Ethnic Groups Health

Despite modest improvements in health insurance coverage, nearly one in three adults and one in five children in Los Angeles County are uninsured--one of the worst records in the nation, according to a new survey by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. Thirty-one percent of adults under age 65 were uninsured in 1999, compared with 34% in 1997, according to the telephone survey of approximately 8,000 households.

Despite modest improvements in health insurance coverage, nearly one in three adults and one in five children in Los Angeles County are uninsured--one of the worst records in the nation, according to a new survey by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. Thirty-one percent of adults under age 65 were uninsured in 1999, compared with 34% in 1997, according to the telephone survey of approximately 8,000 households.

Black men in California are at particularly high risk of developing prostate cancer, while Chinese men are most likely to develop lung cancer, according to a new American Cancer Society report that highlights the diverse cancer risks of the state's ethnic groups. Prostate cancer is also the most common malignancy for male Caucasians, Hispanics and Asian Indians. But Japanese are most prone to colon cancer, Koreans to stomach cancer and Vietnamese to lung cancer.

The remarkable diversity of Los Angeles County has been quantified in many ways. Add another: the health of its residents. A new portrait of the county's health, issued last week by the county Department of Health Services, makes clear that Angelenos live and die in ways that vary widely by race, ethnicity and lifestyle. Whites, Asian Americans and African Americans are twice as likely as Latinos to suffer from heart disease, for instance.

The remarkable diversity of Los Angeles County has been quantified in many ways. Add another: the health of its residents. A new portrait of the county's health, issued last week by the county Department of Health Services, makes clear that Angelenos live and die in ways that vary widely by race, ethnicity and lifestyle. Whites, Asian Americans and African Americans are twice as likely as Latinos to suffer from heart disease, for instance.

Adults in Orange County admit to drinking and driving more than twice as often as Californians living elsewhere, according to a sweeping survey of public health habits released Tuesday by county officials. Latino men are more likely to be "binge" drinkers than whites or Vietnamese, the study found, and whites are less likely to report alcohol-related problems than the other groups.

Proposition 54 seeks to amend the California Constitution to prohibit the state and other public bodies -- including local governments, colleges and universities -- from classifying individuals and collecting information on them by race, ethnicity, color or national origin. In an ideal world, this might be a good thing. But in practical terms, this ballot initiative would undermine equal education, public health and civil rights protections.

To better disseminate information about AIDS, Long Beach officials are changing the emphasis of an educational project that previously relied on public presentations and workshops to fight the disease's spread. The city now plans to teach leaders from selected high-risk groups how to educate their peers to prevent the spread of the AIDS virus, said Ray Kincade, Long Beach preventive health services officer.

A bill to give the state Coastal Commission and local governments the power to levy administrative fines of up to $10,000 per day for illegal coastline development has been introduced in the Senate. "The present enforcement system is too weak to be an effective deterrent," said Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles), the author of the measure (SB 1449). "Hundreds of acres of pristine coastal land have been destroyed because the current court-imposed penalties amount to too little, too late."

"Carl Bryant no longer exists," announced Little Crow. "I'm phasing him out." The 55-year-old American Indian from Orange County patted the chest of his black satin jacket, embroidered with the tribal name he has used for 16 years, saying "What I'm now is this." Although he has never filed any papers to change his name, the pastor and former professor told a forum on Indian spirituality that he has been calling himself Little Crow for the last 16 years, after one of his ancestors.

Adults in Orange County admit to drinking and driving more than twice as often as Californians living elsewhere, according to a sweeping survey of public health habits released Tuesday by county officials. Latino men are more likely to be "binge" drinkers than whites or Vietnamese, the study found, and whites are less likely to report alcohol-related problems than the other groups.

Black men in California are at particularly high risk of developing prostate cancer, while Chinese men are most likely to develop lung cancer, according to a new American Cancer Society report that highlights the diverse cancer risks of the state's ethnic groups. Prostate cancer is also the most common malignancy for male Caucasians, Hispanics and Asian Indians. But Japanese are most prone to colon cancer, Koreans to stomach cancer and Vietnamese to lung cancer.

Los Angeles County's public health program is a hamstrung bureaucracy, underfunded and understaffed, suffering "considerable tension . . . with diminished morale" and poor communication with the communities it is set up to serve, according to a county-initiated review of the system by UCLA experts.