By Julia Landau
Lance Robinson got into treatment through a kind of methadone lottery, where the prize is six months of free treatment. Call an 800-number on Tuesday at 12:30; the first caller to get through gets on the list. A yearly grant from Alameda County pays for roughly twelve free slots a year. Slots are coveted and the line is terminally busy.
Nurse practitioner Patricia Dennehy leads Glide Health Services in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, the only nurse-run clinic on the West Coast. There, she’s practicing what may become a a model for medicine’s future – providing primary care without doctors.
Long-term care facilities across the country are trying new alternatives for engaging older adults by using various pathways: art, nature, music, animals, dance, literature and friendship. The groundswell of adventurous programming is riding the wave of America’s “silver tsunami,” changing the way older adults are perceived and cared for.
A year ago, the Select Committee on the Status of Men and Color established by Speaker of the Assembly John Pérez and led by Assemblymen Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland) began efforts to alert the state on the most critical issues facing these young men. The committee wrapped up their year-long effort in Sacramento yesterday.
Chevron, Contra Costa County and Richmond city officials addressed an angry crowd of residents at a town hall meeting in Richmond earlier this week over growing concerns from Monday’s Chevron refinery fire. East Bay residents filled the floor of the Civic Center gymnasium to demand transparency over what triggered the fire and the resulting health impacts.
More than 7 million Californians have no health insurance at some point during any given year. For many, this means no doctor visits and no preventive care. Poor, frustrated and desperate, these citizens often think they have no access to healthcare. In truth, there are thousands of low-cost and no-cost clinics and agencies that support the uninsured. Californians for Patient Care (CPC) maintains a robust database of more than 5,000 contacts linking the uninsured with a wide range of discount services.
While there are many agencies that provide in-home help for adults with temporary, chronic and terminal illnesses, too few offer these services for children. That’s where Coastal Kids Home Care comes in.
As part of a national campaign to find housing for 100,000 homeless people, Santa Cruz government agencies, businesses and community organizations are trying to house 180 chronically homeless people in their community. Programs in Los Angeles and elsewhere have shown that investing in programs to house the homeless can save taxpayers more than they cost.
America spends an astonishing amount — at least $2.5 trillion — on health care each year, yet we aren’t as healthy as we could or should be. For every dollar we spend on health care, less than a nickel goes toward policies and programs aimed at public health and prevention, such as community farmers’ markets and wellness initiatives that encourage healthy living for all ages. We need to shift the focus of the U.S. health care system from treating illness to creating an environment that is conducive to better health.
The Affordable Care Act aims to expand access to health insurance for low-income people. But will it also expand access to health care? Robin Urevich takes a look at a Riverside County program that’s a preview of the ACA and finds that insurance and care are not always the same thing.