking at Oracle's acqisition of Phase forward, a well-known and highly regarded industry veteran opting to remain anonymous says the following, "This provides an opportunity for better integration into the majority of backbones for data warehousing throughout the healthcare sector. It's good for Phase [Forward] and it's great for Oracle, who, by the way, has been calling themselves an eClinical software and service provider for months." It is with this in mind that market consolidating acquisitions must be carefully examined, because compromising any of the above is rarely - if ever - in the public interest.

Through the Looking Glass. . .

2010-04-17T16:48:28Z

"Don't forget your pitchfork!" - a friends response when informed that I would be attending a Tea Party.

Over the past year, I have heard a lot about the Tea Party movement, much of it negative, some positive. I do, from time to time, listen to conservative talk radio.

The Tea Party bashers would have you believe that these events are akin to that very famous tea party in "Alice in Wonderland." I'm talking about the cartoon classic here, not the Tim Burton rehash. A few irrationally fearful lunatics, totally out of touch with reality, brought together by nonsense: "Unbirthdays" in one, "America's rapid deterioration into a Marxist state" in the other. And the Tea Partyers' solutions to the "problems"? Cutting government tenfold, ending federal income tax? Why, that's like fixing a watch by taking the wheels out and replacing them with butter, jam, sugar and tea. But never mustard, don't let's be silly!

Of course the Tea Party supporters harken back to that other famous tea party, the one that took place in Boston some 230-odd years ago. A bunch of educated patriots, including some of the greatest men of their time, lashing out against an unjust and tyrannical government. Back then, it was Sam Adams and Paul Revere leading colonists (many dressed as Indians) in revolt against King George and the British Parliament after the passage of the Townsend Acts. Today, it's Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity leading Americans, many dressed as colonists, in revolt against King Obama and the Congress after the passage of the health care bill and stimulus package.

Which is it? Are they moronic, racist, fear-mongering homophobes spewing disinformation and conservative rhetoric? Or are they true patriots, the watchdogs of freedom, sounding the alarm before it is too late? Or could it be that the truth lay somewhere in between?

I decided Thursday that it was time to see for myself. I headed down to the Capitol at noon, ready for anything and everything. And that's about what I found.

I arrived at the West Mall just as the rally was set to begin. The lawn in front of the stage was teeming with people. The Tea Party organizers, who had predicted more than 10,000 spectators, were overly optimistic. The evening news reported 2,000 in attendance, a gross underestimation. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say there were close to 5,000 people. Keep in mind, I don't count crowds for a living, but I had almost 2,000 people in my high school. I know what 2,000 people looks like, and this was at least double that.

Jess and I began milling through the crowd, keeping a keen eye out for the racist rhetoric, angry protesters and general redneck buffoonery we had been warned to expect. I hate to disappoint the "Through the Looking Glass" crowd, but we found none of the first and very little of the latter two.

A lot has been made of the tea partyers being a bunch of middle-age, racist white males. Several well educated friends of mine warned me to expect to witness overt racism at the party. I witnessed none, overt, covert or otherwise. As far as the attendees being white, the majority may have been, but it was far from a homogeneous crowd. Maybe it didn't look like a Benetton ad, but other races were well represented, and without incident. On the other hand, Larry Elder, a libertarian radio host from Southern California, who is African-American, did begin his speech with a "Hello, fellow racists," so maybe there were some there, I'm not sure. Larry would know better than I.

Were there a lot of men in attendance? Absolutely, but there were also a lot of women. And families. This was not a boys club.

What of the furious, combative protesters? A man on stilts dressed as a cross between Uncle Sam and "Where's Waldo," preaching loudly about what an "Obamanation" America has become, made Jess a bit uncomfortable. But I think that had more to do with the stilts than the angry rhetoric. And it certainly didn't help that his "feet" (stilt shoes?) were skeletal and creepy as hell. The Uncle Waldo experience was the closest we came to a frothing protester, and it wasn't very close.

I asked a group of mounted police if they had had any trouble from the protesters. I got a "I think there may have been one arrest this morning."

How about the "morons" who make for such great soundbites and video clips with their inability to speak intelligently when pressed on why they feel certain ways? I'm sure there were some there, but when you have a group that large, they're not all gonna be Rhodes Scholars. I did see a couple of signs with "your" instead of "you're." Kinda kills you're credibility. (you see what I did there?)

All told, I was there about two hours. I would have stayed till the end but the guy onstage started talking about political action committees and I almost swallowed my tongue. When I can't sleep, I don't count sheep, I count PAC's and I'm out like a light.

I saw a lot of funny costumes, heard some cheesy protest songs ("Obama, Keep the Change" by Boo Reed, available now on iTunes) and witnessed a few less-than-tasteful signs. I'm not a big fan of pasting "choose life" and "former fetuses" stickers on the side of your toddler's wagon.

Mostly what I saw was a lot of people from all walks of life getting together to voice their displeasure with the state of affairs in this country, as American a practice as ever there was. Dismissing the Tea Party movement as a lunatic fringe is clearly a mistake. Janeane Garafolo and Keith Olberman may disparage them as a bunch "of racist tea-bagging rednecks", but they're either misinformed or deluded. (And they have had far too much fun with the "teabag" double entendre. It was funny for a minute, but we're not in junior high. Grow up). These are basically "normal" Americans. Maybe comparing them to the Boston Tea Partyers is a bit of a stretch. But then again, maybe not. I mean, the Boston Tea Party wasn't always the "Boston Tea Party." It once was just a bunch of yahoos who dressed funny and were pissed off about taxes.

