Nearly 10% of LA schools sit next to a freeway

[ Posted on May 10th, 2012 by Letisia Marquez | No Comments » ]

Map shows LAUSD schools that are located within 500 feet of a freeway.

Working, living or going to school next to traffic-clogged freeways increases the risk of asthma so why are Los Angeles schools still being built next to major thoroughfares?

During a recent UCLA Center for Health Policy Research conference on air pollution, participants learned that although a state law prohibits schools being built within 500 feet of a freeway, there are exceptions to the rule.

Kim Uyeda, a pediatrician and director of Los Angeles Unified School District’s Student Health Services and Asthma Program, addressed this issue during the Center’s  recent conference “Paying the Price with Our Health: A Community Strategy Conference on Clean Air and Better Health in Boyle Heights and Long Beach.”

School districts can request an exception from the law, particularly if the district can’t find land to build a school elsewhere or can outline the benefits of having a school for neighborhood children versus having to bus them across town. Districts must also detail how they’ll improve the indoor air quality and create barriers to sound pollution.

The upshot? There are 90 schools out of 1,098 in the district that sit within 500 feet of a freeway.  [See a map of all LAUSD schools near freeways.]

A case in point: the buildings of Helen Bernstein High School in the Hollywood, which was built in 2008, overlook the 101 freeway that shuttles downtown LA commuters to and from the vast San Fernando Valley.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into the reasons why a district can build a school next to a freeway like this,” Uyeda said.  “It took a lot of mitigation − meaning we tried to work on the (air) filters, the sound pollution and other things for Helen Bernstein.”

About ten percent of LAUSD’s 650,000 students suffer from asthma. LAUSD loses roughly $6 million a day as a result of students who stay home sick due to their asthma.

The Center’s Health DATA Program organized the conference, which is part of Turning Data into Action, a project funded by the Centers for Disease Control.  The project works closely with community-based organizations, local health departments, air quality management agencies and other entities to help enable residents to reduce the impact of air pollution in their neighborhoods.

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Posted in air pollution, Asthma, CDC, Center for Health Policy Research, Chronic Disease, Turning data into action, Uncategorized |

May 21 & 22 workshops (South LA and Bakersfield): Using AskCHIS to identify health data

[ Posted on May 9th, 2012 by Porsche Johnson | No Comments » ]

Join staff from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s Health DATA Program on May 21 in South Los Angeles and May 22 in Bakersfield, Calif., for a no-cost, workshop and learn how power up your health program planning and policy advocacy with data from the California Health Survey. Participants will learn how to formulate data questions, build queries, graph and export data and interpret results via the easy-to-use AskCHIS online web tool.

AskCHIS enables you to search for health statistics using data from  on your county, region or statewide. Users will be able to watch the trainer via a live video feed, use the AskCHIS system and ask questions while the training is in progress. A computer, Internet access and a telephone are required.

Prior to the training, registered participants will indicate which health topics are of primary interest to them including, but not limited to, obesity, health care access and mental health. The trainer will incorporate several of these preferred topics into the workshop to ensure participants finish the training with relevant (more…)

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Posted in advocacy, Center for Health Policy Research, Chronic Disease, Public Health, Trainings |

UCLA’s ALERT project informs residents on harmful air pollution

[ Posted on May 7th, 2012 by Letisia Marquez | No Comments » ]

Community activist Elena Rodriguez (left) and Maria Reyes, a participant in ALERT, are spreading the word among residents in West Long Beach about air pollution in their neighborhood.

A UCLA Center for Health Policy Research project that educates residents about air pollution and its impact on their neighborhood’s health is featured in UCLA Today, the university’s faculty and staff newspaper.

The ALERT (Assessment of Local Environmental Risk Training) project is part of the Center’s Health DATA Program and targets two neighborhoods that bear the brunt of Southern California’s smog and diesel emissions — West Long Beach and Boyle Heights.

Read the UCLA Today story here.  Learn more about the Center’s ALERT project.

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Posted in air pollution, ALERT, Asthma, Center for Health Policy Research, Chronic Disease, health disparities, low birth weight, Uncategorized |

Find out how more college, income would impact your county!

[ Posted on April 27th, 2012 by Letisia Marquez | No Comments » ]

 

We know that a college education can improve a person’s life, but what are some of the health advantages to higher learning?

The 2012 County Health Calculator, an interactive app developed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Human Needs, can show what the health impact would be if more people in a state or county had a college education and higher income.

For instance, in Los Angeles County, if five percent more people attended some college and four percent more had an income higher than twice the federal poverty level, then 3,000 lives could be saved, 28,800 cases of diabetes would be prevented, and $251 million in diabetes costs would be eliminated every year.

Much of what influences our health happens outside the doctor’s office—in our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods, the Calculator’s website states. Use the Calculator to find out how more education and income would impact the health in your community!

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Posted in Public Health, Resources |

Remembering E. Richard Brown

[ Posted on April 23rd, 2012 by Gwen Driscoll | No Comments » ]

It is with great sadness that we share the news that the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s founding director, Dr. E. Richard Brown, has died unexpectedly. Rick was giving a talk in Kentucky last week when he suffered a devastating stroke; he was 70.
 
Rick Brown was a beloved teacher, highly accomplished researcher and a formidable advocate for health. We are grateful that we were able to celebrate Rick’s lifetime of professional achievements at a February 8 symposium on health care reform, a topic about which he was so passionate.
 
Over the coming days we’ll share more about the illustrious career of Rick Brown, and details of a memorial service as they become available. We will also provide information on where to send donations in Rick’s memory.
 
In the meantime if you would like to share your memories of Rick’s life and achievements, we have set up a memorial website where you can do so: www.rememberingrick.com.
 
If you would like to send private condolences, flowers or other commemorations to Rick’s family directly, they can be reached at:
 
Marianne Brown
1348 Hill Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Marianne.P.Brown@gmail.com

 Sincerely,

Gerald F. Kominski
Director
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

Posted in Center for Health Policy Research, Uncategorized |

Health care reform gets animated

[ Posted on April 17th, 2012 by Gwen Driscoll | No Comments » ]

The Kaiser Family Foundation (an excellent source for all things health care) has a new animated tool to understand how the Affordable Care Act — aka health care reform – will affect uninsured and underinsured families, as well as businesses large and small and medical providers.  Click on each of the animated “YouToon” characters to see a breakdown of their income and health insurance status, as well as a brief summary of how reform is likely to improve their status.  A quick, easy – and oddly adorable – way to understand a complex topic.

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Posted in Health care reform |

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