Tagged With "Kaiser Permanente"
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56 Children, Families Celebrate Adoption in Riverside County Superior Court [desertsun.com]
By Risa Johnson, Palm Springs Desert Sun, November 2, 2019 Forty families and 56 children celebrated adoptions at the 11th annual Adoption Finalization Day Saturday at the Riverside Historic Courthouse. Judith Clark, Riverside Superior Court juvenile presiding judge, said in a news release that the court was honored to participate in an event that "shows the strong commitment of community members, and witnesses the joy experienced by joining parents and children together as a new family.”...
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Black People Disproportionately Homeless in California [calmatters.org]
By Kate Cimini, Cal Matters, October 5, 2019 Just a few years ago, Yolanda Harraway was living in a tent on the streets of Chinatown in Salinas, an agricultural hub struggling with a growing homeless community. Harraway’s slide into homelessness began when her son was taken from her custody by Child Protective Services. She struggled with addiction and had several felonies on her record, which cut her off from various state and government-funded housing options. She also had a hard time...
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
Over the last dozen years or so, many pediatricians, astounded by the ramifications of the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the children they care for, began integrating this science into their practices. The most common approach has been to ask parents about ACEs using a questionnaire, and to use this information to counsel parents and identify resources for the family. Different practices have been using different questionnaires: Some ask parents for their ACE scores...
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
[Editor's note: This blog was first posted in April 2017. Dr. Marie-Mitchell updated the assessment by modifying a few of the questions, so we are republishing with the new assessment, one in Spanish and one in English.] Over the last dozen years or so, many pediatricians, astounded by the ramifications of the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the children they care for, began integrating this science into their practices. The most common approach has been to ask parents...
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ACEs and Our Day with Dr. Vincent Felitti
“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” –Oprah Winfrey We think we can speak for all who attended the CA Department of Health Care Services Learning Series on January 17 th when we say we are immensely grateful to Dr. Felitti for sharing with us findings from the original CDC-Kaiser ACE study and inspiring us with his passion and heartfelt commitment to this body of work. Dr. Felitti, who turned 81 years old the next day on January 18 th , was the co-principal investigator on the...
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Affordable Housing, Healthcare for All Among Atkins Bills Advancing in Legislature (eastcountymagazine.org)
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday passed nine bills authored by Sen. Toni Atkins, including SB 2 – the Building Homes and Jobs Act – which would create a permanent source of funding for affordable housing. Also advancing out of the Appropriations Committee were SB 179 – the Gender Recognition Act – which would make it easier for transgender, nonbinary and intersex Californians to obtain state-issued identity documents that reflect who they truly are, and SB 562 – the Healthy...
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Aiming to Help Homeless, UCLA Residents Practice ‘Street Psychiatry’ (californiahealthreport.org)
New programs begun in the last two years at UCLA include a resident-faculty group focused on community psychiatry, as well as health-system and community mentorships. There are also new clinical electives for psychiatry residents at the Los Angeles County Jail and the county’s Office of Diversion and Reentry . The Diversion office was created by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in 2015 to develop and implement alternatives to the criminal justice system for people with mental illness and...
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Alternative IHEBA with ACEs for California (and Other) Pediatricians
If you are a pediatrician serving Medicaid managed care patients in California, then you are required to use the Staying Healthy Assessment or an alternative IHEBA (Individual Health Education Behavioral Assessment) at all well-child visits. The bad news is that getting approval to use an alternative IHEBA is a tedious process. The good news is that as of October 27, 2016 the Whole Child Assessment (WCA) is available for use in English and Spanish. Most importantly, the WCA has been...
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California lawmakers propose $2 billion plan to aid homeless [OCRegister.com]
SACRAMENTO – California would spend more than $2 billion on permanent housing to help the nation’s largest homeless population, under a proposal outlined by state senators on Monday. The housing bond would be enough to construct more than 10,000 housing units when it’s combined with other federal and local money, estimated Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles. The bond would be repaid with money from Proposition 63, the 2004 ballot measure that added a 1...
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'Warm' Hotlines Deliver Help Before Mental Health Crisis Heats Up [khn.org]
By Stephanie Stephens, Kaiser Health News, December 9, 2019 A lonely and anxious Rebecca Massie first called the Mental Health Association of San Francisco “warmline” during the 2015 winter holidays. “It was a wonderful call,” said Massie, now 38 and a mental health advocate. “I was laughing by the end, and I got in the holiday spirit.” Massie, a San Francisco resident, later used the line multiple times when she needed additional support, then began to volunteer there. [ Please click here...
