Latest news with #Mangia
Globe and Mail
10 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Smith Street Books Publishes Comprehensive Italian Food Guide by Award-Winning Journalist Maria Pasquale
Maria Pasquale, an Italian-Australian food writer based in Rome, bridges cultures through her four books and media contributions. Her latest work, "Mangia," explores Italy's 20 regional cuisines, offering readers authentic culinary experiences beyond typical tourist fare. Rome, Italy--(Newsfile Corp. - June 27, 2025) - Smith Street Books has released "Mangia: How to Eat Your Way Through Italy," the fourth book by award-winning food and travel journalist Maria Pasquale. The 320-page hardcover volume, available in bookstores worldwide since March 2025, takes readers through all 20 Italian regions, offering a detailed exploration of the country's diverse culinary landscape. Mangia is a significant addition to the Smith Street Books catalog of food and travel titles. This comprehensive guide combines authentic recipes, cultural insights, and practical travel advice in a way that appeals to both serious food enthusiasts and casual travelers. The book's title, "Mangia" (Italian for "eat"), captures Pasquale's philosophy that food constitutes Italy's primary cultural text. It includes approximately 100 culinary experiences, ranging from glamping in Sardegna to vermouth tasting in Turin, cavatelli making in Molise, and becoming a butcher for a day in the Marche region. Pasquale curated these experiences to encourage active participation rather than passive consumption. Smith Street Books expects "Mangia" to appeal particularly to travelers planning Italian holidays, home cooks interested in authentic regional recipes, and food enthusiasts seeking deeper cultural context for Italian cuisine. "Mangia: How to Eat Your Way Through Italy" is available now at major bookstores throughout Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. About Maria Pasquale Maria Pasquale is an award-winning food and travel journalist and author based in Rome, Italy. With a formal background in political science and history, she contributes regularly to major publications. Pasquale has authored four books: "I Heart Rome," "How to be Italian," "The Eternal City," and "Mangia: How to Eat Your Way Through Italy." Her work has been recognized by Italian newspapers, establishing her as one of Italy's foremost culinary experts. Her lifestyle blog HeartRome has readers in over 100 countries and a social media network exceeding 50,000.
Miami Herald
6 days ago
- Health
- Miami Herald
In Southern California, many are skipping health care out of fear of ICE operations
LOS ANGELES – Missed childhood vaccinations. Skipped blood sugar checks. Medications abandoned at the pharmacy. These are among the health care disruptions providers have noticed since Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations began in Southern California earlier this month. Across the region, once-busy parks, shops and businesses have emptied as undocumented residents and their families hole up at home in fear. As rumors of immigration arrests have swirled around clinics and hospitals, many patients are also opting to skip chronic-care management visits as well as routine childhood check-ups. In response, local federally qualified health centers — institutions that receive federal funds and are required by law to provide primary care regardless of ability to pay — have been scrambling to organize virtual appointments, house calls and pharmacy deliveries to patients who no longer feel safe going out in public. 'We're just seeing a very frightening and chaotic environment that's making it extremely difficult to provide for the health care needs of our patients,' said Jim Mangia, president of St. John's Community Health, which offers medical, dental and mental health care to more than 100,000 low-income patients annually in Southern California. Prior to the raids, the system's network of clinics logged about a 9% no-show rate, Mangia said. In recent weeks, more than 30% of patients have canceled or failed to show. In response, the organization has launched a program called Healthcare Without Fear to provide virtual and home visits to patients concerned about the prospect of arrest. 'When we call patients back who missed their appointment and didn't call in, overwhelmingly, they're telling us they're not coming out because of ICE,' said Mangia, who estimates that 25% of the clinic's patient population is undocumented. 'People are missing some pretty substantial health care appointments.' A recent survey of patient no-shows at nonprofit health clinics across Los Angeles County found no universal trends across the 118 members of the Community Clinic Assn. of L.A. County, President Louise McCarthy said. Some clinics have seen a jump in missed appointments, while others have observed no change. The data do not indicate how many patients opted to convert scheduled in-person visits to telehealth so they wouldn't have to leave home, she noted. Patients have also expressed concerns that any usage of health services could make them targets. Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shared the personal data of Medicaid enrollees with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including their immigration status. No specific enforcement actions have been directly linked to the data. 