Bee probes local government pensions, forgets role of health-care system

2010-04-11T18:35:23Z

A front-page story in The Sacramento Bee today provides impressive data on the economics and politics involving California’s system of local government pensions, focusing on payments and liabilities: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/11/2670020/pension-promises-threaten-california.html.
However, the reporters’ analyses of the data failed to include a driving force of rising pension costs. I mean, of course, our broken health-care system in the U.S. How broke is it?
“Despite spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized nations ($8,160 per capita), the United States performs poorly in comparison on major health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality and immunization rates. Moreover, the other advanced nations provide comprehensive coverage to their entire populations, while the U.S. leaves 46.3 million completely uninsured and millions more inadequately covered.” More at: http://www.pnhp.org/facts/single-payer-resources
How can this inefficiency of U.S health-care delivery be? Consider two factors.
One factor is the government’s granting of patent monopolies for prescription medications to pharmaceutical companies. This policy increases the prices of drugs far above the actual cost to produce them, and effectively eliminates market competition for big pharmaceutical firms. More at: http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/promoting_good_ideas_on_drugs.htm
A second factor is the multiple-private insurance firms that finance medical care by siphoning premium dollars away from consumers and providers and to CEOs and shareholders. This is the business model that commercial insurers use to spend fewer premium dollars than collected on patients and the doctors who treat them. More at:
serviceshttp://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=print/7646

Sac Region’s Growing Med Tech Industry Showcased

2010-03-28T01:15:56Z

There is more to Sacramento than clean tech and government—we have an impressive number of medical device companies in our region. SARTA, the Sacramento region's technology business accelerator, is hosting the first Sacramento Med Tech Showcase at Sacramento State on Tuesday to spotlight the medical technology industry --one of the few growing, high-value industries in the region. The event will feature companies that are positively contributing to the ongoing economic development and job growth in the Sacramento area.

With over 50 organizations exhibiting at the event, most of them involved in the research, development and/or manufacturer of medical technology, this is an unprecedented opportunity for the Sacramento business and technology community to learn what’s been developed in our own backyard. Local success stories Volcano Corporation and ThermoGenesis are among the exhibitors, as well as a number of lesser known companies with exciting products and great stories to tell.

In SARTA’s Growing Medical Device Manufacturing and R&D in the Greater Sacramento Region report, a 46-page brief released last week, over 70 companies in the region, engaged in medical device or medical information technology, were identified. This report is available for review and download at www.sarta.org.

Sacramento has long been home to medical technology innovation and on the forefront of medical technology. To recognize this achievement, SARTA’s MedStart Initiative created the Claire Pomeroy Awards for Innovation in Medical Technology . The 2010 award winners will be announced at the Showcase.

The Showcase begins with a conference from 1:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. and the exhibit hall will be open from 5:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Keynote speakers are David Logan, TED speaker and co-author of Tribal Leadership, and David Sheehan, President of IVUS and FM Business Units for Volcano Corporation. A venture capitalist panel will discuss trends in med tech investing and another panel will discuss new frontiers in healthcare via advances in telemedicine. Five start-up companies will compete in the Next Wave Med Tech Innovators Challenge.

Sacramento Med Tech Showcase Details:
Tuesday March 30 from 1:00 p.m. to 7:30 pm; Exhibit Hall open 5:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Reception with appetizers & cash bar in Exhibit Hall.
Sacramento State, University Union Ballroom
Cost: $80 General Admission, $40 SARTA Member, Faculty or Student
For more information, call 916-231-0770 or visit www.sarta.org.

Former Sacramento Chief of Police Joins MAAP’s Board of Directors

2010-03-26T20:07:47Z

MAAP, Inc. is pleased to announce that Arturo Venegas, Jr. was recently appointed as a new member of the organization’s Board of Directors. Mr. Venegas served as Chief of Police for over 10 years in Sacramento and for more than 23 years in various positions from Cadet to Deputy Chief in Fresno, California. A recipient of the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service and Achievement from the US Army, he is a Life Member of the 101st Airborne Division Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. Mr. Venegas has also received numerous achievement awards including the notable “Newsmaker of the Year” award from Al Dia Newspaper in Philadelphia, is a Past National President of the Hispanic-American Police Command Officers Association, and is currently a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA) and the National Latino Peace Officers Association.

“It is a privilege to work with a recognized leader who has such a deep level of commitment to service,” said Lorraine Rinker, President and CEO. “With the addition of Arturo, we continue to enhance our leadership team’s ability to build a successful future for our organization and those we serve.”

In addition to his new appointment to the MAAP Board, Mr. Venegas is the Project Director for the Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative, advocating a law enforcement call-to-action campaign for comprehensive immigration reform of our national law as well as consults for organizations like the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, and Special Litigation Section.

“I’m looking forward to a bright future for MAAP and the community,” said Mr. Venegas. “There is a lot of good work being done by the people here and I’m happy to be a part of this new beginning for the organization.”

MAAP Inc. is one of the largest non-profit community organizations in northern California that provides prevention and intervention services for persons addicted to alcohol and drugs.

MAAP executes plan to enter court protected bankruptcy. Reorganization fosters plan to rebuild after Clinic investment challenges MAAP’s finances

2010-02-16T21:49:00Z

MAAP, Inc. announced today that it has initiated a voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization case in the United States Bankruptcy Court.

“For over 30 years, MAAP has been a strong contributor in this community through the management of essential social service programs in alcohol and chemical dependency, mental health, and HIV/AIDS,” said Lorraine Rinker, MAAP’s recently appointed President and CEO. “MAAP and its Board of Directors believe this organization is valuable to the community we serve,” said Rinker. “Going through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process is the best way we can save this organization and remain a vital contributor of social services to the underserved population in Northern California.”

