October 2021

By Andrea Stanley, The Washington Post Magazine, October 27, 2021 J ess Mercer received a call from her stepmom, Annette, that morning, a little after 8 a.m. “We’re coming,” Annette said, her voice so unrecognizable it sounded foreign. Jess was at her apartment in Chico, Calif., a slightly overgrown university town that sits in a valley below the hilltop community of Paradise, about 20 minutes away. She was confused. It was early, on a weekday: Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. She wasn’t expecting a...

October 26, 2021 by JL Heinze Like many holidays, Halloween can be a triggering time for survivors. This holiday also poses unique risks and barriers when it comes to preventing sexual violence. This isn’t just due to the fact that Halloween parties and gatherings may create environments with increased rates of sexual assaults and harassment, but it is also due to trauma triggers such as dark lighting, fearful screams, obscuring masks, and graphic and violent imagery that are hallmarks of...

By Joe Pinsker, The Atlantic, October 16, 2021 Throughout the pandemic, media outlets and online dashboards have provided constant updates on the number of people who have died from COVID-19. Far less prominent—but just as striking—are the tallies of those left behind. According to an estimate published recently in the journal Pediatrics , at least 140,000 American children had lost a parent or caregiver because of the coronavirus by the end of June—meaning that one of roughly every 500...

By Jim Salter nd Claudia Lauer, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, October 18, 2021 Gun violence is killing an increasing number of American children , from toddlers caught in crossfires to teenagers gunned down in turf wars, drug squabbles or for posting the wrong thing on social media. Shootings involving children and teenagers have been on the rise in recent years, and 2021 is no exception. Experts say idleness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shares the blame with easy access to guns...

Joanne Whitney, 84, a retired associate clinical professor of pharmacy at the University of California-San Francisco, often feels devalued when interacting with health care providers. There was the time several years ago when she told an emergency room doctor that the antibiotic he wanted to prescribe wouldn't counteract the kind of urinary tract infection she had. He wouldn't listen, even when she mentioned her professional credentials. She asked to see someone else, to no avail. "I was...