'The level of uncertainty and anxiety that is happening now is beyond the pale,' McCarthy said, for patients and staff alike. County-run L.A. General Medical Center issued a statement on Thursday refuting reports that federal authorities had carried out enforcement operations at the downtown trauma center. While no immigration-related arrests have been reported at county health facilities, 'the mere threat of immigration enforcement near any medical facility undermines public trust and jeopardizes community health,' the department said in a statement. Los Angeles County is among the providers working to extend in-home care options such as medication delivery and a nurse advice line for people reluctant to come in person. 'However, not all medical appointments or conditions can be addressed remotely,' a spokesperson said. 'We urge anyone in need of care not to delay.' Providers expressed concern that missing preventative care appointments could lead to emergencies that both threaten patients' lives and further stress public resources. Preventative care 'keeps our community at large healthy and benefits really everyone in Los Angeles,' said a staff member at a group of L.A. area clinics. He asked that his employer not be named for fear of drawing attention to their patient population. Neglecting care now, he said, 'is going to cost everybody more money in the long run.' A patient with hypertension who skips blood pressure monitoring appointments now may be more likely to be brought into an emergency room with a heart attack in the future, said Dr. Bukola Olusanya, a medical director at St. John's. 'If [people] can't get their medications, they can't do follow-ups. That means a chronic condition that has been managed and well-controlled is just going to deteriorate,' she said. 'We will see patients going to the ER more than they should be, rather than coming to primary care.' Providers are already seeing that shift. When a health team visited one diabetic patient recently at home, they found her blood sugar levels sky-high, Mangia said. She told the team she'd consumed nothing but tortillas and coffee in the previous five days rather than risk a trip to the grocery store. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Los Angeles Times
20-06-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
In Southern California, many are skipping healthcare out of fear of ICE operations
Missed childhood vaccinations. Skipped blood sugar checks. Medications abandoned at the pharmacy. These are among the healthcare disruptions providers have noticed since Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations began in Southern California earlier this month. Across the region, once-busy parks, shops and businesses have emptied as undocumented residents and their families hole up at home in fear. As rumors of immigration arrests have swirled around clinics and hospitals, many patients are also opting to skip chronic-care management visits as well as routine childhood check-ups. In response, local federally qualified health centers — institutions that receive federal funds and are required by law to provide primary care regardless of ability to pay — have been scrambling to organize virtual appointments, house calls and pharmacy deliveries to patients who no longer feel safe going out in public. 'We're just seeing a very frightening and chaotic environment that's making it extremely difficult to provide for the healthcare needs of our patients,' said Jim Mangia, president of St. John's Community Health, which offers medical, dental and mental health care to more than 100,000 low-income patients annually in Southern California. Prior to the raids, the system's network of clinics logged about a 9% no-show rate, Mangia said. In recent weeks, more than 30% of patients have canceled or failed to show. In response, the organization has launched a program called Healthcare Without Fear to provide virtual and home visits to patients concerned about the prospect of arrest. 'When we call patients back who missed their appointment and didn't call in, overwhelmingly, they're telling us they're not coming out because of ICE,' said Mangia, who estimates that 25% of the clinic's patient population is undocumented. 'People are missing some pretty substantial healthcare appointments.' A recent survey of patient no-shows at nonprofit health clinics across Los Angeles County found no universal trends across the 118 members of the Community Clinic Association of L.A. County, President Louise McCarthy said. Some clinics have seen a jump in missed appointments, while others have observed no change. The data do not indicate how many patients opted to convert scheduled in-person visits to telehealth so they wouldn't have to leave home, she noted. Patients have also expressed concerns that any usage of health services could make them targets. Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shared the personal data of Medicaid enrollees with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including their immigration status. No specific enforcement actions have been directly linked to the data. 