As the University of California’s health system renews contracts with hundreds of outside hospitals and clinics — many with religious affiliations — some of its doctors and faculty want stronger language to ensure that physicians can perform the treatments they deem appropriate, including abortions for women or hysterectomies for transgender patients.

University of California Health is in the middle of a two-year process to renew contracts with affiliate hospitals and clinics that help the university deliver care in underserved parts of the state. Many of the agreements are with faith-based facilities, including prominent hospitals operated by Dignity Health, Providence, or Adventist Health. Such arrangements generate more than $20 million a year for the UC system and help the public university approach its goal of improving public health.

The current policy, adopted in 2021, states that UC physicians have the freedom to advise, refer, prescribe, or provide emergency care, covering cases in which moving a patient “would risk material deterioration to the patient’s condition.” But some UC doctors and faculty worry that physicians would be allowed to perform certain surgeries only in an emergency.

They want to add a clause stating that physicians have the right to perform procedures in a manner they deem advisable or necessary without waiting for the patient’s condition to get worse.

Others have gone so far as to urge the university to reject partnerships with hospitals that have ethical and religious directives against sterilization, abortion, some miscarriage management procedures, and some gender-affirming treatments. The Academic Senate, a faculty body that helps the university set academic policies, and other faculty councils urged the university’s president to avoid working with health care facilities because many have restrictions that “have the potential for discriminatory impact on patients.”

In response, university leaders have pledged publicly to ensure that doctors and trainees can provide whatever care they deem necessary at affiliated facilities but haven’t made changes to the policy language.

“We’ve made it clear that the treating provider is the one to decide if an emergency exists and when to act,” said Dr. Carrie Byington, executive vice president for University of California Health, at a fall meeting of the UC Board of Regents, the governing board of the university system.

UC Health has given itself until the end of this year to make contracts conform to its new policy. During the October board meeting, staffers estimated that one-third of the contracts had been evaluated. Administrators haven’t said whether the current policy thwarted any contracts.

Back in June 2021, the regents approved the policy governing how its doctors practice at outside hospitals and clinics with religious or ethical restrictions. Regent John Pérez made significant amendments to a staff proposal. At the time, it was celebrated as a win by those advocating for the university to push back on religious directives from affiliates.

Pérez noted at the time that his amendments were aimed at “making clear that it’s the regents’ expectation in policy that nothing that is not based on science or [the] best practice of medicine should limit the ability of our practitioners to practice medicine in the interest of the patients.”

But some doctors and faculty said Pérez’s proposal was then wordsmithed as it was converted from the regents’ vote into a formal policy months later. Some questioned whether the policy could be interpreted as restricting services unless there is an emergency, and said it does not go far enough to define an emergency.

“It sounds pretty good,” Dr. Tabetha Harken, director of the Complex Family Planning, Obstetrics & Gynecology division at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, testified before the board. “It passes the commonsense test, but in reality, this is just the federal minimum requirement of care.”

Pérez declined to comment to KHN.

At the regents’ meetings, concerned doctors offered examples of pregnancy and gender-affirming care they believe would be at risk in some hospitals.

One was tubal ligation or sterilization procedures immediately after birth to prevent future pregnancies that may put the woman at risk. It’s a simpler procedure if done postpartum because the uterus is larger than normal and it eliminates the need for additional surgery, said Dr. Jennifer Kerns, an associate professor at UC-San Francisco and director of the school’s Complex Family Planning Fellowship.

Dr. Mya Zapata of UCLA Health described cases of two patients who might not be able to get the same care at a religiously restricted hospital: a trans male who seeks out a hysterectomy based on a mental health referral for gender-affirming surgery, and a cisgender female who seeks out the same procedure for uterine fibroids.

In a hospital with restrictions, Zapata said, the cisgender patient would be able to get the surgery but the trans patient would not, despite both being considered nonemergency cases.

But it’s unclear if physicians are running into problems. UC Health leaders said there have been no formal complaints from university doctors or trainees practicing at affiliate medical centers about being blocked from providing care.

Critics said the lack of complaints may not reflect reality since physicians may find workarounds by transferring or referring patients elsewhere. One researcher, Lori Freedman, who works at UCSF, has spoken to dozens of doctors working at religious-affiliated hospitals across the country. Many have not filed complaints about care restrictions out of fear they’d put their job at risk, she said.

