Author Archives: Shuka Kalantari

Shuka Kalantari is a health and culture reporter living in the Bay Area. She is Outreach Coordinator for KQED Public Radio, where she works with citizen journalists throughout California and produces health-related social media. Shuka’s focus is in health disparities, policy and mental health, with a particular emphasis on Middle Eastern & Latino communities in California. A Philosophy & Spanish Studies graduate from the University of California, Santa Cruz, she received a Masters degree in Multimedia Health and Medicine Reporting from The City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Journalism in 2007. You can read and listen to her stories at shukakalantari.com.

January 17, 2013 | 11:23 AM | By

After Surviving Shooting, Oakland Youth Works to Prevent Violence

Caheri Gutierrez, before the shooting.

Caheri Gutierrez, before the shooting.

Last weekend was an especially violent one, even for Oakland. On Friday, four people were killed, and over the rest of the weekend, 11 people were shot, though not fatally. There were 126 homicides [PDF] in Oakland last year, cementing the city’s distinction as one of California’s more violent urban centers. Oakland certainly doesn’t have a lock on gun violence. Other cities like Stockton are struggling, too. But the situation in Oakland has been going on for some time now, and locals are giving a lot of thought to what it means to live under the constant threat of violence.

As part of KQED’s occasional series, “What’s Your Story,” Oakland native Caheri Gutierrez (pronounced “Carrie”) shares her story about working with at-risk high schools students after she herself was shot in the face as a teenager. Guiterrez is a Violence Prevention Educator for Youth Alive, an Oakland non-profit with a mission to prevent youth violence. Below are excerpts of my conversation with her:

“‘They shot you. They shot you.’ I touched my face and my hand just went inside of my face.”

“I was just in the car and all of a sudden I started to feel like I was getting electrified. It was really intense shocks from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. The guy that was driving, my friend, starts screaming that he’s been shot. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Reform, Gun Violence, Oakland, Violence Prevention
August 23, 2012 | 5:03 PM | By

Quick Read: Elmo Inspires Kids to Eat More Apples

A new study from Cornell University finds that elementary school children were more likely to choose apples over cookies in school lunch lines when the apples had pictures of Elmo on them. My takeaway? I need to put Elmo stickers on beets so my fiance will start eating them.


It works for underwear: Just ask Spider-Man. And it’s “grrrrreat” for cereal, as Tony the Tiger can attest. So why not get Elmo to hawk apples? Turns out it could be good business.

Read more at: www.latimes.com

July 17, 2012 | 6:06 PM | By

Bridging the Gap: Disparities in Mental Health Care for African-Americans

(Courtesy: African American Health Institute San Bernardino County)

(Courtesy: African American Health Institute San Bernardino County)

African-Americans in California are less likely than white people to get the mental health care they need. State public health officials have lacked a good road map on how to change those disparities, until now. A statewide study released today looks at ways to reduce disparities in mental health care for black Californians.

The report, commissioned by the California Department of Mental Health, sifted through more than a decade of literature on why African-Americans in California aren’t getting adequate mental health care. A major reason is poverty and all of the barriers to getting health care that come with it.

Diane Woods is the lead author of the study and the founding president of the African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County.

“It is unpleasant to admit, but some people do not receive appropriate services,” Woods said.

The Northern California city of Richmond is nearly 27 percent African American, and has many pockets of low-income neighborhoods. Anne Cevallos is a therapist at Rubicon, a nonprofit in Richmond that offers treatment and housing for people mental illnesses. She says her clients face multiple barriers to treatment.

“From a mental health perspective there could be triggers,” Cevallos said. “Not having enough to eat, domestic violence, neighborhood violence, never learning to cope.”

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Policy, Reform, African-American, Mental Health, Richmond
July 6, 2012 | 11:24 AM | By

Quick Read: California Schools Fall Short on School Lunches

Are California school lunch programs replete with full salad bars and grass-fed beef, or are you more likely to find a blob of Fritos chips with  a scoop of chili and cheese on your lunch tray? That all depends on which school district you’re in. California Watch did an analysis of school lunch programs and found that 60 percent of lunches reviewed by the state in the past five years didn’t meet at least one federal nutritional requirement. For more on school lunches, visit State of Health’s archives, and check out our community correspondent reports on school lunch programs in their cities.


Richard Hartog/California Watch Nearly one-third of California school districts reviewed by the state failed to limit saturated fat to 10 percent of lunch calories, as required. In fall 2008, state regulators began a routine analysis of the school lunches served in Wheatland, a rural community an hour north of Sacramento.

Read more at: californiawatch.org

July 5, 2012 | 1:10 PM | By

Quick Read: A Documentary About AIDS In Black America

African-Americans make up about 13 percent of the U.S. population, but they account for almost half of HIV-infection cases in the country. An upcoming documentary by PBS FRONTLINE called Endgame: AIDS in Black America looks at this epidemic. Fresh Air’s Terry Gross spoke with the director, Renata Simone, and Robert Fullilove, a Columbia University professor and chairman of the HIV/AIDS advisory committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about the documentary. Fullilove told Fresh Air that when he started his work in the 1980s, about 20 percent people in the U.S. living with AIDS were African-American. “If we continue on the current trend in the year 2015, especially in the South, it will probably be the case that 5 to 6 percent of all African-American adults who are sexually active will be infected with the virus.”


