As Hepatitis A outbreaks have appeared among homeless residents elsewhere in the state, San Francisco is ramping up efforts to prevent an outbreak here by offering free vaccines to the homeless, as well as pop-up clinics and more outreach in camps this month. Jesse Ballinger-Wydle, a homeless veteran living in SOMA, said he was unaware of the outbreak until health...
Contractors began installing a permanent fence around the perimeter of McCoppin Hub last week, enacting plans, which date back to 2015, to close the public plaza at night. The fence is meant to put an end to the homeless population’s use of the hub for sleeping and alleged drug use by making it accessible during daytime hours only – a...
Half of the patients seen at San Francisco General Hospital’s Trauma Center are there because they were injured in traffic collisions, according to San Franscisco’s Department of Public Health. Trauma surgeons respond to a serious traffic injury about every 17 hours. Treating such injuries costs about $35 million annually. To shed light on the trauma and cost of traffic injuries...
See update below. One of a handful of youth clinics serving the Mission, Bayview, Excelsior, and Visitacion Valley communities will be shut down by the end of April, a move decried by school nurses who say it leaves young women and men of color without easy access to birth control, testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and reproductive health...
The Mission has been identified as one of 20 areas city-wide with unhealthy minority populations in a new program by the Department of Public Health that aims to link residents with free exercise opportunities to improve their cardiovascular health. “The main goal is to address health inequities…for African-Americans and Latinos that live in [areas] where at least 30 percent of...
The latest tool to help the homeless? Gift cards. HandUp, a public benefit corportation that helps homeless people pay for things they need by creating an online account for them that donors can contribute to and check progress on, has designed gift cards that can eventually be redeemed for everything from clothes to food to bus passes. The cards also get...
The Mission’s first store selling only e-cigarettes, the Vapory Shop, greeted customers with the scent of fresh cedar walls when it opened this month at Folsom and 23rd streets. Exposed Edison bulbs hang over gleaming glass cases. The place feels less like the neon-lit stores peddling bongs and hookahs along Mission Street than an upscale watch shop. The futuristic e-cigarettes...
When Mark Morey wanted to know how often people were speeding past his South Van Ness home, he didn’t rely on mere estimates. The 49-year-old Mission resident equipped himself with a cheap radar gun, posted up near a few busy intersections, and took aim. “Almost everyone who drives down that street is driving too fast,” said Morey. “And anyone who...
Entering Clarion Alley off of Valencia Street ensures that you will come face to face with the Grim Reaper. In his shadow is a reclining woman surrounded by a cache of pills, needles and booze. She’s in the midst of an overdose, about to be saved by a yellow-clad superhero named Narcania who injects her with a syringe of Narcan....
“Bedbugs suck” was the mantra on the steps of City Hall Thursday, where District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim presented new legislation to help the Department of Public Health cope with the city’s bedbug problem. Kim said that when she first began campaigning for supervisor two years ago and was going door-to-door to speak to potential constituents, one of the most...
The owners of Elsy’s Restaurant on Mission Street have faced their share of roadblocks to operate in San Francisco. For reasons that are still unclear, the San Francisco Planning Department delayed Elsy’s opening for eight months in 2006. In 2008, a corrupt restaurant inspector asked them for money in exchange for a food handler’s certificate. The inspector was later fired...
The San Francisco Department of Public Health went over proposed bed bug regulations at a public meeting Thursday and invited the community to weigh in. Most people in attendance seemed to like the changes but a few said that some questions still need to be answered. Richard May of Bedbug Working Group, whose members include tenants, property managers, and community...
If they say something like “I was sleepy, so I smoked crack” you can say, “Well, let’s lower your dosage and see if that makes you less sleepy.” You have to be non-judgmental, and you have to know what questions to ask. En Español
"If you don't have canine to canine tooth coverage, it's hard to get a job even as a line cook at McDonalds," says Carolyn Brown, General Director of the Native American Health Center. En Español