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Why California’s rural areas are seeing a surge in homeless youth (edsource.org)
Crystal Willoughby, her five kids and two grandchildren have bounced around the hamlets and hillsides of Lake County for four years, always close to — but never quite — landing a permanent home. They’ve lived in motels, campgrounds, a minivan, shelters, trailer parks and, on some nights, the bathroom at a city park. “It hasn’t been easy, but I try to make the best of it. When we’re sleeping outside, I say we’re on a camping trip and we roast marshmallows and stuff like that. I try to make it...
Ask the Community
Anyone using MHSA or other funds in innovative ways to address ACEs or trauma?
Question: Please share examples of innovative uses of existing funding to address ACEs and trauma. For example, Mental Health Services Act has a funding category called "Innovative Projects" which might be a way to fund ACEs and trauma related efforts. Are you aware of any CA communities that have found ways to utilize MHSA or other funds in unexpected ways - that have the potential of addressing trauma and ACEs? See below and attached for more background re MHSA. Background: The CA...
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Sobriety program for homeless people yields results in Petaluma [PressDemocrat.com]
Paul Palmer is part of Sober Circle at the Mary Isaak Center (Photo by Beth Shankler) ____________________________ At this time last year, Paul Palmer was going on seven years of being homeless. A methamphetamine addict living along the Petaluma River, he had been in and out of rehab a few times, but it never seemed to work. He mostly kept to himself, staying out of the way of police officers and other homeless people, burrowed deep into the bushes along the river bank on the north side of...
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Some Immigrants, Fearful Of Political Climate, Shy Away From Medi-Cal [KHN.org]
Some foreign-born Californians are canceling their Medi-Cal coverage or declining to enroll in the first place, citing fears of a Trump administration crackdown on immigrants. Among those dropping coverage are people in the country legally but concerned about jeopardizing family members who lack permanent legal status, according to government officials, immigration attorneys and health care advocates. Others worry they will be penalized in the future for using public benefits such as...
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Something to celebrate? Indians’ conflicted feelings about San Diego’s 250th birthday (sandiegouniontribune.com)
On Thursday, San Diego’s 250th anniversary commemorations began with ceremonies near the historic landing site, at the present-day Embarcadero Marina Park North. While many hail these long-ago soldiers, missionaries and settlers as the founders of California’s first permanent city, the region’s Indians have a different view. “It’s not a founding,” said Stan Rodriguez, director of the Kumeyaay Community College and a member of the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel. “It’s an encroachment.” “This is...
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Sonoma County’s group homes for kids adapting to state changes [PressDemocrat.com]
The Valley of the Moon Children’s Home, an emergency shelter for children removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect, is poised for a major transition that would dramatically reduce the number of days youths could be housed there. The change will limit stays to 10 days and require the shelter to respond more quickly and appropriately to a child’s trauma, with an emphasis on promoting physical, psychological and emotional safety. Each one of the shelter’s 93-member staff, from cooks...
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State Dropping Ball in Dealing With Childhood Trauma, New Report Says [CaliforniaHealthline.org]
The lowest of 31 grades issued in the 2016 California Children's Report Card released on Wednesday was for dealing with the effects of childhood trauma. In Children Now's biennial assessment of the status of California kids, researchers gave the state a "D-" for how it deals with childhood trauma. The report contends that children who experience traumatic problems such as abuse, neglect and witnessing violence at home can suffer serious long-term consequences, including health...
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CA communities fund "rapid rehousing" and decriminalize homelessness
By implementing a “rapid rehousing” policy, hundreds of communities around the U.S. are moving from blaming, shaming and punishing the homeless, to understanding, nurturing and providing homeless people a safe place to recover and heal. In California, Orange County is changing its policy from putting people in temporary shelters to providing them permanent subsidized housing. So is Los Angeles — where 25,000 people are homeless. Instead of trying to force people who are...
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Riverside County reaches milestone in housing homeless veterans (myvalleynews.com)
Riverside County has become the nation’s first large county to meet “functional zero,” a federal benchmark for making permanent housing available for all homeless veterans who seek assistance from the county. The board of supervisors established the Veteran Assistance Leadership of Riverside County (VALOR) initiative in June 2013 to find permanent housing for every homeless veteran in Riverside County. Together, the Housing Authority division of the county Economic Development Agency, the...
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Roundup on people who are homeless, efforts to assist them: Haircuts, HUD grants, pets, mentally ill, young adults
Ventura County's homeless bring in their pets for free shots, licenses (VenturaCountyStar.com) -- Danna Aten, who is staying at a hotel in Ventura while working at a nursing job in Oxnard, stopped by Catholic Charities in Ventura so that her service dog, Memi, could be vaccinated. In all, Ventura County Animal Services vaccinated 28 dogs and licensed 27 of them. Modesto homeless treated to haircuts as part of DoubleTree event (ModestoBee.com)-- The free haircuts were part of the DoubleTree...
