With Veterans Day approaching, Santa Clara County is offering free health and social services to local vets this weekend. The annual Stand Down offers housing and employment assistance, medical and dental screenings, mental health resources, legal aid, groceries, clothing, showers, haircuts and hot lunches. The event kicked off Thursday at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds...
UPDATE: San Jose officials approve temporary tobacco shop ban
The San Jose City Council has enacted a temporary moratorium blocking the establishment of new tobacco shops throughout the city as officials draw up a long-term plan to regulate such businesses. Councilmembers voted unanimously Tuesday to halt the issuance of new licenses for local tobacco businesses, including retailers, smoke shops and smoking lounges. The 45-day...
Santa Clara County Black infant program shuffle stirs concerns
The reassignment of a trusted doctor out of Santa Clara County’s Black Infant Health Program has sparked concern for future efforts combating baby mortality. It’s also exposing the tense balancing act of absorbing a massive county budget hole without cutting services. County officials are moving Dr. Beverley White-Macklin, who has for decades developed a program...
South County school district backs ultraprocessed food ban
Associated Press health writer JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California, contributed. California will phase out certain ultraprocessed foods from school meals over the next decade under a first-in-the-nation law signed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The law seeks to define ultraprocessed foods, the often super-tasty products typically full of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. The legislation...
Silicon Valley hospital workers train for Super Bowl threats
San Jose hospital workers scramble into hazmat suits. Others carry stretchers through disoriented crowds into bright yellow tents, where they prep a decontamination process for people critically injured by a chemical bomb. That was the scene for three hours Thursday at O’Connor Hospital, where health care workers ran a mass casualty drill in the rain....
Santa Clara County closes homeless housing and treatment gap
Santa Clara County and San Jose leaders are turning a page in their fraught relationship — vowing to bring more county behavioral health workers into city-run shelters and close gaps in placing the city’s homeless residents into housing. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a new partnership announced Friday by San...
East San Jose hospital back online for trauma patients
Workers at Regional Medical Center’s trauma unit routinely cut car crash victims out of their clothes, replace blood as it sprays from torn aortas and hold pelvic bones together as they pass along instructions over the yelling of suffering patients. Commotion and stress aren’t exactly positive features of most workplaces. But for an East San...
Silicon Valley officials target mental health efforts at homeless shelters
Two local elected leaders are teaming up on a plan to bring behavioral health workers directly to homeless residents living in shelters. District 2 Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong unveiled her proposal alongside San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan on Friday. The plan calls for adding another team of workers from the county Valley Homeless...
Silicon Valley health care leaders say federal cuts ‘truly devastating’
Santa Clara County health care leaders weren’t shy about voicing what’s in store for the future of public health at a forum hosted by San José Spotlight, as they brace for billions in revenue cuts. Editor Moryt Milo, who moderated the Sept. 17 State of Health Care in Silicon Valley event, questioned panelists on the ramifications...
East San Jose women can deliver babies closer to home
A profit-driven decision five years ago is about to be reversed — enabling women to once more give birth at their neighborhood hospital in East San Jose. Regional Medical Center plans to restore labor and delivery care around October 20 after joining Santa Clara County’s massive public hospital system six months ago. The obstetrics department...