Angela Hagler’s Shafter townhome, about 13 miles outside Bakersfield, includes basic household furnishings, other than a bench in the living room the 57-year-old uses to lift her 16-year-old granddaughter into a bathtub specially outfitted for amputees.
By the time a street medicine team met Alfred Flores last June along the Los Angeles River , two spider bites on his back had swollen with infection, untreated for three days.
More than five decades ago, a tragedy at a Sacramento ice cream parlor exposed a critical gap in the region’s ability to care for people suffering from severe burns. Today, that tragedy remains part of the origin story of the Firefighters Burn Institute (FFBI), a Sacramento-based organization whose work has grown into a statewide network of burn care, recovery, prevention and education.
A chronic inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease impacts millions of Black women worldwide. While symptoms usually present as digestive tract issues, there are also less common problems that arise.
Berkeley Public Health recommends families catch up on immunizations before the new school year begins
A 2026 March of Dimes report finds 34.6% of U.S. counties are maternity care deserts, with at least 96 labor and delivery units closed since January 2024 — and research shows the closures fall hardest on hospitals serving Medicaid patients and Black families, including in Kern County and the Antelope Valley.
On Saturday, July 25, South Los Angeles families gathered in Leimert Park to receive free diapers, food, and specialized health resources. Organizers said the turnout highlighted the economic strain on households raising children with developmental disabilities.
News You Might Have Missed
Kris Benz, a disabled Black veteran, is no stranger to cancer. In 2012, he was diagnosed with salivary duct carcinoma, a cancer so rare it strikes only about 1 in a million people each year.” But he beat it after six weeks of radiation and removal of his right salivary gland.
The next foodborne illness outbreak could be much worse. That’s the concern of food safety leaders across the U.S. who are raising alarms over federal cuts they say have made it harder to detect and stop the spread of foodborne illnesses, such as the recent outbreaks of cyclospora, which has sickened thousands in dozens of states. And they’re especially worried the next pathogen will be much more deadly.
Across the United States, Black parents experience infant loss at rates twice as high as their white counterparts. In California, Black infants die at nearly three times the rate of white babies, a disparity that persists in Kern County, where socioeconomic challenges leave infants dying at triple the rate of white babies as well.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Clinica Sierra Vista is preparing to open a new behavioral health center in southwest Bakersfield on Monday, Aug. 3, as part of
As Earl Williams drove through a historic Black neighborhood known as Dewey City in his hometown, he hardly recognized what he saw.
Health care providers such as Planned Parenthood and similar clinics are once again eligible to receive Medicaid reimbursements, allowing low-income patients to resume receiving routine care at those facilities in states that permit the payments.
Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced $109.6 million in Proposition 1 funding to create 278 permanent supportive homes in Bakersfield, Contra Costa County, Sacramento and Fresno, including 103 homes reserved for veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
For much of the developed world, childbirth has become safer with each passing generation. Medical advances, better prenatal care, and stronger public health systems have dramatically reduced the chances that bringing a child into the world would cost a woman her life.
Two of Kern County’s largest hospital systems are cutting jobs this summer, even as local health officials continue to describe Kern as a region starved for medical professionals.
News You Might Have Missed
California’s homelessness crisis is increasingly becoming an aging crisis, as a growing number of older adults experience housing instability at a stage of life when health challenges, fixed incomes and mobility limitations can make finding stability far more difficult.
For many diabetes patients, amputation becomes a last-resort measure after infections, ulcers, or poor circulation worsen rapidly and leave few other treatment options.