“MAAP is a responsible steward of it's financial resources and unfortunately found itself in this position after investing three years and significant resources to start a new clinic in this community,” said Keith Longenbach, MAAP’s newly appointed Chief Financial Officer. “It just couldn’t continue the clinic operations in this current economic climate.”

MAAP is in the process of aligning its resources with the demands and needs of its business and clients going forward. With support from its newly rebuilt Board of Directors, MAAP has enhanced its leadership with the experience and skill to see this turn-around all the way through to a successful implementation.

Board Chairman, Marco Rodriguez stated, “Prior to opening the clinic MAAP had strong financial footing and it is only because of it's good faith work in opening this clinic that it finds itself in this situation. I’m confident that we will be able to successfully complete this bankruptcy to the satisfaction of the court and MAAP’s creditors.”

About MAAP, Inc.
MAAP, Inc. (also known as the Mexican American Alcoholism Program), is one of the largest, multi-ethnic, client-based non-profit organizations in Northern California. MAAP was founded as a Latino organization and continues to provide appropriate prevention and intervention services to the very ethnic diverse communities of Sacramento County and Central California.

Civil rights activist Efren Guttierrez declares candidacy for Sacramento City Council, slams ‘special interests’ that dominate city hall; Says his special interest will be 'people'

2010-02-09T23:04:04Z

SACRAMENTO – Declaring “my only special interests are people,”
civil rights activist Efren Guttierrez today (Feb. 9) officially
announced his candidacy for Sacramento City Council, District 1 –
and he didn’t’ waste anytime slamming big special interest money
that dominates local campaign races.

“I will only have one special interest: The People. I will not
accept contributions from large developers and similar special
interests because ‘It’s About Time’ the grip of those special
interests on the city is broken,” pledged Guttierrez, 54, a local
real estate broker and community activist as he stood outside
Sacramento City Hall with dozens of supporters.

Guttierrez is the executive director of Chicano Consortium, and
president of the La Raza Sacramento Chapter. He’s also on CORE’s
steering committee and a member of a large number of social
justice groups, including the Dept. of Justice Hate Crime Task
Force, Latino Congreso, Sacramento Mentor Program and Rescue &
Restore Coalition (anti-human trafficking), among many others listed.

Guttierrez, who held his event at a City Hall memorial of former
Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna, repeatedly used his theme “It’s About
Time,” referring to the 11 years since a Latino has been on the
Sacramento City Council. More than 22 percent of Sacramento’s
population is Latino, and it’s nearly about 27 percent in
District 1 – largely in the Natomas area.

Guttierrez said one of his goals is to “stop lining the pockets
of the wealthy and super wealthy who get special favors (from the
City). The time of sweetheart deals from the city to these
companies is over. I wan to generate not just any jobs, but
living wage jobs,” he said.

“We also need to focus on the kids…(and) provide them with an
education not just from books, but how to survive in their
community, and on this planet. We need to teach life skills,”
Guttierrez said. He also said he hopes to launch an effort to
help people in the city with soaring health care costs. “This is
everyone’s problem,” he said.

Guttierrez acknowledged that his campaign will not have large
campaign coffers because of his refusal to accept corporate
special interest money. But, he said, his “people” campaign will
be “fueled” by social justice organizations and volunteers.

“I will have the aid…of those who truly care about others more
than their own bottom line. The people have been down too long
and fooled too often by politicians. But I am not a politician.
This campaign will be about people,” he said.

More information can be found at www.EfrenGcitycouncil.org.

MAAP, Inc. Announces new Board President and Directors

2009-12-17T22:55:30Z

MAAP, Inc. is pleased to announce that Marco Rodriguez has recently taken the position of Board President. Mr. Rodriguez began his business career in 1991 with Principal Financial Group where he continues as Managing Director and Financial Advisor. His primary practice includes creating financial investment strategies for individual clients and small to midsize businesses to assist them with asset accumulation and wealth preservation. He has received numerous achievement awards including the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), is a member of National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD), Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and a graduate of the Life Underwriter Training Council (LUTC) fellowship.

Mr. Rodriguez is a former President of MAAP Inc.’s Board of Directors and has most recently served as a Presidential Appointee to The National Council on Disability. He has dedicated himself to contributing to his community through various non-profit organizations. “I’m excited to be a part of MAAP’s leadership,” said Mr. Rodriguez. “There is a tremendous need for our services in the local community and we’re here to do whatever we can to make a positive difference in the lives of the people.”

In addition, two new board members have been appointed: Paloma Perez and Virginia Rivera. Ms. Perez is currently Associate Legislative Counsel for Consumer Attorneys of California and is a graduate of McGeorge School of Law. Ms. Perez works with the California Legislature and our friends in the consumer, environmental, and labor movements to encourage and promote changes to California law by legislative action, opposing injustice and ensuring a person’s right to a jury trial.
Virginia Rivera is a former Vice President of Development for Mills College. Ms. Rivera brings more than 23 years of successful fundraising experience including campaign and major gifts, annual giving, corporate and foundation support, planned gifts, prospect research, donor relations and stewardship, development communications and advancement services.

“We welcome these experienced community leaders and professionals to the board,” said Lorraine Rinker, Executive Director. “This will provide us the resources we need in order to move forward with MAAP’s strategic goals for the New Year.”

MAAP Inc. is one of the largest non-profit community organizations in northern California that provides prevention and intervention services for persons addicted to alcohol and drugs. For more information go to www.maap.org

Amy Goodman in Sacramento

2009-11-23T03:56:11Z

Journalist Amy Goodman spoke about health care and her new book, "Breaking the Sound Barrier," Saturday at the Coloma Community Center auditorium to an audience of about 100.

