Health

Education advocates and community leaders gathered on a cloudy morning outside Saint Louise Regional Hospital to urge voters to support Measure A, a Santa Clara County sales tax ballot option aimed at preserving healthcare services threatened by recent federal funding cuts. The Sept. 30 rally...

Transmission of the flu, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus is increasing statewide simultaneously and could lead to overwhelmed hospitals this winter, one of the state's top health officials said Thursday. Covid test positivity and case rates have climbed by roughly 25% over the last two...

Gerald Foisy—largely known to Gilroy community members and garlic aficionados as Mr. Garlic—died on Jan. 7 after a battle with Alzheimer's. He was 83 years old.  For 29 years, Foisy volunteered as Mr. Garlic, the happy, healthy ambassador of the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival who...

With election day approaching, voters have several state propositions from which to choose. Below is a brief description of each of them. For a deeper dive, visit voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions. Proposition 2 Public School and Community College Facilities Under Prop. 2, the state would sell a $10 billion bond...

“Due to the federal Medi-Cal cuts, our County-run hospitals and clinics are at risk of closure.” “Under the leadership of the Board of Supervisors, we are fighting to preserve and protect our critical services.” These boldface words from Santa Clara County executive James R. Williams greeted...

The scent of fresh-cut pine fills the air as Jorge Garcia watches his children, ages 2 and 5, weave between rows of evergreens with their mother, searching for the perfect Christmas tree. It’s their first time at Battaglia Ranch as a young family, but...

A fleet of 12 new ambulances dedicated to transporting patients among the county’s hospitals and medical offices was unveiled at Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy on May 9.  The new emergency medical vehicles will improve transport times among Santa Clara Valley Healthcare’s three hospitals—SLRH,...

Valley Water crews have dug about 160 feet into a giant tunnel that will be able to divert massive volumes of water out of Anderson Reservoir when the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project is completed.  The 20-foot diameter tunnel—which will be 1,750 feet long when...

Don't call it a tripledemic—yet.  Influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Covid-19 are circulating this fall, but not yet at the rate that worried public health agencies a year ago.  As we approach the time of winter when these diseases usually peak, around December to February,...

The community room of the Gilroy Library transformed into a walk-through installation on Nov. 5, depicting the life of civil rights champion and co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union, Dolores Huerta, who coined the phrase, “Sí se puede” (Yes, we can). Huerta briefly taught...