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By Shira Noel, HANC Board Member

If you were unable to attend the July naloxone training or did attend and would like to be prepared in case you witness an overdose, CBHS pharmacy at 1380 Howard St (at 10th St), Monday - Friday, 9am - 3:30pm, provides a free training as well as the naloxone kit.  It can also be purchased from your pharmacist without a prescription. Your doctor will write a prescription and have the cost covered by your insurance. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist and is used to reverse the effects of an overdose. It is non-addictive and is only effective if opioids are present. If no opioids are present, naloxone has no effect. It can be injected but is commonly administered as a nasal spray. 

By Tes Welborn, HANC President

Some of you may have participated in a survey, open house, or meetings over the past six to nine months about the future of UCSF at Parnassus. Those participating found that the University was planning to increase Parnassus square footage by some 30% over the 1970's Space Ceiling. The Space Ceiling was a neighborhood effort to limit Parnassus within boundaries, set a maximum average daily number of people on the campus, and stopped UCSF from gobbling up adjacent housing. With the help of Phil Burton, this became UC policy.

Many neighbors thought that the vast Mission Bay expansion would lower pressure to expand at Parnassus, but now we are finding out, this is not so. Researchers, clinicians, and faculty at UCSF's four schools [dentistry, nursing, medicine and pharmacy] are envious of the new buildings and modern equipment at Mission Bay. They are finding it harder to recruit top talent to study and work at Parnassus. This professional population at Parnassus initiated a new round of six months' of community engagement meetings and open houses. The goal is to get community agreement with an increase of some 40% in square footage within the Parnassus boundaries.

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By Rupert Clayton, HANC Land Use Chair

After a year of prototyping and planning, a team from the Exploratorium is close to finalizing their set of exhibits for a two-year display around Alvord Lake at the Haight St entrance to Golden Gate Park. The approach they have selected is based on “Pathways and Pauses”, with some experiences designed to engage people just passing through that area of the park and others intended to encourage a longer stay to focus on particular physical phenomena.

The Lake Dock area will contain two exhibits that reveal the microscopic organisms at work in and around Alvord Lake

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By Christin Evans, HANC Board Member

HANC's monthly (except August) general membership meeting is usually held downstairs at the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page Street (between Cole and Shrader) on the second Thursday of the month, beginning at 7 pm.  Our meetinngs are open to the public and free to attend.

You probably have seen an onslaught of mail already about this controversial November ballot measure.  At our next meeting, HANC members will hear from both sides about Measure C which seeks to overturn the ban placed on e-Cigarette products by the Board of Supervisors earlier this year.

Voters had previously supported a June 2018 measure, proposition E, to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products seen as largely favored by younger users including teens.  That ban was passed by voters by more than 68% of the vote. And merchants were given 6 months to liquidate their stock before the flavor ban went into effect January 1 this year.

Emboldened by overwhelming support of E, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in June to prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes also known as e-Cigs.  Our elected Supervisors cited their reasons for supporting the ban: e-Cigarettes are not yet approved by the FDA, they are relatively new products and the long-term effects on public health is largely unknown.

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