The debate stems from a partnership with Dignity Health, a Catholic-affiliated hospital system. In 2019, UCSF Medical Center leaders considered a controversial plan to create a formal affiliation with Dignity. Critics voiced opposition in heated public meetings, and the plan drew condemnation from dozens of reproductive justice advocates and the gay and transgender communities. UCSF ultimately backed off the plan.

When it became clear that UC medical centers across the state had similar affiliation contracts, faculty members raised additional concerns. Janet Napolitano, then president of the UC system, convened a working group to evaluate the consequences of ending all agreements with organizations that have religious restrictions. Ultimately, the group stressed the importance of maintaining partnerships to provide care to medically underserved populations.

“With 1 in 7 patients in the U.S. being cared for in a Catholic hospital,” the group wrote in its report, “UC’s isolating itself from major participants in the health care system would undermine our mission.”

Dignity Health, which merged in 2019 with Catholic Health Initiatives to form CommonSpirit Health, has already reached a new contract that adopts the updated UC policy. Chad Burns, a spokesperson for Dignity, said the hospital system values working with UC Health for its expertise in specialties, such as pediatric trauma, cancer, HIV, and mental health. He added that the updated agreement reflects “the shared values of UC and Dignity Health.”

Some UC doctors point out that they have not only public support, but legal standing to perform a variety of reproductive and contraceptive treatments. After California voters passed Proposition 1, the state constitution was officially changed in December to affirm that people have a right to choose to have an abortion or use contraceptives. Unlike health systems in other states, some faculty say UC Health can assert reproductive rights.

“We have a lot of latitude, being in California, to be able to make these decisions and stand in our power,” Kerns said. “I think it’s our responsibility to do so.”

“Partnering with faith-based institutions dedicated to serving vulnerable populations affords opportunities to patients who are least able to navigate our complex health systems,” she said.

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

Upon returning to in-person classes after COVID-19 shutdowns, I noticed that the skin under my backpack straps was red and my back ached. I was overwhelmed by the number of textbooks, notebooks and supplies my teachers required me to carry. I wondered if other students’ backpacks were as heavy as mine.

I conducted a research project at Pleasanton Middle School surveying a representative group of 70 students. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that backpacks weigh no more than 15% of a student’s body weight, although some experts — and Senate Concurrent Resolution 86, passed by the California Legislature in 2014 — draw the line at 10%. The data I collected showed that, on average, students’ backpacks were 50% over the California recommended weight. It is important to consider the outliers as well, as some students were carrying backpacks heavier than 30 pounds.

To understand the health consequences of carrying a heavy backpack, I talked to Dr. Monica Benedikt, a family medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Benedikt said that back pain among children is not rare. She explained that back pain can be caused by different factors, including an overly heavy backpack. Dr. Benedikt said, based on her experience and clinical research, that the backpacks children are required to carry are too heavy.

Other health professionals are in agreement. According to the American Chiropractic Association, “Back pain is pervasive among American adults, however it is not uncommon among children and teens either. In a new and disturbing trend, young children are suffering from back pain much earlier than previous generations, and the use of overweight backpacks is a contributing factor.”

According to research by a team led by pediatric orthopedics expert Dr. William Mackenzie, children who experience back pain are at increased risk of suffering from it as adults, which can result in disability and significant economic consequences.

Overloaded backpacks aren’t only responsible for back injuries, they have also been found to cause neck pain, shoulder strain, headaches and a general exhaustion. Some researchers think that girls and younger kids are especially at risk for backpack-related injuries because they’re smaller and carry loads that are heavier in proportion to their body weight.

What should our educational system do about this? I have some recommendations. One solution that school districts could consider is the installation of lockers, as is done in schools across the country. My former middle school in Pleasanton, as well as several other middle schools in the East Bay, including those in the San Ramon Valley and Livermore Unified school districts, do not have lockers available for middle school students.

Another option is for teachers to allow students to use a single notebook for multiple classes and switch to online textbooks. Many schools provide students with Chromebooks, which can be heavy and contribute to the burden on students’ backs. It might be worth considering the use of lighter devices, even though they may be more expensive. While students appreciate the access to technology that the Chromebooks provide, the health benefits of lighter devices should also be taken into consideration.

It is important to raise awareness about this issue among students. Students should try to limit the weight of their backpacks to no more than 10% of their body weight or consider using rolling backpacks.

And with California public schools receiving record funding this fiscal year, I recommend allocating some of these funds toward researching the risks associated with heavy backpacks and finding ways to prevent health issues in students.

Naomi Burakovsky is a Pleasanton resident and a freshman at Amador Valley High School.

