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"content": "\u003cp>Many parents share photos and videos of children on social media: birth announcements, making (an adorable) mess at the dinner table, and milestones like a first step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are potential dangers to constantly posting about your child online, says \u003ca href=\"https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/leah-a-plunkett/\">Leah Plunkett\u003c/a>, a faculty member at Harvard Law School who specializes in children, family law and technology. In Plunkett’s 2019 book \u003ca href=\"https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262539630/sharenthood/\">\u003cem>Sharenthood: Why We Should Think Before We Talk About Our Kids Online\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, she explains how adults can put children’s privacy and personal data at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This phenomenon is called “sharenting,” says Plunkett. Legal scholars in her field use the term — a portmanteau of “sharing” and “parenting” — to describe “all the ways that parents, aunts, uncles, teachers, coaches and other trusted adults in a kiddo’s life transmit children’s private information digitally.” It can make kids vulnerable to identity theft and harassment. And as they grow older, it may undercut their ability to tell their own story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plunkett talks to Life Kit about the different harms of oversharing, how to post information about your kid safely, and how to talk to loved ones about your limits. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Parents share a surprising amount of data about their kids online. A birthday photo, for example, can reveal a kid’s name, age and date of birth. What are some of the privacy concerns around that? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a thriving black market for personally identifiable information. Kids’ Social Security numbers, when combined with date of birth, name and address, are often good targets for identity theft. Most minors don’t have credit attached to their Social Security numbers, so [someone may be able to use them to] open fraudulent lines of credit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Creditors don’t verify the age of applicants, so a bad actor \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://dos.ny.gov/what-you-should-know-about-child-identity-theft\">\u003cstrong>could potentially open a credit card without anyone noticing\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong> until the kid becomes an adult and wants a card of their own. What are some other security risks?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are tragic cases of stalking, bullying and harassment. They are rare, but they do happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So someone could use social media to figure out where your kid lives, goes to school and their patterns and routines. They could also learn about their likes and dislikes and insidiously use them.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other people don’t need to have information about the ins and outs of your child’s emotional and personal life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/05/16/sol-cotti-x-npr---sharenting_spot_sq-74ba89c1984245f8b913c0129f8f1c39b7fc86cb.jpg?s=1200&c=75&f=jpeg\">\u003cfigcaption>\u003ccite> (Sol Cotti for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You write in your book that children’s data is a form of currency. And there’s the adage that if a product is free, \u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>you\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> are the product. What should adults think about when giving a company their child’s data? Or when reading the fine print on a social media platform?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents should be aware that they’re not going to know at the moment where a piece of information, photo or video, might go. When we click “I accept,” those agreements give companies and third parties a lot of latitude about what they can do with your data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After my book came out, \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> ran a big investigative piece about how social media photos of toddlers and young children had been surreptitiously \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/11/technology/flickr-facial-recognition.html\">used to train facial recognition software\u003c/a>. That’s one of many examples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, at some point down the road, maybe somebody makes a decision about your child based on the stuff you’ve put out about them — how your child is doing at school, how they’re moving through the world. Maybe that is an individual human decision-maker. Maybe that is an algorithmically driven data analysis product.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And when you mean decision-makers, that could be a university recruiter or a hiring manager. And that may affect your child’s ability to tell their own story. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To themselves or others in the future. If the world is figuring out significant things about who they are online and making projections about who they’re going to be, it can undercut their ability to figure that out for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reading your book, it’s clear you’re not like a Luddite. You have kids, but you haven’t sworn off social media. How do you avoid oversharing the digital realm?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since I started researching this topic, I adjusted my compass to be very minimalist. I pretty much never post my kids on social media. If I do, you don’t see their faces or anything that would identify them. I don’t use full names. I don’t celebrate their birthday on social media. I don’t show the kids standing in front of where they go to school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I follow a “holiday card-or-less” rule of thumb when sharing on social media: updates you’d be comfortable with anyone, from your great aunt to your boss, seeing. Information that’s not going to embarrass anybody and isn’t particularly private.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Personally, my wife and I are pretty tight about the pictures we share of our child. How do we prevent other people, like family and friends, from taking photos of them at, say, a baptism or a birthday party and posting it online? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For something like a baptism or another rite of passage, it’s probably impossible to get everyone to not celebrate their joy and pride by taking out a phone. But it is OK to make a gentle request. You might say: \u003cem>Thank you so much for being in this moment with us. To be in the moment, we would request that you refrain from pictures or videos\u003c/em>. [aside postID=news_11985949 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134775174210-1020x680.jpg']Some people will listen, some people won’t. Then, make the call about whether or not it matters enough to you to follow up privately with the people who you see taking pictures and videos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you model digital consent with your kids?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conversation starts with very young kids. Explain what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and where the image or video is going. You might say something like, “Hey, we’re having a really great meal. We’re using a recipe your grandfather sent us. I’m going to take a picture for him. Everybody smile for Grandpa.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You could also ask your kid at a pretty young age, “Are you OK with taking a photo? Anyone not feeling up for it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What questions should parents ask themselves before they hit post?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Are you posting a picture of your child in any state of undress? If you are, please don’t post it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Are you sharing your child’s location, full name or date of birth? If you are, think about whether that level of detail is necessary for your post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If your parents shared a similar post about you at this age, how would you have felt about it? If the answer is that it would have bothered you, take another minute to think about what you need from this post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What advice do you have for parents who often share photos and videos of their children and their lives on social media? Is it too late for them? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I had the same reaction when I started researching all of this, and I’m here to tell you, take a deep breath. Don’t panic. If you want to change, go back over your social media posts and take down what you’re not so sure about. Then, make your settings private.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Please don’t be hard on yourselves. Since the dawn of time, parents have been making the best choices they can at any given moment, and then later being like, maybe I’ll do that differently going forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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Most minors don’t have credit attached to their Social Security numbers, so [someone may be able to use them to] open fraudulent lines of credit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Creditors don’t verify the age of applicants, so a bad actor \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://dos.ny.gov/what-you-should-know-about-child-identity-theft\">\u003cstrong>could potentially open a credit card without anyone noticing\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cstrong> until the kid becomes an adult and wants a card of their own. What are some other security risks?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are tragic cases of stalking, bullying and harassment. They are rare, but they do happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So someone could use social media to figure out where your kid lives, goes to school and their patterns and routines. They could also learn about their likes and dislikes and insidiously use them.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other people don’t need to have information about the ins and outs of your child’s emotional and personal life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/05/16/sol-cotti-x-npr---sharenting_spot_sq-74ba89c1984245f8b913c0129f8f1c39b7fc86cb.jpg?s=1200&c=75&f=jpeg\">\u003cfigcaption>\u003ccite> (Sol Cotti for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You write in your book that children’s data is a form of currency. And there’s the adage that if a product is free, \u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>you\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003cstrong> are the product. What should adults think about when giving a company their child’s data? Or when reading the fine print on a social media platform?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents should be aware that they’re not going to know at the moment where a piece of information, photo or video, might go. When we click “I accept,” those agreements give companies and third parties a lot of latitude about what they can do with your data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After my book came out, \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> ran a big investigative piece about how social media photos of toddlers and young children had been surreptitiously \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/11/technology/flickr-facial-recognition.html\">used to train facial recognition software\u003c/a>. That’s one of many examples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, at some point down the road, maybe somebody makes a decision about your child based on the stuff you’ve put out about them — how your child is doing at school, how they’re moving through the world. Maybe that is an individual human decision-maker. Maybe that is an algorithmically driven data analysis product.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And when you mean decision-makers, that could be a university recruiter or a hiring manager. And that may affect your child’s ability to tell their own story. \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To themselves or others in the future. If the world is figuring out significant things about who they are online and making projections about who they’re going to be, it can undercut their ability to figure that out for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reading your book, it’s clear you’re not like a Luddite. You have kids, but you haven’t sworn off social media. How do you avoid oversharing the digital realm?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since I started researching this topic, I adjusted my compass to be very minimalist. I pretty much never post my kids on social media. If I do, you don’t see their faces or anything that would identify them. I don’t use full names. I don’t celebrate their birthday on social media. I don’t show the kids standing in front of where they go to school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I follow a “holiday card-or-less” rule of thumb when sharing on social media: updates you’d be comfortable with anyone, from your great aunt to your boss, seeing. Information that’s not going to embarrass anybody and isn’t particularly private.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Personally, my wife and I are pretty tight about the pictures we share of our child. How do we prevent other people, like family and friends, from taking photos of them at, say, a baptism or a birthday party and posting it online? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For something like a baptism or another rite of passage, it’s probably impossible to get everyone to not celebrate their joy and pride by taking out a phone. But it is OK to make a gentle request. You might say: \u003cem>Thank you so much for being in this moment with us. To be in the moment, we would request that you refrain from pictures or videos\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Some people will listen, some people won’t. Then, make the call about whether or not it matters enough to you to follow up privately with the people who you see taking pictures and videos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you model digital consent with your kids?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conversation starts with very young kids. Explain what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and where the image or video is going. You might say something like, “Hey, we’re having a really great meal. We’re using a recipe your grandfather sent us. I’m going to take a picture for him. Everybody smile for Grandpa.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You could also ask your kid at a pretty young age, “Are you OK with taking a photo? Anyone not feeling up for it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What questions should parents ask themselves before they hit post?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Are you posting a picture of your child in any state of undress? If you are, please don’t post it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Are you sharing your child’s location, full name or date of birth? If you are, think about whether that level of detail is necessary for your post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If your parents shared a similar post about you at this age, how would you have felt about it? If the answer is that it would have bothered you, take another minute to think about what you need from this post.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What advice do you have for parents who often share photos and videos of their children and their lives on social media? Is it too late for them? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I had the same reaction when I started researching all of this, and I’m here to tell you, take a deep breath. Don’t panic. If you want to change, go back over your social media posts and take down what you’re not so sure about. Then, make your settings private.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Please don’t be hard on yourselves. Since the dawn of time, parents have been making the best choices they can at any given moment, and then later being like, maybe I’ll do that differently going forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3:10 p.m. Friday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of South Bay leaders, healthcare workers and patient advocates is calling on California Attorney General Rob Bonta to intervene in the planned closure of the only trauma center on the east side of Santa Clara County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plans by Regional Medical Center of San Jose to shutter its trauma center, eliminate its serious heart attack treatment services and downgrade its stroke services are discriminatory and will harm the health outcomes of some of the most marginalized people in the community, according to the coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter sent to Bonta this week, Darcie Green, head of health nonprofit Latinas Contra Cancer, and Maria Noel Fernandez, the head of labor and equity group Working Partnerships USA, said the cuts will “inevitably” lead to an increase in deaths “predominantly affecting the working poor and communities of color.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The proposed downgrade in services will require these patients with the most critical health care needs to be transported further distances, resulting in significant delays in the provision of life-saving care,” the letter reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hospital, owned by for-profit Hospital Corporation of America, or HCA, announced its intentions in a short statement in February, citing a “decline in utilization” over the last several years of its Level II Trauma Center services and its ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) program, which handles severe heart attacks, though it didn’t provide specific numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It did not elaborate on the decision to downgrade its stroke services from the “comprehensive” level, which can care for all types of stroke patients and has 24/7 availability for complex neurosurgery, to “primary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cuts are scheduled to take effect on Aug. 12. They would come roughly four years after Regional Medical Center closed its labor and delivery unit as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the letter to Bonta, Green and Fernandez said HCA has a track record of making decisions prioritizing profits over people, resulting in discriminatory impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If HCA healthcare is allowed to continue to increase their profits on the backs of our loved ones with the most critical health needs and proceed with these closures, we will all be less healthy and we will all be less safe,” Green said Friday during a rally outside the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez and San Jose Councilmember Peter Ortiz also gathered at the rally, along with Dr. Raj Gupta, the director of stroke and neuroscience services at Regional Medical Center, to highlight these concerns and ask Bonta to step in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If in fact what they’re doing is not against the law, then the next thing we should be thinking about is how to make it against the law to literally put lives on the line or lives at risk,” Chavez said of HCA’s actions. “Frankly, they have been doing it in our community for so long that I have very little trust that HCA will do the right thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987728\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11987728 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez speaks during a rally outside of Regional Medical Center in East San José on May 24. Chavez and others called on Attorney General Rob Bonta to halt service cuts planned by the hospital’s ownership. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chavez called attention to the disparities in healthcare and hospital service between East San Jose and the west side of the city. HCA is planning a major expansion and remodel of its Good Samaritan Hospital near the Cambrian Park neighborhood, while cutting critical services at Regional Medical Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, HCA spokesperson Jack Finn said Regional Medical Center is “disappointed by the actions” of Chavez and Ortiz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact is, we are responding to the patient care needs of our community so we can continue to care for our community’s health for the long term,” Finn said. He added that Regional has invested $186 million over a decade in emergency services, and intends to invest $10 million this year to grow its emergency department capacity from 43 beds to 63.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a brief interview, Finn said the medical staff at the hospital is “not going to be distracted by outside noise” as they go about their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"more health coverage\" tag=\"health\"]Meanwhile, Dr. Gupta, part of the medical staff at HCA, said it’s “irresponsible and shameful” to cut services at Regional Medical Center, and the decision will add pressure to the rest of the healthcare system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Valley Medical Center will feel the heat. Good Samaritan will feel the heat. All other hospitals. “We are opposing it because we do believe in the first rule in medicine, do no harm,” Gupta said at the rally. “And this action will harm our patients, our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because Regional Medical Center was previously a nonprofit hospital before being purchased by HCA in 2002, local officials say Bonta has the authority to stop discriminatory service cuts. They cited similar actions by North Carolina’s attorney general, who sued HCA last year for “not providing the quality, consistent emergency and cancer care” it committed to offering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A county report last month said that the Regional Medical Center is the primary destination for one in four stroke patients transported by ambulance in the region, and it serves 65% of stroke patients in the county with no insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its trauma center sees an average of 2,450 patients annually, about a quarter of all trauma cases in the county. If the closure were to proceed, such patients would have to be transported to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, run by the county, or Stanford Hospital, which would have a “negative cascading effect” on the county healthcare system, officials said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hospital, owned by for-profit Hospital Corporation of America, or HCA, announced its intentions in a short statement in February, citing a “decline in utilization” over the last several years of its Level II Trauma Center services and its ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) program, which handles severe heart attacks, though it didn’t provide specific numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It did not elaborate on the decision to downgrade its stroke services from the “comprehensive” level, which can care for all types of stroke patients and has 24/7 availability for complex neurosurgery, to “primary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cuts are scheduled to take effect on Aug. 12. They would come roughly four years after Regional Medical Center closed its labor and delivery unit as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the letter to Bonta, Green and Fernandez said HCA has a track record of making decisions prioritizing profits over people, resulting in discriminatory impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If HCA healthcare is allowed to continue to increase their profits on the backs of our loved ones with the most critical health needs and proceed with these closures, we will all be less healthy and we will all be less safe,” Green said Friday during a rally outside the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez and San Jose Councilmember Peter Ortiz also gathered at the rally, along with Dr. Raj Gupta, the director of stroke and neuroscience services at Regional Medical Center, to highlight these concerns and ask Bonta to step in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If in fact what they’re doing is not against the law, then the next thing we should be thinking about is how to make it against the law to literally put lives on the line or lives at risk,” Chavez said of HCA’s actions. “Frankly, they have been doing it in our community for so long that I have very little trust that HCA will do the right thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987728\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11987728 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240524-REGIONALMEDICAL-JG-6_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez speaks during a rally outside of Regional Medical Center in East San José on May 24. Chavez and others called on Attorney General Rob Bonta to halt service cuts planned by the hospital’s ownership. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chavez called attention to the disparities in healthcare and hospital service between East San Jose and the west side of the city. HCA is planning a major expansion and remodel of its Good Samaritan Hospital near the Cambrian Park neighborhood, while cutting critical services at Regional Medical Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, HCA spokesperson Jack Finn said Regional Medical Center is “disappointed by the actions” of Chavez and Ortiz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact is, we are responding to the patient care needs of our community so we can continue to care for our community’s health for the long term,” Finn said. He added that Regional has invested $186 million over a decade in emergency services, and intends to invest $10 million this year to grow its emergency department capacity from 43 beds to 63.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a brief interview, Finn said the medical staff at the hospital is “not going to be distracted by outside noise” as they go about their work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Meanwhile, Dr. Gupta, part of the medical staff at HCA, said it’s “irresponsible and shameful” to cut services at Regional Medical Center, and the decision will add pressure to the rest of the healthcare system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Valley Medical Center will feel the heat. Good Samaritan will feel the heat. All other hospitals. “We are opposing it because we do believe in the first rule in medicine, do no harm,” Gupta said at the rally. “And this action will harm our patients, our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because Regional Medical Center was previously a nonprofit hospital before being purchased by HCA in 2002, local officials say Bonta has the authority to stop discriminatory service cuts. They cited similar actions by North Carolina’s attorney general, who sued HCA last year for “not providing the quality, consistent emergency and cancer care” it committed to offering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A county report last month said that the Regional Medical Center is the primary destination for one in four stroke patients transported by ambulance in the region, and it serves 65% of stroke patients in the county with no insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its trauma center sees an average of 2,450 patients annually, about a quarter of all trauma cases in the county. If the closure were to proceed, such patients would have to be transported to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, run by the county, or Stanford Hospital, which would have a “negative cascading effect” on the county healthcare system, officials said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Drowning deaths in the U.S. were on the decline for decades, but a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that fatalities have been increasing since 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While it’s not exactly clear what’s causing the spike, public health experts believe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could be at least partly to blame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adam Katchmarchi, CEO of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA), said there were signs recently that fatal drownings were increasing, but the national figures were stark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shocking, to say the least, that we have seen these dramatic increases,” Katchmarchi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7320e1.htm?s_cid=mm7320e1_w#T1_down\">CDC report\u003c/a>, there were around 4,000 accidental drowning deaths in the U.S. in 2019. That jumped to more than 4,500 fatalities annually in 2020, 2021 and 2022 — roughly a 10% increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>During the pandemic, public pools closed and lifeguards went home\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The reasons for the increase in drowning deaths aren’t known for certain, but public health officials say the lockdowns and closures related to the pandemic affected how people interacted with the water recreationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDC Division of Injury Prevention health scientist Tessa Clemens, the lead author of the report, said in a follow-up email to NPR that the causes behind the increase in fatalities were “likely complex.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“However, we know that many public pools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which limited the availability of swimming lessons,” Clemens said. “Once pools reopened, many facilities faced shortages of trained swimming instructors and lifeguards, which further reduced availability of swimming lessons and safe swimming areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Ramos, an associate professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health, agreed that changes to daily life over the past several years likely impacted swimming safety and said that swimming education had been growing before the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Basically, the faucet was turned off,” Ramos said. “Lifeguards were not being trained. Children were not being taught swim lessons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drowning prevention experts recommend that everyone learn to swim, yet the CDC report found that an estimated 40 million American adults don’t know how. Nearly 55% have never taken a swimming lesson, which can be expensive and difficult for some people to access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramos said he hopes the country’s first national \u003ca href=\"https://www.watersafetyusa.org/uploads/7/0/6/0/70608285/usnwsap_v7.pdf\">water safety plan (PDF)\u003c/a>, which was released last year, will help reduce the number of drownings nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Young kids and older adults face the most risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For children between the ages of 1 and 4, drowning is the leading cause of death, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/drowning/index.html\">according to the CDC\u003c/a>. That age group saw a 28% increase in drowning fatalities between 2019 and 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults 65 and older experienced the second-highest rate of drowning, the report found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were also racial and ethnic disparities in drowning deaths. American Indian and Alaska Native people had the highest rate of drowning fatalities among race and ethnic groups, followed by Black people, who saw a 28% spike in deaths between 2019 and 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hopefully, this is a wake-up call to the country on a number of fronts,” Katchmarchi said. “I think most people don’t recognize sometimes the complexity of the drowning problem in the United States, but also that it is 100% preventable and it doesn’t have to be this way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How to stay safe\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the summer season approaches, drowning prevention advocates say there’s plenty you can do to reduce the risk of drowning for yourself and your loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For backyard pools, Ramos said groups should designate one non-distracted person whose sole focus is keeping an eye on the swimmers. They can wear a tag around their neck, and if they have to get up, they can give that tag to another person to ensure that someone is always paying attention to the pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not sure why we haven’t done this, but in lifeguarding, we say the lifeguard’s job is patron surveillance. That’s their No. 1 job,” Ramos said. “We need to maybe be less afraid to say that to parents and caregivers as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=forum_2010101893972 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/43/2023/08/GettyImages-1370872099-1-1020x516.jpg']Katchmarchi says other critical \u003ca href=\"https://ndpa.org/layers/\">safety measures\u003c/a> include recommendations that everyone learns how to swim and that those taking care of others know how to give CPR with rescue breaths in case of an emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pools should be equipped with fences and alarms, and swimmers should use life jackets in certain situations, including open water, the NDPA suggests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A drowning can occur in less than a minute, and prevention advocates say it may not look like what people expect from TV or the movies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s certainly not the event that we describe usually where a person is screaming and yelling and waving. That person is still what we consider a distressed swimmer,” Ramos said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They haven’t really become an active drowning victim yet because once you reach that point, it’s a very silent act. And it’s not very long after that before they’re in real trouble.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shocking, to say the least, that we have seen these dramatic increases,” Katchmarchi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7320e1.htm?s_cid=mm7320e1_w#T1_down\">CDC report\u003c/a>, there were around 4,000 accidental drowning deaths in the U.S. in 2019. That jumped to more than 4,500 fatalities annually in 2020, 2021 and 2022 — roughly a 10% increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>During the pandemic, public pools closed and lifeguards went home\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The reasons for the increase in drowning deaths aren’t known for certain, but public health officials say the lockdowns and closures related to the pandemic affected how people interacted with the water recreationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDC Division of Injury Prevention health scientist Tessa Clemens, the lead author of the report, said in a follow-up email to NPR that the causes behind the increase in fatalities were “likely complex.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“However, we know that many public pools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which limited the availability of swimming lessons,” Clemens said. “Once pools reopened, many facilities faced shortages of trained swimming instructors and lifeguards, which further reduced availability of swimming lessons and safe swimming areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bill Ramos, an associate professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health, agreed that changes to daily life over the past several years likely impacted swimming safety and said that swimming education had been growing before the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Basically, the faucet was turned off,” Ramos said. “Lifeguards were not being trained. Children were not being taught swim lessons.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drowning prevention experts recommend that everyone learn to swim, yet the CDC report found that an estimated 40 million American adults don’t know how. Nearly 55% have never taken a swimming lesson, which can be expensive and difficult for some people to access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramos said he hopes the country’s first national \u003ca href=\"https://www.watersafetyusa.org/uploads/7/0/6/0/70608285/usnwsap_v7.pdf\">water safety plan (PDF)\u003c/a>, which was released last year, will help reduce the number of drownings nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Young kids and older adults face the most risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For children between the ages of 1 and 4, drowning is the leading cause of death, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/drowning/index.html\">according to the CDC\u003c/a>. That age group saw a 28% increase in drowning fatalities between 2019 and 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults 65 and older experienced the second-highest rate of drowning, the report found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were also racial and ethnic disparities in drowning deaths. American Indian and Alaska Native people had the highest rate of drowning fatalities among race and ethnic groups, followed by Black people, who saw a 28% spike in deaths between 2019 and 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hopefully, this is a wake-up call to the country on a number of fronts,” Katchmarchi said. “I think most people don’t recognize sometimes the complexity of the drowning problem in the United States, but also that it is 100% preventable and it doesn’t have to be this way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How to stay safe\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the summer season approaches, drowning prevention advocates say there’s plenty you can do to reduce the risk of drowning for yourself and your loved ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For backyard pools, Ramos said groups should designate one non-distracted person whose sole focus is keeping an eye on the swimmers. They can wear a tag around their neck, and if they have to get up, they can give that tag to another person to ensure that someone is always paying attention to the pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not sure why we haven’t done this, but in lifeguarding, we say the lifeguard’s job is patron surveillance. That’s their No. 1 job,” Ramos said. “We need to maybe be less afraid to say that to parents and caregivers as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Katchmarchi says other critical \u003ca href=\"https://ndpa.org/layers/\">safety measures\u003c/a> include recommendations that everyone learns how to swim and that those taking care of others know how to give CPR with rescue breaths in case of an emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pools should be equipped with fences and alarms, and swimmers should use life jackets in certain situations, including open water, the NDPA suggests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A drowning can occur in less than a minute, and prevention advocates say it may not look like what people expect from TV or the movies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s certainly not the event that we describe usually where a person is screaming and yelling and waving. That person is still what we consider a distressed swimmer,” Ramos said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They haven’t really become an active drowning victim yet because once you reach that point, it’s a very silent act. And it’s not very long after that before they’re in real trouble.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Nurses at San Francisco public hospitals and clinics reached a tentative contract agreement with the city, likely averting a potential strike over staffing levels and working conditions, the health care workers’ union announced Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deal would add 47 full-time-equivalent positions to San Francisco General Hospital and other clinics, keeping wages ahead of inflation.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"health-care-workers\"]The potential contract, agreed to on Monday night, is a “huge win” and likely to be approved by union membership, said Aaron Cramer, a registered nurse who works in the cardiac catheterization lab at San Francisco General Hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the more than 2,000 nurses represented by SEIU Local 1021 at San Francisco General, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, and a number of community clinics voted 99.5% in favor of authorizing a strike if a deal wasn’t in place by the time the current contract expires June 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That vote “showed the city that we were united about what we wanted, which was safe staffing for patient care. And they heard us loud and clear,” Cramer told KQED. “They finally showed up to the bargaining table prepared to actually negotiate for what we thought was a fair deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The additional staff for “critical service areas that chronically run understaffed” will improve conditions for patients and medical workers, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This entire contract was about patient care,” Cramer said, noting that understaffing affects the time it takes nurses to complete every aspect of a patient’s care. “Especially when they’re chronically sick, patients need things now, and we want to provide it for them now. But when we’re understaffed, it’s like trying to care for someone with an arm tied behind your back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Department of Public Health, which operates the city hospitals and clinics, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A union vote to approve the contract is expected in the next two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The potential contract, agreed to on Monday night, is a “huge win” and likely to be approved by union membership, said Aaron Cramer, a registered nurse who works in the cardiac catheterization lab at San Francisco General Hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the more than 2,000 nurses represented by SEIU Local 1021 at San Francisco General, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, and a number of community clinics voted 99.5% in favor of authorizing a strike if a deal wasn’t in place by the time the current contract expires June 30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That vote “showed the city that we were united about what we wanted, which was safe staffing for patient care. And they heard us loud and clear,” Cramer told KQED. “They finally showed up to the bargaining table prepared to actually negotiate for what we thought was a fair deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The additional staff for “critical service areas that chronically run understaffed” will improve conditions for patients and medical workers, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This entire contract was about patient care,” Cramer said, noting that understaffing affects the time it takes nurses to complete every aspect of a patient’s care. “Especially when they’re chronically sick, patients need things now, and we want to provide it for them now. But when we’re understaffed, it’s like trying to care for someone with an arm tied behind your back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Department of Public Health, which operates the city hospitals and clinics, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A union vote to approve the contract is expected in the next two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/gavin-newsom/\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> is cutting it close. He signed a law last fall that phases in a $25 \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2023/12/minimum-wage-2024/\">minimum wage\u003c/a> for California’s lowest-paid health care workers beginning June 1. Then, he said he wanted to delay it because of its potential to exacerbate the severe \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/budget/\">state budget\u003c/a> shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But two weeks before the deadline for employers to start paying more to their employees, many health workers are still waiting to hear whether they will in fact see a raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some health workers remain hopeful. Others have already been notified by their employers of their upcoming raise or have already started to see increased pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom presented his latest budget proposal last week, the governor said negotiations around potential changes to the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/10/california-minimum-wage-health-care-law/\">health worker minimum wage\u003c/a> law, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB525\">Senate Bill 525\u003c/a>, are still taking place. He promised a deal between his administration, the Legislature and proponents of the law would be hashed out in the upcoming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This budget will not be signed without that deal that we committed to being addressed,” Newsom said. He usually signs a budget for the next fiscal year in late June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile the union that advocated for the health care pay increase has launched an advertising campaign that aims to hold Newsom to the law he signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One ad by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West on the \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/seiu_uhw/status/1786116278509527235?s=43\">social media site X \u003c/a>shows a dialysis worker named Alice and it reads, “The dialysis care Alice provides is lifesaving. Yet, with caregivers at her facility starting out at only $18/hr, it’s no wonder there’s a short staffing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A $25/hr minimum wage for healthcare workers will help ensure patients get the care they need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nathan Selzer, communications director for SEIU-UHW, said his union posted the messages because, “Our workers were concerned and remain concerned. What we saw in conversations earlier this year was folks really focusing only on money and only on dollars and cents, and not on what those dollars and cents are used for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SEIU-UHW is an affiliate of SEIU California, which sponsored the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We made a decision that we’ve got to make sure we’re reminding people why this was made into law to begin with,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Selzer said he is not directly involved in conversations with the governor’s office and legislators, but that confusion among many workers rings true. “We’ve heard June 1, we’ve heard July 1. It remains to be seen what actually happens here,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Deadline to postpone minimum wage hike\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What exactly is holding up the negotiations is unclear. Lawmakers and Newsom would have to pass and sign legislation that would push back the start date within two weeks to delay it effectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said he wanted to postpone the wage increase when he released his initial budget proposal in January. He asked the Legislature for an annual “trigger” that would tie the minimum wage increases to the state’s budget outlook. His administration projects the state is facing a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2024/05/california-budget-deficit-newsom-may-proposal/\">$27.6 billion deficit\u003c/a> in 2024–25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has estimated the minimum wage increase could cost the state around $4 billion a year. That’s because the state would have to pay for the wage increases for its own employees at state health facilities and because the state may be forced to increase what it reimburses facilities for services provided to patients on Medi-Cal, its insurance program for low-income people, as a way to partially cover the pay raises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The UC Berkeley Labor Center estimates the cost to the state to be much lower. Total health spending in California would increase by about $2.7 billion because of the law, but the state would be responsible only for a fraction of that, according to the Labor Center’s analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laurel Lucia, director of the Health Care Program at the Labor Center, said that there is no requirement in the law that directs the state to raise \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/medi-cal/\">Medi-Cal payments\u003c/a> to hospitals and clinics as a way to make up for the costs of higher wages, but the law could play a role in Medi-Cal rate negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the rates were set for 2024, there was recognition in \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Documents/DirectedPymts/CA-CY-2024-Rate-Certification-Report.pdf\">the (rates) report (PDF)\u003c/a> that there might need to be changes to those rates due to” the minimum wage increase, Lucia said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California hospitals, dialysis clinics raising pay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Absent any confirmed changes to the law, some employers and associations representing health employers say they are moving forward with the raises as scheduled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As far as we know, the minimum wage for health care workers will be going up as of June 1. We have no information that would indicate otherwise,” Jan Emerson-Shea, a spokesperson for the California Hospitals Association, said in an email this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11986075,news_11984163,news_11984819\"]The California Kidney Care Alliance, a trade association representing dialysis providers and clinics, said members are following the wage requirements as laid out by the law. “In fact, many providers have already increased wages well ahead of the requirements of the bill,” Jaycob Bytel, a spokesperson for the alliance, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://hcai.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB-525-Fact-Sheet-HCAI-Hospital-Lists-04_23_24.pdf\">Depending on where they work (PDF)\u003c/a>, employees are scheduled to receive from $18 to $23 an hour starting next month. That’s compared to the current statewide minimum wage of $16.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wage hike will phase in over the years until workers reach $25 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some health systems have already notified employees of the upcoming pay boost, including the University of California Health system. In \u003ca href=\"https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/employee-news/uc-increases-minimum-wage-for-designated-health-care-employees/\">a post on its website\u003c/a>, UC Health said it would be moving forward with their scheduled wage hike of $23 an hour “meeting the most ambitious timeline” of June 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, some hospitals have already raised wages because of competition in the labor market. As an independent hospital that serves a high rate of lower-income Medi-Cal patients, the wage law requires Kaweah Health Medical Center in Visalia to raise wages starting at $18 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are already seeing competitive changes in the market that have forced us to implement pay increases now, so we have not waited for June 1st,” Gary Herbst, chief executive of Kaweah Health, said in an email. “We are exceeding the state required $18 to remain competitive, and to continue recruiting and retaining great employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herbst said he rolled out increases beginning in February, and “will continue to evaluate it as time goes on.” He expects the law to cost his hospital about $30 million a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A higher minimum wage for health care workers that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law is set to take effect in two weeks, but he is racing to delay it because of its potential impact on the state budget deficit.",
