Health
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Internationally recognized author and Buddhist and recovery teacher Kevin Griffin will facilitate a daylong meditation retreat titled “Loving Kindness: Buddhist Teachings for a Troubled World” at A Positive Light Center for Spiritual Awakening, at 6470 Kelsey Creek Drive in Kelseyville on Saturday, Sept. 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The event is open to the public and offered on a donation basis.
This retreat is focused on instruction and practice with mindfulness and loving kindness meditations, lecture, interactive exercises, and question and answer periods.
Based on his latest book of the same name, Griffin's retreat will focus on the traditional teachings of metta, or loving kindness, practice.
"This practice is sometimes depicted as a simple 'open your heart and love everybody' practice, but a closer look at the Buddha’s teachings reveals a more complex and nuanced picture," noted Griffin. "In a time of great conflict and contention in our society, it can be extremely valuable to see how the Buddha addressed these relevant topics."
Topics to be explored are the challenges of living with other people; the risk of hating anyone, even your enemies; and the dangers inherent to conventional loving relationships.
Griffin is also the author of “One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps” (Rodale Press 2004) and “A Burning Desire: Dharma God and the Path of Recovery” (Hay House 2009).
He teaches internationally at Buddhist centers, addiction treatment centers, professional conferences, and academic settings, specializing in helping people in recovery connect with meditation and a progressive understanding of the 12 Steps – a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for tackling addictions, including alcoholism.
As a leader in the mindful recovery movement and a founder of the Buddhist Recovery Network, Griffin is a longtime Buddhist practitioner and twelve step participant.
He teaches nationally on the synthesis of these two traditions and has trained with leading Western Vipassana teachers, including Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and Ajahn Amaro.
Mr. Griffin is hosted by local meditation teacher, Reiki Master and director of A Positive Light, Joanie Lane, and local mindfulness teacher and author, JoAnn Saccato.
Space is limited for the event and early registration is encouraged. Participants are invited to wear comfortable clothing and to bring a lunch. Mats, cushions, water and tea are provided. Donations are accepted.
For more information and to register visit http://www.apositivelight.com or call 707-279-6031.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
SB 1245 will allow Covered California to have emergency rulemaking authority for nearly all of its regulatory packages until Jan. 1, 2022.
This legislation will also ensure that there will be enough time for the public to review and comment on the proposed regulations ahead of them being adopted by the Covered California Board of Directors.
“It is vital that Californians receiving health care coverage through Covered California and the Affordable Care Act are not endangered due to actions at the federal level,” Sen. Leyva said. “SB 1245 will allow Covered California to promptly respond to any potential regulation conflicts with federal law so that there is continuity of care for the over one million Californians that rely on the exchange for health care coverage. I thank Gov. Brown for supporting this important legislation that reinforces California’s commitment to providing affordable health care for our state’s residents.”
Since 2010, Covered California has made a deliberate effort to move to permanent regulations and has approved four permanent rulemaking packages.
As the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, stabilized, it was expected that Covered California would continue to effectively transition to the permanent rulemaking process.
However, current federal policy discussions regarding the ACA indicate that there will potentially be significant changes to the rules governing health benefit exchanges, like Covered California.
Due to potential future changes to the ACA and other related regulations, SB 1245 will allow Covered California to create and adapt regulations more quickly than is possible through the permanent rulemaking process.
Taking effect on Jan. 1, 2019, SB 1245 was supported by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, Consumers Union, Health Access California and Western Center on Law and Poverty during the legislative process.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
The Yuba River watershed spans four counties (Nevada, Placer, Sierra, and Yuba) and is located between Yuba City and the crest of the Sierra Nevada.
The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, or OEHHA, developed the recommendations based on the levels of mercury found in fish caught from these waters.
“Many fish have nutrients that may reduce the risk of heart disease and are an excellent source of protein,” said Dr. Lauren Zeise, director of OEHHA. “By following our guidelines for fish caught at Yuba River and Deer Creek, people can safely eat fish low in chemical contaminants and enjoy the well-known health benefits of fish consumption.”
OEHHA’s fish eating advice is available in English and Spanish posters for three geographic areas of the Yuba River watershed: 1) the “mainstem” Yuba River (between New Bullards Bar Reservoir and Yuba City), North Yuba River, and Middle Yuba River; 2) the South Yuba River; and 3) Deer Creek, a Nevada County tributary of the Yuba River. Specific advice was previously developed for New Bullards Bar Reservoir and Englebright Lake, also located within the greater watershed.
OEHHA’s advice is based on elevated levels of mercury found in some fish species from the Yuba River watershed.
