California has a variety of programs aimed at supporting the health care needs of children with complex disabilities. But accessing and utilizing these programs is complicated and time consuming.
The California Health Report spoke with several experts and disability advocates about what can be done to ease the burden on families and ensure children with disabilities get the care they need.
Congregate Living Health Facilities are a housing option for ventilator-dependent adults that balance independence with the need for medical care.
The problem is, there are not enough of these homes to care for all the ventilator-dependent adults who would benefit from them. And those homes that do exist mostly don’t accept Medi-Cal patients.
California has multiple programs that provide support to children with complex medical needs and disabilities. But accessing and making use of these programs is a minefield for many families.
Vivian Vasquez and John Hernandez discovered that for themselves after their daughter, Claire, was born with a rare genetic disorder.
California has a variety of programs aimed at supporting the health care needs of children with complex disabilities. But accessing and utilizing these programs is complicated and time consuming.
The California Health Report spoke with several experts and disability advocates about what can be done to ease the burden on families and ensure children with disabilities get the care they need.
Domestic violence survivors often need mental health care. Like veterans of wars, these survivors have often been subjected to prolonged periods of extreme stress and fear for their safety.
Mental health care can be hard to access, but solutions exist.
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.
LA County’s DCFS removes between 4,000 and 6,000 kids from their homes every year and places them in foster care.
Of those removed, social workers disproportionately place children of color and those who live in the lowest-income communities in foster care at higher rates than their peers in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods.
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 a safety-net health insurance program.
To experience a world free from violence, California must invest in the necessary funding and resources to prevent it.
However, with one-time funding for sexual and domestic violence prevention set to expire in April 2024, effective prevention programs will become more difficult to maintain.
For children with complex medical needs, many parents are told that institutionalization — care that is provided in a location other than home — is the only option.
While spending time in acute care hospitals may be unavoidable, more could be done to allow these children to stay at home, instead of forcing them to live in institutions.
For optometrists in California, the gap between the cost of providing care and what the state covers is growing wider each year.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed improving Medi-Cal access by paying medical doctors, OB-GYNs and hospitals more this year, eye care is not included in this proposal.
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