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"title": "California Promised Health Care Workers a Higher Minimum Wage — but Will Newsom Delay It? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/gavin-newsom/\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> is cutting it close. He signed a law last fall that phases in a $25 \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2023/12/minimum-wage-2024/\">minimum wage\u003c/a> for California’s lowest-paid health care workers beginning June 1. Then, he said he wanted to delay it because of its potential to exacerbate the severe \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/budget/\">state budget\u003c/a> shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But two weeks before the deadline for employers to start paying more to their employees, many health workers are still waiting to hear whether they will in fact see a raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some health workers remain hopeful. Others have already been notified by their employers of their upcoming raise or have already started to see increased pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom presented his latest budget proposal last week, the governor said negotiations around potential changes to the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/10/california-minimum-wage-health-care-law/\">health worker minimum wage\u003c/a> law, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB525\">Senate Bill 525\u003c/a>, are still taking place. He promised a deal between his administration, the Legislature and proponents of the law would be hashed out in the upcoming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This budget will not be signed without that deal that we committed to being addressed,” Newsom said. He usually signs a budget for the next fiscal year in late June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile the union that advocated for the health care pay increase has launched an advertising campaign that aims to hold Newsom to the law he signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One ad by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West on the \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/seiu_uhw/status/1786116278509527235?s=43\">social media site X \u003c/a>shows a dialysis worker named Alice and it reads, “The dialysis care Alice provides is lifesaving. Yet, with caregivers at her facility starting out at only $18/hr, it’s no wonder there’s a short staffing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A $25/hr minimum wage for healthcare workers will help ensure patients get the care they need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nathan Selzer, communications director for SEIU-UHW, said his union posted the messages because, “Our workers were concerned and remain concerned. What we saw in conversations earlier this year was folks really focusing only on money and only on dollars and cents, and not on what those dollars and cents are used for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SEIU-UHW is an affiliate of SEIU California, which sponsored the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We made a decision that we’ve got to make sure we’re reminding people why this was made into law to begin with,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Selzer said he is not directly involved in conversations with the governor’s office and legislators, but that confusion among many workers rings true. “We’ve heard June 1, we’ve heard July 1. It remains to be seen what actually happens here,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Deadline to postpone minimum wage hike\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>What exactly is holding up the negotiations is unclear. Lawmakers and Newsom would have to pass and sign legislation that would push back the start date within two weeks to delay it effectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said he wanted to postpone the wage increase when he released his initial budget proposal in January. He asked the Legislature for an annual “trigger” that would tie the minimum wage increases to the state’s budget outlook. His administration projects the state is facing a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2024/05/california-budget-deficit-newsom-may-proposal/\">$27.6 billion deficit\u003c/a> in 2024–25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has estimated the minimum wage increase could cost the state around $4 billion a year. That’s because the state would have to pay for the wage increases for its own employees at state health facilities and because the state may be forced to increase what it reimburses facilities for services provided to patients on Medi-Cal, its insurance program for low-income people, as a way to partially cover the pay raises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The UC Berkeley Labor Center estimates the cost to the state to be much lower. Total health spending in California would increase by about $2.7 billion because of the law, but the state would be responsible only for a fraction of that, according to the Labor Center’s analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laurel Lucia, director of the Health Care Program at the Labor Center, said that there is no requirement in the law that directs the state to raise \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/medi-cal/\">Medi-Cal payments\u003c/a> to hospitals and clinics as a way to make up for the costs of higher wages, but the law could play a role in Medi-Cal rate negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the rates were set for 2024, there was recognition in \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Documents/DirectedPymts/CA-CY-2024-Rate-Certification-Report.pdf\">the (rates) report (PDF)\u003c/a> that there might need to be changes to those rates due to” the minimum wage increase, Lucia said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California hospitals, dialysis clinics raising pay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Absent any confirmed changes to the law, some employers and associations representing health employers say they are moving forward with the raises as scheduled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As far as we know, the minimum wage for health care workers will be going up as of June 1. We have no information that would indicate otherwise,” Jan Emerson-Shea, a spokesperson for the California Hospitals Association, said in an email this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The California Kidney Care Alliance, a trade association representing dialysis providers and clinics, said members are following the wage requirements as laid out by the law. “In fact, many providers have already increased wages well ahead of the requirements of the bill,” Jaycob Bytel, a spokesperson for the alliance, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://hcai.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SB-525-Fact-Sheet-HCAI-Hospital-Lists-04_23_24.pdf\">Depending on where they work (PDF)\u003c/a>, employees are scheduled to receive from $18 to $23 an hour starting next month. That’s compared to the current statewide minimum wage of $16.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wage hike will phase in over the years until workers reach $25 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some health systems have already notified employees of the upcoming pay boost, including the University of California Health system. In \u003ca href=\"https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/employee-news/uc-increases-minimum-wage-for-designated-health-care-employees/\">a post on its website\u003c/a>, UC Health said it would be moving forward with their scheduled wage hike of $23 an hour “meeting the most ambitious timeline” of June 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, some hospitals have already raised wages because of competition in the labor market. As an independent hospital that serves a high rate of lower-income Medi-Cal patients, the wage law requires Kaweah Health Medical Center in Visalia to raise wages starting at $18 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are already seeing competitive changes in the market that have forced us to implement pay increases now, so we have not waited for June 1st,” Gary Herbst, chief executive of Kaweah Health, said in an email. “We are exceeding the state required $18 to remain competitive, and to continue recruiting and retaining great employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Herbst said he rolled out increases beginning in February, and “will continue to evaluate it as time goes on.” He expects the law to cost his hospital about $30 million a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "After Months-Long Coma, This Latino Immigrant Worker Is Still Fighting Mysterious Long COVID Symptoms",
"headTitle": "After Months-Long Coma, This Latino Immigrant Worker Is Still Fighting Mysterious Long COVID Symptoms | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://eltecolote.org/content/en/\">\u003cem>El Tecolote\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a bilingual publication that documents and amplifies the voices of San Francisco’s Latinx communities.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar rarely worried about his health. As a construction worker, he had enough gigs to earn more than $500 a week under the table, allowing him to rent a studio for $600 a month with two other Latinx construction workers in San Francisco’s Mission District. Despite working nearly full-time, he was barely able to make ends meet. So, when the pandemic hit, Varilla-Aguilar continued working. He got critically sick in December 2020. To this day, Varilla-Aguilar still wonders whether he got COVID-19 on the job or at the grocery store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Either way, it landed him in a coma — for more than three months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was such a difficult time,” said his sister, Araceli Aguilar-Perez. “To see him like that, it affected me a lot,” Aguilar-Perez said the doctors recommended disconnecting Varilla-Aguilar from the ventilator after two months. The family refused. Hoping for a miracle, Aguilar-Perez talked to her unconscious brother through a hospital monitor via Zoom calls every week. Then, in March 2021, Varilla-Aguilar woke up. “When I opened my eyes, it felt like a few days [had passed],” Varilla-Aguilar said. “But they told me it had been three months … It was a shock.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986483\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986483\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Latino man puts on an oxygen mask at home.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar, 46, puts on the oxygen ventilator he uses every night in San Francisco on Feb. 26, 2024. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, more than three years after he was discharged from the hospital, Varilla-Aguilar still depends on the oxygen respirator next to his bed. He has since moved out from his shared Mission District studio and lives in Sunnydale in a shared home with other Latinx workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his housemates are among the community that COVID-19 hit the hardest in San Francisco: immigrants, especially those working unprotected essential jobs. As the devastating impact of \u003ca href=\"https://ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/research-updates/a-health-equity-voice-from-san-franciscos-latino-covid-pandemic/\">COVID-19 in Latinx communities\u003c/a> in the Mission District and Bayview is increasingly documented, the lingering, and sometimes extreme, symptoms of infection are much less understood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weeks after being discharged from the hospital, Varilla-Aguilar noticed his vision was going blurry while waiting at a bus stop. Within four hours, his left eye went permanently blind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986484\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Latinx couple, a woman seated and a man standing with his right arm around her as they both look at the camera in their home kitchen with a refrigerator behind them.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-1020x674.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-1536x1015.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-1920x1269.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Siblings Araceli Aguilar-Perez (left) and Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar inside Aguilar-Perez’s home in San Francisco on April 25, 2024. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“[COVID] can cause many things, one of them being thrombosis,” said Dr. Hector Bonilla, a clinical infectious disease expert and associate professor at Stanford University. According to\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10123679/\"> medical research\u003c/a>, critically ill COVID-19 patients like Varilla-Aguilar are especially at risk for severe health outcomes like thrombosis or blood clots. “It can happen any place [in the body],” Bonilla said. “Maybe this can explain what happened in the eye.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combined with his deteriorated eyesight, Varilla-Aguilar also endures fatigue, brain fog and depression, which are among the more common symptoms cited by people who experience long COVID. He said he also never fully recovered the strength he lost during his monthslong coma despite a year in physical therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t have the strength that I used to, and I run out of breath when I try,” Varilla-Aguilar said. “So it’s hard finding steady work.” Despite his physical weaknesses, he continues to take on physically demanding jobs like landscaping and, on occasion, roofing gigs. “I have no choice. I need to pay the rent. If I don’t do it, who else is going to help me?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the 46-year-old, doctors have not been able to determine why COVID-19 took an extreme toll on his health. Instead, doctors have prescribed him several prescription pills to help reduce some of his ongoing symptoms. Still, he believes this hasn’t been enough and that the cost of medication is expensive. His experience is one faced by millions of long COVID patients across the country as researchers continue to look for the underlying causes of the mysterious symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986481\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986481\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Latino man gestures during a presentation as he talks into a microphone.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-1536x1021.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-1920x1277.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar, 46, shares his experience with mysterious symptoms during a ‘Somos Remedios’ event inside the Latino Task Force building in the Mission District in San Francisco on Jan. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986486\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986486\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"821\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-800x263.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-1020x335.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-1536x504.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-2048x673.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-1920x631.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: (From left) Rosario Ortegón, Martin Rodríguez, and Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar bag fresh produce during a ‘Somos Remedios’ event at the Latino Task Force building in the Mission District in San Francisco on Jan. 13, 2024. Right: Herbs and remedies on display at a ‘Somos Remedios’ event. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Amid medical uncertainty, Varilla-Aguilar, like other sufferers of long COVID, has turned elsewhere for solutions. Previously skeptical of alternative medicine, Varilla-Aguilar agreed to his sister’s “baño de pies” after months of coping with numbness in his feet. The foot bath was infused with herbs like Santa Maria, rue, rose buds and eucalyptus, which his sister blended into a bucket of hot water. The effort was meant to reduce stress and inflammation. After a few treatments, he said he was shocked to have gained back sensations in his feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Varilla-Aguilar has used and advocated for natural remedies rooted in Indigenous practice, including the consumption of teas, herbs, and whole foods. He is also a member of “Somos Remedios,” a Mission-based grassroots research group that documents Latinx solutions to treating long COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Varilla-Aguilar now prioritizes his health, he admits that he will never be the same again. “Every day, there is an effort to live, to work, and to have enough money to eat,” Varilla-Aguilar said. “I found [strength] within myself, [when] there was nowhere else to find it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986485\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986485\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Latino man outside of his house, photographed from inside the house, with a car parked on the street outside his house.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-1020x674.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-1536x1015.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-1920x1269.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar, 46, steps outside of his sister’s home in San Francisco on April 25, 2024. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://eltecolote.org/content/en/long-covid-latino-immigrant-worker/\">\u003cem>El Tecolote’s original version of the story can be found here.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Construction worker Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar is still fighting mysterious symptoms after emerging from a 3-month coma and going blind in his left eye. His experience is just one example of the devastating impact that COVID continues to have on Latinx communities in San Francisco.",
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"description": "Construction worker Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar is still fighting mysterious symptoms after emerging from a 3-month coma and going blind in his left eye. His experience is just one example of the devastating impact that COVID continues to have on Latinx communities in San Francisco.",