Human activities, such as burning coal and the historic use of mercury in gold mining, have added mercury into the environment.
Mercury is also naturally occurring in some rocks and soil. It accumulates in fish in the form of methylmercury, which can damage the brain and nervous system, especially in developing children and fetuses.
Because of this, OEHHA provides a separate set of recommendations specifically for children up to age 17, and women of childbearing age (18-45 years).
Eating fish in amounts slightly greater than the advisory’s recommendations is not likely to cause health problems if it is done occasionally, such as eating fish caught during an annual vacation.
For the mainstem Yuba River, North and Middle Yuba Rivers, women ages 18-45 and children ages 1 to 17 should not eat black bass species or Sacramento Pikeminnow. They may safely eat a maximum of two servings per week of Rainbow Trout, or one serving per week of Sacramento Sucker.
For the mainstem Yuba River, North and Middle Yuba Rivers, women ages 46 years and older and men ages 18 years and older may eat six servings per week of Rainbow Trout, or two servings per week of Sacramento Sucker, or one serving per week of black bass species or Sacramento Pikeminnow.
When consuming fish from the South Yuba River, women 18-45 years and children 1-17 years should not eat black bass species or Sacramento Sucker. They may eat three servings per week of Brown Trout, or two servings per week of Rainbow Trout.
Women 46 years and older and men age 18 years and older may eat seven servings per week of Brown Trout, or five servings per week of Rainbow Trout, or one serving per week of black bass species or Sacramento Sucker caught from the South Yuba River.
When consuming fish from Deer Creek, women ages 18-45 and children ages 1-17 may eat one serving per week of Brown Trout. Women 46 years and older and men age 18 years and older may eat three servings per week of Brown Trout.
One serving is an eight-ounce fish fillet, measured prior to cooking, which is roughly the size and thickness of your hand. Children should be given smaller servings. For small fish species, several individual fish may make up a single serving.
For fish species found in the Yuba River and Deer Creek that are not included in this advisory, OEHHA recommends following the statewide advisory for eating fish that migrate.
The Yuba River and Deer Creek advisory recommendations join more than 100 other OEHHA advisories that provide site-specific, health-based fish consumption advice for many of the places where people catch and eat fish in California, including lakes, rivers, bays, reservoirs, and the California coast.
The health advisory and eating advice for the Yuba River and Deer Creek – as well as eating guidelines for other fish species and California bodies of water – are available on OEHHA’s Fish Advisories webpage: http://www.oehha.ca.gov/fish/advisories . The Yuba River and Deer Creek posters are available in both English and Spanish.
OEHHA’s mission is to protect and enhance the health of Californians and our state’s environment through scientific evaluations that inform, support and guide regulatory and other actions.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
The new law will require the Department of Managed Health Care, or DMHC, to annually review complaints filed by providers who believe a health care service plan is engaging in an “unfair payment pattern.”
Said Aguiar-Curry, “When a health plan underpays or refuses to pay doctors, dentists, clinics and hospitals for their work, it raises the costs of the healthcare system overall. In small cities and towns like those in my Assembly district, health care providers cannot afford to float multi-billion-dollar, multinational corporations.”
Under existing law, the Department of Managed Health Care administers and evaluates health care laws and regulations according to the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975.
This set of laws was created to regulate California’s health care service plans, and declares that a willful violation of the act is a crime. DMHC is responsible for addressing provider complaints of payment abuses engaged in by health care service plans.
However, the department is only able to audit a health plan approximately every three years.
AB 2674 will deter health care service plans from purposefully underpaying providers in order to increase profits by increasing the opportunities for DMHC to discover dishonest business behavior.
If the department does identify a violation or a pattern of improper activity, the corrective action upon that finding will result in the provider being repaid for the amount they are owed with interest.
The bill will greatly enhance DMHC's discretion to determine if and when a health care service plan has engaged in a pattern or practice of violating the Knox-Keene Act. Health plans that profit from taking advantage of the system for corporate gains will become easier targets.
“If we’re going to meet our goal of health care for all, cutting unnecessary or wasteful costs out of the system is crucial,” said Aguiar-Curry. “Efforts like this are a critical step to affordability for those who have access to health care, but more importantly are absolutely essential to our state’s efforts to expand our system to make health care universally accessible. We must strip the system of cynical attempts to make money at the expense of those who struggle to provide a healthy life for themselves, their families, and their employees.”
Signing AB 2674 into law ensures that health plans will think twice before intentionally breaking the law.
Aguiar-Curry represents the Fourth Assembly District, which includes all of Lake and Napa Counties, parts of Colusa, Solano and Sonoma counties, and all of Yolo County except West Sacramento.