While Denti-Cal reinstatement is good news for patients, community clinics and federally funded health centers, there is a long road to restoring dental care to low-income people.
Author: Lynn Graebner
Counties all over California are cheering the state’s decision to expand Medi-Cal to more than 1.4 million low-income adults – and bracing for the $1.3 billion the state expects to take away from county health services over the next four years.
Despite the fact that there is some money available for interim fixes and emergency drinking water, many residents of disadvantaged communities throughout California have gone for years, sometimes decades, paying for both contaminated tap water and bottled water for drinking and cooking.
Legislators are proposing an employer-funded trust to insure many of the millions of Californians who will likely fall through the cracks of the Affordable Care Act.
After serving time in jail, a three-step program helps men in Santa Cruz county make a new life after a felony conviction.
Pay for performance was the next big idea in improving patient care – until studies suggested that it wasn’t working especially well to reduce costs and improve health care. But one plan in the Central Valley is offering inventives that work. What’s their secret?
Santa Cruz County is home to an intriguing health care mystery: The county spends much less on acute long term care than most of the country. Can the rest of the U.S. learn from their example? And are they saving money without compromising patient care?
Asking for help is often hard for seniors, but it’s getting easier thanks to an innovative web-based program underway in Santa Cruz and cities across the U.S. Time banks let seniors and people of all ages exchange their skills and time for services they need. By sharing their talents, time bank members are knitting together a multigenerational community, building support networks and friendships.
A telehealth initiative aims to bring preventative dental care to low-income kids at their schools.
What started as a community garden in the Chinatown neighborhood of Salinas has blossomed into the Salinas-Marina Community Food Project. Three community gardens provide fresh food, life skills and a sense of community for the homeless, recovering addicts, unemployed and local residents.