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RYSE Center's Listening Campaign: Young people in Richmond, CA help adults understand trauma, violence, coping, and healing
"My experience with violence is very brutal...I grew up with violence as if it were my sibling." - LC participant (youth) "We know we can't run the city- it's too complex- but our experience and our voices should count, especially because we're the most effected ." - LC participant (youth) "Our city's problems are shared by us all; we are all part of the problem AND the solution. Listening is a key component to healing." - LC Share Out partici pant (adult) Three years ago, RYSE Center in...
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Senate HELP Committee schedules hearing on April 11 on draft opioid bill with key provisions addressing trauma and seeks stakeholder comments
Key provisions that are closely aligned with sections the Heitkamp-Durbin “Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774)” are included in opioid legislation that is advancing in the U.S. Senate. A draft bill, “The Opioid Crisis Response Act,” is the subject of a hearing on Wednesday, April 11 in the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committee and a mark-up of the legislation is expected over the next several weeks. Senator Heitkamp’s office highlighted three...
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The California Integrated Core Practice Model for Children, Youth, And Families
California has just released the long anticipated Integrated Core Practice Model and Integrated Training Guide for Children and Youth. These documents serve as anchors to the state's Continuum of Care Reform. This resource is intended to provide practical guidance and direction to support county child welfare, juvenile probation, behavioral health agencies, and community partners to improve delivery of timely, effective, and integrated services to children, youth, and families. The State of...
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The Economics of Child Abuse: A Study of California
While the impact of maltreatment on a child and their family is devastating, child maltreatment also has serious effects far beyond those for the victim. Maltreatment results in ongoing costs to taxpayers, institutions, businesses, and society at large. Local communities bear the brunt of these costs in the form of medical, educational, and judicial costs, though more tragic signs are seen in homelessness, addiction, and teen pregnancy. To create a concrete understanding of the widespread...
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Two Years After End Of Indefinite Solitary In CA, CDCR Violating Terms Of Settlement, And Inmates Experiencing Lasting Psychological Effects, Says Center For Constitutional Rights (witnessla.com)
In 2015, California settled Ashker v. Governor , a historic class-action lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of a group of Pelican Bay State prison inmates who had each spent at least a decade in isolation. The settlement resulted in an end to the use of indefinite solitary confinement in CA prisons. On Monday, CCR filed a motion accusing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of violating the rights of inmates freed from indefinite...
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UPDATE: SCOTUS Public Charge Ruling Will Put Immigrant Families and Children at Risk (information below from the Center for the Study of Social Policy)
On Tuesday, January 27, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) allowed the Trump administration to enforce the "public charge" rule, denying certain immigrants to gain permanent resident if they're likely to need government assistance to basic needs like food, shelter, and health care. The SCOTUS 5-4 decision on the public charge rule, previously overturned by lower courts, broadens the definition of public charge to an immigrant who receives one or more public benefits for more than 12...
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Early Discount 20th Annual Families & Fathers Conference
Call to action- Fathers and Families Coalition of America is nearing the 20th Annual Families and Fathers Conference, March 4-7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California with a comprehensive program that hosts presenters from the United Kingdom, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Bolivia and throughout the United States. We are providing the conference information for your consideration to participate. We are asking you to share this conference information with your community...
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Kaiser Permanente Awards Grants in Napa & Solano Counties [patch.com]
By Chyresse Hill, Patch, October 24, 2019 Kaiser Permanente has awarded $1 million in grants to 42 local nonprofit organizations providing services and programs that improve the health of under-served communities throughout the Napa Solano area, including several serving the residents of Napa. Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit grants are awarded every year to local organizations working on specific programs and projects that align with Kaiser Permanente's mission and goals. Funding...
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Kaiser Permanente Seeks to Address Trauma in 25,000 Schools by 2023 [modernhealthcare.com]
By Steven Ross Johnson, Modern Healthcare, December 12, 2019 Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente on Thursday expanded its multi-year effort to provide tens of thousands of schools across the country with resources to help students and staff members cope with trauma and stress. The Resilience in School Environments, or RISE, project, will reach at least 25,000 schools by 2023, Kaiser said, as it provides mental health and wellness support to staff and students. The initiative began in 2017 to...
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L.A. County's homeless problem is worsening despite billions from tax measures (latimes.com)
Los Angeles County's homeless population is increasing faster than the supply of new housing, even with the addition of thousands of beds in the last two years and millions of dollars beginning to flow in from two ballot measures targeting the crisis, according to a long-awaited report by the region's homelessness agency. The report showed that officials two years ago far underestimated how much new housing would be needed when they asked city and county voters to approve the tax measures.