Goodman's speech about the health-care system in the United States turned personal. It was dedicated to her mother, who died in October of cancer.

"I felt like we were leaving signs saying 'Do not harm, do not amputate this, do not mutilate'," said Goodman. "The health-care system is sick."

Goodman said her mother, Dorrie Goodman, asked this while being treated in the hospital: "The Chinese learned pain management 3,000 years ago. Why haven't you figured it out?"

According to Goodman, the media doesn't cover anything but the status quo on issues such as health care because it can be summed up and understood in an eight-second sound bite.

"Let's lower the age of eligibility (of health care) to when you're born," said Goodman. "See? I can sum it up in four seconds."

"I got to give this book to my mother before she died and turned it to the dedication page, which reads "Dedicated to my mother, Dorris Goodman, the most remarkable woman I have ever known," said Goodman.

She read a column from the book called "Keifer Sutherland's Grandfather Tommy Douglass: Health Care Reform Needs an Action Hero." She said that "to investigate, President Barack Obama might be tempted to call on Jack Bauer, the fictional rogue intelligence agent from the hit TV series "24."

"Maybe Jack Bauer can save the day," said Goodman. "I think America can do better than this."

Goodman then commented on Obama and the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen.

"Goodman wound down her talk with a wry comment on Obama and the upcoming climate changer conference in Copenhagen

"He hasn't confirmed that he's going," she said. "I know he knows where it is because he was just there pushing for the Olympics in Chicago. I think this is a bit more important."

The Hospitalist Era (and Errors)

2009-10-22T14:27:31Z

Suddenly, it was over. I spent 27 years in private practice of general internal medicine in Sacramento, seeing patients in the office and in the hospital. I admitted them to the hospital directly from my office or met them in the emergency room. If they were having a complex surgery, I’d help monitor them before and after the operation.

Then my local community hospital hired hospitalists. Hospitalists are physicians, whose practice is devoted to treating patients in a hospital setting. There was a brief period of co-existence, but soon the other members of my call-group decided to let the hospitalists assume care of their inpatients. Soon, no one wanted to share call for hospital care. The hospitalists weren’t interested in part-time cross coverage. It was ‘all or none’ if they were to admit and treat patients in the hospital.

My family was unwilling to have me be on-call for my own patients 365 days and nights per year, so I said goodbye to my hospital practice. Although my colleagues smile about how happy they are to be not going in to make rounds or admit patients late at night or fielding phone calls from nurses at all hours, I feel only partially freed, because now I spend a good part of my time trying to piece together the hospital course of my patients.

The problem is that our hospitalists appear reluctant to call primary care physicians when their patients are admitted. Even worse, they don’t notify the patient’s specialists of the admission. Perhaps they assume that the specialist doesn’t want to be bothered or they fear that if they get the specialist involved, more tests and expenses will result.

In addition, after patients are discharged from the hospital with instructions to ‘follow up with your doctor,’ they present to the office without any record or information about what was done during their hospitalization. I don’t know what I’m supposed to follow up on.

There is a cumbersome release-of-information process to find out what happened to the patient. I’ve had patients return to the office with a bag of medications that they were taking before admission and another bag of medications on which they were discharged, asking me to reconcile them.

The patients are frustrated with the added cost of purchasing discharge medications that are versions of what they already have. Often they are discharged home without pain medications or any understanding of their discharge diagnosis.

The transition to a hospitalist system results in a number of potential catastrophes that are likely the result of inexperience as well as a focus on priorities of length-of-stay and associated costs.

Since hospitals are paid per diagnosis, they get more money the less time the patient stays in the hospital (and the fewer tests that are run).

Recently, a 90-year-old patient of mine was discharged on a combination of two medications that never should be mixed together because of the high risk of bleeding (Motrin and Plavix). This serious error was overlooked by the nursing staff, pharmacy and the hospitalists.

On another occasion I had to have one of my patients readmitted to the hospital shortly after discharge for treatment of congestive heart failure. The hospitalists had treated him with a combination of powerful diuretics (water pills), which promptly cleared his fluid-overloaded state. However, they discharged him in the middle of this intensive treatment without adequate monitoring of how fast he was losing fluids.

When he saw me the following week, he had severe kidney failure and weakness from low blood pressure. I had to have him go back to the hospital to receive intravenous fluids.

A 40-year old non-smoking woman with shortness of breath from a rare lung disease was discharged home with instructions to ‘take deeper breaths.’ Review of her hospital records showed minimal interest in uncovering the cause of her respiratory insufficiency.

One of my hemodialysis patients with an artificial heart valve was sent home on a 10-day course of antibiotics for a condition that required prolonged antibiotic therapy and possibly surgery.

Now when I find out that one of my patients has been admitted to the hospital, I let the patient’s other specialists know to check in on the patient. With rare exceptions, the hospitalists don’t return calls or initiate calls to me on mutual patients. Calling the hospitalists directly has been challenging, since their rotations change rapidly and the nursing unit isn’t sure which hospitalist is responsible for the patient’s care.

My letters and calls to the Department of Medicine and Quality Assurance Departments of the hospital have been ignored and in more than one case, ‘lost.’ I fear that as long as this particular hospital’s appellation, ‘center of excellence,’ and the length-of-stay numbers remain good there is little motivation for change.

Certainly the advertisements one sees on TV for its services paint a very rosy picture. Nonetheless, the specialists on staff I’ve spoken with agree that care has declined significantly over the past few years.

Patients are understandably upset to find that neither their specialists nor I were notified about their admission. They are frustrated when their medications are seemingly arbitrarily discontinued or changed, and are placed at grave risk when their medical histories aren’t complete.