Quarry project woulddestroy scenic road

EBMUD has applied for a conditional use permit from Alameda County to allow the deposit of trench soil extracted from pipeline replacement into the quarry site located at 13575 Lake Chabot Road.

EBMUD estimates that there will be 60–100 dump trucks five days a week on Lake Chabot Road for the next 40–80 years (this is not a typo), with trucks entering Lake Chabot Road in San Leandro and exiting on Foothill in Castro Valley every four or five minutes.

Lake Chabot Road, is very narrow with no shoulders, already heavy with 3,500 cars a day, bicycle traffic, wildlife and hikers. It is currently closed due to storm damage. This fragile but needed scenic road can’t support dump trucks which will make it unsafe for those of us who use it now.

Teri SchlesingerSan Leandro

Prop. 13 proves costlyto government programs

“Prop. 13 is vital to senior community” in the Jan. 10 East Bay Times (Page A6) misleads readers.

Yes, Proposition 13 is vital to the senior community of homeowners, but Proposition 13 is also unfair to them and others, as well. In fact, Proposition 13 has been exploited by the community of big businesses while also harming the senior community and others.

Proposition 13 was passed in 1978 — thanks to the deceptive slogans of Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann — as “a way to keep Grandma in her home.” But it was also a way to keep the property taxes of businesses low — especially big businesses like Chevron and Disneyland.

Because the low property taxes of Proposition 13 drastically reduced funding of local and state governments, seniors and others have suffered — impoverished schools, government offices understaffed with shorter hours, streets and other infrastructure in poor repair.

Prop. 13 needs fixing to fairly serve all.

Ruby MacDonaldEl Cerrito

Feds overreach withtalk of gas stove ban

The federal government wants to ban gas stoves. I have a stove with an electric oven and gas burners.

I don’t like cooking with electric burners. It’s difficult to regulate the heat; with gas burners it’s so much easier. Gov. Gavin Newsom also wanted to do that but not for restaurants. The government always wants to come after the little guy and make our lives more difficult.

It’s bad enough already with inflation and high gas, food and energy prices. They blame everything on climate change. Enough is enough.

Cathy LedbetterNewark

The U.S. should joinnuclear weapons treaty

Jan. 22 is a historic day. It’s the day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force in 2021, aka the “Ban-aversary.”

This year, over 100 events across the country (including in Livermore) will celebrate the treaty with banner hangings, bell-ringings, visits and letters to elected officials, public readings of the treaty, and more.

U.S. leaders have long said we will lead the way to nuclear abolition. It’s time to make that promise real — join the treaty and lift the nuclear shadow that looms over the world.

Scott YundtLivermore

Letter is wrong to paintthe GOP as a monolith

Re. “Let’s celebrate heroes of the Jan. 6 breach,” Page A6, Jan. 11:

Thanks to Sandy White, I know who I am.

I bicycle everywhere (to save lives and the planet) and maxed out my solar. I’m not “rich” but donate 15% of my gross income to charities, regardless of whether they lean “left” or “right.” They all help people.

She proclaims “Let’s remind everyone which party (Republicans) tried to destroy our democracy and which party (Democrats) saved it.” She implies the five deaths of Jan. 6 (three by natural causes) are comparable to the 2,403 who died at Pearl Harbor — a true “day of infamy.” This veteran disagrees.

Who am I? A Republican. Therefore I am also a “Destroyer of Democracy.” She mentions no exceptions.

We are individuals, not a mindless collective. I consider ridiculous generalizations and uncompromising narratives (like hers) to be the true “Destroyers.” Obi-Wan Kenobi observed, “Only a Sith deals in absolutes.” Sandy, welcome to the Dark Side.

Stacy SpinkCastro Valley

]]> https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/12/letters-1115/feed/ 0 8715206 2023-01-12T16:30:54+00:00 2023-01-13T03:56:52+00:00 https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/12/required-vaccine-coverage-among-kindergartners-drops-again/ https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/12/required-vaccine-coverage-among-kindergartners-drops-again/#respond Thu, 12 Jan 2023 18:33:08 +0000 https://www.eastbaytimes.com/?p=8714242&preview=true&preview_id=8714242 By Deirdre McPhillips | CNN

Vaccination rates for measles and other diseases dropped again last school year, according to a study published on Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Coverage against measles dropped to the lowest it’s been in more than a decade.

School requirements do not include the Covid-19 vaccine, which is explicitly banned from being included in school mandates in at least 20 states. However, the Covid-19 vaccine will become part of the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule for both children and adults this year.

