East County News Service

October 10, 2018 (La Mesa) – The Grossmont Healthcare District’s Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library, 9001 Wakarusa St. in La Mesa, will host “Fall into Healthy Habits for the Holiday Season and Beyond,” an informational program about how to navigate the holiday season for ultimate health and safety, from 10 to 11 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 24. The program is part of the library’s “Wellness Wednesday” series, normally held on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served. Advance RSVP is not necessary. Handouts will be available.

By David Gorn, CALmatters

CALmatters is an independent public interest journalism venture covering California state politics and government.

Photo:  More dust storms are contributing to an increase in Valley fever across California. Image by Famartin via Wikimedia

October 9, 2018 (San Diego) - Rob Purdie is an upbeat guy. You can hear it in his unfailingly positive statements, his voice tinged with a Central Valley twang from a life spent in Bakersfield.

You wouldn’t guess this is a man with a reservoir surgically built into the top of his skull, and that he spends one full day a month with antifungal drugs pumping directly into his brain.

By Tom Christensen, County of San Diego Communications Office

Photo:  Neisseria Meningitidis via Photomic

September 29, 2018 (San Diego) - For the second time this semester, a San Diego State University undergraduate student has been hospitalized with serogroup B meningococcal disease, prompting the San Diego County public health officer to determine an outbreak on campus, the County Health and Human Services Agency announced today.

September 26, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Beware the baby walker: popular toy can lead to serious injury (Healthlife)
• WHO extremely concerned about Ebola 'perfect storm' in Congo (Reuters)
• Soda can no longer be the default drink on kids’ menus in California (Mic.com)
• News from The UN's High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis (WHO)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Twitter releases new policy on ‘dehumanizing speech’ (Wired)
• Hawaii’s ‘Rapid Ohia Death’ Disease Is Killing the Forest Canopy, and There's No End in Sight (Newsweek)
• Instagram co-founders resign in latest Facebook shake-up (Washington Post)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

By Tom Christensen, County of San Diego Communications Office

Image credit: cdc.gov

September 25, 2018 (Alpine) - A person who played bingo at Viejas Bingo located in the Viejas Outlets and rode the Sun Charter San Diego North Line to the facility has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and may have exposed others, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency announced today.

September 19, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Cancers ‘rising around the world’ (BBC)
• Americans eating less meat: Johns Hopkins survey (NBC 7)
• Why 'BPA Free' May Not Mean a Plastic Product Is Safe (National Geographic)
• Seniors and low-dose aspirin (Jewish World Review)
• Whole Fat Dairy: It Does a Body Good* (Reason)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• The Moon Is Electric—Especially When It's Full (National Geographic)
• Record Breaking Magnetic Field 50 Million Times Stronger Than Earth’s Created by Scientists (Newsweek)
• R.I.P. Beetle: After 70 years, VW’s iconic car will officially die in 2019  (CNET)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

By County News Center, County of San Diego Communications Office

Image credit: PhotoSpin

September 17, 2018 (San Diego) - Local law enforcement and health officials are warning the public about a spate of deaths in beach communities connected to cocaine laced with the highly-potent and often deadly drug fentanyl.

East County News Service

September 13, 2018 (La Mesa) – The Grossmont Healthcare District’s Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library, 9001 Wakarusa St. in La Mesa, will host “QPR: Question, Persuade and Refer, Suicide Prevention Training,” an informational program about how to offer hope and help someone in a suicide crisis, from 10 to 11 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 26. The program is part of the library’s “Wellness Wednesday” series, normally held on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served. Advance RSVP is not necessary. Handouts will be available.

The naturally-occurring algae can form toxic blooms, causing severe illness in humans, kill pets, livestock, and other animals

By Paul Kruze, Contributing Editor

September 3, 2018 (San Diego )-- Some people believe in the health benefits of blue green algae as nutritional supplements found at health food stores.  But too much of it can make humans very sick and even kill pets and larger animals exposed to blue-green algae scum that forms on lakes and reservoirs.

While the County of San Diego has been battling a full-scale war on blue-green algae at Lindo Lake County Park in Santee, East County Magazine has received inquiries from readers who spotted algae scum at Lake Morena and voiced concerns.

By Gig Conaughton, County of San Diego Communications Office

August 27, 2018 (San Diego) - It hasn’t shown up here in San Diego County yet, but County Agriculture, Weights and Measures officials are urging backyard bird owners to be on the lookout for a highly contagious bird-killing disease: virulent Newcastle disease.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo, left:  Author and historian James D. Newland with his book, Grossmont Hospital: A Legacy of Community Service

August 19, 2018 (La Mesa)—Author and historian James D. Newland’s latest book, Grossmont Hospital: A Legacy of Community Service, provides a fascinating look into the colorful history of East County as well as the hospital itself and the evolution of healthcare in our region.

Newland was honored Thursday at the Grossmont Healthcare District headquarters with a reception attended by the district’s board of directors and community VIPs. Following appetizers and brews served up by Burning Beard brewery, the district’s CEO Barry Jantz and board president Michael Emerson gave welcoming remarks. 

Newland signed copies of his book, noting that the biggest challenge in its creation was handling the controversy over the hospital merging with Sharp Healthcare, a move that kept East County’s major hospital financially viable at a time when rising costs drove some other healthcare facilities under.

By  Dilkhwaz Ahmed

Jonathan Goetz and Nital Meshkoor contributed to this story

Photo: These 13 students are helping to help make America great.

August 11, 2018 (El Cajon) – Sharp Grossmont Hospital, the Grossmont Healthcare District and License to Freedom are preparing some promising young bilingual refugees in east county for nursing careers.

Thirteen high school juniors with good grades graduated earlier this month from a one-week intensive program at Sharp Grossmont Hospital. Ten of them still plan to pursue nursing as a way to help their community and the community at large.

By Miriam Raftery

August 8, 2018 (San Diego) -  A trendy snack called Dragon’s Breath is sending some consumers including teenagers to the hospital with serious burns and internal injuries, the Washington Post and other media outlets report. The snack is made from colorful cereal balls similar to Fruit Loops or other snack items drenched with liquid nitrogen, which freezes to around minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit. The Dragon’s Breath user then blows out condensed moisture that looks like smoke.  

Hospital’s newest facility named in recognition of Ed and Sandy Burr for their $5 million gift, the largest donation in the hospital’s history

Source:  Sharp Grossmont Hospital

July 30, 2018 (La Mesa) - Sharp Grossmont Hospital announced the name of the Burr Heart & Vascular Center at its ribbon-cutting ceremony and dedication on July 27th. The state-of-the-art facility is named in recognition of La Mesa residents and EDCO owners Ed and Sandy Burr, who donated $5 million dollars toward the facility, which is the largest gift ever made to the hospital.

July 25, 2018 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Reports Suggest Children Throughout China Likely Injected With Faulty Vaccines (NPR)
• Chinese Company's Flawed Vaccines Draw Anger And A Criminal Inquiry  (NPR)
• Marines Who Fired Rocket Launchers Now Worry About Their Brains (NPR)
• Pepperidge Farm recalls Goldfish crackers amid salmonella scare (NPR)
• Ticks And Lyme Disease: 3 Factors Determine Risk Of Infection  (NPR)
• Friends with Benefits: The latest research (Jewish World Review)
• Doctors Worry as Cancer Study Reveals Dark Side of Complementary Medicine (Inverse)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Adobe is using machine learning to make it easier to spot Photoshopped images (The Verge)
• Physicists Go Small: Let's Put A Particle Accelerator On A Chip (NPR)
• Migrating Arctic Geese Are Confused, Exhausted By Rising Temperatures (NPR)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.