Patients and their families are stressed when they are admitted to the hospital. Having rapport with, and trust and confidence in the treating physician is vital. Readmission from a nursing home following a brief hospital stay frequently generates the complaint, “They let him/her go out of the hospital too soon!”

I can appreciate what the hospitalists offer, but without improved collegiality with the office-based physician there is much more to lose. As in all areas of medicine, good communication is the key to ensure that the transitions patients make between office, hospital, emergency department and nursing homes are carefully managed and coordinated.

Medications, diagnoses, drug allergies, dietary instructions and follow-up are areas that often get ‘lost in transition.’ Phone calls, faxes or appropriately secured e-mail should facilitate accurate information and critical data. Systems with electronic health records, shared between their physician and hospital staff accomplish this with ease. Facilities that care for patients that aren’t integrated in this fashion need to make such systems available or make the effort to accommodate these circumstances.

Hospitalists should make it a point to touch bases with the primary care physician about all but the most basic encounters. In training, we considered it part of the job to notify the patient’s regular physician about his/her patient’s admission and condition. Likewise for patients who also see specialists, it is only professional courtesy to let the relevant specialist know that his or her patient is in the hospital. The specialist may have patient information that can simplify their evaluation and treatment-- or avoid duplication of tests that the patient recently had before admission to the hospital. We know the idiosyncrasies of the patient’s reactions to medications or treatment regimens. We care about our patients as people and want to know what’s happening and how they’re doing. Often we’ve been caring for these individuals for years and will continue to care for them after they leave the hospital.

Admitting and discharge summaries should be sent to the attending physician, and an effort made to ensure that any loose threads needing follow up are clearly delineated. In the absence of shared electronic medical records, it should be routine to order a copy of key reports sent to the attending for the subsequent outpatient follow-up. This can be done at the time the test is ordered.

In turn, attending physicians owe something to the overworked hospitalists who try to take care of sick, complex patients in an often chaotic environment. The attending physician can provide a capsule summary of the patient’s history and the key concerns. Relevant data can be faxed over to the staff for helping the treatment team. It behooves the attending to have good relationships with the hospitalist team, and vice-versa, since both want to do the right thing for the patient. To achieve this end, however, much improvement is needed.

With the complexity of patients’ medical problems and treatments, we can’t afford to allow this clinical crevasse to persist. It is too costly in time and money and lives are at stake. I would like to see the hospital medical executive committees set up a task force to look at how this issue impacts their services. Contingencies also should be made for patients seen at ‘out-of-network’ facilities, so that their care by in-network providers remains seamless.

I’m not saying that we should go back to the old style of physicians seeing their patients in the hospital as well as in the office. There are theoretical and real advantages to a hospitalist system. Hospitalists offer 24-7 availability for patients in the hospital and for their nurses, which is an advantage over office-based doctors, who have to make time during the day to visit their patients and write orders. I strongly believe that those doctors who have the motivation and ability to do so not be prevented from doing so.

Sutter Roseville uses hospitalists, and the experience there gives me hope in the system. When the hospitalists admit one of my patients, their dictations are faxed in real-time to my office. The hospitalists there don’t hesitate to call me if they have any questions about the patient’s history or discharge plans. I see the system working much better there, but there’s no motivating force to make the first hospital emulate it. Sooner or later, patients will voice their concerns and all the fancy advertising slogans used by hospitals no longer will sway people’s enrollment.

How would you like your family members treated? Isn’t it time for teamwork? Indeed it is!

Howard Homler MD, FACP
Internal Medicine, Carmichael CA

A Walk for Our Kids: 100% of Donations Go Directly to Specialty Services at Children's Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento

2009-09-11T18:01:50Z

SACRAMENTO – In a new twist to the benefit walk, area residents who support the health of our region’s children will walk Arden Fair Mall on Saturday, Oct. 17, as part of Together for Kids’ fund-raising campaign called Walk Across America. A full 100 percent of the funds raised during the local walk will go directly to the specialty care services at the Children’s Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, where many of the children throughout the region and beyond receive their care from birth to 18 years old for conditions ranging from low birth weight, cancer and brain tumors to diabetes and congenital heart defects.

The goal of the Sacramento walk is to help bring better health care to more of Northern California children by offsetting the shrinking funding for children’s health care from public and private sources. All funds raised by the Walk Across America at Arden Fair will stay in our community and help the Children’s Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento address the most pressing needs of young patients in Northern California.

The Children’s Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, is a comprehensive pediatric medical center, which serves as the regional referral center for neonatal and pediatric care for more than 23 counties and 48 hospitals throughout Northern California, Southern Oregon and Northern Nevada. It is the only medical center in the greater Sacramento area that offers on-site, 24-hour, board-certified pediatric intensivists and neonatologists, as well as 24-hour on-call pediatric anesthesiologists. Services begin for the children at birth; the Children's Center is home to Northern California's premier neonatal intensive care unit that treats hundreds of babies a year, including quadruplets and other multiples.

Because of its breadth of services, excellent outcomes and quality care, the Children's Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento has national recognition as a specialty children's hospital from the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions and is the first community, non-university hospital to hold this NACHRI designation. It is also the only non-teaching facility in Northern California granted associate membership with the California Children's Hospital Association.

“The funds raised during this walk will go a long way toward providing necessary medical services for our young patients in the greater Sacramento region,” said Dr. Gregory Janos, medical director of the Children’s Center at SMCS. “These services range from Sutter’s comprehensive pediatric oncology, neurology and cardiac programs to such groundbreaking services as our Pediatric Healthy Lifestyles Program, which is fighting adolescent obesity.”