"title": "After Months-Long Coma, This Latino Immigrant Worker Is Still Fighting Mysterious Long COVID Symptoms | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced by \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://eltecolote.org/content/en/\">\u003cem>El Tecolote\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a bilingual publication that documents and amplifies the voices of San Francisco’s Latinx communities.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar rarely worried about his health. As a construction worker, he had enough gigs to earn more than $500 a week under the table, allowing him to rent a studio for $600 a month with two other Latinx construction workers in San Francisco’s Mission District. Despite working nearly full-time, he was barely able to make ends meet. So, when the pandemic hit, Varilla-Aguilar continued working. He got critically sick in December 2020. To this day, Varilla-Aguilar still wonders whether he got COVID-19 on the job or at the grocery store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Either way, it landed him in a coma — for more than three months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was such a difficult time,” said his sister, Araceli Aguilar-Perez. “To see him like that, it affected me a lot,” Aguilar-Perez said the doctors recommended disconnecting Varilla-Aguilar from the ventilator after two months. The family refused. Hoping for a miracle, Aguilar-Perez talked to her unconscious brother through a hospital monitor via Zoom calls every week. Then, in March 2021, Varilla-Aguilar woke up. “When I opened my eyes, it felt like a few days [had passed],” Varilla-Aguilar said. “But they told me it had been three months … It was a shock.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986483\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986483\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Latino man puts on an oxygen mask at home.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-16-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar, 46, puts on the oxygen ventilator he uses every night in San Francisco on Feb. 26, 2024. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, more than three years after he was discharged from the hospital, Varilla-Aguilar still depends on the oxygen respirator next to his bed. He has since moved out from his shared Mission District studio and lives in Sunnydale in a shared home with other Latinx workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his housemates are among the community that COVID-19 hit the hardest in San Francisco: immigrants, especially those working unprotected essential jobs. As the devastating impact of \u003ca href=\"https://ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/research-updates/a-health-equity-voice-from-san-franciscos-latino-covid-pandemic/\">COVID-19 in Latinx communities\u003c/a> in the Mission District and Bayview is increasingly documented, the lingering, and sometimes extreme, symptoms of infection are much less understood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weeks after being discharged from the hospital, Varilla-Aguilar noticed his vision was going blurry while waiting at a bus stop. Within four hours, his left eye went permanently blind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986484\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Latinx couple, a woman seated and a man standing with his right arm around her as they both look at the camera in their home kitchen with a refrigerator behind them.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-1020x674.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-1536x1015.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-33-KQED-1920x1269.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Siblings Araceli Aguilar-Perez (left) and Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar inside Aguilar-Perez’s home in San Francisco on April 25, 2024. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“[COVID] can cause many things, one of them being thrombosis,” said Dr. Hector Bonilla, a clinical infectious disease expert and associate professor at Stanford University. According to\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10123679/\"> medical research\u003c/a>, critically ill COVID-19 patients like Varilla-Aguilar are especially at risk for severe health outcomes like thrombosis or blood clots. “It can happen any place [in the body],” Bonilla said. “Maybe this can explain what happened in the eye.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combined with his deteriorated eyesight, Varilla-Aguilar also endures fatigue, brain fog and depression, which are among the more common symptoms cited by people who experience long COVID. He said he also never fully recovered the strength he lost during his monthslong coma despite a year in physical therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t have the strength that I used to, and I run out of breath when I try,” Varilla-Aguilar said. “So it’s hard finding steady work.” Despite his physical weaknesses, he continues to take on physically demanding jobs like landscaping and, on occasion, roofing gigs. “I have no choice. I need to pay the rent. If I don’t do it, who else is going to help me?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the 46-year-old, doctors have not been able to determine why COVID-19 took an extreme toll on his health. Instead, doctors have prescribed him several prescription pills to help reduce some of his ongoing symptoms. Still, he believes this hasn’t been enough and that the cost of medication is expensive. His experience is one faced by millions of long COVID patients across the country as researchers continue to look for the underlying causes of the mysterious symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986481\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986481\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Latino man gestures during a presentation as he talks into a microphone.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-1536x1021.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-8-KQED-1920x1277.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar, 46, shares his experience with mysterious symptoms during a ‘Somos Remedios’ event inside the Latino Task Force building in the Mission District in San Francisco on Jan. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986486\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986486\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"821\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-800x263.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-1020x335.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-1536x504.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-2048x673.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-DYPTICH-KQED-1920x631.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: (From left) Rosario Ortegón, Martin Rodríguez, and Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar bag fresh produce during a ‘Somos Remedios’ event at the Latino Task Force building in the Mission District in San Francisco on Jan. 13, 2024. Right: Herbs and remedies on display at a ‘Somos Remedios’ event. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Amid medical uncertainty, Varilla-Aguilar, like other sufferers of long COVID, has turned elsewhere for solutions. Previously skeptical of alternative medicine, Varilla-Aguilar agreed to his sister’s “baño de pies” after months of coping with numbness in his feet. The foot bath was infused with herbs like Santa Maria, rue, rose buds and eucalyptus, which his sister blended into a bucket of hot water. The effort was meant to reduce stress and inflammation. After a few treatments, he said he was shocked to have gained back sensations in his feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Varilla-Aguilar has used and advocated for natural remedies rooted in Indigenous practice, including the consumption of teas, herbs, and whole foods. He is also a member of “Somos Remedios,” a Mission-based grassroots research group that documents Latinx solutions to treating long COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Varilla-Aguilar now prioritizes his health, he admits that he will never be the same again. “Every day, there is an effort to live, to work, and to have enough money to eat,” Varilla-Aguilar said. “I found [strength] within myself, [when] there was nowhere else to find it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986485\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986485\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Latino man outside of his house, photographed from inside the house, with a car parked on the street outside his house.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-800x529.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-1020x674.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-1536x1015.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/FEBMAY2024-LONGCOVID-ET-PU-34-KQED-1920x1269.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Osbaldo Varilla-Aguilar, 46, steps outside of his sister’s home in San Francisco on April 25, 2024. \u003ccite>(Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://eltecolote.org/content/en/long-covid-latino-immigrant-worker/\">\u003cem>El Tecolote’s original version of the story can be found here.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Few Pharmacies Carry This Key Opioid-Addiction Treatment. San Francisco Wants To Change That",
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"headTitle": "Few Pharmacies Carry This Key Opioid-Addiction Treatment. San Francisco Wants To Change That | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Less than half of all San Francisco pharmacies carry one of the most powerful medications used to treat opioid addiction, according to San Francisco’s Department of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of availability of buprenorphine, a medication that can curb cravings and withdrawal symptoms associated with opioid addiction, comes as San Francisco recently experienced its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11972898/2023-was-san-franciscos-deadliest-year-for-drug-overdoses-new-data-confirms#:~:text=2023%20Was%20San%20Francisco's%20Deadliest,KQED\">worst year for overdoses on record in 2023\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And despite efforts to make medication-assisted treatments like buprenorphine more available, access is still so scarce that some people seeking these medications \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11945418/san-francisco-has-doubled-participants-of-this-opioid-treatment-heres-why\">have had to turn to street-level dealers for it\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is critical that people in recovery have easy access to effective and life-saving medications such as buprenorphine and methadone if they are going to be successful entering and staying in treatment,” says Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, in a press statement. “With treatment and support, recovery from opioid use disorder is possible for every individual.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is not an outlier when it comes to the availability of buprenorphine or other medications that help reduce opioid cravings, like methadone. Just 47% of retail pharmacies across California carried buprenorphine, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10220511/\">2023 study\u003c/a> published in JAMA Network Open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, where more than 3,000 people have died of overdose since 2020, only 44% of pharmacies carried buprenorphine and were able to fill a two-week prescription within the same day, according to a DPH survey of 84 responding pharmacies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Food and Drug Administration has \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-drug-class/information-about-medication-assisted-treatment-mat\">approved\u003c/a> three medications to treat opioid use disorder: buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone. All three have been found to reduce opioid cravings and withdrawal and are widely considered to be powerful tools for recovery when combined with counseling and other social support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buprenorphine and Naloxone tablets sit on a counter at the Community Behavior Health Services pharmacy in San Francisco on March 29, 2023, while signs in the background say, ‘You are Loved’ and ‘Recovery, Wellness, Family.’ \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, experts say that significant barriers to taking the medication exist. For example, people who take methadone, which has been used to treat opioid addiction since the 1970s, historically have had to meet strict prescriber regulations compared to most medications. This includes having to visit clinics daily in person to access their prescriptions under supervision and take frequent drug tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those rules are slowly starting to shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the federal government agreed to expand access to methadone by removing a requirement for practitioners to complete additional training and obtain a special waiver before prescribing the medication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The regulations change also allows for take-home medications rather than showing up daily when appropriate, as well as the option to prescribe larger doses as the potency of opioids in the illicit drug market has changed. For instance, fentanyl, which was involved in the majority of overdose deaths in San Francisco in 2023, is 50 times stronger than heroin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the state level, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992298/a-bay-area-lawmaker-pushes-to-expand-access-to-methadone\">Assemblymember Matt Haney\u003c/a>, who represents San Francisco, has proposed a bill that aims to align California law with federal regulations to reduce barriers to treatment for opioid use disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite those efforts and having more people available to prescribe buprenorphine, utilization of the medication has not dramatically changed, according to one \u003ca href=\"https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMc2312906\">2024 study\u003c/a>. That’s led lawmakers and health experts to seek other ways to expand access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, a handful of city leaders announced they want to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24663736-file_7040\">require pharmacies to stock the medication\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If San Francisco will be successful in incentivizing long-term recovery from addiction, we need to make sure that buprenorphine is available at pharmacies,” Supervisor Matt Dorsey told KQED. “I don’t know what the excuse is for not carrying it, but we need to end that excuse and make sure it’s a requirement to carry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisors Rafael Mandelman, Hillary Ronen and Dean Preston are co-sponsoring the legislation, which SFDPH believes is the first of its kind in the country. The new law would update the city’s health code so that any pharmacy that carries controlled substances must stock buprenorphine for at least two new prescriptions.[aside postID=news_11986128 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg']“When my office worked with DPH to create the city’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/reports/october-2022/overdose-prevention-plan-2022\">Overdose Prevention Plan\u003c/a>, expanding access to buprenorphine and other medications was identified as a key area of need,” Supervisor Dean Preston told KQED, referring to the city’s 2022 blueprint to combat overdoses. “I am proud to co-sponsor this sensible and important legislation to ensure that buprenorphine is available in every neighborhood for anyone who needs it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Dorsey proposed legislation that would \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2023/06/27/sf-pharmacies-carry-drug-overdose-reversal-meds/\">require all pharmacies to carry Naloxone\u003c/a>, a nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-over-counter-naloxone-nasal-spray\">FDA approved over-the-counter Naloxone\u003c/a> in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say making buprenorphine available as soon as someone decides they want to change their drug use patterns is essential to helping people move into and through recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who used medication-assisted treatments such as methadone or buprenorphine were 80% less likely to die of an opioid overdose compared to people in treatment without the medications, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.14991\">2020 study\u003c/a> in the medical journal \u003cem>Addiction\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is already building out new pathways to access buprenorphine, such as home delivery programs for people living in the city’s permanent supportive housing and expanding hours for the public behavioral health pharmacy. But leaders on both sides of the political aisle say there’s still plenty of work to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In today’s fentanyl era, anyone who makes the brave choice to seek recovery from opioid use disorder is really in a race against the clock on overpowering cravings and debilitating withdrawal symptoms,” Dorsey told KQED. “If that medication is not readily available to offer relief, we know life-threatening drugs are available on the streets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Less than half of all San Francisco pharmacies carry one of the most powerful medications used to treat opioid addiction, according to San Francisco’s Department of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of availability of buprenorphine, a medication that can curb cravings and withdrawal symptoms associated with opioid addiction, comes as San Francisco recently experienced its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11972898/2023-was-san-franciscos-deadliest-year-for-drug-overdoses-new-data-confirms#:~:text=2023%20Was%20San%20Francisco's%20Deadliest,KQED\">worst year for overdoses on record in 2023\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And despite efforts to make medication-assisted treatments like buprenorphine more available, access is still so scarce that some people seeking these medications \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11945418/san-francisco-has-doubled-participants-of-this-opioid-treatment-heres-why\">have had to turn to street-level dealers for it\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is critical that people in recovery have easy access to effective and life-saving medications such as buprenorphine and methadone if they are going to be successful entering and staying in treatment,” says Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, in a press statement. “With treatment and support, recovery from opioid use disorder is possible for every individual.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is not an outlier when it comes to the availability of buprenorphine or other medications that help reduce opioid cravings, like methadone. Just 47% of retail pharmacies across California carried buprenorphine, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10220511/\">2023 study\u003c/a> published in JAMA Network Open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, where more than 3,000 people have died of overdose since 2020, only 44% of pharmacies carried buprenorphine and were able to fill a two-week prescription within the same day, according to a DPH survey of 84 responding pharmacies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Food and Drug Administration has \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-drug-class/information-about-medication-assisted-treatment-mat\">approved\u003c/a> three medications to treat opioid use disorder: buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone. All three have been found to reduce opioid cravings and withdrawal and are widely considered to be powerful tools for recovery when combined with counseling and other social support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/021_KQED_OBICBuprenorphineClinic_03292023_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Buprenorphine and Naloxone tablets sit on a counter at the Community Behavior Health Services pharmacy in San Francisco on March 29, 2023, while signs in the background say, ‘You are Loved’ and ‘Recovery, Wellness, Family.’ \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, experts say that significant barriers to taking the medication exist. For example, people who take methadone, which has been used to treat opioid addiction since the 1970s, historically have had to meet strict prescriber regulations compared to most medications. This includes having to visit clinics daily in person to access their prescriptions under supervision and take frequent drug tests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those rules are slowly starting to shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the federal government agreed to expand access to methadone by removing a requirement for practitioners to complete additional training and obtain a special waiver before prescribing the medication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The regulations change also allows for take-home medications rather than showing up daily when appropriate, as well as the option to prescribe larger doses as the potency of opioids in the illicit drug market has changed. For instance, fentanyl, which was involved in the majority of overdose deaths in San Francisco in 2023, is 50 times stronger than heroin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the state level, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992298/a-bay-area-lawmaker-pushes-to-expand-access-to-methadone\">Assemblymember Matt Haney\u003c/a>, who represents San Francisco, has proposed a bill that aims to align California law with federal regulations to reduce barriers to treatment for opioid use disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite those efforts and having more people available to prescribe buprenorphine, utilization of the medication has not dramatically changed, according to one \u003ca href=\"https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMc2312906\">2024 study\u003c/a>. That’s led lawmakers and health experts to seek other ways to expand access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, a handful of city leaders announced they want to \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24663736-file_7040\">require pharmacies to stock the medication\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If San Francisco will be successful in incentivizing long-term recovery from addiction, we need to make sure that buprenorphine is available at pharmacies,” Supervisor Matt Dorsey told KQED. “I don’t know what the excuse is for not carrying it, but we need to end that excuse and make sure it’s a requirement to carry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisors Rafael Mandelman, Hillary Ronen and Dean Preston are co-sponsoring the legislation, which SFDPH believes is the first of its kind in the country. The new law would update the city’s health code so that any pharmacy that carries controlled substances must stock buprenorphine for at least two new prescriptions.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“When my office worked with DPH to create the city’s first \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/reports/october-2022/overdose-prevention-plan-2022\">Overdose Prevention Plan\u003c/a>, expanding access to buprenorphine and other medications was identified as a key area of need,” Supervisor Dean Preston told KQED, referring to the city’s 2022 blueprint to combat overdoses. “I am proud to co-sponsor this sensible and important legislation to ensure that buprenorphine is available in every neighborhood for anyone who needs it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Dorsey proposed legislation that would \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2023/06/27/sf-pharmacies-carry-drug-overdose-reversal-meds/\">require all pharmacies to carry Naloxone\u003c/a>, a nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-over-counter-naloxone-nasal-spray\">FDA approved over-the-counter Naloxone\u003c/a> in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say making buprenorphine available as soon as someone decides they want to change their drug use patterns is essential to helping people move into and through recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who used medication-assisted treatments such as methadone or buprenorphine were 80% less likely to die of an opioid overdose compared to people in treatment without the medications, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.14991\">2020 study\u003c/a> in the medical journal \u003cem>Addiction\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is already building out new pathways to access buprenorphine, such as home delivery programs for people living in the city’s permanent supportive housing and expanding hours for the public behavioral health pharmacy. But leaders on both sides of the political aisle say there’s still plenty of work to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In today’s fentanyl era, anyone who makes the brave choice to seek recovery from opioid use disorder is really in a race against the clock on overpowering cravings and debilitating withdrawal symptoms,” Dorsey told KQED. “If that medication is not readily available to offer relief, we know life-threatening drugs are available on the streets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>About a dozen physicians and overdose prevention advocates rallied on the steps of San Francisco’s Chief Medical Examiner’s office on Tuesday, demanding that the government do more to address the city’s overdose epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s action comes as San Francisco continues to face a surge in overdose deaths, largely driven by fentanyl, an opioid about 50 times stronger than heroin. More than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11972898/2023-was-san-franciscos-deadliest-year-for-drug-overdoses-new-data-confirms\">3,000 people have died from accidental drug overdose\u003c/a> in San Francisco since January 2020, including more than 200 in 2024 alone, according to data from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/resource/2020/ocme-accidental-overdose-reports?_gl=1*63hju*_ga*MTk2Mzg5NzE0NS4xNzE0Njc0NTIx*_ga_BT9NDE0NFC*MTcxNTcwNTY1MS40LjAuMTcxNTcwNTY1MS4wLjAuMA..*_ga_63SCS846YP*MTcxNTcwNTY1MS40LjAuMTcxNTcwNTY1MS4wLjAuMA..