Santa Cruz County Health Digest

An update on the progress of battling the battery storage facility fire at Moss Landing.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious plan to produce a cheap, generic insulin for the 3.2 million Californians with diabetes is behind the schedule he announced and unlikely to make it to market for several years, industry experts say.

Service Employees International Union Local 2015 has ratified an agreement with Santa Cruz County boosting the wages of in-home and long-term care workers. Read on for details.

A presumptive case of H5N1 bird flu has been identified in a child who resides in San Francisco, the city’s Department of Public Health announced.The child had a fever and conjunctivitis but did not need to be hospitalized and has since made a full recovery, public health officials said Friday.

The Newsom administration on Friday is expected to release its next budget proposal. Health care advocates want the governor to fix a Medi-Cal rule that discourages seniors from getting coverage.

Learn more about the Mobile Crisis Response Teams being deployed by Santa Cruz County to provide mental health services throughout the county.

Following the cyberattack on Watsonville Community Hospital, some patients are being notified that their personal information might have been compromised. Read on to learn more.

Following news of the death of pet cats from eating bird flu infected raw food or raw milk, CapRadio has information about how to protect your feline friends.

A new state law will keep medical debt off your credit report, sparing a hit to your all-important credit score. This is a big deal for California where millions struggle with unpaid medical bills. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Keith Poulsen's jaw dropped when farmers showed him images on their cellphones at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin in October. A livestock veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin, Poulsen had seen sick cows before, with their noses dripping and udders slack.

For California nurses seeking help with alcohol or drug abuse, the road to recovery through a program managed by their licensing board can be fraught, writes CalMatters health reporter Kristen Hwang.

California doctors are asking the state to create a ‘safe harbor’ program for addiction recovery. They say the current system discourages doctors from participating because they regard it as punitive.

As the first serious case of bird flu in a human is reported and more dairy herds across the state are infected, California Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency. Read on to learn what that entails.

Gov. Newsom launched an ambitious program that uses Medi-Cal to help Californians access housing, healthy food and more. Now, its fate is in the hands of President-Elect Trump.

California has an aggressive mandate for zero-emission trucks, which are powered by electricity or hydrogen. But trucking companies face big obstacles — and people are still breathing dangerous diesel exhaust.

Are food recalls on the rise? Yes. Read on to learn more.

In an announcement on December 6, Watsonville Community Hospital officials confirmed the multi-day computer and Internet outage was the result of a cyberattack. Read on to learn more.

Birth centers are midwife-run facilities that deliver babies outside of hospitals. They have struggled to stay in business in part because of strict state licensing requirements.

California Democrats have passed two dozen laws to protect abortion access since the Supreme Court in 2021 overturned Roe vs. Wade. New bills are on the table.

Third party specialists are investigating a computer and network outage that has Watsonville Community Hospital working with backup paper systems and files. Find out more about the outage and what's being done to bring systems back online.

Learn how health officials and California dairies are responding, or not, to the explosive spread of bird flu through dairy herds across the state.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is urgently preparing to protect reproductive rights from the incoming Trump administration—and the looming possibility of Project 2025-inspired policies.

Learn about the discussions underway at UCSC about the addition of a medical school on campus.

Bird flu has been spreading among dairy workers in California’s Central Valley, jumping from cows to people. A new suspected case in the Bay Area came from an unknown source.

The invasive Aedes aegypti mosquitos have been detected in more areas of Santa Clara County, prompting officials to hold meetings to discuss their response to the threat posed by the species. 

A strain of bird flu that imperiled California poultry and cattle has jumped to people. In humans, the symptoms are mild and the virus has not been transmitted among people.

A summary of the latest campaign finance filings for the Measure Z "soda tax" on the Santa Cruz County November ballot.

At an October 17 meeting at the Silver Spur on Soquel Drive, local residents heard about plans to develop the property into a senior assisted-living and memory care facility.

In their October 8 meeting, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors advanced a proposal to ban the sale of filtered cigarettes in the unincorporated parts of the county.

The Mercury News explains the Proposition 35 to renew the existing tax used to fund Medi-Cal health services.

The summer COVID surge in California may be finally abating, but people are still advised to get update vaccines in anticipation of a resurgence in the fall and winter.

The Waves of Wellness: Santa Cruz Festival will be held on October 19 in downtown Santa Cruz on Pacific Avenue, Cooper Street and Abbott square.