Santa Cruz County Health Articles

Residents at the UC-owned, 168-unit Hilltop Apartments on Western Drive in Santa Cruz described problems with rats, delayed maintenance and unexplained charges. (Nik Altenberg — Santa Cruz Local)
Key takeaways

Pajaro Valley Healthcare District—the public agency tasked with running Watsonville Community Hospital—announced Wednesday that they plan to purchase the building and surrounding property, a major milestone in a years-long endeavor to return the facility to public ownership.

Workers represented by SEIU Local 2015 and other unions wave their hands in support of speakers at a Santa Cruz County supervisors meeting Aug. 13. Caregivers employed through the county’s In-Home Supportive Services program have demanded higher pay. (Jesse Kathan …

Learn what's getting into Californians’ lungs and why it matters.

Soda prices could rise in the City of Santa Cruz in 2025 if voters approve a new city tax. (Tyler Maldonado — Santa Cruz Local)
SANTA CRUZ >> Santa Cruz city voters in November will decide whether to tax the …

Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties may have been exposed to measles in recent days after an infected person from outside the region visited, according to public health officials.

A Santa Cruz County Grand Jury report determined that the Behavioral Health Division struggles to meet the county’s mental health needs, and has neither the fiscal means nor staff resources to do the job.

An organization that helps men break free from drug and alcohol addiction officially broke ground on June 21 on a new Behavioral Health Center on Miles Lane in Watsonville.

By Alesandro Manzella

Santa Cruz County has launched a free water quality testing program that includes opportunities for Point of Use treatment and drinking water replacement for residents of Santa Cruz County who rely on household groundwater wells for their drinking water.

Several community leaders and community members gathered at MacQuiddy Elementary School Tuesday evening to call on Driscoll’s, Reiter and other companies to stop using toxic pesticides around schools.

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.

California voters narrowly passed Proposition 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s measure to fund mental health housing. He’s prodding counties to use the money quickly.

Information provided by San Benito County. Lea este articulo en español aqui.

A local group is calling on the nation’s largest berry grower to cease the use of pesticides on farm fields located near schools.

How the California mental health crisis emerged out of the state’s history of deinstitutionalization and laws designed to protect the mentally ill, as well as the communities around them.

Santa Cruz has a powerful activist history, and one of the most impressive outcomes for our county emerged from the Women’s Health Collective of the early 70’s.
Monday, on the Talk of the Bay, two of the collective’s founding mother’s–Coleen …

Partly due to global warming and the proliferation of ticks, Lyme disease is the fastest growing infectious disease in the US. Here’s how to protect yourself.

After 133 people died in Santa Cruz County in 2023 after overdosing on Fentanyl, the Sheriff’s Office has launched a new way to address the problem, with a special focus on the people who deal the dangerous drug.

Farmworkers pick strawberries near Watsonville in August 2020. (David Rodriguez — The Salinas Californian file)
Key takeaways