San Gabriel Valley Tribune: St. Francis Medical Center Workers Fired 5 Days Before Christmas 
Striking workers at St. Francis Medical Center who have openly complained of understaffing and inadequate patient care were fired Wednesday, Dec. 20, just five days before Christmas. (Smith, 12/21)

Fresno Bee: Non-Emergencies Flood Fresno-Area ERs, Prompting 10-Hour Waits. How Can You Ease The Burden?
Hospital emergency rooms throughout the Fresno region have become clogged with patients confronting respiratory illnesses, prompting health leaders to install an “assess and refer” policy for ambulance crews to deny transport for patients whose cases are not true emergencies. (Sheehan, 12/19)

Modern Healthcare: What Union Contracts Won For Members In 2023
The topic of living wages was another hot-button issue dominating negotiations. Non-clinical staff at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Los Angeles, represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, secured a contract that included a 40% salary increase over four years. Similarly, Kaiser Permanente workers secured a minimum wage of $25 per hour in California and $23 per hour in other states, along with other wins such as pay increases of 21% over four years. (Devereaux, 12/22)

California Healthline: Cancer Patients Face Frightening Delays In Treatment Approvals
Delaying cancer treatment can be deadly — which makes the roadblock-riddled process that health insurers use to approve or deny care particularly daunting for oncology patients. (Sausser, 12/22)

The Washington Post: VR Can Help Seniors In Nursing Homes With Mood, Memory And Loneliness 
On Wednesday mornings, residents at Citrus Place, a retirement community in Riverside, gather for a weekly institution: 30 minutes in virtual reality. The activity is voluntary, and attendance is good. On this day, about a dozen participants from the facility’s assisted-living wing sat on love seats in a circle, wearing VR headsets that looked like big goggles. Their virtual schedule was packed: a hot-air balloon ride, then a safari, then to the grocery store. (Hunter, 12/21)

Central Valley Journalism Collaborative: New California Law Addressing Mental Illness, Addiction Among Homeless Delayed By Valley Counties. Here's Why
Historic changes to California’s conservatorship law, which will expand who can be placed in involuntary care and treatment in an attempt to address the state’s ongoing homelessness crisis, will have to wait in the Central Valley. The board of supervisors in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties have opted to defer the new law, which otherwise would have gone into effect in January. Officials in both counties will now have an additional two years to comply with the changes. (Rowland, 12/21)

CalMatters: Mental Health Programs For CA Kids Close After Payment Change
Kerry Venegas struggles to sleep these days, worrying about the 55 children who will lose services once her Humboldt County nonprofit closes an outpatient counseling program in January. David Mineta gets emotional when he talks about his organization’s decision to close six mental health programs serving about 650 children and adults in Santa Clara County by the end of December. “Talking about it really makes me want to cry,” he says. (Weiner, 12/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: She Almost Jumped Off The Golden Gate Bridge. How A Homeless S.F. Mother Transformed Her Life
Leticia Tate-Azevedo still remembers how desperate and alone she felt as she walked along the Golden Gate Bridge in a beanie and T-shirt at twilight on New Year's Day in 2020. Homeless and addicted to methamphetamine and cocaine, Tate-Azevedo wasn’t sure she wanted to live any longer. Scoping out a place to jump, she said she paused and said a prayer: “God, I know what is happening is wrong. I promise if you save my life from this bridge, I will not go back. I will get myself together.” As she began to lift a leg onto the railing, someone pulled her back, she said. (Angst, 12/21)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Freed Elderly And Sick Prisoners During COVID, But He's Grappling With Risks Of More Mercy
David Moreland had long expected to die in prison. But when the coronavirus nearly killed him in 2020, it was that brush with death that ended up freeing him. “This is how God works,” Moreland, 67, said from his cozy living room at a subsidized apartment complex for seniors in Long Beach. (Mays, 12/22)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Vaccination Rate Lags In San Diego County As Virus Season Arrives 
San Diego County residents have received about 119,000 fewer flu vaccinations this season than they did during the same span last year. (Sisson, 12/21)

The Mercury News: Santa Clara County Reports Low COVID-19 Vaccination Rates For Latest Booster Shot
Despite the recent rise in COVID-19 cases, Santa Clara County health officials say a much lower percentage of residents have gotten the latest vaccine compared to previous booster shots. Only 19% of county residents have received the updated vaccine, which was released in September. Vaccination rates among certain populations are even lower, with only 9% of Latinos and 11% of African Americans having received up-to-date shots. That’s in comparison to 22% of white residents and 19% of Asian residents. (Hase, 12/21)

