There are some steps counties and states can—and should—take now to mitigate the collateral damage of school closures. We must protect the social and emotional health of our children.
Counties run local safety nets, and if they do not act swiftly and agressively, children will suffer.
We predict that social isolation practices and fear will exacerbate mental health conditions and challenges.
As the coronavirus alters daily life for many Californians, state leaders are facing the confluence of two public health challenges: the virus and homelessness.
Service providers and health experts are gearing up to get supplies and quarantine rooms ready for the 150,000 people in California who live on the streets or in shelters.
As coronavirus spreads throughout the United States, acts of racism and xenophobia toward Asian Americans have also increased.
According to a new report prepared by faculty members at San Francisco State University’s Asian American Studies Department, there were more than 1,000 reported cases of xenophobia toward Chinese communities and Chinese Americans between January 28 and February 24—a rate of 37 known cases per day.
As public health officials call on Californians to help stop the spread of the virus, many low-wage workers are being forced to make potentially life-threatening choices: whether to heed the precautions and lose income they rely on, or to show up for work anyway in order to put food on their tables and pay their rent.
These choices could be critical because low-wage earners often have jobs involving interactions with the public, such as serving food, caring for the elderly or cleaning hotel rooms.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has outlined innovative reforms to curb drug prices, including CalRx, a California-owned, generic drug label.
But CalRx is not a magic bullet. Magic bullets and general solutions often overlook the impacts on communities of color.
If CalRx does not intentionally build a path of access for low-income folks and communities of color, it will just be creating cheaper, but still unattainable, prescription drugs.
California’s top health priority should be making sure that people who need mental health treatment can get it, over 90 percent of respondents said in a recent poll.
People of color often feel the lack of access more acutely, researchers found, with 75 percent of black and 57 percent of Latino respondents noting that their communities don’t have enough mental health providers, compared to 49 percent of white participants.
Reaching adulthood can be like “falling off a cliff” of services for young adults with special needs.
As parents and advocates, we still have a long way to go to ensure these students graduate at the same rates as their peers and exit college with the same skill sets. How well a person makes a transition is usually dependent upon the degree of support that is available.
The California State Auditor condemned three government agencies in a recent report for failing to fix problems with health care programs that serve some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
The Department of Health Care Services has been slow to improve oversight of how counties manage and spend money for mental health care, the auditor said.
Governor Newsom’s budget proposals could make real progress in ending inequities and boosting health in California.
But national political leaders should also be asking: What forces shape health and well-being—today and in the future? What do Americans really need and want in terms of health? Can we design a healthier future for all of us, not just people with the most money and privilege?
The complicated system creates a disparity where children from families without the means to pay for medical equipment out of pocket often must go without it for months or years, limiting their interactions with their community or setting them up for poorer health outcomes compared to their wealthier peers.
The equipment families seek includes lifts, wheelchairs, walkers, ventilators and hospital beds.