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Valley Public Radio Staff

Kristina Herrick
Kristina Herrick
Classical Music Host
Juanita Stevenson
Juanita Stevenson
Valley Edition host
George Mason
George Mason
On-air host, Clearly Classical
Rebecca Plevin
Rebecca Plevin
Reporter
Jason Scott
Jason Scott
Host, Clearly Classical and All Things Considered
Vince DiCiccio
Vince DiCiccio
Host, The Oasis; The Intersection
Ezra Romero
Ezra Romero
Reporter and Producer
Marv Allen
Marv Allen
Host, Morning Edition

Tagged: health

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Just One Breath
6:05 am
Sat September 22, 2012

Valley fever costs mount for patients and taxpayers

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Credit Henry A. Barrios/The Bakersfield Californian
Today, 25-year-old Berenice Parra looks like a picture of health. But surrounded by her family, husband, Jorge, and their children, Irene, 9, Isaac, 6, and Jorge, 5, she remembers how in July 2010 she became so seriously ill she thought she was dying.
Credit Henry A. Barrios/The Bakersfield Californian
In February of 2011, Berenice Parra was diagnosed with valley fever. It had been eight months since she became seriously ill. Fluconazole was prescribed for the valley fever, which started her road to recovery.
Credit Henry A. Barrios/The Bakersfield Californian
Nine-year-old Irene Parra holds one of the many notes she would tuck under her mom's bedroom door when Berenice Parra was at the height of her illness nearly two years ago.
Credit Henry A. Barrios/The Bakersfield Californian
When Berenice Parra started feeling better in her bout with a severe form of valley fever, she started volunteering often at her children's school, Grimmway Academy. During the height of her illness, she thought she was dying. Life is looking better now.
Credit Daniel Cásarez/Vida en el Valle
Berenice Parra wears a bracelet used to raise funds for a vaccine to prevent valley fever.
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By Rebecca Plevin and Kellie Schmitt, Reporting on Health Collaborative

Berenice Parra was sick for eight months before doctors realized she had a severe form of the fungal disease valley fever.

“I was literally dying without a cure,” said Parra, a 25-year-old mother of three from Arvin, in Kern County.

Desperate for relief and concerned that doctors in the Bakersfield area weren’t taking her illness seriously, she drove 245 miles to Tijuana, three times, to see a doctor recommended by relatives.

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Just One Breath
5:23 am
Sat September 22, 2012

Valley fever forces police captain to give up his badge

Credit The Bakersfield Californian
In this 2005 photo, Capt. Archie Scott leaves the scene of an armed roberry at a Chevron Valley Credit Union in Bakersfield.
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By Kellie Schmitt, Reporting on Health Collaborative

When Archie Scott came down with valley fever, he was 52, extremely fit and a captain in the Bakersfield Police Department. 

One day in 2007, he started feeling feverish and lethargic with joint aches. He went to his physician, but the diagnosis was inconclusive. Weeks later, when he still had a fever, he went to a neurologist for additional testing. 

“We didn’t know what we were dealing with,” Scott said. 

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Just One Breath
5:17 am
Sat September 22, 2012

Taxpayers spend millions on valley fever in prisons

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By Rebecca Plevin, Reporting on Health Collaborative

Californians are locked into contributing to the cost of treating state inmates sickened by valley fever. 

Since 2006, the state prison system has tried but failed to reduce the disease’s impact and price tag.

California Correctional Health Care Services foots an annual bill of about $23 million for sending inmates with valley fever to hospitals outside the prison, guarding these patients, and for their antifungal treatments. That’s about what it costs to build a new school in Fresno County.

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