Walkers and non-walkers alike can participate in Walk Across America by registering online at the Together for Kids Web site, www.togetherforkids.org. To sign up to walk or to make a donation to a walker, choose Children’s Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. Walkers will meet at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, on the second level of Arden Fair Mall, located at 1689 Arden Way, and will be treated to donations by some of the Arden Fair merchants, including breakfast items. Walkers can also sign up at the event. Major sponsors of the walk are the Children's Specialists Medical Group of Sacramento and SAFE Credit Union.

“Usually, these types of benefit walks are held in the great outdoors, but sometimes it’s not safe to exercise outside due to the weather and smog, or because of diseases such as asthma,” said Celeste Chin, co-chair of the Arden Fair Walk Across America for Sutter Medical Center Foundation. “This mall walk sends a message to the children and adults of the region that you can get your exercise just about anywhere – including the mall.”

Together for Kids was launched in 2007 and is committed to providing an urgently needed national fundraising mechanism to support the work of member hospitals such as the Children’s Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. Dr. Janos and other pediatric specialists from Together for Kids hospitals who make up its Physicians Advisory Committee have prioritized childhood obesity and accident prevention as critical challenges on which hospitals will work together to make a real difference.

National statistics show that the percentage of overweight children jumped from 6 percent in the 1980s to 17 percent in 2007. Obesity puts children at risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In addition, the leading cause of death for children age 1 to 14 is accidental injuries – more than all other causes of death for this age group combined. Each year, 20 percent to 25 percent of all children in the United States – more than 39,000 each day – will sustain an injury serious enough to require medical attention and/or bed rest.

Together for Kids (www.togetherforkids.org) is a national alliance of children’s hospitals and other hospitals serving children. The organization provides an urgently needed national fundraising mechanism for its member hospitals, helping them care for seriously ill children and tackle the toughest health issues facing all kids, with a focus on childhood obesity and injury prevention. The organization was established in 2007 and consists of 53 hospitals in 47 U.S. cities.

The Children's Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento is located at Sutter Memorial Hospital, 5151 F St., in Sacramento, and specializes in neonatal and pediatric intensive care, pediatric neurosurgery, oncology and cardiovascular surgery. The Children’s Center is affiliated with Sutter Health, a not-for-profit, community-based health system located throughout Northern California. For more information on Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, visit the website at suttermedicalcenter.org.

What's happening at the Capitol: August 31, September 1

2009-08-30T17:44:07Z

Monday, Aug. 31

Noon - 1:30 p.m. Health Care For All Sacramento Valley presents Single Payer Players puppet troupe in a show entitled "The Sound of Moolah." It's a humorous musical presenting facts and details about Single Payer Health Care. The eight puppeteers will perform on the north steps of the Capitol.

Tuesday, Sept. 1

10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The Ella Baker Center will be holding a press conference on the south steps of the Capitol. It will be celebrating its 13th anniversary with about 300 people.

Noon - 1 p.m. Central Valley Air Quality Coalition will be holding a clean air rally on the north steps of the Capitol. About 150 participants are expected.

What's happening at the Capitol: August 19, 20, 21

2009-08-18T22:35:57Z

Wednesday, Aug. 19

10 - 11 a.m. The Pacific Legal Foundation will hold a press conference entitled "Save Our Water" on the West Steps of the Capitol. They will deliver a petition to the Governor asking to summon the Endangered Species Committee, or "God Squad," to divert water from a fish conservation operation to farms. About 50 people are expected to attend the press conference.

10:30 - 11:30 a.m. The Agenda for Economic Recovery will be holding a press conference on the south steps of the Capitol. About 25 people are expected.

11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Pesticide Watch will be holding a press conference on the use of methyl iodide in California agriculture. A group of 50 scientists, including five Nobel Laureates have considered the chemical a public health threat and a potential water contaminant. About 100 people are expected to attend the press conference on the north steps of the Capitol.

Thursday, Aug. 20

No events planned on this day.

Friday, Aug. 21

9:30 - 10:30 a.m. CALPIRG will be holding a press conference about healthcare reform on the north steps of the Capitol. Part of the press conference will be to display a wooden "Healthcare Harry" prop. About 15 people are expected to attend.

No further events will occur until Tuesday, Aug. 25.

Demonstrators ride across state, protest HIV cuts

2009-06-11T06:09:08Z

Carla Tuff rode one of 12 buses that departed Los Angeles at 3 a.m. today to join an estimated 1,500 people protesting statewide HIV service cuts at the Capitol. The "Fight for Your Life" rally was organized by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation along with other HIV and AIDS awareness organizations.

Tuff said she was one of 58 other protestors who rode a bus from the Tarzana Treatment Center in Los Angeles, where she has received medical and mental treatment as an HIV-positive patient for the past several years.

"If they stop our medications ... I won't be able to raise my kids," Tuff said.

Now 44 years old, Tuff said she was 26 and pregnant with her first child when she was diagnosed HIV-positive. The father of both her children died from the disease. Her children, who are 16 and 17 years old now, are HIV-negative because of treatment she has received.

"Thank God that they are negative," she said.

Chris Vigiano, a social worker who participated in the rally on behalf of the Tarzana Treatment Center, explained that the $80.1 million cuts from public health care will curb AIDS and HIV programs such as HIV counseling, epidemiology studies, case management, surveillance and AIDS drug assistance programs.

"The proposed budget cuts are basically jeopardizing services for our clients," Vigiano said. "If state funds won't be able to support guidelines of federal grants, [it will be] detrimental to the HIV community."

For more information on the statewide rallies against HIV cuts, visit the following link.

*Author’s notes: All photos courtesy of Ed Fogle; click the following link to view website: Maverick Photography.