About 93% of kindergarteners enrolled in the 2021-22 school year had received the required vaccines — including measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis (DTaP), and polio. Coverage fell for the second year in a row amid the Covid-19 pandemic, down from about 94% the previous year and below the federal target of 95%.

“As schools return to in-person learning, high vaccination coverage is critical to continue protecting children and communities from vaccine-preventable diseases,” the CDC researchers said in the study. Clusters of unvaccinated children can lead to outbreaks, they said, and a vaccination rate of about 93.5% leaves about 250,000 kindergartners who may not be protected against measles.

Ohio is one of nine states where fewer than 90% of kindergartners were vaccinated against measles last school year. An outbreak in the Columbus area starting in November has resulted in 83 cases among children, the vast majority of whom were unvaccinated.

While in-person learning has returned to schools across the country, Covid-19 continues to disrupt vaccination assessment and coverage, according to the report. About half of states cited reduced access to vaccination appointments, extended timelines for enforcement and delays in data collection.

A recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation separately found that more than a third of parents oppose vaccine requirements in schools, even if the option for individual choice could create health risks.

Less than 3% of kindergarteners had an official exemption from the required vaccinations, most of which were for non-medical reasons, according to the CDC. This increased slightly from the year before, but remained low.

Another 4% of kindergartners were not fully vaccinated nor formally exempt, but were allowed to attend school during a grace period for provisional enrollment. This group of students particularly highlights the importance of “rigorously enforced school vaccination requirements, school-based vaccination clinics, reminder and recall systems, and follow-up with undervaccinated students by school nurses,” according to the CDC researchers — most states could reach 95% coverage against measles if all of these kindergarteners received their required shots.

A recent CNN analysis of data from the 2020-21 school year found that students in states with stricter school vaccine requirements are more likely to have their shots.

Aside from school requirements, the CDC also recommends routine vaccination against 14 diseases for children before they turn two. Another study published Thursday by the CDC found that vaccination rates remained “high and stable for most vaccines” for children born in 2018 and 2019, who turned two during the Covid-19 pandemic. Less than 1% of these children were completely unvaccinated by the time they turned two, which is better than the federal goal outlined in the Healthy People 2030 objectives.

The Covid-19 pandemic did not appear to affect vaccination rates overall — for most vaccines, coverage rates among children born in 2018 and 2019 were slightly higher than they were for children born two years earlier.

However, key disparities were noted. Vaccination rates for children living below the federal poverty level and in rural areas did decline, with coverage with the combined 7-vaccine series dropping 4 to 5 percentage points.

According to the CDC researchers, key methods to improve equity in vaccination coverage include addressing vaccine hesitancy among parents, strong and persistent recommendations from health care providers and reducing logistical and financial barriers to access vaccines.

There’s only one problem: He probably didn’t win.

The troubled school board election exposed deficiencies with how Alameda County handled ranked choice voting and highlights the need for statewide standards.

To its credit, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday asked, and agreed to pay, for a recount of the school district election, the controversial Oakland mayor’s race and two close races in San Leandro, which also uses ranked choice voting.

But it’s unclear in the school board race whether the determinative result will be the official certified count, which showed Resnick the winner; the corrected tabulation conducted after an error was discovered, which placed Mike Hutchinson on top; or the recount.

The fate of the District 4 election ultimately will be decided in court. For now, Resnick will continue to serve.

It should not have come to this point of uncertainty. Given the growing use of ranked choice voting, it’s important to examine the Oakland school board race to avoid repeating mistakes.

Why use ranked choice voting? RCV provides a method of ensuring that winners have majority support without costly runoff elections. (It would have avoided, for example, the razor-thin, three-way Antioch City Council race in which the winner had just 34.3% of the vote.) And, in at-large elections with more than one seat at stake, ranked choice voting can increase the diversity of ideological and demographic representation.

In 2022, more than 100 elections in U.S. jurisdictions used ranked choice voting. In the Bay Area, San Francisco has used it since 2004; San Leandro, Berkeley and Oakland since 2010. In California, there’s growing interest and use among small municipalities, such as Albany and Palm Desert, that consider it a legal alternative to splitting their citywide elections into small geographic districts.

How it works: In a single-seat race, voters rank their candidate preferences. If no one wins a first-round majority, the candidate in last place is eliminated, and votes of those who preferred that candidate are reallocated to their second choice. The process is repeated until one candidate has a majority.

