Everyone has medical questions at one time or another, and it’s tempting to search the internet for answers instead of making a doctor’s appointment.

But that doesn’t always lead to the best information, said Holland Kessinger, head librarian at the Health and Wellness Library in La Mesa.

“Anybody can put anything out on the internet,” she cautioned. “We want people to really develop their health literacy and discern what quality and authoritative, reliable health information looks like, and Google is not always it.”

Kessinger said good advice can be found online, and staff at the library can help lead people to reliable sources such as MedLine Plus. For people who want hands-on material, the library has a collection of almost 5,000 items, including books on specific diseases, cookbooks in a nutrition section and children’s material with a play area.

There’s also a DVD section of health-related movies and TV shows plus stations where people can check their blood pressure for free and small offices for patrons to research in private.

“We’re often stressed and emotional when we receive information about our health,” Kessinger said. “And so giving people quality information is really, really key to helping them stay healthy and get help.”

The library is at 9001 Wakarusa St., La Mesa, and was opened in 2002 by the Grossmont Healthcare District, which still runs it.

The district includes Alpine, El Cajon, Harbinson-Crest, Jamul, La Mesa, Laguna-Pine Valley, Lakeside, Lemon Grove, Mountain Empire, Santee, and Spring Valley. District residents can get a library card and check out material, while the library itself is open to anyone for on-site research.

Residents in the district also get priority to participate in programs such as fitness classes and Wellness Wednesday talks, and Kessinger said the library had just over 9,000 visitors in 2023 and about 3,100 in the last quarter.

For district residents who can’t make it to the brick and mortar building, a mobile version will be coming to them sometime in the spring.

Grossmont Healthcare District CEO Christian Wallis, who has referred to the library as the best-kept secret in the county, said a van is being retrofitted and will bring library material to different areas of the district when it is up and running.

“Our library is a unique community resource and one of only a few consumer health libraries in the country,” he said. “The number of users from the immediate surrounding area has grown over the years. The Board of Directors’ intention in developing the mobile outreach library is to ensure everyone in East County has access to high quality, reliable health information.”

Kessinger said the library is not unlike any public library, although this one has just one section.

“It’s consumer health written for the average person,” she said. “Not for a medical professional, not doctors, not nurses, but for the average consumer. So there are very, very few public libraries that focus just on consumer health.”

The library, the only one of its kind in the county, includes an art gallery that is changed quarterly and currently features work created by participants in Family Health Center’s PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) program. In January, the gallery will feature work created by the San Diego River Artists Alliance.

One section is for health careers and used by many students in Grossmont Union School District’s Health Pathways program. Students and other visitors can find books on dental schools, medical emergency dispatching and how to become a nurse or a certified nursing assistant, among other subjects.

The library also has sections on men’s and women’s health, a display a vintage medical equipment and plastic models of human organs.

Originally Published: December 25, 2024 at 5:00 AM PST

In the final hours before Christmas and Hanukkah, San Diegans flocked to grocery stores across the region to pick up their final – and some forgotten – items ahead of their holiday feasts.

“We’re getting some rye bread, some turkey, some tongue, which is a Jewish deli specialty. It may turn some folks off, but it’s delicious,” Zach Bunshaft said.

Bunshaft was part of a group of 16 relatives gathering Tuesday at D.Z. Akin’s deli in La Mesa for their annual Hanukkah celebration.

“Family,” he and his mother, Lori, said in unison, when asked about their favorite part of the holidays.

“And food — memories of good food,” she added. “The latkes, fried foods, brisket, getting together with family.”

At El Indio Mexican Restaurant, that same love of food and family meant the line for tamales and masa stretched out the door.

“It’s been fun,” El Indio manager Ed Sanchez said. “Seeing the people happy, getting here with their families, and I know they’re getting together tonight, so yeah, that’s the happiest thing for us.”

Sanchez said the restaurant — which has been open since 1940 — has sold more than 25,000 tamales in December alone and sold at least 5,000 pounds of masa on Tuesday for families to gather and make tamales themselves on Christmas Eve.

“I remember making them with my great-grandmother, my grandmother, my mom, my whole extended family, and now we make it with our nieces and nephews and just, it’s a really nice tradition,” Diana Cantu said.

Jackie is San Diego Magazine’s and Studios’ content strategist. Prior to that, she was its managing editor. Before her SDM career, she was a long-time freelance journalist covering cannabis, food/restaurants, travel, labor, wine, spirits, arts & culture, design, and other topics. Her work has been selected twice for Best American Travel Writing, and she has won a variety of national and local awards for her writing and reporting.