Speakers and audience alike were enthusiastic, engaged and — at the end of the day-long Supporting Healthy Aging Conference in Eureka in May — hopeful about prospects for growing older for themselves and others in Humboldt County. The annual conference, sponsored by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center (HSRC),...

My brother, John, was four years older than I. In his teenage years, he could be an absolute jerk. Our bedrooms were next to each other — the former master bedroom had been split in two by a 10-foothigh divider. John had to go through my room to enter or leave his. He thought nothing of coming home late, bang...

With the close of the school year, I want to highlight a wonderful program at one of our Eel River Valley Schools. Redwood Prep Charter School in Fortuna has a Grandparents Group that is a helpful success story for the students, staff and seniors who participate. The group started small a few years back, with...

Today’s media are filled with articles extolling the positive effects of pets on our well-being, especially those of us who are retired. Dogs, for example, provide companionship, encourage physical activity and even introduce us to new friends and social groups.

It is a nice Humboldt summer evening. The fog is staying off shore and you’ve got an hour or two before twilight. You’ve already walked at the Arcata Marsh twice this week and another time across the Eureka Slough bridge and along the Bay Trail.

Humboldt County’s older adults face behavioral health challenges shaped by rural geography, limited resources and a strong but sometimes isolating sense of personal independence. From Eureka and Arcata to more remote areas like Willow Creek, Garberville, and Hoopa, seniors often experience barriers to care th...

Harvest Boxes are filled with fresh Humboldt-grown produce, delivered to your door weekly or bi-weekly from Fortuna to Trinidad, or available for pickup. The locally grown produce comes from multi-farm-style CSAs (community- supported agriculture), bringing you the best seasonal offerings from multiple grower...

Black Humboldt and the NAACP, in collaboration with the Black community of Humboldt County and community partners, announce this year’s Juneteenth Cultural Festival, a multi-day celebration honoring emancipation through culture, education, art and community connection.

The Volunteer Expo will bring together dozens of local organizations and community members who might like working with them to make a difference in Humboldt County.

To the Editor: As elders, our mission is to set the table for the upcoming generations — our biological family and planetary family. As such, we’ve not only got the forks on the wrong side of the plates, but the plates are currently upside down and the napkins besmirched. We’ve got some work to do! One of the...

The healthcare crisis and shortage that we face in Humboldt are in many ways reflective of broader social and economic struggles in the area, and it will be difficult to effectively solve the issues affecting health care without addressing those broader issues as a community. Doctors who work here want to fee...

In rural communities like ours, challenges compounded by low population density, isolated terrain and long distances to urban areas create barriers to attracting and retaining physicians and other healthcare professionals. At the same time, our community is faced with barriers to facilitating robust economic ...

One sure way to elicit a grimace and weary nod from others, both here in Humboldt and, frankly, anywhere in the U.S., is to complain about health care. Everyone has a story — trouble getting appointments, lack of specialists and, around here, the long trek to the Bay Area for care.

The design phase for the Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) new state-of-the-art $28 million public health laboratory is complete and groundbreaking for the new facility at Wood and I streets in Eureka is expected as early as January 2028. Public Health’s current laboratory is in a n...

One myth about healthy eating that I wish I could quash for all time is that healthy eating is expensive. Of course, it can be, and if you can afford to buy the best, by all means do so. But it’s perfectly possible to eat delicious, healthy meals every day without breaking the bank. If you have these basic pa...

One year ago, our article for Senior News examined the problems with lack of availability of many medical services in Humboldt County. What has changed in the past year? Getting a primary care physician (PCP) in our area can be a challenge, although there are some signs of improvement. Medical groups in our a...

In 1979, after 30 years serving the rural communities of Southern Humboldt, the Garberville Hospital, one of the last privately owned hospitals in California, was about to shut its doors. A courageous band of community members — business leaders, timber people, ranchers, professionals, back-to-the-landers and...

What does a successful effort to improve access to health care in an isolated rural region like ours look like? The good news is that examples exist of best practices that worked elsewhere to create a better healthcare future.

While recovering from cervical spine surgery last month, I’ve been contemplating the role of love in healing. I also have been grateful for the scientific prowess and surgical skill required to safely cut through muscle and bone to create space for my spine to breathe. Medical care should be a combination of ...

Seriously, how would you feel if …