Jessica Koslow

Dental issues and tooth decay are the number one reason for school absences. Add to this predicament, effective July 1 state budget cuts will affect Medi-Cal dental care coverage.

This does not — and has never — sit well with the Pasadena nonprofit, Young & Healthy, which has been working for 36 years to connect young people in underserved communities with health services.

This summer, it is partnering with the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at USC and the Pasadena Public Library to provide a free dental van for children and teens throughout the Pasadena community. . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

As Nicole Steele got her music playlist ready on a recent Tuesday night in Inglewood, she reflected on how far the area’s fitness scene has come in the past decade or so.

Steele was getting ready to lead her weekly “trap Zumba” class, which she described as “a cardio dance workout where people get down to hip-hop, reggae and R&B.”

It’s not the kind of class that existed in Inglewood seven years ago, when she started Trapz*mba. It was a risk, but Steele hoped that reviving the 90s-era Latin dance cardio craze with an Atlanta-born rap subgenre would bring in people from her hometown. 

“[These workout routines] have been helpful to me over the years,” Steele told The LA Local. “I wanted to share those things with people because oftentimes folks don’t know where to start.” . . .

Read the entire article at The LA Local.

On any given Saturday at 9 a.m. on the outdoor basketball court at Hollywood Park, a group of 40 to 140 people of every shape, age and fitness level are gathering for squats, lunges and laps. 

The 45-minute weekly class is organized by Claudine Cooper, an Inglewood group fitness instructor who’s made it her mission over the last 15 years to get movement to her community — for free. 

“Claudine’s class is one of my favorite things I do all week,” said Leslie Wrona, 47, of Inglewood, who has been showing up every week since September with her 9-year-old daughter.

Cooper has been hosting free outdoor workout classes since around 2010. The idea manifested from a Facebook message from a woman who had been taking her classes at 24 Hour Fitness on Slauson. The woman could not afford her gym membership anymore and was asking whether Cooper knew of any free classes in the area. . . .

Read the entire article at The LA Local.

In the family practice in which board-certified physician assistant Kristina Cadwell worked, she spent about eight minutes with each patient. This was not enough time for her to discuss and deliver long-term wellness results, and it was one of the reasons she decided to open Vibrant Skin Bar in Arcadia six years ago.

Her MedSpa journey would be slightly delayed because about six months after launching, COVID happened. Vibrant Skin Bar had to close and juggle the challenges of when and how to safely see patients and when to order medical supplies from the hospitals.

Today, Cadwell feels right at home in the community, and her doors are open for next-level wellness. . . .

Read the entire article at Lovin’ Life.

About three and a half years ago, Ken Silver and Dr. Adam Sands began taking trips to the grocery store to buy 200 pounds of ice to fill up a big plastic garden tub in the parking lot of Sands’ office. When friends they invited to try the tub raved about the experience and wanted to do it all the time, the idea for RVIVL was born.

“This was a clean, natural way to help people feel great, look great, and to meet like-minded individuals,” said Silver, an avid hiker, runner, skier, weightlifter, tennis player and co-founder of RVIVL, a fitness recovery studio in Playa Vista that opened in November 2022. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.