'The level of uncertainty and anxiety that is happening now is beyond the pale,' McCarthy said, for patients and staff alike. County-run L.A. General Medical Center issued a statement on Thursday refuting reports that federal authorities had carried out enforcement operations at the downtown trauma center. While no immigration-related arrests have been reported at county health facilities, 'the mere threat of immigration enforcement near any medical facility undermines public trust and jeopardizes community health,' the department said in a statement. Los Angeles County is among the providers working to extend in-home care options such as medication delivery and a nurse advice line for people reluctant to come in person. 'However, not all medical appointments or conditions can be addressed remotely,' a spokesperson said. 'We urge anyone in need of care not to delay.' Providers expressed concern that missing preventative care appointments could lead to emergencies that both threaten patients' lives and further stress public resources. Preventative care 'keeps our community at large healthy and benefits really everyone in Los Angeles,' said a staff member at a group of L.A. area clinics. He asked that his employer not be named for fear of drawing attention to their patient population. Neglecting care now, he said, 'is going to cost everybody more money in the long run.' A patient with hypertension who skips blood pressure monitoring appointments now may be more likely to be brought into an emergency room with a heart attack in the future, said Dr. Bukola Olusanya, a medical director at St. John's. 'If [people] can't get their medications, they can't do follow-ups. That means a chronic condition that has been managed and well-controlled is just going to deteriorate,' she said. 'We will see patients going to the ER more than they should be, rather than coming to primary care.' Providers are already seeing that shift. When a health team visited one diabetic patient recently at home, they found her blood sugar levels sky-high, Mangia said. She told the team she'd eaten nothing but tortillas and coffee in the previous five days rather than risk a trip to the grocery store.
Int'l Business Times
12-05-2025
- Health
- Int'l Business Times
Migrants Are Increasingly Avoiding Seeking Health Services, Fearing Deportation: 'That Will Put Me In Their Radar'
President Donald Trump's mass deportation operations have led migrants to be detained in mundane places: at restaurants, mass transit, and even immigration appointments. The raids have left migrants vulnerable and scared, with some even avoiding going to hospitals for fear of being detained, and later deported, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Across the country, doctors, nurses and social workers have reported growing concerns that people with serious medical conditions, including injuries, chronic illnesses and high-risk pregnancies, are forgoing medical care out of fear of being apprehended by immigration officials, a new report from The New York Times reveals. For instance, Emily Borghard, a social worker who hands out supplies to the homeless through her nonprofit, recently found a man laying on a New York City sidewalk with a gunshot wound. When she found him, she tried to call 911, but the man begged her "no, no, no," and not to make the call. "He said, 'If I go to the emergency department, that will put me on their radar'," she recalled in an interview with the Times. The man's concerns came despite federal law requiring hospitals to treat patients, regardless of immigration status. Likewise, Jim Mangia, president of St. John's Community Health Network in Los Angeles , described one patient with diabetes who stopped showing up for a weekly diabetes education class. When a clinic staff called the woman, they discovered she was afraid to even go to the grocery store, and had been subsisting for days on tortillas and coffee, he said. "Thank God we reached her and she came in," said Mangia, whose network serves an estimated 25,000 undocumented patients across more than 20 locations. Tests at the clinic showed that her blood sugar had become dangerously high. "That's what we're going to see more and more of," Mangia said. "It kind of breaks my heart to talk about it." But the man is not the only one facing these concerns. In a recent survey conducted by KFF , a health policy research organization, 31% of immigrants said that worries about immigration status— their own or that of a family member— were negatively affecting their health. About 20% of all immigrants surveyed said they were struggling with their eating and sleeping; 31% reported worsened stress and anxiety. Doctors say that the drop in migrant care is apparent. For instance, Dr. Amy Zeidan, an emergency room physician in Atlanta, said that requests for Spanish-language interpretation in her hospital's emergency department have fallen more than 60% from January to February. If the trend continues, health care officials say, the list of consequences could be long: infectious diseases circulating unnecessarily; worsening health care costs because of untreated chronic illnesses; and dangerous birth complications for women who wait too long to seek help, among others. Research also shows that immigration crackdowns are linked with poorer birth outcomes and mental health status, lapses in care, and fewer people accessing the types of public programs that reduce illness and poverty overall. "We're really creating not just very serious health risks , but economic risks in the long run for our