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Learning Community Recording Available: Building Family, Agency, and Community Resilience: Rural Policies to Improve Housing Affordability and Accessibility
The third Sierra Learning Community for the 2019-20 fiscal year focused upon Building Family, Agency, and Community Resilience: Rural Policies to Improve Housing Affordability and Accessibility. The power point and other materials distributed to attendees are attached to this post. View the recording by clicking here: 2.13.20 Sierra Learning Community ANNOUNCEMENTS Make sure to visit the Strategies2.0 YouTube Channel to access recordings of all the Strategies2.0 sponsored webinars and...
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Living Homeless in California: Finding Shelter — Veterans Are Broke But Not Broken (capitalandmain.com)
The original purpose of the West Los Angeles land that was donated to the federal government in 1887 was to house homeless veterans. Over the years, however, VA budgeting priorities directed towards the hospital and questionable land leases left the campus dilapidated and underutilized. As a result of a 2011 lawsuit filed on behalf of homeless vets initiated by local attorneys and the American Civil Liberties Union, the VA is now committed to repurposing the 388-acre campus, located near the...
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Monthly homeless update includes speculation about high-tech recycling center [Benitolink.com]
At the June 28 San Benito County Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Jim Rydingsword, director of the San Benito County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), and Enrique Arreola, deputy director of the Community Action Agency, gave their regular monthly update, with a bit of a twist. The twist being a pitch for a high tech recycle center, along with a housing plan, that they say may just help reduce the number of homeless in the county. “One of the things we did earlier this year was to begin...
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New homeless housing policy leads to tough choices [SanDiegoUnionTribune.com]
A North County nonprofit that houses homeless families says it will walk away from roughly $95,000 in federal funding rather than comply with new regulations that forbid it from requiring residents to stay away from drugs. Solutions for Change is one of several homeless agencies in the region working to respond to a new federal policy called Housing First that focuses on getting people into permanent homes with no strings attached. The philosophy is a monumental shift in fighting...
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Next "A Better Normal" community discussion series: April 3, 2020/ Maternal health and pediatrics in the time of COVID-19
Steve Sack • Star Tribune The "Better Normal" community discussion for Friday, April 3, 2020, features two wonderful staff members from ACEs Connection: Karen Clemmer, community facilitator for the Northwest, Far Northern California, Alaska and Hawaii; and reporter Laurie Udesky, who is also community manager for the ACEs in Pediatrics community on ACEsConnection.com. Karen Clemmer Join them at noon PT/ 1 pm MT/ 2 pm CT/ 3 pm ET and share your thoughts, ideas, questions, concerns, and...
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Over 14,000 CA foster youth facing end to critical services
May is National Foster Care Month. If foster youth are not reunified with their families or adopted by age 21, youth “age out” of the state’s foster care system and services often end abruptly. In 2015, more than 14,000 California foster youth—nearly a quarter of all those in care statewide—were between the ages of 16 and 20 years old.
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Overlooked mental health “catastrophe:” Vanishing board-and-care-homes leave residents with few options (calmatters.org)
The housing crisis has placed those concerned about board-and-care residents with mental illness in a strange predicament: Many now find themselves advocating for facilities they consider to be of poor quality and outmoded. That’s because the alternatives they see—homelessness, incarceration, long-term placement in nursing homes or locked facilities—are worse. About a third of homeless individuals have serious mental illness, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center , a nonprofit that...
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Press Release — New Survey of California Community College Students Reveals More than Half Face Food Insecurity and Nearly 20 Percent Have Faced Homelessness [California Community Colleges]
Press Release — New Survey of California Community College Students Reveals More than Half Face Food Insecurity and Nearly 20 Percent Have Faced Homelessness March 7, 2019 Sacramento — More than half the students attending a California community college have trouble affording balanced meals or worry about running out of food, and nearly 1 in 5 are either homeless or do not have a stable place to live, according to a survey released today. Click HERE to read the press release and click HERE...
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Program looks to stop the Skid Row to jail pipeline (scpr.org)
It was the men's first meeting, a time to establish the basics: the man had been homeless on Skid Row for about three years, yes, he was getting out in a couple weeks, and no, he had nowhere to go. And that's what made him a candidate for the Office of Diversion and Reentry's housing program. If follow-up visits yield what they're designed to, the man will move into temporary housing when he gets out of jail, and then on to a permanent apartment, where his rent will be subsidized by L.A.
