Viewpoints: Can We Slow Down The Aging Process?; US Mental Health Care Needs Serious Overhaul
Editorial pages tackle these public health issues.
The New York Times:
Brooks: You May Live A Lot Longer
Phil Mickelson just won the PGA Championship at age 50. Tom Brady won the Super Bowl at 43. Serena Williams is a top tennis star at 39. Joe Biden entered the presidency at 78. Last year Bob Dylan released an excellent album at 79. Clearly, we’re all learning to adjust our conception of age. People are living longer, staying healthier longer and accomplishing things late in life that once seemed possible only at younger ages. And it’s not just superstars. The fraction of over-85s in the U.S. classified as disabled dropped by a third between 1982 and 2005, while the share who were institutionalized fell by nearly half. (David Brooks, 6/7)
Los Angeles Times:
My Daughter Fell Off The Mental Health Care Cliff, And I Have To Jump After Her
Our mental health system has failed my daughter. Again. Actually, that’s not true. There is no system, no real help for her. My 20-year-old daughter tried to kill herself three weeks ago. She took a lot of pills all at once and, afraid that wouldn’t do the trick, drove toward the American River to drown herself. Her boyfriend happened to drive past her car and waved her down. That serendipity is the only reason she’s alive today. My family isn’t alone in being affected by the failures of a non-system. Of our rising mental health problems — suicides, homelessness — doctors use the word “tsunami.” On average, says the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one person dies by suicide in the U.S. every 11 minutes. (Jasmin Iolani Hakes, 6/7)
Scientific American:
A New Mental Health Crisis Is Raging In Gaza
“Have you ever seen a six-month old baby with exaggerated startle response?” One of my colleagues who works on our telephone counseling service was calling me for advice on how to respond to several distraught mothers asking her how to help their babies who had started showing such distressing symptoms of trauma during the recent bombing. Our telephone service was back and responding to callers on the third day of the attacks on Gaza, though of course with certain difficulties. (Yasser Abu Jamei, 6/4)
The Washington Post:
Leaving Abortion To The States Makes Them Agents Of Oppression
Writing about the future of abortion rights inevitably entails discussing precedent and the importance of sticking with it. That’s the easy part. The harder questions are these: Does the Constitution protect a right to abortion? Or is abortion a matter of public policy best left in the hands of individual states? (Ruth Marcus, 6/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Single-Payer? California Needs Public Option First
You couldn’t design a better stress test for the healthcare system than the COVID-19 pandemic. And on some fundamental levels, the system failed — witness, for example, the racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes that the virus laid bare. Most fundamentally, the disease and the resulting shutdowns caused millions of Californians to lose their jobs, and in many cases, their employer-sponsored health insurance. And there couldn’t have been a worse time to lose one’s coverage than in the midst of a deadly pandemic. (John Healy, 6/6)
San Diego Union-Tribune:
OSHA, Newsom And CDC Should Get On The Same Page On California Mask Guidelines
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began early last year, governments at all levels have struggled to adopt and adjust policies that limited the spread of the virus that causes the disease. This year, though, the delivery of millions of safe, highly effective vaccines has caused numbers of new infections and deaths to plunge, and prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue an advisory on May 13 saying that in most circumstances, people who are fully vaccinated didn’t need to wear face masks, including at most workplaces. Some criticized the step as being premature. But three weeks later, the communities that followed the CDC’s advice have seen no negative fallout and the science the CDC cited is significant: infections and transmissions are rare among vaccinated people, and the vaccines seem to be effective against variants. (6/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Abolish The Sheriff's Department From S.F. General Hospital
As a Black woman growing up in the South, I was taught at a young age to fear the police and to limit interactions with them whenever possible. I never imagined a world in which they were not present. I was an undergraduate in college when I marched after 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed by a police officer. And then in medical school for Michael Brown. And then once more for Laquan McDonald. And then again, and again. Childhood fears of law enforcement morphed into justified anger. I protested for change. But a world without police didn’t seem a possibility. As I continued my journey into medicine, I knew that my work as a physician demanded I address how racism in all forms, including police brutality, led to the health disparities in patients who look like me. (Erinma Ukoha, 6/7)