The Oakland school board race: In the first round of the official count for District 4, Resnick led with 38%, followed by Pecolia Manigo with 31.1% and Mike Hutchinson with 30.9%. So, Hutchinson was dropped, and his voters’ second choices were allocated, giving Resnick 51% and Manigo 49%. Resnick was the winner in the count certified Dec. 8.

What went wrong: On Dec. 23, members of FairVote, a ranked-choice advocacy group, after reviewing the data, advised Alameda County Registrar Tim Dupuis of a problem.

The issue pertains to counting of ballots in which a voter lists a write-in candidate as a first choice or makes no first-choice selection but lists subsequent choices. According to Dupuis, there were 235 such ballots. According to FairVote, about two-thirds of those had marked a first-choice write-in candidate and one-third had no first-choice selection.

The tabulation software the county uses allows either counting those ballots as having no first choice or counting those ballots for the next-highest-ranked candidate. The software was set using the former option. But the Oakland charter calls for the latter option, which, according to FairVote, is the way all U.S. jurisdictions using ranked choice voting handle ballots with no first choice.

The recalculation: After consulting with Dominion Voting Systems, the software vendor, over the Christmas holiday weekend, the county registrar on Dec. 27 retabulated the vote data to conform with the city charter.

The change reordered the candidate first-round finish, with Resnick still leading with 37.9%, but Hutchinson in second with 31.1% and Manigo last at 31.0%. Rather than Hutchinson being dropped, Manigo was eliminated. Then, Manigo’s voters’ second choices were allocated, resulting in Hutchinson winning with 50.5% and Resnick second with 49.5%.

Now what? The new tally came after the first count had been officially certified. It also came after the deadline for a recount request, which Resnick might have sought if earlier results had shown him losing.

Hutchinson’s lawyer argues that he should not be deprived of victory just because the software setting error was discovered late. Resnick’s lawyer argues that the certified count should be the final word.

Resnick’s lawyer also questions the recalculation process. He argues that the Oakland charter rule to ignore a write-in or blank first-round selection is an unconstitutional determination of a voter’s intent.

No state guidelines: The lack of state guidelines has made this more complicated for the county registrar. For most election issues, state law or the Secretary of State’s Office provides uniform rules. But for ranked choice voting, Dupuis relies on direction from the city clerks of the four cities in his county using ranked choice voting.

So, for example, the city clerks agreed to give voters the ability to rank up to five candidates in each contest. But Oakland’s charter requires voters be allowed “to rank as many choices as there are candidates,” which in the case of the mayoral race was 10 candidates. That didn’t happen.

The state could also require the county to release the anonymized vote data earlier, or in real time. That would have allowed observers such as Fair Vote to flag concerns before the vote tally was certified.

There’s been lots of griping about the complexity of ranked choice voting. But it’s much fairer, and more democratic, than the system used in most local elections in California in which someone can win with just a plurality.

Rather than end it, we need to fix it. For that, the state should provide uniformity so each county, indeed each city, doesn’t have to figure out ranked choice rules on its own.

How to increase enrollment at community colleges? As a math professor at San Jose City College (SJCC), I have three ideas based on my experience with students.

First, widen the scope of Community College’s High School Dual or Concurrent Enrollment.

In the summer of 2022, I had the privilege of teaching math at SJCC’s Milpitas extension, a collaboration between the Milpitas Unified School District and SJCC. To see students from 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades earning college credits while attending high school to get a head start in their college careers was inspiring. We had animated discussions about applying quadratic equations to describe the arc of a baseball, exponential functions to describe the growth of viruses and probability to quantify uncertainty.

As expected, some dual-enrollment students attend SJCC after graduating from high school each year. While many community colleges have similar collaborations with their local high schools, Kern County Community College District spanning the San Joaquin Valley, eastern Sierra and Mojave Desert being one of the largest, there remains room for growth. SJCC, for instance, can collaborate with more local schools through an effective outreach program to ensure a steady stream of new students.

Second, improve the quality of college websites.

This seems obvious but is often overlooked. Online users, particularly prospective or current students, spend on average three minutes and visit 2-3 pages per session during which they either find what they are looking for or they leave. Many community college websites are clunky and confusing. Finding information often turns into a wild-goose chase. Students complain, and I verified it myself, that it is easier to retrieve information from the SJCC website through Google than through the website itself.

Effective websites have no clutter and have elements that spark digital joy, such as easy navigation, mobile friendly, fewest clicks for information and accessibility for all. Build coherent websites, and they will come.