\">Office of the Chief Medical Examiner\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Three thousand deaths is an inconvenient truth. This highlights 3,000 failures and highlights how we are not listening to policy experts and doctors,” said Dr. Dan Ciccarone, who specializes in addiction medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, outside the medical examiner’s office near the Hunters Point neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City leaders have rolled out several different interventions targeting the crisis in recent years. Efforts included \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11915870/inside-san-franciscos-tenderloin-center-that-serves-hundreds-every-day\">a short-lived safe consumption site\u003c/a> in 2022, along with increased distribution of drug test strips and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11944267/newsom-doubles-down-on-naloxone-distribution-in-new-master-plan-to-curb-overdose-deaths\">opioid overdose reversal medicine called Narcan\u003c/a>. The city has also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11976655/sf-close-to-goal-of-400-new-residential-treatment-beds-but-obstacles-to-care-remain\">opened additional behavioral health beds\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970663/san-franciscos-hope-for-expanding-supportive-housing-treasure-island\">supportive step-down housing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts on Tuesday pointed to how overdose rates in San Francisco rapidly increased shortly following the closure of the Tenderloin Center, the drop-in social services center and safe consumption site that operated in Civic Center for nearly 10 months. There, more than 300 overdoses were reversed, and no deaths occurred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that the Tenderloin Center closed after nine months is a crying shame,” Ciccarone said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that a similar site in Melbourne, Australia, faced similar pushback from conservatives and business leaders. However, it became an accepted and embraced approach after five years of working with the community, police and other stakeholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parallel to those public health interventions have been efforts to ramp up policing and other punitive approaches to the illicit drug economy. In 2023, San Francisco Police arrested more than 900 people for drug dealing in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods — double the year prior — according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news/san-francisco-issues-six-month-update-operation-dismantle-open-air-drug-markets#:~:text=In%202023%20overall%2C%20SFPD%20officers,year%20to%20date%20since%202018.\">city data\u003c/a>. SFPD also made nearly 800 arrests for public intoxication and drug use in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986151\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Ako Jacintho, director of addiction medicine at HealthRight360, speaks at an overdose prevention rally in front of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on May 14, 2024. \u003ccite>(Sydney Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In addition, Mayor London Breed and Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948062/newsom-taps-chp-national-guard-to-fight-san-franciscos-fentanyl-crisis\">sent the National Guard to assist local police\u003c/a> and the District Attorney in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965813/sf-wants-to-charge-drug-dealers-with-homicide-but-could-it-lead-to-more-overdose-deaths\">investigating opioid-related deaths as homicide\u003c/a> cases last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are bringing together local, state and federal law enforcement to coordinate and hold those breaking the law in our city accountable,” Breed said in a press statement about the 2023 blitz. “We want people who need support to get help, and we will continue to offer people second chances, but San Francisco can’t be a place where anything goes and allow harmful behaviors to become the norm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But advocates say what’s needed are more public health-based strategies, like low-barrier treatment, affordable and supportive housing, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11959803/in-act-of-civil-disobedience-activists-set-up-safe-drug-consumption-site-in-san-francisco\">safe consumption services\u003c/a>, rather than police crackdowns. On Tuesday, several said that the city’s law enforcement push has had \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948421/newsoms-plan-to-crack-down-on-fentanyl-in-san-francisco-could-cause-more-harm-than-good-some-addiction-experts-say\">unintended consequences that can exacerbate overdose deaths\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are putting people at risk, and this is a policy decision,” said Fabian Fernandez, a medical student at UCSF, at Tuesday’s rally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986152\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986152\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Doctors, attorneys and community advocates rally outside the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, calling for more public health approaches to rising overdose rates on May 14, 2024. \u003ccite>(Sydney Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2955973/\">Studies\u003c/a> have shown that a person’s chances of overdose can \u003ca href=\"https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/145946/cdc_145946_DS1.pdf\">significantly increase\u003c/a> following an arrest and release from jail. Other critics of the city’s more aggressive law enforcement approaches say it can disrupt markets and cause some users to seek drugs elsewhere, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/07/05/1183172045/fentanyl-drug-busts-overdose-police-dealers-trafficking-indianapolis\">creating opportunities for riskier use\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speakers on Tuesday said increasing supportive housing, treatment and services like safe consumption sites have cost-savings potential, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One study estimates \u003ca href=\"https://www.rti.org/impact/cost-benefit-analysis-opening-safe-consumption-site-san-francisco\">that San Francisco could save a minimum of $2.6 million\u003c/a> if it were to offer places where people could use drugs more safely and out of the public, as opposed to downstream interventions like jail and emergency services. A 2023 study looking at the wider community impacts of a safe consumption site in New York City also found that\u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2811766\"> the facility did \u003cem>not \u003c/em>contribute\u003c/a> to increased drug use or crime in the surrounding area. Instead, it offered a place for people to use drugs out of the public way more safely. [aside postID=news_11972898 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/230831-SAFE-USE-POP-UP-MD-06-qut-1020x680.jpg']Organizations calling for more public health responses at the demonstration included the \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/vJomCo2OEkuvQVVXI1Iulr?domain=youngwomenfree.org\">Young Women’s Freedom Center\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/SI2yCpYzGliA700zsDx1YR?domain=drugpolicy.org\">Drug Policy Alliance\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/ZEFZCqx2JmsXVyyOfQhNrY?domain=sfpublicdefender.org\">SF Public Defender’s Office\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/4p29CrkYKnf2WRRACyI8TN?domain=harmreductiontherapy.org\">The Harm Reduction Therapy Center\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/2sV5Cv2jOruARnnWsot4PT?domain=healthright360.org\">HealthRIGHT 360\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/TlpFCwpkPvsy2EELu8aQ0V?domain=donoharmcoalition.org\">Do No Harm Coalition\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, politics has thwarted efforts to open a safe consumption site and other approaches that public health experts call for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed San Francisco and two other major California cities to pilot such a facility. The initiative was part of the overdose response strategy in more than 200 places around the globe, including France, Denmark, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and others. In these facilities, people can use drugs and trained staff can reverse an overdose if it occurs while also connecting people with other health and social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Government and community leaders have tried to prop up a safe consumption site using private funding as well as funds from the city’s multimillion-dollar legal victory against opioid manufacturers, which states like Rhode Island have done. But those efforts have largely stalled in San Francisco, even as overdose rates have continued at epidemic levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In San Francisco, we make it extremely difficult for people who are struggling with substance use disorder to find their way out and find their paths to recovery,” said Laura Thomas, senior director of HIV and Harm Reduction at the San Francisco Aids Foundation, during the rally. “We put so many barriers in people’s way, from needing to have an ID to needing to show up at a certain time of day, waitlists and restrictions … We can do better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>About a dozen physicians and overdose prevention advocates rallied on the steps of San Francisco’s Chief Medical Examiner’s office on Tuesday, demanding that the government do more to address the city’s overdose epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday’s action comes as San Francisco continues to face a surge in overdose deaths, largely driven by fentanyl, an opioid about 50 times stronger than heroin. More than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11972898/2023-was-san-franciscos-deadliest-year-for-drug-overdoses-new-data-confirms\">3,000 people have died from accidental drug overdose\u003c/a> in San Francisco since January 2020, including more than 200 in 2024 alone, according to data from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/resource/2020/ocme-accidental-overdose-reports?_gl=1*63hju*_ga*MTk2Mzg5NzE0NS4xNzE0Njc0NTIx*_ga_BT9NDE0NFC*MTcxNTcwNTY1MS40LjAuMTcxNTcwNTY1MS4wLjAuMA..*_ga_63SCS846YP*MTcxNTcwNTY1MS40LjAuMTcxNTcwNTY1MS4wLjAuMA..\">Office of the Chief Medical Examiner\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Three thousand deaths is an inconvenient truth. This highlights 3,000 failures and highlights how we are not listening to policy experts and doctors,” said Dr. Dan Ciccarone, who specializes in addiction medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, outside the medical examiner’s office near the Hunters Point neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City leaders have rolled out several different interventions targeting the crisis in recent years. Efforts included \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11915870/inside-san-franciscos-tenderloin-center-that-serves-hundreds-every-day\">a short-lived safe consumption site\u003c/a> in 2022, along with increased distribution of drug test strips and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11944267/newsom-doubles-down-on-naloxone-distribution-in-new-master-plan-to-curb-overdose-deaths\">opioid overdose reversal medicine called Narcan\u003c/a>. The city has also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11976655/sf-close-to-goal-of-400-new-residential-treatment-beds-but-obstacles-to-care-remain\">opened additional behavioral health beds\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11970663/san-franciscos-hope-for-expanding-supportive-housing-treasure-island\">supportive step-down housing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts on Tuesday pointed to how overdose rates in San Francisco rapidly increased shortly following the closure of the Tenderloin Center, the drop-in social services center and safe consumption site that operated in Civic Center for nearly 10 months. There, more than 300 overdoses were reversed, and no deaths occurred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that the Tenderloin Center closed after nine months is a crying shame,” Ciccarone said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that a similar site in Melbourne, Australia, faced similar pushback from conservatives and business leaders. However, it became an accepted and embraced approach after five years of working with the community, police and other stakeholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parallel to those public health interventions have been efforts to ramp up policing and other punitive approaches to the illicit drug economy. In 2023, San Francisco Police arrested more than 900 people for drug dealing in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods — double the year prior — according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news/san-francisco-issues-six-month-update-operation-dismantle-open-air-drug-markets#:~:text=In%202023%20overall%2C%20SFPD%20officers,year%20to%20date%20since%202018.\">city data\u003c/a>. SFPD also made nearly 800 arrests for public intoxication and drug use in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986151\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Ako Jacintho, director of addiction medicine at HealthRight360, speaks at an overdose prevention rally in front of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on May 14, 2024. \u003ccite>(Sydney Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In addition, Mayor London Breed and Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948062/newsom-taps-chp-national-guard-to-fight-san-franciscos-fentanyl-crisis\">sent the National Guard to assist local police\u003c/a> and the District Attorney in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965813/sf-wants-to-charge-drug-dealers-with-homicide-but-could-it-lead-to-more-overdose-deaths\">investigating opioid-related deaths as homicide\u003c/a> cases last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are bringing together local, state and federal law enforcement to coordinate and hold those breaking the law in our city accountable,” Breed said in a press statement about the 2023 blitz. “We want people who need support to get help, and we will continue to offer people second chances, but San Francisco can’t be a place where anything goes and allow harmful behaviors to become the norm.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But advocates say what’s needed are more public health-based strategies, like low-barrier treatment, affordable and supportive housing, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11959803/in-act-of-civil-disobedience-activists-set-up-safe-drug-consumption-site-in-san-francisco\">safe consumption services\u003c/a>, rather than police crackdowns. On Tuesday, several said that the city’s law enforcement push has had \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11948421/newsoms-plan-to-crack-down-on-fentanyl-in-san-francisco-could-cause-more-harm-than-good-some-addiction-experts-say\">unintended consequences that can exacerbate overdose deaths\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are putting people at risk, and this is a policy decision,” said Fabian Fernandez, a medical student at UCSF, at Tuesday’s rally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986152\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986152\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240514-OVERDOSE-DEATH-RALLY-SJ-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Doctors, attorneys and community advocates rally outside the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, calling for more public health approaches to rising overdose rates on May 14, 2024. \u003ccite>(Sydney Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2955973/\">Studies\u003c/a> have shown that a person’s chances of overdose can \u003ca href=\"https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/145946/cdc_145946_DS1.pdf\">significantly increase\u003c/a> following an arrest and release from jail. Other critics of the city’s more aggressive law enforcement approaches say it can disrupt markets and cause some users to seek drugs elsewhere, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/07/05/1183172045/fentanyl-drug-busts-overdose-police-dealers-trafficking-indianapolis\">creating opportunities for riskier use\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speakers on Tuesday said increasing supportive housing, treatment and services like safe consumption sites have cost-savings potential, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One study estimates \u003ca href=\"https://www.rti.org/impact/cost-benefit-analysis-opening-safe-consumption-site-san-francisco\">that San Francisco could save a minimum of $2.6 million\u003c/a> if it were to offer places where people could use drugs more safely and out of the public, as opposed to downstream interventions like jail and emergency services. A 2023 study looking at the wider community impacts of a safe consumption site in New York City also found that\u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2811766\"> the facility did \u003cem>not \u003c/em>contribute\u003c/a> to increased drug use or crime in the surrounding area. Instead, it offered a place for people to use drugs out of the public way more safely. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Organizations calling for more public health responses at the demonstration included the \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/vJomCo2OEkuvQVVXI1Iulr?domain=youngwomenfree.org\">Young Women’s Freedom Center\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/SI2yCpYzGliA700zsDx1YR?domain=drugpolicy.org\">Drug Policy Alliance\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/ZEFZCqx2JmsXVyyOfQhNrY?domain=sfpublicdefender.org\">SF Public Defender’s Office\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/4p29CrkYKnf2WRRACyI8TN?domain=harmreductiontherapy.org\">The Harm Reduction Therapy Center\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/2sV5Cv2jOruARnnWsot4PT?domain=healthright360.org\">HealthRIGHT 360\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/TlpFCwpkPvsy2EELu8aQ0V?domain=donoharmcoalition.org\">Do No Harm Coalition\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, politics has thwarted efforts to open a safe consumption site and other approaches that public health experts call for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed San Francisco and two other major California cities to pilot such a facility. The initiative was part of the overdose response strategy in more than 200 places around the globe, including France, Denmark, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and others. In these facilities, people can use drugs and trained staff can reverse an overdose if it occurs while also connecting people with other health and social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Government and community leaders have tried to prop up a safe consumption site using private funding as well as funds from the city’s multimillion-dollar legal victory against opioid manufacturers, which states like Rhode Island have done. But those efforts have largely stalled in San Francisco, even as overdose rates have continued at epidemic levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In San Francisco, we make it extremely difficult for people who are struggling with substance use disorder to find their way out and find their paths to recovery,” said Laura Thomas, senior director of HIV and Harm Reduction at the San Francisco Aids Foundation, during the rally. “We put so many barriers in people’s way, from needing to have an ID to needing to show up at a certain time of day, waitlists and restrictions … We can do better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Bird Flu Hits US Dairy Cows. Raw Milk Drinkers Aren't Deterred",
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"content": "\u003cp>Sales of raw milk appear to be on the rise, despite years of warnings about the health risks of drinking the unpasteurized products — and an outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since March 25, when the bird flu virus was confirmed in U.S. cattle for the first time, weekly sales of raw cow’s milk have ticked up 21% to as much as 65% compared with the same periods a year ago, according to the market research firm NielsenIQ.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That runs counter to advice from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which calls raw milk one of the “riskiest” foods people can consume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Raw milk can be contaminated with harmful germs that can make you very sick,” the CDC said on its website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Monday, at least 42 herds in nine states are known to have cows infected with the virus known as type A H5N1, federal officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The virus has been found in high levels in the raw milk of infected cows. Viral remnants have been found in milk samples sold in grocery stores, but the FDA said those products are safe to consume because pasteurization has been confirmed to kill the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether live virus can be transmitted to people who consume milk that hasn’t been heat-treated is unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, CDC officials warned last week that people who drink raw milk could theoretically become infected if the bird flu virus comes in contact with receptors in the nose, mouth and throat or by inhaling the virus into the lungs. There’s also concern that if more people are exposed to the virus, it could mutate to spread more easily in people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986083\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bottle of raw milk is displayed for sale at a store in Temecula, Riverside County, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(JoNel Aleccia/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>States have widely varying regulations regarding raw milk, with some allowing retail sales in stores and others allowing sales only at farms. Some states allow so-called cowshares, where people pay for milk from designated animals, and some allow consumption only by farm owners, employees, or “non-paying guests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The NielsenIQ figures include grocery stores and other retail outlets. They show that raw milk products account for a small fraction of overall dairy sales. About 4,100 units of raw cow’s milk and about 43,000 units of raw milk cheese were sold the week of May 5, for instance, according to NielsenIQ. That compares with about 66.5 million units of pasteurized cow’s milk and about 62 million units of pasteurized cheese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, testimonies about raw milk are trending on social media sites. And Mark McAfee, owner of Raw Farm USA in Fresno, California, said he can’t keep his unpasteurized products in stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are seeking raw milk like crazy,” he said, noting that no bird flu has been detected in his herds or in California. “Anything that the FDA tells our customers to do, they do the opposite.”[aside postID=news_11970666 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/GettyImages-1408473939-1020x680.jpg']The surge surprises Donald Schaffner, a Rutgers University food science professor who called the trend “absolutely stunning.”\u003cbr>\n“Food safety experts like me are just simply left shaking their heads,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From 1998 to 2018, the CDC documented more than 200 illness outbreaks traced to raw milk, which sickened more than 2,600 people and hospitalized more than 225.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raw milk is far more likely than pasteurized milk to cause illnesses and hospitalizations linked to dangerous bacteria such as campylobacter, listeria, salmonella and E. coli, research shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before milk standards were adopted in 1924, about 25% of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. were related to dairy consumption, said Alex O’Brien, safety and quality coordinator for the Center for Dairy Research. Now, dairy products account for about 1% of such illnesses, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I liken drinking raw milk to playing Russian roulette,” O’Brien said. The more times people consume it, the greater the chance they’ll get sick, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the risks, about 4.4% of U.S. adults — nearly 11 million people — report that they drink raw milk at least once each year and about 1% said they consume it each week, according to a 2022 FDA study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonni Gilley, 75, of Fresno, said she has raised generations of her family on raw milk and unpasteurized cream and butter because she believes “it’s so healthy” and lacks additives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reports of bird flu in dairy cattle have not made her think twice about drinking raw milk, Gilley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If anything, it is accelerating my thoughts about raw milk,” she said, partly because she doesn’t trust government officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such views are part of a larger problem of government mistrust and a rejection of expertise, said Matthew Motta, who studies health misinformation at Boston University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that people are stupid or ignorant or that they don’t know what the science is,” he said. “They’re motivated to reject it on the basis of partisanship, their political ideology, their religion, their cultural values.