We can minimize the harmful effects of health disparities by designing programs that offer accessible, evidence-based interventions that empower people. A new approach to medicine—that takes into account a person’s way of life, culture and neighborhood—is helping.
San Francisco’s street medicine team brings doctors and other health professionals directly to people living on the streets to hear their stories and earn their trust. They provide as many services as the person will accept, from housing and food to medication and medical treatment, including addiction treatment.
The University of California often takes months to resolve sexual harassment complaints against faculty members and fails to impose consistent discipline in such cases, a state auditor’s report has found.
Advocates for young children are applauding the state’s budget plans for next fiscal year, which include millions of dollars for programs that help low-income parents and kids.
The $200-billion spending plan, which Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign into law, increases funding for cash assistance to poor families, launches a statewide home visiting program for new parents on welfare, and makes available more than 13,000 new vouchers to help low-income families pay for child care.
“There are survivors of domestic violence who have done what the system tells you to do, which is get a protective order, and they’re supposed to be safe during that. The law tells people that they cannot access guns and that they have to relinquish those—but we’re not actually supporting that law.”
Most of my patients are low-income and many have faced adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, which can cause lifelong physical and mental health problems. After years of working with low-income families, I’ve come to believe that combating ACEs contributes as much to a child’s academic success as learning the ABCs. That’s why Head Start is one of my weapons in the War on Poverty. It changes lives, one kid at a time.
More Californians are participating in palliative care programs, but the need still outpaces the supply, according to a new report.
A mapping project just released by the California Healthcare Foundation found significant progress in the number of programs and participants participating in palliative care services compared to four years ago.
Lawmakers are considering several bills this month aimed at stabilizing California’s health insurance marketplace, despite a state budget deal that effectively killed other, more expensive proposals. Several bills take aim at efforts by the Trump administration to weaken provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
Every month, Bartolo Chavez goes to the Arvin Community Services District building to pay his water bill for the home he and his wife live in. But he doesn’t use that water for drinking or cooking. To drink, he buys bottled water. For cooking, also bottled water.
This is the way of life in Arvin, where the tap water has been in violation of state health standards for arsenic since 2006.
If adopted as written, the Farm Bill would result in devastating repercussions for those who are already food insecure in our country.
And exactly who would be affected? Your neighbors. Your children’s teachers. Your colleagues. The barista at your favorite coffee shop. Senior citizens and people with disabilities. Veterans. Maybe even your own family.