The unequal impacts of COVID-19 and the ongoing crisis of police violence in communities of color have exacerbated mistrust and disconnection between these communities and the health care system. This makes achieving patient-centered care a challenge.
Studies show that brief messages and two-way communication via text builds people’s trust and engagement in health care and educational settings.
Trust for Public Land annually ranks park systems across the 100 most populated cities in the United States. Those in California’s Central Valley often rank near the bottom: Fresno ranks 97th. Bakersfield is 85th. Stockton ranks 77th.
Stockton and other Central Valley cities can improve their ranking with the help of California’s budget surplus. When we build parks in neighborhoods that don’t have any, we change the lives and futures of generations to come.
The baby formula shortage wreaking havoc across the United States is terrifying for any parent who relies on infant formula to feed their child. It’s especially calamitous for babies and children with special health care needs who rely on special prescription formulas that have also been impacted by the supply shortage.
The shortage highlights an ongoing, systemic failure to ensure vulnerable children have secure access to medically necessary, life supporting products and equipment.
Medi-Cal members might have mental health coverage in theory, but using it is a different story. People of color are less likely than white people to use mental health benefits, partially due to systemic inequities in the system. The same is true of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) youth.
Our communities care greatly about their mental health and the mental health of their loved ones, yet California’s promises to provide care fall short.
We are calling on the region’s leaders and residents to support a historic $500 million Bay Area Regional Black Housing Fund.
Black communities face multiple systemic barriers that lead to massive displacement in the Bay Area. Black people have been disadvantaged in the state’s housing market for decades because of discrimination, including redlining, unequal access to wealth and good jobs, and other systemic problems.
Because no one had talked with me as a teen about what a real, healthy relationship looks like, I didn’t know what to do when my boyfriend became abusive.
I eventually escaped and have spent the last several years healing. But I want to help others avoid what I went through, including preteens and teens who are just beginning to explore relationships.
My life changed when I moved away from my hometown in urban Southern California, when I was 27. It was difficult to see it then but being away from my support system meant I had no one close by to turn to when my relationship became abusive.
An even bigger barrier to escaping the abuse was the fact that I couldn’t find anywhere to take my pets. Survivors with pets like myself learn very quickly that most shelters cannot accommodate animals.
AG is a 2-month-old, healthy chubby baby with “Michelin man” rolls and pinchable cheeks, and he’s my patient. I’m a pediatric intern at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, a safety-net hospital in Los Angeles. When AG missed his checkup in late December, I was worried.
My colleague told me that AG recently had been in our emergency room. He tested positive for COVID-19.
One third of all Californians and nearly half of California children depend on Medi-Cal, California’s public health coverage program, for health care.
With so many people relying on Medi-Cal for health care, the state must do more to protect the rights of Californians and ensure access to every service they are entitled to.
California’s system for providing durable medical equipment and supplies at home is complicated and difficult to manage, even in normal times. During the COVID-19 pandemic, rationing and supply chain disruptions have made things impossible for families of children with special health care needs.
I believe California needs a state oversight office for durable medical equipment to give families and patients a way to resolve problems before they cause harm.