CIDRAP: Reviews Uncover No Consistent Link Between Antiviral Drugs Like Paxlovid And COVID Rebound 
Two systematic reviews by US federal agencies on the possible link between antiviral treatment for COVID-19 and viral rebound—one specifically on Paxlovid—find no consistent association. The studies were published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The National Institutes of Health COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines recommend early treatment with a first-line (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir [Paxlovid] or remdesivir) or second-line (molnupiravir [Lagevrio]) antiviral drug to help prevent hospitalization and death in high-risk COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate illness. (Van Beusekom, 12/21)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Officials Wished Homeless A Merry Christmas — Then Said They’d Soon Be Evicted 
Two city workers stopped by a small encampment this week, wished a close-knit group of homeless people a merry Christmas — and informed them that if they didn’t move soon, their mobile homes and all the belongings in them would be impounded. Their vehicles hadn’t been tagged yet on Thursday morning, and so a group of seven people living on Opportunity Street were consumed with fear and uncertainty. (Lange, 12/21)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Another Downtown Encampment Is Cleared As Homelessness Countywide Keeps Rising 
San Diego officials have cleared another encampment downtown, further decreasing the homeless population in the city’s urban core even as the crisis grows throughout the region. The latest effort focused on East Village sidewalks near the old central library and the U.S. Post Office, officials announced Wednesday. Nearly 100 people were connected to housing or shelter. (Nelson, 12/21)

KQED: San Francisco’s Hope For Expanding Supportive Housing? Treasure Island.
Oakland native De’andre Devereaux is no stranger to Treasure Island, a former military base along the Bay Bridge, halfway between Oakland and San Francisco. Up until about a year ago, he was unhoused, and the 55-year-old would spend afternoons on the quiet island panhandling for food and cash. Devereaux now lives on the island, but his life couldn’t look more different. After choosing to enter treatment for a substance-use disorder last winter, he’s now living at a 70-bed sober, supportive living community that opened on Treasure Island in April. (Johnson, 12/22)

Bay Area News Group: Homeless Memorials In San Jose, Gilroy To Honor Those Who Died On Streets
For years, rows of hand-painted tombstones carved from foam have been put up in San Jose to remember those who have lost their lives while living on the streets of Santa Clara County. Now, as the tradition continues in San Jose on Thursday, a memorial for homeless residents will be celebrated in Gilroy for the first time, offering a space to mourn the dead and raise awareness for the living who are still unhoused. (Melecio-Zambrano, 12/21)

The Oaklandside: 7-Eleven Security Guard Killed In Oakland Had Gotten On His Feet After Homelessness
When James Johnson worked as a security guard at the 7-Eleven on Harrison Street, he’d watch customers giving disparaging looks to the homeless people who frequented the store area asking for spare change. “I’ve seen the people’s faces with disgust about it,” Johnson says in the recent documentary Living in Need. “When they find out I’m homeless, they change a little bit.” Johnson was shot and killed at work on Dec. 8 when he confronted a shoplifter, according to media reports. The tragedy has devastated his loved ones, coworkers, community, and neighbors at the Lake Merritt Lodge. Johnson lived at the transitional housing facility, located in a converted historic building just steps from 7-Eleven, for over a year. (Orenstein, 12/21)

Orange County Register: Navy Awards $6 Million Contract To Clean Up Burned Tustin Hangar Site 
Navy officials announced on Thursday a $6 million contract has been awarded for cleaning up the site where one of two World War II-era airship hangars burned to the ground, though there is no start date yet for the removal. The $6 million contract went to ECC Environmental, LLC. The company will be responsible for removing the debris from the 80-plus acre north hangar property where the 17 story-tall structure stood on the former Marine Corps Air Station Tustin. (Ritchie, 12/20)

The Washington Post: Drinking Toilet Water May Be The Future Of Drought-Stricken California
As climate change and water scarcity become increasingly urgent issues around the world, governments are turning to new options to ensure adequate water supplies — including turning sewage waste into drinking water. And if you’re in California, this may soon be flowing from your kitchen tap. ... The idea of turning waste into drinking water is not new. Windhoek, the capital of Namibia — one of the driest countries in Africa — became the first city in the world to introduce wastewater recycling more than 30 years ago, according to the city’s plant. Singapore has installed an extensive filtration system that can treat nearly 238 million gallons of water a day, enough to fill 350 Olympic swimming pools. Most of it goes toward industrial operations and for cooling systems, but part of it is mixed into the city-state’s drinking water. (Bisset, 12/20)

Times Of San Diego: 6 Patients Sent To Hospitals After Several Swimmers Fall Ill At YMCA Pool 
Several swimmers fell ill Thursday at the YMCA in Mission Valley, and some needed to be sent to local hospitals. (12/21)

