Tag archives: healthcare
For a local cancer patient, the alarm bells rang loudly — while recovering from an outpatient surgery at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, she received a call. A member of the patient’s medical treatment team had tested positive for COVID-19. The patient has been unable to get vaccinated due to their ongoing treatment. Already dozens of […]
Back in April, we reported on the opening of Turner Medical Arts on Coast Village Road, located at 1250 Coast Village Road, upstairs from Village Properties, The Warner Group, and Synergy Lending. Now, Dr. Duncan Turner has brought on a new internal medical doctor, Dr. Alan Viglione, who launched his “practice within the practice,” Montecito […]
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Foundation’s 2020 Tiara Ball, one of the more popular annual black-tie galas in a town with no shortage of big bash benefits, was one of the last public events in the community before the COVID crisis closed everything down. The so-called “Party of the Year,” held on February 29, Leap Year […]
Quickly look around your workplace — or your morning Zoom call — and there’s likely 10 people. One of those folks will get a kidney stone at some point in their lives, according to researchers. And that number is seemingly growing, with the rate in the United States shifting from 3.8% in the late 1970s […]
I am troubled by the apparent conflicts-of-interest by attorney Marc Chytilo involving his lobbying for a major cannabis grower and Foothills Forever. The latter is a large community philanthropic effort involving the pro bono efforts of many attorneys, but one that Mr. Chytilo seeks primary credit. Last Wednesday, many in the First District were left […]
When my husband and I moved our family from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara in search of a more congenial habitat, we were determined to hold on to one key big city perk — excellent medical care. So, we kept our L.A. doctors despite the time we knew it meant we’d spend in the car. […]
Network news shows tend to end with a feel-good story about people helping people. This often involves someone who got cancer, or some other dreaded disease, and neighbors and friends who mount a fundraiser for them. Sometimes, it even involves children setting up a lemonade stand for the cause. GoFundMe has raised $9 billion since […]
–From County Public Health Office Appointments for first doses of COVID-19 vaccines are available to eligible Santa Barbara County residents every Monday at 9 am through the county’s public health vaccination sites. People who are eligible for these appointments are those who work in emergency services, agriculture, and food services, and any remaining Phase 1A […]
For 25 years, Bissell Clinic in Montecito’s Upper Village has been helping Montecito and Santa Barbara residents deal with both chronic and acute pain. The chiropractic and physical therapy clinic provides multidisciplinary care with state-of-the-art equipment, offering patients a broad array of therapies to hone in on their ailments. “After being here this long, people […]
I know I am not alone in having friends or family battling COVID – making up a small part of our national tragedy. The more devastating piece for Santa Barbara is those who are fighting for their next breath at Cottage Hospital after being denied or deemed ineligible for vaccination by the County. In the last […]
Having volunteered at the Rescue Mission for the past 13 years, I had to miss acting as a waiter at the Rescue Mission’s annual Thanksgiving Feast this year because of the pandemic restrictions. However, as the 55-year-old shelter is designated as “an essential service,” 40 homeless at a time were allowed in to nosh on […]
The Art of Compromise Dear Mr. Hazard, I know you expect an answer from President-elect Joe Biden. But here is mine to your letter. One Party Rule. Read Constitution, Article II, sec. 1. The concept of electors did not make any sense then, and it does not make any sense now. The country is mature […]
A Spaceship Named ‘Resilience’ I look forward to Rinaldo S. Brutoco’s Perspectives missive every week in the MJ. Mr. Brutoco not only does a good job of succinctly identifying difficult problems or issues of concern we all face, he offers well thought out and constructive paths forward. A Spaceship named ‘Resilience’ immediately resonated with me […]
Benjamin Franklin observed that “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Right now, we are up to our eyeballs in coronavirus deaths (over 140,000 as of today) and equally consumed by taxes. The coronavirus death numbers conclusively prove the necessity for the U.S. to have a better public […]
New York Governor Cuomo said in March, “If it’s public health versus the economy, the only choice is public health. You cannot put a value on human life.” But public policy absolutely requires placing a value on human life. There are about 35,000 automobile deaths each year in the U.S. If we reduced the speed […]
As I write this article, people are asking for a return to “normal.” Is that what we really want? Is it “normal” that tens of millions of Americans have no access to healthcare? That millions of Americans are homeless? That 11 million children in the U.S. literally do not know where their next meal is […]
Most people think of Medicare as the health insurance nirvana: get to age 65 and there’s a free healthcare plan waiting to take you through retirement. With political debate centering around expanding the program, it’s important to understand what it will provide and what it won’t. First, who qualifies? With more than 50 million people […]
The Quarantine Economy Julie McMurry lives in Santa Barbara and is a specialist in public health with a degree from the University of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is currently an assistant professor, senior researcher, at Oregon State University in the College of Public Health. She wrote the manifesto which became flattenthecurve.com […]
On date March 18, 2020, Dr. Jason J. Prystowsky, the ER Doctor at Cottage Hospital, gave a webinar talk to over a thousand participants including first responders, hospital workers, and support staff to update everyone on the coronavirus from the ER perspective. Emergency Rooms all over the country are getting slammed by every variation of […]
Radhule Weininger, Ph.D., and Diana Raab, Ph.D., are teaming up once again to offer a three-hour training in Mindfulness Meditation and Journaling this weekend. Raab, a longtime Montecito-based memoirist, poet, essayist, blogger and speaker whose latest book is titled Writing for Bliss: A Seven-Step Plan for Telling Your Story and Transforming Your Life, and Weininger, […]