country," Julie Linton, a pediatrician and member of the committee on federal government affairs for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told The Times. "These policies are creating very real fear and uncertainty for people and have a tremendous impact on their ability to function on a day-to-day level." The Trump administration quickly dismantled a previous law that prevented undocumented migrants from being arrested at sensitive locations like schools, churches and hospitals when he returned to the White House, making these concerns even more real. The move reversed guidance that had been in place for over a decade that sought to provide some protections to the vulnerable community. "This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens— including murderers and rapists— who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement back in January. Originally published on Latin Times
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Fight or flight? Some California nonprofits won't remain silent in face of Trump budget slashing
With the Trump administration slashing budgets and threatening to revoke tax-exempt status for nonprofits, some Southern California social justice organizations have gone into a defensive crouch, hoping to wait out the passing storm. They are not openly fighting President Trump's program cuts. Some have scrubbed their websites of terms such as 'equity,' 'inclusion' and 'transgender.' Others have been told they should drop land acknowledgments — proclamations paying tribute to the Indigenous peoples who were this region's first human inhabitants. But other local nonprofits intend to fight. They have slammed Trump's policies. They declined suggestions to alter their mission statements. They have gone to court. And one, giant St. John's Community Health — which has provided care for the region's working class and immigrants for 60 years — is launching a campaign to call out congressional Republicans it believes are enabling Trump budget cuts that they believe will cripple healthcare for the poor. The venerable system of health clinics, based in South Los Angeles, on Thursday joined about 10 other nonprofits in launching a media campaign that will focus on half a dozen U.S. House districts where Republican lawmakers have supported the president's initial budget plan. Read more: If Trump cuts Medicaid, this California Republican's House seat would be imperiled The campaign by the newly created Health Justice Action Fund will promote the theme "Medicaid matters to me." The organization plans to spend $2 million in the coming weeks to focus petitions, phone banks, social media and radio ads on six GOP lawmakers across the country, telling them that their constituents do not support cuts to the principal federal health program for the poor and disabled. The Republican-controlled House and Senate have approved a Trump budget framework that calls for $880 billion in cuts over 10 years from operations overseen by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Trump and other Republicans insist Medicaid won't have to be cut. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office disagrees, saying the desired savings can be achieved only by slashing Medicaid. The new campaign to head off those cuts has been organized by Los Angeles-based St. John's Health and its president and chief executive, Jim Mangia. 'The Medicaid cuts being proposed by Republicans and President Trump would be devastating to the health of low-income families throughout the United States,' Mangia, who has led St. John's for a quarter of a century, said in an interview. 'There are tens of millions of people who depend on Medicaid and, in California, Medi-Cal, for their basic healthcare. To cut that to fund tax breaks for billionaires is a perversion of what this country is supposed to be about.' Mangia and his board of directors said they understand that their sprawling healthcare organization, with more than 20 locations in Southern California, could be targeted for calling out the president and his budget. 'Our posture is to fight,' Mangia said. 'A lot of community health centers have been scraping their websites and taking words like 'trans' and 'African American' off their websites. We're not going to do that. We are not going to erase the people we serve.' Leaders of nonprofits that serve the poor, immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community have been engaged in intense conversations for weeks about how to respond to Trump and his policies, which explicitly aim to curtail services to some of those populations. When Trump said last week that he might begin trying to revoke the nonprofit status of some groups, anxiety among the agencies spiraled to a new high, said Geoff Green, chief executive of CalNonprofits, which represents thousands of organizations with tax-exempt status. 'There have been financial stresses and budget cuts before,' Green said. 'But now it's not only financial stress, it's direct targeting of their very existence and challenges to the values that are at the core of a lot of their work.' Leaders of smaller organizations, in particular, don't feel they have the power or money to take the Trump administration to court. Others, representing immigrants, worry that their leaders or their clients could be targeted for deportation if they protest publicly. 