Capitol Weekly: Rare Stem Cell Success Gives Young Girl Life Outside The Bubble 
One year ago this month, five-year-old Sheersha Sulack asked Santa to bring her a suitcase to carry her toys with her for an arduous treatment that her parents hoped would save her from a rare, life-threatening affliction known as the bubble baby disease. Today, she is at home in Tehachapi with her parents, an 11-year-old sister, Skylar, and a nine-year-old brother, Stephen, eagerly anticipating a different sort of Christmas. Now six years old, Sheersha has received the gene and stem cell treatment and is doing well. “I don’t need big shots anymore,” Sheersha tells her mother, Shayla. (Jensen, 12/20)

Voice of OC: The 2023 Food Cliff: Orange County Continues Confronting High Food Demand
Local food banks and pantries have been working all year to ensure residents across Orange County have enough food to put on the table amid a food cliff that hit the state this year following the end of enhanced food stamps and inflation. It’s a recipe that food bank leaders across the state warned early this year would result in a food cliff and leave millions of Californians hungry – many of them seniors, college kids and people of color. (Elattar, 12/21)

Roll Call: Democrats Eye Appropriations To Protect Pediatrician Training 
House Republicans attempting to tie the reauthorization of a critical pediatrician training program to efforts to limit gender-affirming care for transgender children acknowledge those efforts will collapse. Now lawmakers are looking to fund the program as-is through the appropriations process. Federal authorization for the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Program, which trains more than half of pediatric specialists and almost half of general pediatricians nationwide, lapsed on Sept. 30. (Cohen, 12/21)

Time: Malpractice Premiums Are Blocking Gender-Affirming Care For Minors
After Iowa lawmakers passed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors in March, managers of an LGBTQ+ health clinic located just across the state line in Moline, Illinois, decided to start offering that care. The added services would provide care to patients who live in largely rural eastern Iowa, including some of the hundreds previously treated at a University of Iowa clinic, saving them half-day drives to clinics in larger cities like Chicago and Minneapolis. (Nowell, 12/21)

California Healthline: ‘AGGA’ Inventor Testifies His Dental Device Was Not Meant For TMJ Or Sleep Apnea
The FDA and Department of Justice are investigating the Anterior Growth Guidance Appliance, or “AGGA.” TMJ and sleep apnea patients have filed lawsuits alleging the device harmed them. Its inventor now says the AGGA was never meant for these ailments. (Kelman and Werner, 12/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Workers Often Need A Doctor’s Note To Take Sick Time. Why?
Recently, a patient walked into my clinic complaining of diarrhea and crampy abdominal pain. It was clear she had gastroenteritis, a “stomach bug,” and that she should stay home, hydrate and rest. Her symptoms had already begun to improve so I was puzzled as to why she had even bothered to come in, but the answer soon became obvious. “Do you think I can get a doctor’s note so that I can take today and tomorrow off?” she asked. Her question hit me with a pang of annoyance — not at her, but at the fact that she was forced to come in to get a note. (Jason Bae, 12/22)

East Bay Times: Why I, A Doctor Constantly Confronting Death, Love Christmas
Over many years as an oncologist, I have grown wary of anyone or anything that is too blithely cheery. Cancer remains too cruel a reaper, too wanton a destroyer, too brazen a thief of dreams for me to see almost anything with unbridled optimism. It’s as if I sense a coming catastrophe around every innocuous corner because cancer leaves no group untouched: the young and the old, the healthy and the ill, the fit and the faint. And perhaps that explains why I love Christmas. (Tyler Johnson, 12/22)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County Must Embrace Conservatorships Now
In a time when access to quality health care has never been more crucial, the California Medicaid program, also known as Medi-Cal, offers a vital lifeline for some of our county’s most vulnerable community members. The program’s promise that no one should be left behind in the pursuit of health care has never been more significant. However, the stark reality is that there are challenges that need our immediate attention to make the paper promise of health care coverage a reality for Medi-Cal recipients in San Diego County. (Terra Lawson-Remer, 12/19)

San Diego Union-Tribune: The Largest Fiscal Cost Of War Is Veterans' Benefits 
Military families are watching on tenterhooks to see if local militias resume attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. Why does President Joe Biden continue to absorb casualties and risk the lives of thousands of U.S. troops despite no clear mission? The deciding factor may be that Congress finances veterans’ benefits in a way that enables him to put U.S. lives at risk when public opposition would otherwise stop him. (Michael F. Cannon, 12/19)

East Bay Times: Stop Scapegoating CEQA For California’s Affordable Housing Crisis
Governor Newsom recently signed a slew of bills eliminating the requirement that government agencies disclose the public health and environmental impacts of most infill housing developments in California. Infill is generally defined as development in urban centers, close to mass transit, jobs and infrastructure. (Jennifer Ganata and Doug Carstens, 12/16)

CalMatters: California Will Keep Struggling With Homelessness Until Federal Leaders Step Up
The latest Annual Homelessness Assessment Report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that 653,100 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January, a 12% increase since last year. California counted 181,399 homeless people, the most of any state. These numbers are devastating but expected. (Margot Kushel, 12/20)