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDC and FDA officials didn’t respond to questions about the rising popularity of raw milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Motta suggested that the agencies should push back with social media posts extolling the health effects of pasteurized milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communicators need to make an effort to understand why people consume raw milk and try to meet them where they are,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sales of raw milk appear to be on the rise, despite years of warnings about the health risks of drinking the unpasteurized products — and an outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since March 25, when the bird flu virus was confirmed in U.S. cattle for the first time, weekly sales of raw cow’s milk have ticked up 21% to as much as 65% compared with the same periods a year ago, according to the market research firm NielsenIQ.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That runs counter to advice from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which calls raw milk one of the “riskiest” foods people can consume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Raw milk can be contaminated with harmful germs that can make you very sick,” the CDC said on its website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Monday, at least 42 herds in nine states are known to have cows infected with the virus known as type A H5N1, federal officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The virus has been found in high levels in the raw milk of infected cows. Viral remnants have been found in milk samples sold in grocery stores, but the FDA said those products are safe to consume because pasteurization has been confirmed to kill the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether live virus can be transmitted to people who consume milk that hasn’t been heat-treated is unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, CDC officials warned last week that people who drink raw milk could theoretically become infected if the bird flu virus comes in contact with receptors in the nose, mouth and throat or by inhaling the virus into the lungs. There’s also concern that if more people are exposed to the virus, it could mutate to spread more easily in people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986083\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11986083\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/AP24134604438276-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bottle of raw milk is displayed for sale at a store in Temecula, Riverside County, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(JoNel Aleccia/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>States have widely varying regulations regarding raw milk, with some allowing retail sales in stores and others allowing sales only at farms. Some states allow so-called cowshares, where people pay for milk from designated animals, and some allow consumption only by farm owners, employees, or “non-paying guests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The NielsenIQ figures include grocery stores and other retail outlets. They show that raw milk products account for a small fraction of overall dairy sales. About 4,100 units of raw cow’s milk and about 43,000 units of raw milk cheese were sold the week of May 5, for instance, according to NielsenIQ. That compares with about 66.5 million units of pasteurized cow’s milk and about 62 million units of pasteurized cheese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, testimonies about raw milk are trending on social media sites. And Mark McAfee, owner of Raw Farm USA in Fresno, California, said he can’t keep his unpasteurized products in stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are seeking raw milk like crazy,” he said, noting that no bird flu has been detected in his herds or in California. “Anything that the FDA tells our customers to do, they do the opposite.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The surge surprises Donald Schaffner, a Rutgers University food science professor who called the trend “absolutely stunning.”\u003cbr>\n“Food safety experts like me are just simply left shaking their heads,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From 1998 to 2018, the CDC documented more than 200 illness outbreaks traced to raw milk, which sickened more than 2,600 people and hospitalized more than 225.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raw milk is far more likely than pasteurized milk to cause illnesses and hospitalizations linked to dangerous bacteria such as campylobacter, listeria, salmonella and E. coli, research shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before milk standards were adopted in 1924, about 25% of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. were related to dairy consumption, said Alex O’Brien, safety and quality coordinator for the Center for Dairy Research. Now, dairy products account for about 1% of such illnesses, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I liken drinking raw milk to playing Russian roulette,” O’Brien said. The more times people consume it, the greater the chance they’ll get sick, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the risks, about 4.4% of U.S. adults — nearly 11 million people — report that they drink raw milk at least once each year and about 1% said they consume it each week, according to a 2022 FDA study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonni Gilley, 75, of Fresno, said she has raised generations of her family on raw milk and unpasteurized cream and butter because she believes “it’s so healthy” and lacks additives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reports of bird flu in dairy cattle have not made her think twice about drinking raw milk, Gilley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If anything, it is accelerating my thoughts about raw milk,” she said, partly because she doesn’t trust government officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such views are part of a larger problem of government mistrust and a rejection of expertise, said Matthew Motta, who studies health misinformation at Boston University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that people are stupid or ignorant or that they don’t know what the science is,” he said. “They’re motivated to reject it on the basis of partisanship, their political ideology, their religion, their cultural values.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CDC and FDA officials didn’t respond to questions about the rising popularity of raw milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Motta suggested that the agencies should push back with social media posts extolling the health effects of pasteurized milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Communicators need to make an effort to understand why people consume raw milk and try to meet them where they are,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "we-approach-in-peace-are-barts-outreach-efforts-to-help-people-in-crisis-working",
"title": "'We Approach in Peace': Are BART's Efforts to Help People in Crisis Working?",
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"headTitle": "‘We Approach in Peace’: Are BART’s Efforts to Help People in Crisis Working? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>On a recent rainy morning, Stephine Barnes paces slowly through a covered outdoor walkway off the main entrance of the San Leandro BART station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People like to camp out here because you have shelter. There’s no rain, it’s dry. So people just find little nooks and crannies,” Barnes says, surveying the area. “It’s usually where we find a lot of people in the wee hours of the morning, sleeping, camped out, wandering around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnes is a BART crisis intervention specialist, and her job entails seeking out and offering help to the many people in the sprawling transit system struggling with lack of shelter, mental health problems or addiction. She and her partner for the day, Natalie Robinson, are part of the agency’s ambitious new efforts to address a slew of human crises that show up on BART’s trains and platforms every day — without involving the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They spot a young woman with glasses and a purple bow in her hair who is hastily pulling belongings from a bike locker. Two roller bags, a dirty blanket and a ragged stuffed octopus are among the random array of possessions splayed on the ground around her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnes and Robinson approach cautiously, mindful of a large Rottweiler sitting nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We like to connect people with resources,” Robinson says. “So if you have a need for shelter, housing, anything like that, you can let us know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The woman, who gives her name as Cat, seems tentative but receptive. She tells them that she and her boyfriend arrived recently from Southern California. They had been living in their car and storing their belongings in the bike locker. But BART police had just ordered them to clear out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cat nods to the dog, which sports a black-and-white smiley face bandana around its neck. “That’s Einstein,” she says. “He’s our son.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, my goodness, you’re just a sweetheart,” Barnes exclaims, patting the dog’s head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979248\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11979248 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Black woman speaks to a younger woman wearing a purple hair decoration.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outside the San Leandro Bart station, BART Crisis Intervention Specialist Stephine Barnes tells an unhoused person named Cat about a nearby housing assistance program. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She tells Cat to take her time retrieving her belongings, and emphasizes that she and Robinson are not police officers and aren’t there to pressure her to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you guys are interested in getting on the list for permanent housing in Alameda County, there’s a place called Hedco in Hayward,” Barnes tells her. “You can get coffee in the morning and all that kind of stuff. And then they put you in line on how to get these resources for housing and all of those things Alameda County offers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson explains how to get there and hands Cat her card, telling her to call if she needs anything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m really bad with resources, honestly. So this is great,” Cat says, stuffing the card in her jacket pocket and continuing her hurried packing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t have to be out here forever,” Robinson says as she and Barnes wish Cat luck and head back toward the station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ll probably never know if she follows through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It varies widely,” Robinson says. “We could bring someone to a resource, and they literally don’t walk in the door, or we connect somebody, and they follow all the way through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘Customer service on steroids’\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2021, Barnes and Robinson, both seasoned BART employees, were among the first to join the crisis intervention team, now a 20-member crew dispatched throughout the 50-station transit system to offer help to people who appear to be overtly in need of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding that population has gotten a good deal easier in recent years, amid a discernible uptick in the number of people on BART’s trains and platforms experiencing homelessness or suffering from serious mental health issues — a trend that mirrors \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/homeless-populations-surge-11-in-san-jose-and-8-17176329.php\">the overall surge\u003c/a> in the Bay Area’s unhoused population since the start of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART realized “a lot of the problems that were happening outside the station were coming inside the station,” says Barnes, 53, who was a station agent for 27 years, most recently at the Coliseum station in Oakland, before taking this job. “And, of course, as an agent, you see that firsthand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART’s boots-on-the-ground outreach approach, launched in the depths of the pandemic, marks a notable foray into social services for an agency whose main objective has always been getting people from point A to point B.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort comes as BART struggles to recoup ridership, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/202403%20MRR.pdf\">still hovers at just over 40%\u003c/a> of pre-pandemic levels, and as riders \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareacouncil.org/press-releases/new-poll-overwhelming-support-for-more-police-on-bart-greater-focus-on-cleanliness-and-stronger-enforcement-of-rules/\">consistently say in surveys that \u003c/a>they’re most dissatisfied with how the agency addresses homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986011\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11986011 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two middle-aged women in dark-blue uniforms speak to an unseen passenger on a BART train.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">BART Crisis Intervention Specialists Natalie Robinson (left) and Stephine Barnes check on the well-being of a BART passenger they think might need help. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those factors have prompted BART’s leaders to ratchet up funding for crisis intervention and related services — to the tune of $11 million last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/Homeless%20Action%20Plan.pdf\">according to the agency’s 2023 homeless action plan\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have seen a need for something different than what everyone was doing before, which was, ‘Call the police, call the police, call the police,’” says Barnes, who describes her job as “customer service on steroids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most jobs at BART have existed since the agency started running trains more than 50 years ago, she notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was nothing, though, that really addressed the mental health component or the homelessness crisis that we’re experiencing in the Bay Area,” Barnes says. “So when I first read [about the job], I thought, ‘Wow, this is like the next-level customer service.’ Because some customers need more help than just buying a Clipper Card.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CISes, as they’re called, operate under the auspices of BART’s Police Department. But they wear distinctive, labeled uniforms and roam the stations and trains of their assigned zone in pairs, unaccompanied by sworn officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also have no enforcement power and don’t carry any weapons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re armed, instead, with latex gloves, Narcan — used to reverse opioid overdoses — and police radios in the event they need backup. And they use electronic notepads to document and tally their interactions, data the agency hopes will eventually demonstrate the still-undetermined effectiveness of the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some CISes, like Robinson, 49, who worked as a BART police dispatcher for 16 years, also load their pockets with snacks to hand out. Others carry extra pairs of clean socks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the help CISes offer comes in the form of referrals to a collection of social service and mental health nonprofits sprinkled throughout BART’s five-county service area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get to do God’s work out here,” Robinson says. “We’re helping people who are unhoused, who have substance-abuse issues, mental health issues. And being able to connect them to the proper service — those who are willing to make changes in their life — it’s just really rewarding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Signs of distress\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On this morning, Barnes and Robinson are about midway through an 8-hour shift, one that began at 5 a.m. and has taken them back and forth multiple times across their zone, from San Leandro to Lake Merritt stations. Much of that is spent patrolling train cars and platforms, searching for telltale signs of distress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We pay attention to maybe some drug paraphernalia, someone who might be passed out, and check on their welfare,” Robinson says. “And then we’re also patrolling stations and just interacting with the public and building relationships with individuals that we see on a repeat basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART station agents and train operators can reach out to the CISes for help dealing with difficult but non-threatening situations, Barnes says. Passengers can also now call BART police to request help from a non-sworn officer, and dispatchers are authorized to reroute certain 911 calls to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979245\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11979245 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a bathrobe and slippers walks on a train platform.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A person in a bathrobe and slippers walks along the platform of the Fruitvale BART Station — someone that Crisis Intervention Specialist Stephine Barnes says she has interacted with multiple times. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We can be more accessible to the public than the officers can. They’re responding to emergencies, they’re responding to fights, they’re responding to someone with a weapon,” Barnes says. “But we can take the time out. If you need to talk to me for an hour, you have me for an hour. If I need to escort you on the train, and I need to take you to a resource that’s 30, 40 minutes away, I have the time to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when people are in their worst state, Barnes says, they’re still generally grateful to have someone checking in on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, of course, there are times when you’re going to be called names and told ‘Get away, you’re going to get your ass kicked,’ she says. “But I got that more as a station agent than I have in this position.”[aside label=\"more on homelessness\" tag=\"homelessness\"]BART says CISes “\u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2023/news20230103-2\">have a background in social work\u003c/a>” or related experience and receive a month-long training that focuses on conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques for people suffering from mental health, homelessness and substance-abuse issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re all trained in how to come in peace. So when we approach, we approach in peace,” Barnes says. “It’s about a greeting. It’s about, ‘Hey, how are you? How are you doing? How can I best support you?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And a lot of times, they’re very receptive to it,” she says. “But it takes time. Relationships take time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over roughly two hours that morning, Barnes and Robinson ask about 10 people if they need some help, including several semi-conscious riders slumped over on their seats and an older man near the entrance of the Coliseum station wrapped in a dirty blanket, muttering to himself. All, except Cat, the woman they encountered at San Leandro station, wave them off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last quarter of 2023, CISes \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/2024-02/Quarterly%20Service%20Performance%20Review%20-%20Second%20Quarter%20Fiscal%20Year%202024%20-%20Presentation%20%281%29.pdf\">reported having more than 4,500 contacts\u003c/a>, of which 210 — just under 5% — resulted in verifiable connections to service providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a game of patience. It may be the first contact somebody is ready to seek that help. Sometimes it might be the 20th contact,” says Ja’Son Scott, deputy chief of BART’s nascent Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau, which encompasses the CIS program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott’s bureau was launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/archives/unarmed-bart-ambassadors-program-formalized-with-a-focus-on-community-service/article_f74c861e-326f-585d-9014-44665369b258.html\">in the fall of 2020\u003c/a>, just months after George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police sparked nationwide protests for racial justice and police accountability. BART says its new approach, aimed at helping to restore ridership, came in response to mounting requests from passengers for an increased safety presence in the system but with less reliance on armed officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979241\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11979241 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two women in uniform look through an open BART train door.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">BART Crisis Intervention Specialists Natalie Robinson (left) and Stephine Barnes speak to passengers on a BART train that’s been stalled on the platform after a man reportedly flung a bag of feces-caked laundry around the first car. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The initiative has an annual budget of roughly $8 million, and in addition to the 20 CISes, it includes up to 10 “transit ambassadors” who also patrol the system, reporting safety concerns and “biohazards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>“\u003c/b>I realize we didn’t have all the tools as police officers to deal with all the issues that you see in BART, and it’s not always necessary for a police officer to do that,” Scott says. “We can’t arrest our way through these problems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Outreach vs. enforcement\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>BART’s social service efforts, however, haven’t always gone smoothly. The agency’s inspector general \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/REPORT_%24350K%20for%20Homeless%20Outreach%20Yielded%20Unclear%20Results_Final_020323.pdf\">reported\u003c/a> last year that a $350,000 multiyear contract with the Salvation Army to address homelessness resulted in just one unsheltered person entering treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, BART’s Police Department has ramped up enforcement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2024/news20240328\">reporting a 62% increase in arrests\u003c/a> last year while aggressively recruiting to fill vacant positions on its force by offering higher salaries and signing bonuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those developments come as riders say they want to see more sworn officers in the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://drive.zooce.com/management/builtinapps/fileoperator.aspx?child=1&a=D3B60E43-50D3-46D5-A799-2C3CECF14238&ro=1&fid=13728646727690992504_9832503603610834240\">2023 Bay Area Council poll\u003c/a> found three-fourths of respondents would make that a high priority. Four out of five agreed that people who violate BART’s code of conduct — rules that prohibit smoking, eating, and playing loud music, among other things — should be ejected from the system. And more than two-thirds of respondents said they thought BART should focus exclusively on running a clean, safe and reliable transit operation — while letting other public agencies deal with people in crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Debora Allen, a BART Board director, is among that majority. A staunch supporter of tougher law enforcement within the system, Allen was one of just two board members who voted against forming the Progressive Policing Bureau. And she remains dubious of its benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Look, no one wants to help people who are down and out and in crisis more than me. I think all of us on that board have the same interest,” she says. But “transit isn’t the place to start social service programs. We have counties and cities who receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year to do this social service work. We should remain focused on transit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979246\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11979246 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A Narcan case on someone's belt.