Third, California’s community colleges must become equal partners to the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. With a population of just over 39 million and an estimated GDP of about $4 trillion, California is poised to overtake Germany as the fourth-largest economy in the world, behind only the United States, China and Japan.

California’s economy has a strong positive correlation with the quality of education it offers its residents. While the eight-campus UC and 23-campus CSU systems have a combined student population of about 750,000 from relatively well-to-do families, our 116 community colleges educate more than double that many students.

California’s 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education that vastly privileges UCs and CSUs over community colleges is obsolete. Technology has transformed teaching and learning and the dynamics between research and career. To paraphrase Dorothy, “Toto, I have a feeling we are not in the ‘60s anymore.”

California’s community colleges do the heavy lifting of educating most of its students beyond high schools, especially those from disadvantaged families. By offering baccalaureate degrees without any constraints from UCs and CSUs, for example, community colleges can attract more students, one of the ways to ensure that the Golden State will continue to flourish for decades to come.

Hasan Zillur Rahim is a professor of mathematics at San Jose City College.

We’re especially looking for paraprofessionals to work one-on-one or in small groups with students needing extra support, custodians to maintain the cleanliness of our facilities, food service workers to prepare for and serve breakfasts and lunches to students and gardeners to tend to our outside areas. Depending on the job, these are either part-time (two to five daily hours) or full-time positions (eight hours a day).

In addition to the opportunity to contribute to the well-being of students and staff, all of these positions provide benefits (including a pension) and a wonderfully short commute. For more information about AUSD’s open positions, please see our job opportunities webpage (bit.ly/alaschooljobs).

Happening soon: We also have several events coming up that are of interest to our community. On Jan. 18-19, we’ll hold our Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten Information Nights, respectively. Both will be held via Zoom at 6:30 p.m.

The TK Information Night Zoom link will be posted this week to our enrollment page (bit.ly/AUSDenrollment). The Kindergarten Information Night Zoom links will be published by each elementary school. Online enrollment begins Jan. 23, when the link will open at 8 a.m.

Several community members are interested in reconvening the Jewish Roundtable to expand support for the Jewish community within the AUSD. Jewish parents/guardians, students, teachers and community members are invited to attend the first meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 25. For more information, contact Rabbi Cynthia Minster at rabbi@templeisraelalameda.org.

Finally, our first Board of Education meeting in 2023 happened this week on Tuesday. Subsequent meetings will be held Jan. 24, Feb. 14 and Feb. 28.

Susan Davis is the Alameda Unified School District’s senior manager for community affairs. Reach her at 510-337-7175 or SDavis@alamedaunified.org.

Every time there is a head trauma, cardiac arrest, or other major injury among professional sports, parents take a deep breath.

“That athlete is someone’s child. Could that be my child?”

Cardiac events during sports are uncommon for anyone, said Dr. Stuart Berger, division head of cardiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. While they can also occur in kids and teens, these injuries can happen whether or not people play sports.

While many children can get injured on the field, the numbers are mostly declining — and sports are important for their physical and mental health, doctors say. They explain how to prevent and treat sports injury in kids.

How many kids get injured playing sports

Overall injuries due to youth participation in football show a dramatic decline since 2013, plateauing in 2020 and heading back up in 2021, according to the most recent figures from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

More than a million kids ages 5 to 14 were injured in sports and required a trip to the emergency room, according to the commission. Along with sports like basketball, soccer and football, the agency also reported significant injuries from things like playground equipment and skateboards.

Children between the ages of 5 and 14 were most likely to be injured in football in 2021: There were 110,171 reported injuries in children ages 5 to 14 in 2021, compared to 92,802 in youth and young adults aged 15 to 24.

Soccer and basketball were also high risk for kids’ injuries with 59,000 and 79,207 injuries, respectively.

The sports with the highest rates of concussion were: boys’ football, with 10.4 concussions per 10,000 athlete exposures; girls’ soccer, with 8.19 per 10,000 athlete exposures; and boys’ ice hockey, with 7.69 per 10,000 athlete exposures, according to a 2019 study.

High contact sports like hockey, football, lacrosse and martial arts might be higher risk for serious injuries such as head injury, but even seemingly safer sports like swimming and track pose some risk for overuse injuries. And they all can be made safer with the right strategy, said Dr. Erin Grieb, pediatric primary care sports medicine physician at Stanford Medicine Children’s Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center.

Here’s what to do if your child plays sports.

What to look out for

When it comes to cardiac events, screening is crucial, Berger said.

