| 10 awarded for helping community
Ten people representing 10 organizations in San Bernardino and across the Inland Empire have been awarded for their philanthropic efforts to strengthen their community and improve the quality of life. Dr. Appannagari "Dev" GnanaDev, medical director at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton; Terrance L. Stone of Young Visionaries in San Bernardino; and state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Montclair, were among those honored during the first Dr. C. David Molina Community Champion Awards at the Mission Inn in Riverside on Thursday. The event, hosted by Molina Healthcare of California, is a grass-roots effort to recognize the "community-building activities of unsung everyday heroes" in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Molina Healthcare, founded in 1980 in Long Beach, has hosted similar awards ceremonies in the past in Sacramento and decided it was time to host one here, said Steve O'Dell, president and chief executive officer of Molina Healthcare California.
Contaminated Swine Feed Poses Very Little Health Risk for Humans
FDA and USDA say no illnesses have been associated with pork products from swine that ate contaminated feed, and the likelihood of such illness is very low. FDA is not issuing a recall of products from contaminated animals, but swine that have eaten the contaminated product will not be allowed to enter the food supply. About 6,000 hogs on eight operations have been quarantined from the food supply, and USDA has offered to compensate producers who euthanize swine that ate the contaminated feed. FDA determined that a shipment of rice protein imported from China was contaminated with melamine and melamine-related compounds. The rice protein was used in the production of pet food and a byproduct was used to produce animal feed. Among the factors FDA and USDA used to determine that the risk to humans is very low is the dilution of the contaminating melamine and melamine-related compounds from the original rice protein concentrate as it moves through the food system.
Self-employed losing health care options
A major source of health insurance for people who work for themselves has all but disappeared, casting thousands of contractors, freelancers and solo practitioners into the ranks of the uninsured with little hope of obtaining new coverage. Health plans offered by professional associations were once safe havens for millions of people who couldn't obtain coverage anywhere else. But, as medical costs have soared, groups representing professions as varied as law and golf have been forced to stop offering the benefit or been dropped by insurers. More than 8,000 California Realtors and their families could be next if Blue Shield of California succeeds with its plan to cancel their association health coverage. "It's a real stab in the heart," said Marcy Garber, 62, a Los Angeles real estate agent whose history of breast cancer makes her an almost-certain reject if she seeks similar coverage on her own.
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