Mountain View
California Health Report
Opinion: Achieving California’s Health Equity Goals Depends on Getting This Process Right
Imagine you receive a stack of papers in the mail, some 20 pages long. You need to read them, confirm and update your personal information, and then find and get copies of physical proof of your income and other household details. The clock is ticking: Your health insurance hinges on your ability or inability to take action in fewer than 60 days. Now imagine English isn’t your primary language, or you work full time, or you are the primary caretaker of your kids or other loved ones. Or imagine you, like thousands of people who are unhoused, do not have reliable access to mail.
I Was Criminalized as a Domestic Violence Survivor. Here’s How We Reform the System
Growing up in Ethiopia with a loving family, I never encountered abusive relationships. My father and mother devoted their lives to raising me and my four sisters. I never saw them fight, drunk or use drugs. If there was ever a conflict, my father would call a family meeting and resolve it in a calm and respectful manner. There was no favoritism or neglect.
Mental Health Care Is Critical for Survivors of Violence. Access Is Another Story
Lisbet wondered if the victim advocate had made a mistake. Lisbet was at the Family Justice Center in San Diego, a social services agency for domestic violence survivors, trying to get help with basic needs like shelter and food after leaving her abusive husband. And she was being offered counseling.
How San Luis Obispo Parents are Helping Prevent Relationship Violence Before It Starts
When Christina Kaviani’s son, 6, doesn’t want to hug a grandparent or friend, Kaviani goes against some parenting methods and doesn’t make him. To her, it’s a matter of consent. As an educator on healthy relationships, consent is at the heart of what she teaches. Kaviani...
Punishing Families Part 2: L.A. County Data Reveals Child Removal Hotspots
Last August, Princess Dale was invited to receive two certificates of appreciation from the city of Lancaster, for having co-founded the Antelope Valley’s inaugural Juneteenth Celebration. It was a happy evening for Dale, as she accepted her awards and took photos with the elected officials. But she also saw...
How to Make Sure Medically Fragile Children Don’t Lose Health Coverage
Janna Espinoza shudders remembering the day she and her daughter Coraline, then 8, showed up for an appointment in Salinas with their trusted pediatrician and were turned away because the child no longer had the right health insurance. Coraline, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other serious conditions, relies on...
Opinion: We Can End Sexual and Domestic Violence. We Just Need Funding
To experience a world free from violence, California must invest in the necessary funding and resources to prevent it. Prevention works by changing the conditions and norms that allow sexual and domestic violence to occur. But prevention takes time, and a sustained investment. So far this year, in the budget...
Analysis: Doctors Told Me My Son Would Be Better Cared for in an Institution. They Were Wrong
Children belong at home with their families. For children with complex medical needs, this is. I know, because my son was institutionalized in a pediatric subacute facility for most of the first. year of his life. When he was only a few weeks old, he had surgery to place a...
Opinion: I was on Medi-Cal as a Child. As an Optometrist, I’m Struggling to Provide Care for These Children
When I came to this country as an immigrant child, Medi-Cal, California’s health care program. for people with low incomes, was a lifeline for my family. I credit this safety net for helping me. attend UC Davis and become an optometrist. My husband, who was raised by a single...
Punishing Families: The Need To Reimagine Child Welfare In LA County
In 2017, six months after 29-year-old Princess Dale had her fourth child, her ongoing problems with her ex, the baby’s father, began to escalate. After Dale broke up with her boyfriend, he refused to help provide for their child’s material needs. He was punishing her for leaving him, she said.
For Medically Fragile Kids, Access to Palliative Care Depends on Family Resources
In February 2021, Geetika Bajpai requested an appointment at Valley Children’s Hospital for her son Aiden. Aiden was less than a year old. He was born with Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, a rare, neurological disorder, which causes people to have an intellectual disability and also poor muscle coordination. Like many people with rare diseases, it took some time for his parents to learn of his exact diagnosis. Even before they did, in June 2021, his parents wanted to make sure he had the best quality of life possible. Palliative care, which is specialized medical care given alongside treatment that supports patients, seemed like a great option.
Opinion: The Climate Crisis Reaffirms the Need for Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention
Working in various roles at a small, rural domestic violence agency I have had hundreds of interactions with victims and survivors of abuse over the last seven years. As our communities face more frequent climate disasters, it is essential that legislators and the Gov. Gavin Newsom prioritize funding to prevent cycles of violence and address these compounding crises.
Opinion: We Need to Keep Free School Meals
When California passed the landmark School Meals for All legislation in 2021, we became the first state in the nation to provide free breakfast and lunch for all K-12 students regardless of income. Since then, 26 states have introduced similar legislation in response to the end of federal pandemic emergency food assistance, rising inflation, and what has been called a “hunger cliff” for many kids. As school lunch debt is soaring across the nation, California has become a model for ensuring schools can provide nutritious breakfast and lunch for all students without accruing district debt and stigmatizing students whose families can’t afford to pay.
How to Keep Your Family’s Medi-Cal Benefits
Kelly Ko of Fremont stared at the stack of paper. It had come in the mail, from the local government, in a large envelope. Inside was a winding, 19-page form, that asked for her family’s exact income, tax-filing status, expenses and deductions, and details about their existing health insurance. She didn’t know how to answer all of the questions.
Opinion: It’s Time to Secure More Medicaid Funding … Not Cut It
Raise the debt ceiling or cut social programs? Lawmakers have struggled with this choice repeatedly, even though Congress has raised the debt limit 78 times since 1960. With debate ongoing this year, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are vowing to spare Medicare and Social Security. However, some have their eyes set on cutting Medicaid funding. That would be an ill-advised and costly mistake for everyone, not just for the vulnerable populations who are beneficiaries of the government-funded program.
Analysis: Day Cares for Medically Fragile Children Are Closing. Here’s How to Save Them
Many California families struggle to find safe, affordable child care. For families of children who need medical care throughout the day, this struggle is amplified. Children who need medically intensive care — such as those who use feeding tubes or breathing tubes, or have seizure disorders — cannot attend traditional day care programs.
Opinion: I’m Working Two Jobs Because California Doesn’t Pay Enough For This Crucial Role
The cost of housing, groceries and gas weigh on almost everyone’s minds in the Bay Area. Maintaining our lives can feel like a house of cards, and it can collapse in an instant. I should know. Two years ago, a fall left my dad paralyzed and unable to work....
I Had Already Walked That Road:’ How One Woman Is Helping Survivors of Violence
Maury Danielle studied the flyer about a missing woman that a friend had shared on Facebook. Something about it was wrong, she thought. The flyer showed the woman smiling with her husband and children. The husband had created the flyer and was calling for help finding his wife. But he gave no context about why his wife had disappeared, only that she was missing.
Opinion: Real-Time Hospital Notifications Could Transform California Health Care
Among the thousands of patients Dr. Donald Rebhun has seen at his primary care practice in the San Fernando Valley, stories that stand out in his memory include cases where he was able to make a timely impact on patients because of a simple electronic alert sent by the hospital, letting him know his patient had been treated.
I’m Letting the Healing Begin By Sharing My Story
I often quote Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son” and Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask,”because “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up,” which became obstacles for me as I wore a “mask that grins and lies,” hiding my cheeks and shading my eyes.
California Health Report
241+
Posts
695K+
Views
California Health Report covers health for all Californians. Our mission is to report from communities underserved by mainstream media outlets, including those who are disproportionately affected by inequality.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.