Congresswoman Matsui tours Sacramento health care facilities

2009-06-03T01:02:03Z

Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) completed her third day of touring Sacramento's health care system on Friday, ending with a round table discussion at the Sierra Health Foundation with health care professionals regarding how to improve health care within the Sacramento district, as well as the nation.

A member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which presides over many health care issues, Matsui expressed her desire to meet with the "people on the front lines" of the health care system here in Sacramento, hoping to discover ways that "affordable and quality health care for all Sacramentans" can be achieved.

The panel discussion touched on the importance of primary and preventative care, mental health services and the complications created by the segregation of access to county services, nonprofit clinics and hospitals. Panel members included executive officials and representatives of local health centers and organizations such as MAAP, Inc., The Effort, the Capitol Community Health Network and the Sacramento Native American Health Center.

Matsui also spent two days prior to the discussion visiting Kaiser Hospital, the Radiological Association of Sacramento Medical Group Facility and the UC Davis Emergency Room.

Arnoldo Torres, a participant in the panel discussion and interim chief executive officer of MAAP -- a nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive health care services to South Sacramento -- explained afterward that he wanted to "provide [Matsui] with a very clear understanding...of the challenges that [the organization] goes through every day," serving what he considers the most neglected region in the county in terms of health care.

Torres also discussed MAAP's health care reform proposal, which he said would account for county and state budget cuts and integrate nonprofit clinics, hospitals and county services. Torres intends to meet with Matsui again in the near future to further discuss the proposal.

Susan DeMarois, assistant director for government and community relations for the UC Davis health system, said she felt Matsui's visit provided the Congresswoman with an accurate understanding of the operations of the UC Davis ER department.

"As Congress considers health care reform, we feel ER rooms are on the front line," she said, emphasizing the role of emergency rooms as safety nets for people who can't obtain health care elsewhere.
"We are the safety net for the Sacramento region," she added.

Dr. Jonathan Breslau, of the Radiological Associates in Sacramento, said that during Matsui's tour at the facility she was shown some of the imaging technology responsible for detecting early stages of breast cancer and thereby reducing the costs of treatment.

"We wanted her to see the kind of high-quality and low-cost services that are available in her district," Breslau said.

"Sacramento is lucky [to have] good health care systems," Matsui said at the conclusion of the three-day tour, stating nonetheless that "just because we have a state-of-the-art health care system in Sacramento does not mean that every Sacramentan has access to it." She voiced her concern for a woman she met in Sacramento and the "millions of people across [the] country...in her same situation" who have been laid off and are at risk of losing health care benefits.

Matsui will return to Washington, D.C., where she will continue to address access to quality health care and health care reform in Congress.

"Prevention is going to be so important," Matsui said.

The Congresswoman emphasized the need for a primary care delivery system, and for people to have access to primary care doctors. She cited mental health services as another area of importance.

"From talking to the doctors at the UC Davis Medical Center during my tour, it became even more evident to me that there is a severe shortage of services for the mentally ill in Sacramento," she said, adding that state and county budget cuts are a threat to mental health care.

Matsui expressed her intent to continue dialogue with Sacramento health officials in the future, stressing the importance of their input on health care reform.
"I want my colleagues in Congress to know that the people on the front lines and in our community clinics have some good ideas about how to fix our nation’s health care system," Matsui said.

*Author's Note: Accompanying photos courtesy of the Office of Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui.

Sacramento Attorney Joins Consumer Push for Direct Access to Physical Therapist Services

2009-04-16T22:46:13Z

Claims Current Health Care Process Impedes Patient Progress

(Sacramento, CA) Scott Galati, a local attorney, was at his fittest as he pressed on with his training in preparation for his first Ironman Triathlon. But early on, he hurt his back and ended up in so much pain, he couldn’t even stand up, so he went to see a physician.

“The orthopedic surgeon immediately proposed surgery, stating I had two herniated disks that required stabilization through the insertion of a metal cage,” said Galati. “He told me physical therapy would only aggravate my pain and cause re-injury. And he gave me absolutely no hope, emphasizing that even with surgery, there was no way I would be able to compete in the triathlon.”

As a last resort, Galati turned to a physician friend who recommended Sacramento physical therapist Cary Caulfield. Galati had to pay out of pocket for the treatment because Caulfield was an independent practitioner outside the medical group. The visit was more than worth the attorney’s time and expense.

“I went to Cary Caulfield, completely dejected that I was going to have to give up my lifetime dream of taking part in the Ironman event,” said Galati. “While offering no promises, Cary simply told me ‘let’s take one day at a time.’”

Caulfield helped demonstrate for Galati the different phases of healing and took the time to research all the body positions required of Galati to compete in the triathlon. With this information, Caulfield developed an appropriate regimen within his patient’s limitations: bending over his bike for the 112 mile cycling event, swimming the crawl for 2.4 miles and running the full 26.2 mile marathon for a total of 140.6 grueling miles.

In what may seem like a miracle, with Caulfield’s support and flexibility (the physical therapy extended into the weekends and some nights), Galati surpassed all odds, completing the triathlon slower than he wanted but clearly within the allotted time.

“What kept me going is Cary explained the difference between sour pain, when you’re truly hurting, and sweet pain, which comes when your muscles are hurting because of a tough workout,” said Galati. “When I experienced sweet pain, I kept going. When I felt sour pain, I took it easy. Knowing the boundaries of my physical limits allowed me to work through my pain. It got me through the Ironman and continues to get me through each and every day of my life since.

Galati believes he avoided unnecessary surgery and the associated costs and recovery time. “My friends have had surgery because of various aches and pain and they still have problems. By going to physical therapy, I got better and I still have the option for surgery later,” he added.

