By Miriam Raftery

Hear our interview, originally aired on KNSJ radio, by clicking the audio link, or scroll down for highlights.

April 27, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Gloria Chadwick is a registered nurse who has worked in the Veterans Administration (VA) hospital. She's been elected to serve five terms on the Grossmont Healthcare District Board.  The first woman elected nearly 20 years ago, she's currently Vice President of the healthcare district serving East County. 

At a town hall meeting held by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine), she announced plans to challenge him for  his seat – and passed out a pill bottle with her remedy to fix Congress:  “restoring integrity, providing affordable healthcare, creating more jobs, and protecting Medicare and the rights of Veterans.”

Voters couldn’t ask for a greater contrast.  Hunter, at his town hall, said he doesn’t believe healthcare is a right, but merely believes in “access” for those with the ability to pay for it. Chadwick describes herself as a “nurse warrior” who has been a fierce advocate for her patients – and now wants to do battle for constituents across the 50^th Congressional District.  In an exclusive interview with East County Magazine aired on KNSJ, she shared her vision for reforming healthcare, strengthening services for veterans and military families, and protecting a clean, healthy environment.

April 21, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Report Shows Spike in San Diego County Babies Born with Drugs in Their Systems (KPBS)
• Lead Impacted Hundreds of San Diego Kids Even Before the Latest Scare (Voice of San Diego)
• About half of physicians support single-payer healthcare system, LinkedIn survey says (Healthcare Finance)
• What Doesn't Kill You Can Maim: Unexpected Injuries from Opioids (NPR)
• What Happens to a Congressman's Health Insurance if Obamacare Goes Down? (NPR)

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• How a melting Arctic changes everything (Bloomberg)
• The fingerprint sensor on your smartphone might not be foolproof (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• ‘Star Wars’-style desert moisture farming: New tech brings it a step closer (CS Monitor)
• Electric Concrete at Airports Could Save Us All from Winter Flight Delays (Travel and Leisure)

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

East County News Service

April 18, 2017 (La Mesa) – The Grossmont Healthcare District’s Dr. William C. Herrick Community Health Care Library, 9001 Wakarusa St. in La Mesa, will host “The Gift of My Life,” a free program on advance healthcare planning, from 10 to 11 a.m., Wednesday, April 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.

East County News Service

April 14, 2017 (Sacramento) -- In an interview this week with the Wall Street Journal this week, President Trump suggested he would hold hostage the cost-sharing subsidies that make it possible for low-income Americans to afford to seek medical care when they need it.

East County News Service

April 8, 2017 (Sacramento) -- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with 15 fellow attorneys general, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio et al v. Hodges before the Sixth Circuit United States Court of Appeals on Thursday. The amicus brief defends a woman's right to access essential healthcare services, including reproductive health services, and a qualified healthcare provider's right to participate in offering publicly-funded health services to all people.

East County News Service

April 7, 2017 (Washington, D.C.) - As President Trump calls for dramatic cuts to life-saving medical research, Congresswoman Susan Davis (CA-53) led a bipartisan group of House members in an effort to increase the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Davis’s letter to House appropriators urges $36 billion for medical research and was signed by 206 members of the House. Trump is proposing a nearly 20 percent cut in NIH funding.

East County News Service

April 4, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – The U.S. Food & Drug Administration announced that 13 lots of Mylan’s EpiPen and EpiPen Jr. are being voluntarily recalled. EpiPen injections provide emergency does of epinephrine to treat life-threatening allergic reactions.

East County News Service

March 30, 2017 (Sacramento) — Today, Senators Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) released details about their landmark Healthy California Act (Senate Bill 562) to create universal health coverage for every California resident.

East County News Service

March 29, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting-edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Going under the knife, with eyes and ears wide open (New York Times)
• Class of antibiotics gets stronger warning due to dangerous side effects (CBS)
• Measles outbreak across Europe (BBC)
• March Madness Vasectomies Encourage Guys to Take One for the Team (NPR)
• The U.S. Can't Really Know if Farmers are Cutting Back on Antibiotics, GAO Says (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Spinach Leaf Transformed into Beating Human Heart Tissue (National Geographic)
• I am an arctic researcher. Donald Trump is deleting my citations.(The Guardian)
• Uber suspends self-driving car program after Arizona crash (Reuters)
• Tesla to take orders for solar roof tiles starting April (Reuters)
• British kid finds NASA mistake: when too many cooks don't spoil anything (CS Monitor)
• How a massive New Zealand earthquake broke the rules (CS Monitor)
• Growing fabric (Video: Bright Vibes)

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

East County News Service

March 27, 2017 (Lakeside) -- If you’re a senior citizen baffled by all those high-tech gadgets, now there’s a solution for you. The County’s Mobile Tech Lab is coming to Lakeside’s Community Center (9841 Vine St.) on March 31^st from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Tweet sent by ex-Bush White House lawyer Richard Painter, showing all-male White Hosue meeting at which vital healthcare benefits for women were stripped from the bill.  Painter says the bill made "Trumpcare even worse."  But Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) says it will "save America."

March 24, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – President Trump has demanded that the House of Representatives hold an up-or-down vote today on Republican’s American Health Care Act , stating that if it does not pass, the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare) will remain in place and he will move on to other priorities such as trade reforms.

Lacking enough votes for passage,  Republicans held a closed-door meeting last night on a hastily-revised version of their original plan to woo conservatives with changes such as taking away healthcare coverage for pregnant women and repealing new taxes sooner. The new version  is still estimated to result in 24 million people losing healthcare, but would reduce the deficit by only $150 billion, not the $337 billion in the original bill, according to a revised Congressional Budget Office report.

Healthcare  amendments added to woo the most conservative members of Congress all weaken existing protections.  According to a Washington Post story those stories include:

East County News Service

March 22, 2017 (Santee) – To commemorate Tuesday, March 28 as the American Diabetes Association’s “Alert Day,” the nine Chick-fil-A restaurants in San Diego County, including the Chick-fil-A restaurant at 9418 Mission Gorge Road, Santee, will giveaway free food to customers who find out their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

East County News Service

March 21, 2017 (Julian) - Julian High School will host a mobile blood drive with the San Diego Blood Bank on Saturday, April 1 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The school is located at 1656 Highway in Julian; the blood drive will be in the parking lot.

About 1 in 7 people entering a hospital need blood. One pint of blood, which is the amount volunteers give when they donate blood, can save up to three lives. Approximately, 38% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood but less than 10% do annually. Since blood is always needed, volunteers are asked to give blood for patients, such as those going through cancer or trauma.

By Miriam Raftery

March 20, 2017 (San Diego) – President Donald Trump’s budget proposes to slash 20% of funding to the National Institute of Health.  California received $3.69 billion in NIH grants in the last fiscal year, so such deep cuts could put key research projects at risk.  Medical research leaders nationally and locally warn that the cuts will eliminate many California jobs and threaten research to find new treatments and cures for medical conditions.

East County News Service

March 17, 2017 (La Mesa) – The Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD), a public agency that supports various health-related community programs and services in San Diego’s East County region, awarded $88,500 in scholarships to 39 high school students who have expressed interest in a career as a healthcare professional. The scholarships were presented at the GHD board meeting on Friday, March 17.