'For some people in this community this is like a kind of code-switching,' said an executive at one social justice nonprofit, who declined to be named. 'They might change some terms on their websites, but it's not going to change their mission. They want to avoid conflict or attacks, so they can come out the other end of this and do the good work.' In one instance, a nonprofit declined to receive an award sponsored by a member of the California Legislature, because the organization worried the award would bring unwanted attention to its service to immigrants. 'At the end of the day, it's about protecting the most vulnerable of us,' said the social justice executive. 'Some organizations have more privilege, they have more resources. They can afford to go to court. They can be more bold.' Public Counsel is among the public interest law firms whose contracts the Trump administration has threatened with termination. The potential loss of $1.6 million puts in jeopardy the Los Angeles-based firm's representation of hundreds of immigrant children, unaccompanied minors who often have no adult support. Public Counsel Chief Executive Kathryn Eidmann said she believes her organization has a duty to call out what it sees as an injustice: leaving vulnerable children without legal representation. 'We have a responsibility to stand up for our mission and to stand up for our clients and the rule of law,' Eidmann said. Public Counsel is seeking to intervene in court on behalf of "sanctuary" cities such as Los Angeles, which have been threatened with a loss of federal funding, and the firm has come to the defense of law firms targeted for providing pro bono representation to groups out of favor with the Trump administration. Public Counsel and other nonprofit law firms continue to wait to see whether the Trump administration will honor a judge's temporary restraining order, requiring that funds continue to flow to those representing immigrant children. As of Wednesday, the funding had not been restored, a Public Counsel spokesperson said. Another L.A.-area nonprofit threatened with the loss of federal funding under Trump's anti-DEI push is the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust. The group had won a $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to help ensure that redevelopment along the Los Angeles River in northeast L.A. protects housing, jobs and services for working-class families. But the money stopped flowing this year, without any explanation from the EPA, said Tori Kjer, executive director of the land trust. 'To them, this is probably a waste of money,' Kjer said. 'To us, it's about equitable development and building in a way that supports everyone.' Kjer said a staffer for a liberal House member urged her group to take a low profile and to, for example, delete the Indigenous land acknowledgments that are in the signature line of all its emails. She declined to do that. 'We are not going to change our ways because of Trump,' Kjer said. 'In California, as a state and in this region, we are still very progressive. If we can't keep this kind of work going here, we are in real trouble. We feel we need to resist, if even in a small way.' The campaign to protest potential Medicaid cuts will focus on six House districts where use of the federally funded health system is high and where Republicans hold, at best, a narrow electoral advantage. Read more: With Head Start in jeopardy, Trump administration threatens child care for 800,000 kids The targeted districts include David Valadao's in the Central Valley and Ken Calvert's in the Coachella Valley. Nearly two-thirds of Valadao's constituents use Medicaid, while about 30% in Calvert's district do so. Residents in those districts will hear how the Trump budget plan threatens to cut Medicaid for 'everyday people,' and how substantial reductions could threaten to shutter rural hospitals that are already struggling to make ends meet. The Health Justice Action Fund was created as a 501(c)(4) by St. John's and about 10 other healthcare providers, who have chosen to remain anonymous. The regulations governing such funds allow them (unlike the nonprofits themselves) to engage in unlimited lobbying and some political activity. The rules also allow contributors to remain anonymous, which Mangia said is necessary for some of his partners, who believe they will be targeted for retaliation if it becomes clear they tried to thwart Trump's policies. House Republicans who have been pressed about their position have contended, despite a contrary view from experts, that the Trump cuts can be executed without taking services from Medicaid recipients. Valadao was among a dozen House Republicans who sent a letter to party leaders saying they would not support the White House's plan if it will force cuts to Medicaid. Republican leaders have assured their wobbling colleagues that they intend to root out waste, fraud and abuse only, not cut Medicaid benefits. Mangia said the campaign he and his allies are waging should make it extra clear to the House Republicans that Medicaid can't be cut. 'There is a very scary environment right now,' Mangia said. 'But someone had to step up and defend Medicaid and the basic healthcare it provides for so many people. We weren't going to let this happen without a fight.' Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