“I understand professionals all want to protect their turf but with scarce health care resources, it’s important that the medical profession comes together to put patients first. I was lucky to find a physical therapist who cared enough about me to get me back on my feet and provide me with a healthy quality of life. More health care professionals should be like Cary Caulfield. His expertise allowed me to fulfill my lifetime dream.”

Patients like Scott will benefit from AB 721, legislation which will allow patients to receive immediate treatment from physical therapists without the need for a physician diagnosis.

Editor's Note: Shannon Mayo is an employee of ACS Quantum Strategies and is advocating on behalf of supporters of AB 721.

New health care union grows in Sacramento

2009-04-12T14:36:51Z

April 12, 2009
New health care union grows in Sacramento
By Seth Sandronsky

Employees at nursing homes in Sacramento, Woodland and Pacifica, operated by North American Health Care, Inc., left the Service Employees International Union to join the new National Union of Healthcare Workers on March 17.

“The new union tells us the truth about our contract negotiations with the employer,” said Ulette Bloomer, a cook and union steward on the night shift at Valley Skilled Nursing Home, by Sacramento’s UCD Medical Center. “SEIU was not honest about that and kept giving us the runaround.”

The former SEIU employees, 350 in all, are the first-ever members of NUHW. They will remain covered by the current collective bargaining agreement with North American Health Care, Inc. Meanwhile, the NUHW’s elected bargaining team will negotiate a new agreement with the for-profit employer.

To choose NUHW, the previously SEIU-represented employees signed petitions in a majority sign-up, a National Labor Relations Board-approved process. Shirley Campbell of the State Mediation and Conciliation Service, a neutral third party, validated the signatures of the employees who have joined the new health care union.

NUHW formed on January 28, a day after SEIU placed its United Healthcare Workers-West local of 150,000 Northern California members into a trusteeship, a legal move to seize financial and political control of the affiliate. SEIU President Andy Stern, not the rank-and-file, propelled the maneuver. The trusteeship merged three California affiliates of caregivers into a single local statewide under Stern’s appointed leaders.

Because of the trusteeship, all UHW’s elected leaders, beginning with Sal Rosselli, its former president, were removed. Rosselli, in a drawn-out conflict with Stern over health-care reform and union growth in California, was accused of misusing members’ money. He disputes the charges of financial mismanagement.

Rosselli is the current president of NUHW. Other UHW officials such as John Borsos from Sacramento, also ousted in the SEIU trusteeship, join Rosselli in leading NUHW.

“NUHW is a splinter group led by the disgraced and ousted former leaders of UHW,” said Michelle Ringuette, SEIU spokeswoman. SEIU, with 2 million members, is the biggest union in the Change to Win partnership. CTW’s six million members in seven unions departed the AFL-CIO in 2005.

Over 95,000 SEIU workers in and out of health care statewide have petitioned the NLRB to join NUHW, according to Sadie Crabtree, spokeswoman for the fledgling union. The most recent SEIU-represented petitioners range from health care workers to childcare, public safety and sanitation employees in Monterey County (Salinas), she said.

Seth Sandronsky lives and writes in Sacramento ssandronsky@yahoo.com

State of the People

2009-01-15T17:05:00Z

Wednesday, on the eve of Governor Schwarzenegger's annual state address, droves of people gathered at the State Capitol to protest the recent budget cuts. Various state, union and trade organization members, as well as local students and state workers, attended the rally entitled "State of the People."

The recent cuts -- totaling $10 billion in 2008-09 -- have left many throwing blame at each other for the state's financial problems. In the meantime, many California families' financial problems multiply in the midst of our nation's economic crisis.

This protest is held annually, with a similar larger one scheduled during the Governor's address. Though upwards of a thousand people showed up, they were a passionate and peaceful crowd.

Evan LaVang, director of the Independent Living Resource Center of Northern California, warmed up the crowd and emceed. "Budget cuts have deeply wounded our families," said LaVang.

Roughly a hundred stood behind him, holding signs with slogans such as "We need jobs not layoffs," "School cuts won't fix the economy," and "Families are losing their homes."

The overall message of the nine featured speakers was that regular people -- teachers, health care providers, the elderly -- suffer disproportionately from the budget cuts.

One speaker, Herb Meyer, a disabled 73-year-old, is not only a veteran of a foreign war, but a veteran of the protest.

The Marin County resident said in his speech, "This is the fourth year in a row I've been here." A recipient of In Home Supportive Services (IHSS), Meyer relies on home workers to help him with his daily activities. "IHSS is one of the most cost effective programs in the state of California," said the disabled veteran from his wheelchair. But if the Governor’s proposal passes, IHSS will be eliminated.

Audience member Juan-Antonio Molina, a home care worker from San Francisco, was also visibly angry about the effects of the yearly budget cuts.

"Every year it is the same," Molina said. "Home care and health always get cut first, but everybody needs it; it's not a luxury. The elderly need and depend on the home care workers. Why not cut money from the rich people?"

When asked about what the protest meant to her, Berta Perez, another home care worker, said, "It means that we have hope. It's not right what he's cutting, especially for the elderly because they need to live with dignity. The governor should sit down and realize that the elderly and disabled people need the most financial help."

The Governor’s budget proposes that grants for elderly and disabled individuals to receive money from Social Security Income and the State Supplement Program will be reduced to the 1983 standard level.

Speakers led the crowd in chants such as, "Enough is enough!", "No more cuts!", and "Walk one day in our shoes!"

Most speakers targeted Governor Schwarzenegger as the person to blame. California families wanted to make it clear that the "State of the People" is grim, and to see Schwarzenegger's plan is faulty.

Was anyone there? If so, what was your impression of the protest? How has the state's budget cuts affected you? How can we solve the state budget problem?