San Francisco has opened a new clinic to test some Bayview-Hunters Point residents for health issues caused by exposure to environmental factors, such as airborne pollution and exposure to hazardous chemicals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Neighborhood residents have long demanded the attention of the city. The Hunters Point Shipyard, a former Naval base and during the 1970s, a dumping site for toxic waste<\/a>, has been undergoing cleanup for over 30 years<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bayview residents have a disproportionately high number of asthma rates in addition to cases of lung and breast cancer compared to the rest of San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Nine percent of Bayview residents are asthmatic, compared to seven percent citywide. The California Environmental Health Screening Tool lists the neighborhood as one of the most polluted geographic areas in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n The opening of the clinic comes after the Department of Public Health in October blasted the Navy<\/a> for failing to report findings of airborne plutonium at the shipyard at twice the recommended \u201caction level,\u201d the threshold that requires mandatory remediation. The Navy had neglected to tell the city<\/a> for 11 months. Residents were furious.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is unclear if the clinic, which could be located at 2403 Keith St. at the Southeast Family Health Center, would test for radiation poisoning. The city did not say what tests or treatment would be provided to residents, but did say the only residents served would be those who receive their primary healthcare at the clinic already. The program is still in its infancy, and will likely be developed over time, said the department.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEvery recommendation is tailored to the patient\u2019s life and circumstances,\u201d the department wrote in a statement after publication. \u201cAs part of a pre-opening needs assessment, UCSF physicians surveyed staff and learned that patients had environmental concerns such as air pollution and mold, followed occasionally by concerns related to chemical and radiation exposures.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The clinic is a partnership between the Department of Public Health, UCSF and the health center.\u00a0<\/p>\n Open one day a month, on the third Tuesday, the clinic will provide tests and programs to \u201cevaluate, diagnose, and treat patients whose health problems may be caused or worsened by exposures to environmental factors, such as chemicals, pollutants, or physical hazards,\u201d according to a presentation<\/a> shared by the Department of Public Health.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr. Susan Philip, the department\u2019s director of population health, confirmed the clinic plans to the Board of Supervisors in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents say they have asked for doctors to address health concerns for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Arieann Harrison, a member of the Southeast Family Health Center community advisory board and the founder of the Marie Harrison Foundation, an environmental nonprofit named after her late mother<\/a>, said residents have had to fight \u201cto prove we are sick for decades.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Harrison\u2019s mother died of lung disease at age 71 in 2019. Arieann Harrison said she has urged the department to address residents\u2019 health concerns for nearly three years.\u00a0<\/p>\n The industrial neighborhood, though largely populated with residential homes, is heavily impacted by truck traffic and other industrial activities \u2014 and as recently as 2006, home to the Hunters Point Power Plant. The fossil-fuel powered plant was operated by PG&E for over 70 years, and according to the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, was the neighborhood\u2019s main source of pollution.\u00a0<\/p>\n UCSF\u2019s Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic offers a similar clinic that treats work-related environmental health concerns, including chemical exposure, at its Mount Zion Medical Center in lower Pacific Heights.\u00a0<\/p>\n But that is about six miles away from Bayview. The new clinic will be the first in the city\u2019s southeast.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harrison said that while she is unsure what treatments will be offered at the clinic, the opening is \u201ca great first step towards getting our needs met.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially,\u201d she said, for \u201cthose of use who fall in the margins.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Dr. Susan Philip would lead the clinic. She will oversee it as the director of population health, but will not lead it day to day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Francisco has opened a new clinic to test some Bayview-Hunters Point residents for health issues caused by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[139371,163,521,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-266461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-bayview-hunters-point","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}