Generally, kids are safe to play sports and exercise without concern for cardiac events, but with all types of sports, it is important to do a physical with family history to identify those who might be at risk, he added.

‘The concerns are that maybe there is somebody with an underlying cardiac abnormality,” Berger said. “The screening is designed to bring that out and that we can identify, if possible, who those kids are.”

Head injuries are another major concern to families when it comes to putting their children in sports.

The bulk of concussions in kids are related to youth sports, said Dr. Andrew Peterson, clinical professor of pediatrics and director of primary care sports medicine at the University of Iowa.

The good news is that there is not strong evidence that a handful of concussions over a childhood is associated with long term impacts as an adult, he added.

But it is really important to avoid reinjuring the head before a concussion is fully healed.

“The thing we worry about most are these second impact events where people have a concussion on top of a concussion,” Peterson said.

Coaches, referees and families should learn how to spot a concussion to make sure their young athlete is properly cared for, Grieb said.

The signs and symptoms can be physical, including headaches or sensitivity to light; mental, with confusion or difficulty paying attention; emotional, with sadness and anxiety; or sleep related, she added.

It is important to remember that concussions can present in many ways, and just because you got certain symptoms in one concussion doesn’t mean you will have the same ones in the next, Grieb said.

Prevention and response

To keep kids safe in sports, it’s important focus on both prevention and response.

Even for high contact, high-risk sports, there has been a cultural shift to focus more rules and regulations on player protection and injury prevention, Grieb said.

Learning the proper techniques and wearing well-fitting gear can help lower the risk of serious injury in sports like football, hockey and lacrosse.

In almost any sport, kids should be given ample time to rest within the week and over the course of the year to avoid injuries that can come from overuse, she added.

With head injuries, it is important that young athletes take the proper time and action to recover before getting back to their sports, Grieb said.

“You break a bone, I can put you in a cast and not let you use that arm. When you have a head injury, I can’t put your head in a cast,” she said. “You get one brain, so it’s really important that we let your brain heal.”

In response to cardiac event, every person — player, coach or onlooker — should be familiar with CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and how to use a defibrillator, Berger said.

“Be prepared to intervene, because that’s what saves lives,” he added.

Why children should still play

There might be a conversation with your child about what sports they want to do, along with the risks and precautions your family will take, Grieb said, but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

Sports and other physical activities for kids are important for building good habits to keep moving throughout their lifetime, Peterson said. And regular movement is part of growing up in a safe and healthy way, he added.

But sports also give our kids leadership skills, life lessons and fun, Grieb said.

“If you’re focused on using proper techniques, you’re focused on following the rules of the game and you have coaches and referees who are also engaged in that, then I think particularly risky sports can be safer than they have in the past,” she said.

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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — In the moments before a 6-year-old Virginia boy shot his teacher, there was no fight, no physical struggle and no warning, authorities said Monday.

“What we know today is that she was providing instruction. He displayed a firearm, he pointed it and he fired one round,” Newport News police Chief Steve Drew said.

Drew, who spoke during a news conference, offered the first detailed description of a shooting that shocked the city and was notable even in a country like the United States that seems inured to constant gun violence. Drew had previously said that the shooting was not accidental and had declined to elaborate.

Drew said he wanted to clarify remarks he made just after the shooting on Friday, when he said there was an “altercation” before the shooting. He said it was more like an “interaction” between the boy and his first-grade teacher at Richneck Elementary School, 25-year-old Abby Zwerner.

But Drew also reiterated that the shooting was “not accidental.”

“It was intentional,” he said.

Drew also revealed that the 9mm handgun used by the boy was legally purchased by his mother and was in the family’s home. He said the boy brought it to school in his backpack the day of the shooting.

Zwerner put up her hand in a defensive position when the gun fired, and the bullet went through her hand and into her upper chest, Drew said. Although her injuries were initially considered life-threatening, she has improved and is currently listed in stable condition at a hospital.

Drew hailed Zwerner as a hero for quickly hustling her students out of the classroom after she was shot. He said surveillance video shows she was the last person to leave her classroom.

“She made a right turn and started down the hallway, and then she stopped. … She turned around and make sure every one of those students was safe,” Drew said.

Drew said a school employee rushed into the classroom and physically restrained the boy after hearing the gunshot. He said the boy became “a little combative” and struck the employee. Police officers arrived and escorted him out of the building and into a police car.

The boy has been held at a medical facility since an emergency custody order and temporary detention order were issued Friday, Drew said. He said it will be up to a judge to determine what the next steps are for the boy. He also said the boy’s mother has been interviewed by police, but it is unclear whether she could potentially face any charges.