Of the more than 1 million people in the U.S. infected with HIV, nearly half are black men, women and children – even though blacks make up about 13 percent of the population. AIDS is the primary killer of African-Americans ages 19 to 44, and the mortality rate is 10 times higher for black Americans than for whites.

Read more at: www.kqed.org

July 3, 2012 | 2:35 PM | By

Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Health Reform?

What do you know about the health care overhaul law? (Photo: Jason Stitt)

Will the health reform law require nearly all Americans to have health insurance starting in 2014 or else pay a fine? That’s one of the questions in Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation’s new Health Reform Quiz.

The 10-question quiz isn’t just for health wonks that have read the thousands of pages of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It’s much more accessible. When you take the quiz you can find out how others did on the quiz.

If you do take the health reform quiz, share your score with us in the comment section, or let us know on our Twitter or Facebook pages.

FILED UNDER: Reform, You're the Boss, Affordable Care Act
July 3, 2012 | 9:43 AM | By

Still Have Questions About The Affordable Care Act? Watch This Video.

The Supreme Court ruling to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was a big victory for the Obama Administration, but obstacles still lie ahead. How will states respond to the Medicaid expansion [PDF]? And will Republicans try to repeal the health overhaul law if President Obama loses the November election?

Mary Agnes Carey of of Kaiser Health News moderates a discussion between Kaiser Health News’ Marilyn Werber Serafini, Politico’s Jennifer Haberkorn and the Los Angeles Times’ Noam Levey.

FILED UNDER: Policy, Reform, Affordable Care Act
June 27, 2012 | 12:22 PM | By

Tackling Mental Health Disparities Among California’s Latinos

Lali Moheno & her family worked the fields in Modesto. Three of her family members had untreated mental health problems. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

Lali Moheno went to school in Texas as a kid. But she, her parents, and her six siblings would bus to Modesto, California every summers to work the fields. Then in late August or September, her parents would put her and her siblings back in a bus to Texas. Mohseno worked the fields all the way through graduating from the University of Texas.

“Life was hard,” said Moheno said during a press conference at UC Davis. “We had three family members who had mental health issues. But of course, in our family, we didn’t recognize it. They’d say, ‘Ese? Esta un poquito loco [Him? He's a little crazy]. Don’t pay attention to him. We don’t know what to do with him. He just follows us into the migrant camps.”

Moheno said her family didn’t know that visiting a psychologist or psychiatrist was even an option. That’s why she became a health activist working with farmworkers in Visalia. And that’s why she participated in a series of community forums looking at Latino mental health care disparities.

“Often when someone suffers from depression, unfortunately some family members — and I have seen it in churches also — they say it’s because of the weak character that they have, or they haven’t prayed hard enough.”

The result of the forums is a UC Davis study released this week, Community-Defined Solutions for Mental Health Care Disparities. Researchers highlight a variety of methods to close the mental health care gaps for Latinos in California.

Latinos make up over one-third of the nation’s population, and they’re the largest racial or ethnic group in California. But they’re also one of the most under-served communities in the state when it comes to getting mental health care.

Access to health insurance, transportation and language services all play into it. As does stigma associated with getting mental health care. Access to care also fluctuates based on ethnicity: Latinos of Mexican descent are less likely to get mental health care than other Latino groups, like Puerto Ricans. The report says about eighty-five percent of Mexican immigrants who need mental health services remain untreated.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Reform, Latino, Mental Health
June 18, 2012 | 9:34 AM | By

PTSD Among Middle Eastern Refugees in California

Iranians protest in San Francisco. (Steve Rhodes: Flickr)

Iranians protest in San Francisco. (Steve Rhodes: Flickr)

California has resettled more Middle Eastern refugees over the past decade than any other state in the U.S. In Northern California, Santa Clara County is a resettlement hub for Middle Eastern refugees — more than 1,300 have moved there since 2006. The majority of these refugees are from Iran and Iraq, and many carry memories of past trauma with them.

Twenty-four year old Iraqi refugee Jasmine said she definitely brought her past memories with her to California. Jasmine (not her real name) and her family fled Iraq in 2006 after insurgents killed her father in a drive-by shooting. She said they escaped to Syria, then resettled in San Jose three years later.

“You left your home. You left the place that you belong to. Your people who loved there,” Jasmine said. “Sometimes I feel like everything for me after Iraq is different: the roads, the air, the dust. I know back home. The dust of back home. I know the air of back home.”

“What happened will remain like a scar inside yourself. Especially like we saw a lot of stuff not normal … Like people killed in front of your eye. I don’t believe I’m going to forget them.”

Jasmine said she was in survival mode in Iraq and experienced a delayed reaction to the stress of war. But when she did land in America, depression hit Jasmine hard.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Place Matters, Policy, Mental Health, PTSD, Refugees