News

By Liz Highleyman, The Bay Area Reporter, May 4, 2017 Read on The Bay Area Reporter’s website A bill that would allow supervised drug consumption facilities in California took another step forward, as the Assembly Public Safety Committee voted 4-3 on April 25 to advance the legislation. Supervised consumption facilities allow people to inject drugs

Name: Vitka EisenAge: 57City: BerkeleyPosition: CEO, HealthRIGHT 360 J.: You have been involved for more than three decades with San Francisco’s Walden House, which serves people with substance abuse disorders. It merged with Haight Ashbury Free Clinics in 2011 to form HealthRIGHT 360. How did you end up leading the organization? Vitka Eisen: I initially came to

By Bill Bradley, Next City, May 3, 2017 Read on Next City’s website This article is the second in a series of profiles of impact development projects produced in partnership with guest editor Gregory Heller. Impact development is a term that describes real estate projects that serve a social purpose. This series explores how impact development projects are reshaping our

By Joshua Sabatini, San Francisco Examiner, April 9, 2017  Read on the San Francisco Examiner’s website Sirens echo throughout Civic Center Plaza around 11 a.m. Friday. A young man has collapsed on the pavement after stepping out of a Jeep Cherokee parked in front of the Main Public Library, his face a gruesome shade of

By David Talbot, The San Francisco Chronicle, March 28, 2017 Read on the San Francisco Chronicle website Happy days are here again, for now. The Trumpcare fiasco last week produced many joyous results — like reviving the single-payer health care option, the choice of most enlightened countries in the world. Within hours of the Republican

By David Pearlman, The San Francisco Chronicle, March 10, 2017 Read on the San Francisco Chronicle website When kids from all over the country flocked to San Francisco for the Summer of Love five decades ago, the Haight was a street bazaar for drugs. The only medical help for sick and badly stoned youngsters was

By Marissa Ortega-Welch, KALW Local Public Radio, February 21, 2017 Read the article on KALW’s website Kris Gambardella rushed to update the “gender marker” on his driver’s license after Trump was elected. MARISSA ORTEGA-WELCH Kris Gambardella is visiting the doctor today in order to get a new driver’s license. Kris is 26 and does social

By Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle February 19, 2017  Read the article on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle Dr. Andrew Desruisseau checks the eyes of Sonia Hernandez at Tenderloin Health Services in San Francisco. Hernandez is a hep\atitis C patient. San Francisco is trying to become the first city in the

By Eleni Gastis, San Francisco Chronicle, February 16, 2017  Read the article on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website Now, more than ever, HealthRight360 CEO Vitka Eisen is prepared to fight for the communities she serves. Anticipating the opening of a new five-story, 50,000 square-foot facility on Mission Street this fall, there is a lot for

By Laurie Udesky, from Kaiser Health News, January 22, 2017 Read the article on NPR’s website A large collage decorates a wall of one exam room at the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco, Calif. Dr. David Smith, founder of the clinic, says patients and staff call the mural the Psychedelic Wall of