As questions loomed about the boy and his mother, Zwerner’s friend told a crowd gathered at a Monday night vigil that the first-grade teacher has shown “dedication and love for what she does day in and day out.”

“Abby is a warrior and she demonstrates mental and physical strength every day,” said Rosalie List, a 2nd grade teacher at Richneck. “I’m so proud of her.”

Lauren Palladini, Richneck’s school counselor, told the crowd that Zwerner is “sweet. She’s thoughtful. She’s caring. And she’s been one of the most amazing teachers that I’ve been blessed to interact with.”

Amanda Bartley, who teaches at another elementary school in the city, asked everyone to pray for Zwerner and to “pray for the young man who did this.”

As she passed out candles before the vigil, Bartley told The Associated Press that she organized the event to support Zwerner and to uplift others. But, she said, many questions remain unanswered.

Among them: “How did he get the gun? Why wasn’t it locked up? A good gun owner knows that you lock up your weapon. You have a safety on. You keep the ammunition separate from the weapon itself.”

Gun owners can be prosecuted under a Virginia law that prohibits anyone from recklessly leaving a loaded, unsecured gun in a manner that endangers the life or limb of children under 14. A violation of that law is a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum jail sentence of one year and a maximum fine of $2,500.

Virginia does not have a law that requires unattended guns to be stored in a particular way or a law that requires gun owners to affirmatively lock their weapons.

“Virginia definitely has a weaker law than many other states that have child access prevention laws,” said Allison Anderman, senior counsel and director of local policy at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Legal experts said even though it is theoretically possible under Virginia law to criminally charge a 6-year-old child, there are numerous obstacles to doing so and it’s highly unlikely that any prosecutor would even try.

To be tried as an adult in Virginia, a juvenile must be at least 14. A 6-year-old is also too young to be committed to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice if found guilty. In addition, a common law doctrine known as the “infancy defense” holds that children under 7 cannot be prosecuted for a crime because they are so young that they are incapable of forming criminal intent.

A judge would also have to find that the child was competent to stand trial, meaning that he could understand the legal proceedings against him and assist in his own defense, said Andrew Block, a professor and the University of Virginia School of Law who was the director of Virginia’s Department of Juvenile Justice from 2014 to 2019.

“It’s virtually impossible to imagine a 6-year-old being found competent to stand trial,” Block said.

Julie E. McConnell, a law professor at the University of Richmond who has worked on youth justice cases for more than 25 years, said prosecutors can file what’s known as a “Child in Need of Services” petition in cases in which a child’s behavior or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the child’s well-being and physical safety.

A judge would then have an array of options, including: ordering services such as counseling or anger management; allowing the child to remain with his parents, subject to conditions; ordering the parents to participate in programs or cooperate in treatment; or transferring custody of the child to a relative, child welfare agency or a local social services agency.

___

Lavoie reported from Richmond.

The Stanford guide quickly became part of the “culture war” discourse, criticized on social media and in the media for going too far in trying to dictate politically correct speech in professional settings.

While it was conceived as a way to promote a more inclusive and welcoming environment for people of all walks of life, the guide “missed the intended mark” and was was broadly viewed as counter to inclusivity,” university spokesman Steve Gallagher said in a statement Wednesday.

Written by the Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative at Stanford, in partnership with People of Color in Technology and the Stanford CIO Council, the “language guide” is part of a multiphase, multiyear project to address harmful language in information technology (IT) uses only at the university. Its goal is to “eliminate many forms of harmful language, including racist, violent and biased language” in Stanford websites and code.

Gallagher said the initiative was created to address racist terms historically used in IT, such as “master” and “slave” to describe aspects of systems. The initiative’s scope of “racist terminology in technology” was later expanded more broadly as “harmful language in technology.”

“It was this expansion in scope that is at the heart of the intense recent feedback from the Stanford community and beyond,” Gallagher said. “The path forward will be determined after reviewing all recent feedback and consulting with university academic and administrative leadership.”

In a previous statement, the university made clear that the guide was not university policy and “does not represent mandates or requirements.” But that didn’t stop the Internet from going berserk over what many labeled too politically correct.

Several news outlets and publications, including the Wall Street Journal and Fox News, condemned the guide, calling it “absurd” and “ridiculous.” On Twitter, Elon Musk said the guide “has gone too far, to say the least!” and demanded “an explanation for this madness” from Stanford.