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Report reveals how foster care, juvenile and adult justice systems traumatize youth, calls for policy shifts
YWFC sponsored Sister Warriors meeting When she was 15 years old, Lucero Herrera was put in a rehab program by San Francisco’s Juvenile Court because she was getting drunk regularly. And in doing so, the court failed to explore the root of her drinking. Had they done so, she said, they would have found that anger and trauma were lurking underneath, driven by her ACEs: adverse childhood experiences. Lucero Herrera "Why did they put me in a drug program when I had an anger problem? I went...
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Homelessness in California (publicceo.com)
The League of California Cities is taking unprecedented steps in response to an alarming increase in the state’s homeless population. Its board of directors approved the formation of a first-ever standing joint task force with the California State Association of Counties. This group of local elected officials and city and county staff is slated to meet for the first time during fall 2016 to discuss policy related to addressing homelessness. League Executive Director Chris McKenzie says that...
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Homelessness jumps 12% in L.A. County and 16% in the city; officials ‘stunned’ (latimes.com)
In a hard reality check for Los Angeles County’s multibillion-dollar hope of ending homelessness, officials reported Tuesday that the number of people living on the streets, in vehicles and in shelters increased by about 12% over last year. The annual point-in-time count, delivered to the Board of Supervisors, put the number of homeless people just shy of 59,000 countywide. Within the city of Los Angeles, the number soared to more than 36,000, a 16% increase. “At this point of unprecedented...
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Housing & Community Development: Funding to Fight Homelessness
There is a severe human and fiscal cost of homelessness. In response, there's a new infusion of funding in California - approximately $750 million in three new programs - to help cities and counties address the needs of more than 130,000 men, women, and children who do not have a permanent and safe place to call home. These new programs include Homeless Emergency Aid Program ($500 million, deadline Dec. 31, 2018), No Place Like Home ($190 million), and the California Emergency Solutions and...
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In ACEs Connection webinar, physicians talk trauma, offer tips for helping pediatric immigrant patients
Dr. Raul Gutierrez, a pediatrician in the San Francisco Bay Area, said he and his fellow clinicians see constant fear and its health consequences every single day among the largely immigrant and Latino population they serve. It’s all the result of anti-immigrant policies and the news cycle that feeds the fear. Dr. Raul Gutierrez “It is almost inescapable with the repercussions of immigration policy on the radio, television, social media and from friends and family,” Gutierrez told the 69...
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Interview with Dr. Brigid McCaw, Director of Kaiser Permanente's Family Violence Prevention Program
Dr. McCaw describes the genesis and evolution of Kaiser Permanente's Family Violence Prevention Program
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Jobs and work support could curtail L.A.'s stubborn homeless crisis, study says (latimes.com)
Providing jobs and other aid to Los Angeles County residents soon after they land in the streets could help prevent 2,600 to 5,200 people a year from falling into persistent homelessness, according to a new study from a liberal think tank. The "Escape Routes" study from the nonprofit Economic Roundtable zeroes in on a key dilemma in Los Angeles' homelessness crisis: Even as officials have moved 33,000 homeless people into permanent housing since 2013 and launched a $1.2-billion construction...
Comment
Re: Customizing ACEs Screening for High School Students in Santa Rosa, CA
Hi Todd, This is a bit complex to answer - but I will do my best! Here goes ... Since this post was written the work at Elsie Allen and Roseland Pediatrics has continued to evolve and now includes all of the Santa Rosa Community Health Center sites (most are based on a Family Medicine model) see minutes below for further details. Click this link for more detailed Minutes from Sonoma County ACEs Connection Meeting From the document: Meredith Kieschinck MD shared the initial data revealed by...
Comment
Re: ACEs | Alcohol's Harm to Others | Secondhand Drinking
The other not often talked about negative effect of alcohol is mothers who drink while pregnant, causing permanent brain damage to the child. This in turn effects everyone who cares for and interacts with the child.
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Re: ACEs | Alcohol's Harm to Others | Secondhand Drinking
You are so right, Katrina!! The fact that an infant comes out with the ability to breathe, sleep, suck, pee, poop, heart beat, open/close eyes...means brain development is occurring en utero, because EVERYTHING a person (infant, child, teen, adult) does requires neural networks (cell-to-cell communications processes). Thanks for sharing your comment and this post. Lisa
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Re: Interview with Dr. Brigid McCaw, Director of Kaiser Permanente's Family Violence Prevention Program
Thank you Carey for such a professional and engaging podcast, and bringing Brigid's and Kaiser's story to us. Brigid is a champion for ACEs as well as violence prevention in general, and the example of how she has accomplished so much is inspiring. Her recognition that understanding ACEs science is fundamental to preventing violence is transforming the field.