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephine Barnes and other crisis intervention specialists always carry Narcan, a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Allen argues that BART is using scarce dollars to deliver services to people inside the system, all but incentivizing them to stay there, while offering little in the way of data to show if the program is actually helping people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I have argued all along is our first line of defense should be to keep those people out of the system,” Allen says, decrying BART’s failure to clamp down on rampant fare evasion. \u003cb>“\u003c/b>Having them wandering and sometimes even living inside of a transit system with active moving trains all the time is the most dangerous place for them to decide to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We are definitely needed’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Lake Merritt station, Barnes and Robinson are dispatched to a Dublin-Pleasanton-bound train that’s been stalled on the platform after a man reportedly flung a bag of feces-caked laundry around the first car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>“\u003c/b>So it was all over the train car. They say he wiped it out, but it definitely needs disinfecting,” Robinson says after speaking with the train operator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They calmly head up the stairs and out of the station in pursuit of the man and spend about five minutes looking for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>“\u003c/b>We don’t see him anywhere. We always make an attempt to try to find somebody,” says Robinson, who had hoped to refer him to a shower and laundry truck that serves the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To do this job successfully, she says, it’s important to not get too emotionally involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, my personal outlook and training is that, you know, this is their life, their problems, their choices,” Robinson says. “So I can’t dwell necessarily on the feelings that are so associated with seeing so much human misery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979243\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11979243\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people in dark-blue uniforms talk to a BART train conductor.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">BART Crisis Intervention Specialists Natalie Robinson (center) and Stephine Barnes speak to a BART train conductor about a man who had been causing a disturbance on the train. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Robinson says the support she and her team offer can be a game changer — if and when people actually accept it. She recounts trying to build a relationship, over months, with a young man she often saw riding the trains in her zone, obviously intoxicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then one day, he came and asked for us and said he was ready for recovery,” she says. “He needed somebody to dial the phone for him. He needed somebody to talk to his dad for him. He was literally at his lowest point in his life. And you need a hand in those moments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She paused, waiting for the whine of a departing train to fade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So yeah, we are definitely needed,” she says. “There needs to be a 100 of us, not just 20.”\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "BART's crisis intervention team is part of the transit agency's ambitious new strategy to reach out to the many people in the sprawling transit system who struggle with lack of shelter, mental health problems or addiction — without involving the police.",
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"title": "'We Approach in Peace': Are BART's Efforts to Help People in Crisis Working? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On a recent rainy morning, Stephine Barnes paces slowly through a covered outdoor walkway off the main entrance of the San Leandro BART station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People like to camp out here because you have shelter. There’s no rain, it’s dry. So people just find little nooks and crannies,” Barnes says, surveying the area. “It’s usually where we find a lot of people in the wee hours of the morning, sleeping, camped out, wandering around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnes is a BART crisis intervention specialist, and her job entails seeking out and offering help to the many people in the sprawling transit system struggling with lack of shelter, mental health problems or addiction. She and her partner for the day, Natalie Robinson, are part of the agency’s ambitious new efforts to address a slew of human crises that show up on BART’s trains and platforms every day — without involving the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They spot a young woman with glasses and a purple bow in her hair who is hastily pulling belongings from a bike locker. Two roller bags, a dirty blanket and a ragged stuffed octopus are among the random array of possessions splayed on the ground around her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barnes and Robinson approach cautiously, mindful of a large Rottweiler sitting nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We like to connect people with resources,” Robinson says. “So if you have a need for shelter, housing, anything like that, you can let us know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The woman, who gives her name as Cat, seems tentative but receptive. She tells them that she and her boyfriend arrived recently from Southern California. They had been living in their car and storing their belongings in the bike locker. But BART police had just ordered them to clear out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cat nods to the dog, which sports a black-and-white smiley face bandana around its neck. “That’s Einstein,” she says. “He’s our son.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, my goodness, you’re just a sweetheart,” Barnes exclaims, patting the dog’s head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979248\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11979248 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Black woman speaks to a younger woman wearing a purple hair decoration.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-12-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outside the San Leandro Bart station, BART Crisis Intervention Specialist Stephine Barnes tells an unhoused person named Cat about a nearby housing assistance program. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She tells Cat to take her time retrieving her belongings, and emphasizes that she and Robinson are not police officers and aren’t there to pressure her to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you guys are interested in getting on the list for permanent housing in Alameda County, there’s a place called Hedco in Hayward,” Barnes tells her. “You can get coffee in the morning and all that kind of stuff. And then they put you in line on how to get these resources for housing and all of those things Alameda County offers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson explains how to get there and hands Cat her card, telling her to call if she needs anything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m really bad with resources, honestly. So this is great,” Cat says, stuffing the card in her jacket pocket and continuing her hurried packing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t have to be out here forever,” Robinson says as she and Barnes wish Cat luck and head back toward the station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ll probably never know if she follows through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It varies widely,” Robinson says. “We could bring someone to a resource, and they literally don’t walk in the door, or we connect somebody, and they follow all the way through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘Customer service on steroids’\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2021, Barnes and Robinson, both seasoned BART employees, were among the first to join the crisis intervention team, now a 20-member crew dispatched throughout the 50-station transit system to offer help to people who appear to be overtly in need of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding that population has gotten a good deal easier in recent years, amid a discernible uptick in the number of people on BART’s trains and platforms experiencing homelessness or suffering from serious mental health issues — a trend that mirrors \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/homeless-populations-surge-11-in-san-jose-and-8-17176329.php\">the overall surge\u003c/a> in the Bay Area’s unhoused population since the start of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART realized “a lot of the problems that were happening outside the station were coming inside the station,” says Barnes, 53, who was a station agent for 27 years, most recently at the Coliseum station in Oakland, before taking this job. “And, of course, as an agent, you see that firsthand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART’s boots-on-the-ground outreach approach, launched in the depths of the pandemic, marks a notable foray into social services for an agency whose main objective has always been getting people from point A to point B.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The effort comes as BART struggles to recoup ridership, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/202403%20MRR.pdf\">still hovers at just over 40%\u003c/a> of pre-pandemic levels, and as riders \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareacouncil.org/press-releases/new-poll-overwhelming-support-for-more-police-on-bart-greater-focus-on-cleanliness-and-stronger-enforcement-of-rules/\">consistently say in surveys that \u003c/a>they’re most dissatisfied with how the agency addresses homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11986011\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11986011 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two middle-aged women in dark-blue uniforms speak to an unseen passenger on a BART train.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-06_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">BART Crisis Intervention Specialists Natalie Robinson (left) and Stephine Barnes check on the well-being of a BART passenger they think might need help. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those factors have prompted BART’s leaders to ratchet up funding for crisis intervention and related services — to the tune of $11 million last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/Homeless%20Action%20Plan.pdf\">according to the agency’s 2023 homeless action plan\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have seen a need for something different than what everyone was doing before, which was, ‘Call the police, call the police, call the police,’” says Barnes, who describes her job as “customer service on steroids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most jobs at BART have existed since the agency started running trains more than 50 years ago, she notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was nothing, though, that really addressed the mental health component or the homelessness crisis that we’re experiencing in the Bay Area,” Barnes says. “So when I first read [about the job], I thought, ‘Wow, this is like the next-level customer service.’ Because some customers need more help than just buying a Clipper Card.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CISes, as they’re called, operate under the auspices of BART’s Police Department. But they wear distinctive, labeled uniforms and roam the stations and trains of their assigned zone in pairs, unaccompanied by sworn officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also have no enforcement power and don’t carry any weapons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re armed, instead, with latex gloves, Narcan — used to reverse opioid overdoses — and police radios in the event they need backup. And they use electronic notepads to document and tally their interactions, data the agency hopes will eventually demonstrate the still-undetermined effectiveness of the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some CISes, like Robinson, 49, who worked as a BART police dispatcher for 16 years, also load their pockets with snacks to hand out. Others carry extra pairs of clean socks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the help CISes offer comes in the form of referrals to a collection of social service and mental health nonprofits sprinkled throughout BART’s five-county service area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We get to do God’s work out here,” Robinson says. “We’re helping people who are unhoused, who have substance-abuse issues, mental health issues. And being able to connect them to the proper service — those who are willing to make changes in their life — it’s just really rewarding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Signs of distress\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On this morning, Barnes and Robinson are about midway through an 8-hour shift, one that began at 5 a.m. and has taken them back and forth multiple times across their zone, from San Leandro to Lake Merritt stations. Much of that is spent patrolling train cars and platforms, searching for telltale signs of distress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We pay attention to maybe some drug paraphernalia, someone who might be passed out, and check on their welfare,” Robinson says. “And then we’re also patrolling stations and just interacting with the public and building relationships with individuals that we see on a repeat basis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BART station agents and train operators can reach out to the CISes for help dealing with difficult but non-threatening situations, Barnes says. Passengers can also now call BART police to request help from a non-sworn officer, and dispatchers are authorized to reroute certain 911 calls to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979245\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11979245 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in a bathrobe and slippers walks on a train platform.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-07-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A person in a bathrobe and slippers walks along the platform of the Fruitvale BART Station — someone that Crisis Intervention Specialist Stephine Barnes says she has interacted with multiple times. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We can be more accessible to the public than the officers can. They’re responding to emergencies, they’re responding to fights, they’re responding to someone with a weapon,” Barnes says. “But we can take the time out. If you need to talk to me for an hour, you have me for an hour. If I need to escort you on the train, and I need to take you to a resource that’s 30, 40 minutes away, I have the time to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when people are in their worst state, Barnes says, they’re still generally grateful to have someone checking in on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, of course, there are times when you’re going to be called names and told ‘Get away, you’re going to get your ass kicked,’ she says. “But I got that more as a station agent than I have in this position.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>BART says CISes “\u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2023/news20230103-2\">have a background in social work\u003c/a>” or related experience and receive a month-long training that focuses on conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques for people suffering from mental health, homelessness and substance-abuse issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re all trained in how to come in peace. So when we approach, we approach in peace,” Barnes says. “It’s about a greeting. It’s about, ‘Hey, how are you? How are you doing? How can I best support you?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And a lot of times, they’re very receptive to it,” she says. “But it takes time. Relationships take time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over roughly two hours that morning, Barnes and Robinson ask about 10 people if they need some help, including several semi-conscious riders slumped over on their seats and an older man near the entrance of the Coliseum station wrapped in a dirty blanket, muttering to himself. All, except Cat, the woman they encountered at San Leandro station, wave them off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the last quarter of 2023, CISes \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/2024-02/Quarterly%20Service%20Performance%20Review%20-%20Second%20Quarter%20Fiscal%20Year%202024%20-%20Presentation%20%281%29.pdf\">reported having more than 4,500 contacts\u003c/a>, of which 210 — just under 5% — resulted in verifiable connections to service providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a game of patience. It may be the first contact somebody is ready to seek that help. Sometimes it might be the 20th contact,” says Ja’Son Scott, deputy chief of BART’s nascent Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau, which encompasses the CIS program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott’s bureau was launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfexaminer.com/archives/unarmed-bart-ambassadors-program-formalized-with-a-focus-on-community-service/article_f74c861e-326f-585d-9014-44665369b258.html\">in the fall of 2020\u003c/a>, just months after George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police sparked nationwide protests for racial justice and police accountability. BART says its new approach, aimed at helping to restore ridership, came in response to mounting requests from passengers for an increased safety presence in the system but with less reliance on armed officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979241\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11979241 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two women in uniform look through an open BART train door.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">BART Crisis Intervention Specialists Natalie Robinson (left) and Stephine Barnes speak to passengers on a BART train that’s been stalled on the platform after a man reportedly flung a bag of feces-caked laundry around the first car. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The initiative has an annual budget of roughly $8 million, and in addition to the 20 CISes, it includes up to 10 “transit ambassadors” who also patrol the system, reporting safety concerns and “biohazards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>“\u003c/b>I realize we didn’t have all the tools as police officers to deal with all the issues that you see in BART, and it’s not always necessary for a police officer to do that,” Scott says. “We can’t arrest our way through these problems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Outreach vs. enforcement\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>BART’s social service efforts, however, haven’t always gone smoothly. The agency’s inspector general \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/REPORT_%24350K%20for%20Homeless%20Outreach%20Yielded%20Unclear%20Results_Final_020323.pdf\">reported\u003c/a> last year that a $350,000 multiyear contract with the Salvation Army to address homelessness resulted in just one unsheltered person entering treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, BART’s Police Department has ramped up enforcement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2024/news20240328\">reporting a 62% increase in arrests\u003c/a> last year while aggressively recruiting to fill vacant positions on its force by offering higher salaries and signing bonuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those developments come as riders say they want to see more sworn officers in the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://drive.zooce.com/management/builtinapps/fileoperator.aspx?child=1&a=D3B60E43-50D3-46D5-A799-2C3CECF14238&ro=1&fid=13728646727690992504_9832503603610834240\">2023 Bay Area Council poll\u003c/a> found three-fourths of respondents would make that a high priority. Four out of five agreed that people who violate BART’s code of conduct — rules that prohibit smoking, eating, and playing loud music, among other things — should be ejected from the system. And more than two-thirds of respondents said they thought BART should focus exclusively on running a clean, safe and reliable transit operation — while letting other public agencies deal with people in crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Debora Allen, a BART Board director, is among that majority. A staunch supporter of tougher law enforcement within the system, Allen was one of just two board members who voted against forming the Progressive Policing Bureau. And she remains dubious of its benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Look, no one wants to help people who are down and out and in crisis more than me. I think all of us on that board have the same interest,” she says. But “transit isn’t the place to start social service programs. We have counties and cities who receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year to do this social service work. We should remain focused on transit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979246\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11979246 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A Narcan case on someone's belt.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-08-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephine Barnes and other crisis intervention specialists always carry Narcan, a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Allen argues that BART is using scarce dollars to deliver services to people inside the system, all but incentivizing them to stay there, while offering little in the way of data to show if the program is actually helping people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I have argued all along is our first line of defense should be to keep those people out of the system,” Allen says, decrying BART’s failure to clamp down on rampant fare evasion. \u003cb>“\u003c/b>Having them wandering and sometimes even living inside of a transit system with active moving trains all the time is the most dangerous place for them to decide to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We are definitely needed’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Lake Merritt station, Barnes and Robinson are dispatched to a Dublin-Pleasanton-bound train that’s been stalled on the platform after a man reportedly flung a bag of feces-caked laundry around the first car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>“\u003c/b>So it was all over the train car. They say he wiped it out, but it definitely needs disinfecting,” Robinson says after speaking with the train operator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They calmly head up the stairs and out of the station in pursuit of the man and spend about five minutes looking for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>“\u003c/b>We don’t see him anywhere. We always make an attempt to try to find somebody,” says Robinson, who had hoped to refer him to a shower and laundry truck that serves the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To do this job successfully, she says, it’s important to not get too emotionally involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, my personal outlook and training is that, you know, this is their life, their problems, their choices,” Robinson says. “So I can’t dwell necessarily on the feelings that are so associated with seeing so much human misery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11979243\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11979243\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people in dark-blue uniforms talk to a BART train conductor.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240313-BART-CRISIS-INTERVENTION-UNIT-MD-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">BART Crisis Intervention Specialists Natalie Robinson (center) and Stephine Barnes speak to a BART train conductor about a man who had been causing a disturbance on the train. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Robinson says the support she and her team offer can be a game changer — if and when people actually accept it. She recounts trying to build a relationship, over months, with a young man she often saw riding the trains in her zone, obviously intoxicated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And then one day, he came and asked for us and said he was ready for recovery,” she says. “He needed somebody to dial the phone for him. He needed somebody to talk to his dad for him. He was literally at his lowest point in his life. And you need a hand in those moments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She paused, waiting for the whine of a departing train to fade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So yeah, we are definitely needed,” she says. “There needs to be a 100 of us, not just 20.”\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Over the last few days, social media commenters and conservative news outlets have piled on after AI entrepreneur Adam Nathan asked his followers on X, formerly Twitter, “Did you know San Francisco spends $2 million a year on a ‘Managed Alcohol Program?’’’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nathan, the founder of AI marketing company Blaze and chair of the Salvation Army San Francisco Metro Advisory Board, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/adampnathan/status/1788049236002488678\">posted last Tuesday\u003c/a> describing the program as “giving out free beer” to unhoused people with alcohol use disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tech executive Garry Tan, who has often criticized San Francisco’s harm reduction policies for drug use, replied to the thread, calling the program “harm acceleration.” A \u003ca href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-francisco-buys-vodka-shots-homeless-alcoholics-taxpayer-funded-program\">Fox News headline\u003c/a> declared it “buys vodka shots for homeless alcoholics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while providing alcohol to people with alcohol use disorder can seem counterintuitive, research shows that such harm reduction strategies can be helpful, according to Keanan Joyner, a professor and researcher in the Clinical Research on Externalizing and Addiction Mechanisms Lab at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The science is very clear at this point that harm reduction as a general strategy for treating alcohol and other drug use disorders is very effective. It’s a very positive thing,” Joyner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s Managed Alcohol Program, or MAP, provides housing, three meals a day, nurse-administered alcohol — usually in the form of beer or vodka — dosed to keep clients at a “safe level of intoxication,” and enrichment activities. It started in 2020 as public health officials responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its goal isn’t to reduce patients’ alcohol use or lead to abstinence but to increase their safety and overall quality of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nathan, who did not immediately respond to KQED’s attempts to reach out for comment, said in his thread on X that while some studies and explanations support MAP, the concept “just doesn’t feel right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joyner said that feeling isn’t uncommon, making harm reduction strategies for alcohol and substance use disorders the “most difficult topic for academics who study this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, harm reduction strategies can result in fewer missed work days, trips to the emergency room, ambulance rides, and other disruptions to daily life for those with alcohol use disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This program seems good,” Joyner said. “I think it’s very good at doing what it’s intending to do, which is to reduce drinking levels to a manageable level without inducing severe withdrawal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, an internal analysis of MAP found a fourfold reduction in the usage of emergency department services by clients in the six months after their intake compared to the six months prior. It also reported that clients called emergency medical systems and visited the hospital half as often.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is run out of a 20-bed facility on the grounds of a former hotel and bar in the Tenderloin, where clients live in a “closed campus” environment under the supervision of staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site’s bar, which has taps that previously dispensed beer and cannot be removed due to the leasing agreement, is one element that opponents of the program have taken issue with. So is its funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why isn’t every public health dollar not going to prevention and treatment?” Nathan wrote in one of the posts in his X thread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Funding programs like MAP, however, can actually have monetary benefits to the public, especially since not all people with alcohol use disorder are willing to go through abstinence-based treatment programs, Joyner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He explained that when someone uninsured goes to the emergency room for withdrawal, an injury or other medical emergency related to alcohol use, “the city quote-unquote ‘pays.’”[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='public-health']“When you’re trying to consider the cost of implementing programs [like MAP], you’re not doing it against zero,” Joyner said. “How many people are going to show up in our emergency departments and ambulances? How much money does that cost? You’re comparing that amount of money to the amount of money that you’re spending on funding towards this type of program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2022 analysis by the Department of Public Health estimated that in the six months it tracked MAP’s impact, the program saved approximately $1.7 million. MAP costs over $5 million annually, and the department said it is in the process of finding this funding through Medi-Cal reimbursement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is not without its shortcomings. MAP has served just 55 clients in its four years of operation, and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JspY2DXvIrU\">presentation\u003c/a> from last October showed that although clients used fewer emergency services while in the program, some who left the facility returned to relatively frequent utilization of these services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, public health officials believe the program is effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a program for a really small but highly vulnerable subsection of the population of people with alcohol use disorder — really severe and pretty end-stage alcohol use,” Dr. Joanna Eveland, the chief medical officer for SFDPH’s Whole Person Integrated Care Program, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within the SF Department of Public Health, we like to be data-driven, and the data we have for this program really support a significant decrease in [emergency medical services] utilization,” Eveland said. “Having freed up the resources that were taking people to the emergency room three, four or five times a day, now those are resources that we can use to support more people getting on the road to recovery through other SFDPH services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Over the last few days, social media commenters and conservative news outlets have piled on after AI entrepreneur Adam Nathan asked his followers on X, formerly Twitter, “Did you know San Francisco spends $2 million a year on a ‘Managed Alcohol Program?’’’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nathan, the founder of AI marketing company Blaze and chair of the Salvation Army San Francisco Metro Advisory Board, \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/adampnathan/status/1788049236002488678\">posted last Tuesday\u003c/a> describing the program as “giving out free beer” to unhoused people with alcohol use disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tech executive Garry Tan, who has often criticized San Francisco’s harm reduction policies for drug use, replied to the thread, calling the program “harm acceleration.” A \u003ca href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-francisco-buys-vodka-shots-homeless-alcoholics-taxpayer-funded-program\">Fox News headline\u003c/a> declared it “buys vodka shots for homeless alcoholics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while providing alcohol to people with alcohol use disorder can seem counterintuitive, research shows that such harm reduction strategies can be helpful, according to Keanan Joyner, a professor and researcher in the Clinical Research on Externalizing and Addiction Mechanisms Lab at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The science is very clear at this point that harm reduction as a general strategy for treating alcohol and other drug use disorders is very effective. It’s a very positive thing,” Joyner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s Managed Alcohol Program, or MAP, provides housing, three meals a day, nurse-administered alcohol — usually in the form of beer or vodka — dosed to keep clients at a “safe level of intoxication,” and enrichment activities. It started in 2020 as public health officials responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its goal isn’t to reduce patients’ alcohol use or lead to abstinence but to increase their safety and overall quality of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nathan, who did not immediately respond to KQED’s attempts to reach out for comment, said in his thread on X that while some studies and explanations support MAP, the concept “just doesn’t feel right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joyner said that feeling isn’t uncommon, making harm reduction strategies for alcohol and substance use disorders the “most difficult topic for academics who study this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, harm reduction strategies can result in fewer missed work days, trips to the emergency room, ambulance rides, and other disruptions to daily life for those with alcohol use disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This program seems good,” Joyner said. “I think it’s very good at doing what it’s intending to do, which is to reduce drinking levels to a manageable level without inducing severe withdrawal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, an internal analysis of MAP found a fourfold reduction in the usage of emergency department services by clients in the six months after their intake compared to the six months prior. It also reported that clients called emergency medical systems and visited the hospital half as often.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is run out of a 20-bed facility on the grounds of a former hotel and bar in the Tenderloin, where clients live in a “closed campus” environment under the supervision of staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site’s bar, which has taps that previously dispensed beer and cannot be removed due to the leasing agreement, is one element that opponents of the program have taken issue with. So is its funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why isn’t every public health dollar not going to prevention and treatment?” Nathan wrote in one of the posts in his X thread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Funding programs like MAP, however, can actually have monetary benefits to the public, especially since not all people with alcohol use disorder are willing to go through abstinence-based treatment programs, Joyner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He explained that when someone uninsured goes to the emergency room for withdrawal, an injury or other medical emergency related to alcohol use, “the city quote-unquote ‘pays.’”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“When you’re trying to consider the cost of implementing programs [like MAP], you’re not doing it against zero,” Joyner said. “How many people are going to show up in our emergency departments and ambulances? How much money does that cost? You’re comparing that amount of money to the amount of money that you’re spending on funding towards this type of program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2022 analysis by the Department of Public Health estimated that in the six months it tracked MAP’s impact, the program saved approximately $1.7 million. MAP costs over $5 million annually, and the department said it is in the process of finding this funding through Medi-Cal reimbursement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is not without its shortcomings. MAP has served just 55 clients in its four years of operation, and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JspY2DXvIrU\">presentation\u003c/a> from last October showed that although clients used fewer emergency services while in the program, some who left the facility returned to relatively frequent utilization of these services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, public health officials believe the program is effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a program for a really small but highly vulnerable subsection of the population of people with alcohol use disorder — really severe and pretty end-stage alcohol use,” Dr. Joanna Eveland, the chief medical officer for SFDPH’s Whole Person Integrated Care Program, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Within the SF Department of Public Health, we like to be data-driven, and the data we have for this program really support a significant decrease in [emergency medical services] utilization,” Eveland said. “Having freed up the resources that were taking people to the emergency room three, four or five times a day, now those are resources that we can use to support more people getting on the road to recovery through other SFDPH services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Berkeley Passes Legal Protections for Polyamory, Joining Oakland",
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"content": "\u003cp>Berkeley is on tap to approve legal protections for polyamorous families, moving to shield people in “diverse family structures” from discrimination in housing, businesses, and civil services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On first reading Tuesday night the regulations passed the City Council. They cover multi-partner families, step-families, single parents, multi-generational households and \u003ca href=\"https://lgbt.ucsf.edu/glossary-terms#:~:text=Asexuality%3A%20Generally%20characterized%20by%20not,deliberate%20abstention%20from%20sexual%20activity.\">asexual relationships\u003c/a>. A final vote on the legislation is next Tuesday, May 21.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Berkeley must stand united against discrimination of all kinds,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Terry Taplin, who introduced the bill. “As a gay Black Berkeleyan raised by a single mother, protecting our community’s diversity will always be a key goal in my public service, and families with nontraditional structures deserve our protection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar legislation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992460/bay-area-cities-push-to-legally-validate-polyamorous-families\">passed in Oakland last month\u003c/a>, spearheaded by Janani Ramachandran, the city’s first LGBTQ councilwoman of color. The votes are believed to be the first of their kind on the West Coast. In recent years, the Massachusetts cities of Somerville and Cambridge passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/style/polyamory-somerville.html\">laws granting rights to nontraditional families\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a really exciting moment for the nonmonogamy movement because it helps validate and protect families and relationships that for a long time have existed in the shadows or at the margins of societies,” said Brett Chamberlin, founder and executive director of the Organization for Polyamory and Ethical Non-monogamy, a nonprofit advocacy group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research shows that \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/6E8_Cqx2JmsXW3ozsZT-YX?domain=journals.sagepub.com\">two-thirds of people engaged in consensual nonmonogamy report feeling stigmatized\u003c/a>, which leads many to hide that they are polyamorous because they fear \u003ca href=\"https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/102091/asap1286.pdf;jsessionid=85415879310B01D865F7EF9FB330883F?sequence=1\">negative perceptions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stigma and discrimination can show up in a range of domains: housing, employment, \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30621924/\">health care\u003c/a> and immigration,” Chamberlin said. “Courts have \u003ca href=\"https://casetext.com/case/vb-v-jeb\">revoked custody from parents\u003c/a> who have multiple partners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some religious groups are openly critical of nontraditional family structures. The California Family Council, a Christian faith-based organization, is vehemently opposed to any measure that affirms polyamorous relationships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The push by Oakland and Berkeley to formalize polyamorous families is cultural suicide,” Greg Burt, vice president of CFC, \u003ca href=\"https://www.californiafamily.org/2024/02/two-ca-cities-push-to-formally-recognize-polyamory/\">said in a statement\u003c/a>. “History and experience have shown children thrive best in nuclear father, mother and child families. A civilization that rejects this biblical model for family life is hell-bent on its own destruction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the country may be trending away from the nuclear family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0092623X.2016.1178675?journalCode=usmt20\">Research shows\u003c/a> that one in five single people in the U.S. have participated in some type of nonmonogamy. A \u003ca href=\"https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Monogamy_NonMonogamy_Relationships_Toplines_crosstabs.pdf\">2023 poll conducted by YouGov\u003c/a>, an international analytics group, found that approximately a third of U.S. adults said that their ideal relationship is nonmonogamous to some degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These laws raise awareness about the many forms of modern family and declares discrimination against them unacceptable and unlawful,” said Diana Adams, the executive director of Chosen Family Law Center. “That reduces stigma for us everywhere.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Berkeley is on tap to approve legal protections for polyamorous families, moving to shield people in “diverse family structures” from discrimination in housing, businesses, and civil services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On first reading Tuesday night the regulations passed the City Council. They cover multi-partner families, step-families, single parents, multi-generational households and \u003ca href=\"https://lgbt.ucsf.edu/glossary-terms#:~:text=Asexuality%3A%20Generally%20characterized%20by%20not,deliberate%20abstention%20from%20sexual%20activity.\">asexual relationships\u003c/a>. A final vote on the legislation is next Tuesday, May 21.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Berkeley must stand united against discrimination of all kinds,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Terry Taplin, who introduced the bill. “As a gay Black Berkeleyan raised by a single mother, protecting our community’s diversity will always be a key goal in my public service, and families with nontraditional structures deserve our protection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar legislation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992460/bay-area-cities-push-to-legally-validate-polyamorous-families\">passed in Oakland last month\u003c/a>, spearheaded by Janani Ramachandran, the city’s first LGBTQ councilwoman of color. The votes are believed to be the first of their kind on the West Coast. In recent years, the Massachusetts cities of Somerville and Cambridge passed \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/style/polyamory-somerville.html\">laws granting rights to nontraditional families\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a really exciting moment for the nonmonogamy movement because it helps validate and protect families and relationships that for a long time have existed in the shadows or at the margins of societies,” said Brett Chamberlin, founder and executive director of the Organization for Polyamory and Ethical Non-monogamy, a nonprofit advocacy group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research shows that \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/6E8_Cqx2JmsXW3ozsZT-YX?domain=journals.sagepub.com\">two-thirds of people engaged in consensual nonmonogamy report feeling stigmatized\u003c/a>, which leads many to hide that they are polyamorous because they fear \u003ca href=\"https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/102091/asap1286.pdf;jsessionid=85415879310B01D865F7EF9FB330883F?sequence=1\">negative perceptions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stigma and discrimination can show up in a range of domains: housing, employment, \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30621924/\">health care\u003c/a> and immigration,” Chamberlin said. “Courts have \u003ca href=\"https://casetext.com/case/vb-v-jeb\">revoked custody from parents\u003c/a> who have multiple partners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some religious groups are openly critical of nontraditional family structures. The California Family Council, a Christian faith-based organization, is vehemently opposed to any measure that affirms polyamorous relationships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The push by Oakland and Berkeley to formalize polyamorous families is cultural suicide,” Greg Burt, vice president of CFC, \u003ca href=\"https://www.californiafamily.org/2024/02/two-ca-cities-push-to-formally-recognize-polyamory/\">said in a statement\u003c/a>. “History and experience have shown children thrive best in nuclear father, mother and child families. A civilization that rejects this biblical model for family life is hell-bent on its own destruction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet the country may be trending away from the nuclear family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0092623X.2016.1178675?journalCode=usmt20\">Research shows\u003c/a> that one in five single people in the U.S. have participated in some type of nonmonogamy. A \u003ca href=\"https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Monogamy_NonMonogamy_Relationships_Toplines_crosstabs.pdf\">2023 poll conducted by YouGov\u003c/a>, an international analytics group, found that approximately a third of U.S. adults said that their ideal relationship is nonmonogamous to some degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These laws raise awareness about the many forms of modern family and declares discrimination against them unacceptable and unlawful,” said Diana Adams, the executive director of Chosen Family Law Center. “That reduces stigma for us everywhere.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
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"order": 9
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"meta": {
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"source": "WNYC"
},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
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"source": "NPR"
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"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"hyphenacion": {
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"order": 15
},
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"jerrybrown": {
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"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"order": 18
},
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},
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"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
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},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"meta": {
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
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"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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