Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown is also a national leader, as the new president of the National Association of Counties.

California's economy is frequently said to be the sixth or seventh largest in the world. That, says Valerie Brown, often leads elected officials from elsewhere in the United States to view the Golden State with somewhat mixed feelings.

 Valerie Brown (far right) was part of a March 6 meeting in which new Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (foreground, at head of table) discussed mutual cooperation between the USDA and the National Association of Counties in Washington, DC.

Other states may not share California's budget woes, at least to the same degree, but they are watching how events unfold here, including the special election on May 19. Supervisor Brown is also warily awaiting the judgment of the voters, fearing that the outcome will not be good news for Sonoma County.

Health Care reform and a forward-looking energy policy are not competing subjects in need of Congressional action, but interlocking national priorities, said speakers at a Santa Rosa rally yesterday.

Sebastopol City Council member Kathleen Shaffer (left), spoke out strongly in support of the health reform plan endorsed by President Obama, and the much maligned "public option" within it.

 Photos courtesy of John Hartong

Another speaker at the rally, Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo, defended proactive climate change legislation as a potential engine for economic, as well as environmental benefits.

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The Santa Rosa rally was one of many scheduled across the country yesterday by MoveOn.org.

Sutter Health proposes building a new, smaller hospital at the Wells Fargo Center, north of Santa Rosa, to replace the old medical campus on Chanate Road. But critics, including rival hospitals, worry that the new facility will be too small.

 The planned $176 million, 70 bed hospital would have barely half the 135 beds at the current Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa, still known to long-time locals as Community Hospitlal (right). Such downsizing could rupture the delicate  balance among local hospitals regarding who cares for the poor and uninsured patients in the area, says Dr.Gary Greensweig, Director of Medicine for St. Josephs' Healthcare of Sonoma County. He notes that the existing Sutter facilites now provide about 30% of that car, and their Health Care Access Agreeement with the county, the contract that Sutter accepted when they first came to Sonoma County, stipulates that the same level of care be maintained.

Sutter has been weighing the construction of a new hospital on the grounds of the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts for several years now. The current proposal would be situated on the northwest corner of the property, as shown in the site map below. With a specific project under consideration, Sutter spokeswoman Lisa Amador says they are already well into the process of drafting the Environmental Impart Report that the project will eventually require.

 Supervisor Shirlee Zane, the only member of the board to give an indication of her leanings on the proposal, appeared cautiously supportive. She also raised the spectre of Sutter following through on their earlier bid to leave the county altogether if their project is not approved.

Doctors see the effects of poverty in the patients almost every day, but treating the root causes requires taking action outside their clinics and hospitals.

Dr. Paula Braveman (right) is a professor of Family and Community Medicine at UCSF, where she also directs the Center on Social Disparities in Medicine.

 Dr. Mary Maddox-Gonzales, head of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, urges doctors and other medical practitioners to speak out about the public health implications of policies at every level of government.

The recent  PBS television series Unnatural Causes  answered the basic question it posed in the affirmative. So did the  KRCB-Television report on  same question here in the North Bay. You can see what we found out here. Both the national series and our local report will be rebroadcast again this fall.

The continuing rise in cancer rates in America is proof that conventional treatment methods are ineffective, contends an advocate for alternative health methodologies who says both approaches should be integrated to achieve the best results.

Burton Goldberg (right)  has been studying alternative medical treatments and publishing books about them for 33 of his 82 years. It was a change of professional direction, he explains, that was prompted by the illness of a friend's daughter.

Since he's been working in this area, Goldberg says, the alternative treatments he has publicized have gained much wider acceptance among the American populace.

Burton Goldberg is hosting a public workshop on dealing with cancer (This illustration is an electron microscopic photograph of a single breast cancer cell) and integrative medicine at the Steele Lane Community Center, 415 Steele Lane in Santa Rosa  from 1-4 pm on Saturday, June 20. In addition to presenting a film and lecture on these new therapies, Goldberg will be joined by two additional speakers, Dr. James Forsythe, a Reno oncologist and Dr. Filberto Munoz from the Instituto Medico Biologico in San Diego and Tijuana.  Information at (707) 322-3822 or vajraproductions@gmail.com.