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Sonoma County appoints former state public health director as interim health officer

in Health

A former director of the California Department of Public Health has been named Sonoma County’s interim health officer and is expected to serve while a national search for a permanent replacement is conducted.

Dr. Karen Smith, who headed the state public health agency from 2015 to 2019, also previously served as Napa County’s health officer and deputy director of that county’s Health & Human Services Agency.

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Sonoma County Hosting Health Resource Fair

in Community/Health

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Sonoma County announced is hosting a Health Resource Fair in partnership with local health care providers and community organizations Saturday, April 8, at Mitote Food Park, 635 Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa.

The Health Resource Fair, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will provide support, information and resources concerning a variety of health and safety issues, including COVID-19, women’s health, nutrition, diabetes, poison control, tobacco use and disaster preparedness.

The fair is free to the public and visitors can receive services such as blood pressure and random glucose screening, acupuncture, as well as assistance signing up for Medi-Cal, MediCare and CalFresh. COVID-19 at-home tests will be distributed by the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, however, no vaccine shots will be available.

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Sonoma County volunteer opportunities

Alzheimer’s Association Join the Walk To End Alzheimer’s volunteer committee The Alzheimer’s Association is looking for volunteers to help promote

North Bay health advocates tackle wide range of wellness obstacles

in Health

In Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties, there are a number of nonprofits and agencies providing valuable wellness services, but it can be difficult to know where to look. Below are a number of agencies that are tackling different health-related challenges in the community and updates from some of their leaders on what kinds of problems they’re seeing facing the older populations they serve in the North Bay.

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Sonoma County child care advocates eye new local sales tax measure

in Health
Teacher Alondra Ortega, second from right, comforts Leonardo Ramirez, 4, while the other students seek safety on a table while playing Òhot lavaÓ at the North Bay ChildrenÕs Center in Healdsburg on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. (Photo by John Burgess/The Press Democrat

Years of wildfires, floods and the COVID-19 pandemic have raised the obstacles facing Sonoma County’s dwindling child care providers, but a new political coalition is aiming to boost the shorthanded network via a new tax measure.

Our Kids Our Future, a Santa Rosa-based campaign that formed in July 2021, is leading a push to put a quarter-cent, countywide sales tax on the ballot in November.

Revenue from the tax, which the group projects to be $22 million annually, will go towards easing access to child care and child health care, both critical issues well before the pandemic.

“The need is pretty universal, it doesn’t matter if you have kids or not,” said Ananda Sweet, Our Kids Our Future’s board president. “Even if you can afford child care, child care is still really hard to find, there’s an access issue.”

The county has 490 operating child care facilities, down 21% from before the pandemic. It has lost 52% of available child care slots, however, since March 2020, according to Melanie Dodson, executive director at the Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County (4Cs), a nonprofit that offers early childhood services for families and tracks local industry data.

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COVID: Vaccine Mandate Protesters Disrupt Healdsburg Council Meeting, Force Members To Meet Virtually

in People

HEALDSBURG (BCN) – The Healdsburg City Council was forced to hold its meeting virtually Monday after a group of protesters against COVID-19 vaccination requirements entered the council’s chambers.

The crowd of protesters banged on thewindows of Healdsburg City Hall prior to entering the chambers, at which point city officials decided to hold the meeting virtually in the interest of security.

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How To Get An Affordable Flu Shot In California

in Health

With the start of fall, flu season has officially arrived. Up to 20 percent of Americans come down with the flu each year with varying symptoms. Thankfully, there are several things you can do to help protect yourself against this contagious respiratory illness. One way to lessen your chances of contracting a serious case of the flu is by getting the flu vaccine (also known as the flu shot).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends an annual flu vaccine for those 6 months and older, with few exceptions such as those with allergies to the ingredients in the vaccine or the vaccine itself. The flu shot works by giving your body the chance to build up an immune response against the flu virus by producing antibodies.

Continue reading on Patch

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Relaxed state guidelines for classroom spacing likely won’t have an immediate effect

in Schools

Relaxed state guidelines issued Saturday for California schools could mean some primary grades are back to full-time, in-person instruction before this academic year is out, Sonoma County Schools Superintendent Steve Herrington said.

That’s because the state has decided to align with guidance issued Friday by federal health officials, who now say masked students can sit safely 3 feet apart in class rather than 6 feet, the earlier recommended distance.

For California public school primary students, whose classes should be no larger than 24 students anyway, more proximal seating may allow entire classes to return at once, forgoing the divided cohorts that had been needed to allow for widely spaced students, Herrington said.

But it will still be several days before county and school officials have talked through the state’s weekend announcement and county Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase tailors recommendation for local schools, Herrington and others said Saturday.

Continue Reading on Sonoma News

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Months after fighting coronavirus, some now face heart, lung or neurological problems

in People
Daisy Martinez, a nurse at Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina, poses for a photo outside of the Marriott Hotel in Monrovia as she clutches her incentive spirometer which she uses every day to help heal her lungs after being hospitalized with COVID-19 in September, on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Martinez, who has been living at the hotel to keep her family safe as she continues to care for COVID patients, still feels the effects of the virus, which include diminished lung function and forgetfulness. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

Daisy Martinez did her best to avoid the coronavirus.

“Everyone was kind of shocked when I came down with it, because I was so protected. I always wore the PPE, washing my hands,” said Martinez, 56. “I was always doing the extra.”

But she caught the virus, as have millions of other Californians. And, like potentially hundreds of thousands of Californians, it’s with her still months later.

A registered nurse at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in West Covina, Martinez spent three months in a hotel after the coronavirus pandemic hit California to avoid bringing home the virus. Four months after she returned at her family’s request, Martinez was infected with COVID-19.

“The (chest) X-rays are scary,” she said. “It looks like ground glass. That’s COVID.”

She was only hospitalized three days at Keck Hospital of USC. But almost four months later, Martinez still hasn’t fully recovered.

Continue Reading on Mercury News

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