By Desmond Miller-Editor

San Francisco is the first city in the United States to do the unthinkable: it is creating a universal health care program geared toward giving everyone access to health care services. This program is called Healthy San Francisco and its goal is just that; to get San Francisco healthy.

In 2006, Mayor Gavin Newsom created the Universal Healthcare Council and charged it with the task of finding a way to provide health care for San Francisco’s 82,000 uninsured adults. The council came up with the idea that has evolved into Healthy San Francisco.

“We have some very smart, hardworking individuals, and there is no substitute for hard work” said Eileen Shields, public information officer for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. “We started in July of last year very small at two clinics, both in Chinatown. We started small and quietly because we wanted to work out the kinks.”

According to its website “Healthy San Francisco is not health insurance. It will instead provide a primary medical home to participants, allowing a greater focus on preventive care, as well as a specialty care, urgent and emergency care, mental health care, substance abuse services, laboratory, inpatient hospitalization, radiology, and pharmaceuticals.”

“This is acceptable, affordable health care and a home for our participants. This concept of a home for care is new,” Shields said.

“People who have a doctor know where the doctor is and make an appointment to see that doctor. This new concept is instead of one doctor that you see only, you have a clinic full of doctors that you can see and this would be the place that you would receive your health care,” she said. “This clinic would also be where their records would be kept. It would also cut back on any duplications of care because we want out clients to have a continuity of care.”

As of June 2008, Healthy San Francisco has close to 22,000 participants and shows no signs of slowing down. There aren’t that many stipulations to participate either.

“You have to be between 18-65 years old and have to be at or below 300 percent of poverty level and you need to be a resident of San Francisco and people can come and go easily. So if they get a job that offers them health care they can leave and if they lose that job they can start up again in the program like they never left,” Shields said.

By Christina Hernandez
Editor

The Guardsman will be adding a Health and Science section which features health-related and scientific news relevant to City College students. Future plans may include a regular sex column and an alternative medicine column. Do you have any health concerns or scientific questions you’d like us to address? If there is anything you’d like to see in this section, please email chernandez@theguardsman.com. We appreciate your input!

By Maahum Chaudhry
Editor

Recently Dunkin’ Donuts withdrew a commercial featuring their spokeswoman Rachel Ray after complaints that the ad implied the support of terrorism. These complaints were based on Ray wearing a black and white paisley scarf resembling the keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress.

True, the keffiyeh has been worn by terrorists in videos showing beheadings, but the simple scarf is a cultural piece of cloth. Traditionally used to protect the face from the harsh desert sand, many Arab men wear the scarf slung around their shoulders or heads to protect them from the sun.

Dunkin’ Donuts decided to take the ad off the air after Michelle Malkin and other conservative right wing bloggers criticized it as a way for Dunkin’ Donuts to support terrorism. Malkin mentions that though many women have been sporting scarves of a similar style lately, they are ignorant that the scarf “has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad.”

The keffiyeh is part of the traditional Arab wardrobe for men. Just as many Christians wear the cross around their neck, Arabs wear the keffiyeh. Yet those wearing the cross aren’t accused of supporting domestic terrorism because Timothy McVeigh, the man behind the Oklahoma City bombings, was Catholic. In the same sense, it isn’t fair that such a common traditional piece of clothing be associated with terrorists because the people committing the acts dressed traditionally.

Malkin has the right to criticize Dunkin Donuts all she wants but the company shouldn’t have succumbed to such complaints. Despite wearing a paisley black and white scarf, Ray, America’s little sweetheart, with coffee in hand as she takes a stroll through the park, looks far from a terrorist.

There does not seem to be a reasonable cause for pulling the ad. Dunkin Donuts should have had the courage to overlook whatever criticism came their way.

By Jennifer Nichols
Editor
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City life can get dull and repetitive if you don’t get out of town once in a while. Fortunately, Californians have many options to make life adventurous and interesting when boredom strikes.

For the adventurous or thrill-seeking who are looking for engaging and challenging activities, spelunking may fill that void. Spelunking, the sport or pastime of exploring caves, draws those who wish to challenge their body and mind – or do it just for the fun of it.

Caves are perhaps the least explored type of natural formations on earth. Historically, caves were explored for shelter, mystical reasons or out of pure curiosity. Adventurous spirits relied on minimal equipment which made cave exploration even more scary and hazardous. Imagine descending into one of the darkest places on the planet, equal only to the bottom of the ocean, armed with the dim light of a solitary candle. Add to this the skill and fearlessness needed to maneuver over slippery surfaces wearing shoes with little tread and without any idea how far the caverns reached or what may lurk within.

City dwellers can jump in a car and drive east for about three hours through increasingly beautiful scenery into Calaveras County. The area is home to hundreds of limestone caverns, many of which are open to the public all year round. Calaveras is also well known for its gold rush past, which is exciting for anybody interested in that particular era of California history.

Most of the caverns in Calaveras offer activities ranging from very affordable 45 minute walking trips to 3 hour belly-crawling journeys through sticky mud, to rappelling into massive caverns.

Experienced tour guides lead all of the trips and provide most of the equipment you’ll need. Once inside, a variety of geological structures including stalactites, stalagmites, crystal flowers and draperies can be seen while moving through narrow passageways and huge chambers.

The main chamber of Calaveras’ Moaning Cavern is large enough to fit the Statue of Liberty inside. The remains of people and animals who had fallen through the narrow entrance passage were found at the time the 165 feet deep cavern was first discovered. Evidence suggests that one person survived the fall and lived there for some time, but was unable to escape.

My partner and I decided to go for a two-day trip and though there are a wide variety of affordable accommodations, we decided stay at the Victoria Inn in the small town of Murphys.

The inn boasts gorgeous rooms with huge claw-footed tubs, king-sized beds, private balconies and what locals consider to be the best restaurant in the area. After a long day of climbing through caverns, we enjoyed some wine and got to know some local personalities at several tasting rooms within walking distance of the inn.

A quick online search provides all the information you need, including directions, accommodations, recommended gear and clothing and other nearby attractions. The caves are open all year. Some of them are even open on Christmas for those who are tired of sitting around and eating all day during the holidays and chose to live on the edge a little instead. Enjoy!

A sketch distributed by the City College police department of the alleged assailant

By Ellen Silk
Editor

In the Visual Arts building on Ocean Campus a City College student was sexually battered May 16 by a suspect who fled to escape apprehension.

The suspect was described in the crime alert released by the San Francisco Community College District Police Department as a Latino male, 25-35 year old, approximately 6 feet tall, weighing 200-230 lbs., with dark hair, a scar under his chin and a potbelly. According to Police Chief Kenneth Baccetti the suspect grabbed the female victim and sexually assaulted her before fleeing the scene. He was last seen in a tight T-shirt with a round symbol and dark jeans and clean-shaven, according to the crime alert.

“The incident is still under investigation and we are working with the police department’s sex crimes detail,” Baccetti said.

Baccetti stated since the incident happened late on a Friday, use of the new text message alert system didn’t seem necessary. However, he added, an alert was sent out via email to the City College community.

“I would like to ask everyone to remain aware of their environment and be mindful of suspicious activities at all times,” Chancellor Don Griffin wrote in a message preceding the crime alert

If you have any information regarding this crime please contact the SFPD Sex Crimes Detail at (415) 553-1361.