The federal administration’s attacks on immigrant families and children have been relentless. An entire generation of children is being traumatized.
As the daughter of immigrants and the president of a children’s advocacy organization that advocates for the healthy development and wellbeing of all children, this period of crisis is both personal and professional.
As a pediatrician, I not only worry about the health of the children I care for, but also the health of their parents and caregivers. Unfortunately, disparities in the wellbeing of children in the United States are climbing.
Improving health equity for children should be among our highest priorities as a nation, because it will impact our future.
What medical professionals don’t realize is that their medical setting is full of potential “triggers” for people with traumatic experiences. It should be standard practice for medical professionals to screen and assess for trauma in a safe environment.
We’re proposing state legislation to mandate trauma-informed care education in all California medical, dental and nursing programs.
In communities of color, too often the options we have to address violence rely on punishment, police and incarceration. For too many, these options cause additional cycles of trauma and harm, and are not survivor-centered.
When women of color are involved in medical studies, it gives us opportunities for advanced health care initiatives and makes us a part of the research conversation. Without the inclusion of communities of color in research, breast cancer will continue to be the number-one killer of Hispanic women and the number-two killer of African American women.
The new “public charge” rule is a cruel policy, and it threatens to harm the broader community. Health care costs will certainly rise for everyone if people drop off Medicaid rolls. Some will forgo vaccinations, which has the potential of creating outbreaks of preventable diseases.
Water is a fundamental determinant of health. That’s why it’s such important news that California’s governor and legislature agreed to establish ongoing funding to make sure every resident in our state has access to clean, affordable water.
An executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom could have the unintended consequence of eliminating the ability of community clinics to purchase drugs at a steep discount and reinvest savings into patient care.
The statistics are staggering: 44 percent of lesbian women, 61 percent of bisexual women, 26 percent of gay men, 37 percent of bisexual men and nearly half of transgender people will be raped, attacked or stalked by an intimate partner in their lifetime. We need to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act with modest but meaningful improvements that enhance our nation’s response to these heinous crimes.
As a researcher and as someone who, like many in my generation, has faced sexual harassment on more occasions that I care to consider, I hope my research team’s new study, “Measuring #MeToo in California,” will help show how prevalent sexual harassment is, so we can work to end it.