A child’s health and chance to survive a serious medical condition should not be dependent on their family’s income. All children deserve access to high-quality health care services – particularly children who are medically fragile or have serious diseases.
Five years ago, when Lisa Conn became a mental health provider for juvenile justice in Santa Barbara County, she noticed a disturbing trend: A large number of the incarcerated girls were displaying symptoms of complex trauma and, in particular, sex trauma.
Aswad Thomas made a quick stop at a convenience store to buy a bottle of pink lemonade on a hot summer night in 2009. He had recently graduated from college—the first in his family to attend a university—and he’d been recruited to play professional basketball overseas. He was leaving the market when two men approached him in the parking lot. One pointed a gun at Thomas; the other pointed two at him. They shot him twice in the back.
California advocates and legislators are now fighting to make sure that 30,000 medically fragile children can keep the health services that have, in many cases, helped them survive.
Three-quarters of people with mental illnesses like major depression, anxiety or psychotic disorders experience their first symptoms before age 24. Half of them become mentally ill by age 14. But these diseases often go undiagnosed and untreated until later in life, sometimes after they have wreaked havoc on school, work or relationships. Noting these grim statistics, two years ago the Obama administration called on schools across the country to heighten their awareness of children’s mental health issues.
Health reform has greatly expanded the number of Californians with insurance, but slightly more than 3 million residents will remain uninsured in 2017, according to a new report.
Tamara McKinnon knows that visiting a doctor’s office is a poor facsimile of real life. McKinnon is part of a unique San Jose State University program that injects student nurses into largely low-income areas to provide healthcare advocacy for patients on the fringe of the healthcare system.
The sun has just nosed above the horizon when Maria Espinosa (not her real name) ties a bandana over her face to protect herself from pesticides and dust, and reaches for a blackberry bush. Paid by the amount of berries she picks plus a $3-per-hour wage, Espinosa works feverishly for 10 hours, stopping only briefly for short breaks and lunch. For that day in early May, Espinosa would receive no overtime pay.
As health care providers struggle to reduce the tsunami of diet-related disease washing over communities, a national movement is pairing hospitals and community clinics with local farmers markets through fresh produce prescription programs.
Dozens of freshmen headed to Humboldt State University this fall will have access to something most many of their classmates take for granted: a credit card they can swipe in exchange for food.