Tagged With "COVID"
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COVID-19 Quarantined with Dr. B
Join ME 10am (pst) on Facebook Live Doctor Beasley for an awesome idea to SHARE! Just say, “NO!” to Social Distancing! Feeling Alphabet: “Q” is for Quiet. [ Please click here for the Facebook post .]
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Grocery Money Zips Straight to California's Needy Students Amid School Closures [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Sara Tiano, The Chronicle of Social Change, May 5, 2020 As lines for food banks stretch for miles and millions of Californians apply for unemployment in record numbers amid the coronavirus pandemic, a new anti-hunger program is giving families debit cards to keep their fridges and pantries stocked. Close to two-thirds of school-aged children in California could well be eligible, and the state anticipates spending as much as $1.4 billion on the infusion into the budgets of struggling...
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'Haven't Hugged My Mom in a Month:' Kids of Health Care Workers Feel the Strain [kqed.org]
By Sasha Khokha , Asal Ehsanipour Apr 17 As front line health care workers dedicate long hours to caring for patients during the COVID-19 crisis, life has changed for their own families — especially their children. Some hospital workers are staying away from their families to protect their kids. Others are living in the same house and taking extra precautions to avoid passing along the virus. Many children of nurses and doctors are navigating the unpredictability of life without regular...
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Health in All Policies for a Stronger Recovery [changelabsolutions.org]
By Nadia Rojas, Tina Yuen, and Rebecca Johnson, ChangeLab Solutions, May 21, 2020 Throughout this blog series, we have discussed individual policy areas in which local governments can respond to the pandemic, including housing and utilities , paid leave protections , protections for food workers , repealing 911 nuisance laws , and equitable enforcement strategies . However, these policies are just the beginning of what local governments can do to address the complex, wide-ranging problems...
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Help Your Community Safely with COVID-19
From California Volunteers, Office of the Governor, March 2020 DELIVER MEALS Vulnerable seniors are at greatest risk amid COVID-19. Let’s help keep them safe and cared for. Contact your local Meals on Wheels organization, visit www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org . DONATE TO A SHELTER OR FOOD BANK During this time organizations are running low on food items, help them stay well stocked for those in need. See below for a list of shelters and food banks in need. VOLUNTEER AT A FOOD BANK Food banks...
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Hospitals prepare for wave of mental health disorders among their workers [latimes.com]
By Del Quentin Wilber, Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2020 Nurse Camille Davis has watched more than 30 patients die from coronavirus infection, and has sobbed while holding her phone close to them so loved ones could say their goodbyes. Her long drives home are filled with worry about transmitting the disease to her 8-year-old son. “I had a colleague who wanted to quit, it was too much for her, and I told her, ‘We can’t quit. We have to keep working until we get sick,’” said Davis, a nurse at...
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How Closed Schools Are Creating More Trauma For Students [kqed.org]
By Cory Turner Apr 21 The high school senior sitting across from Franciene Sabens was in tears over the abrupt amputation of her social life and turmoil at home. Because of the coronavirus, there will be no prom, no traditional send-off or ceremony for the graduates of Carbondale Community High School in Carbondale, Ill. And Sabens, one of the school's counselors, could not give the girl the one thing Sabens' gut told her the teen needed most. "I want to hug them all, but I really wanted to...
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How COVID-19 Impacts Children’s Mental Health
Mental health among children and youth is already a concern. In 2018, there were 41,087 hospital discharges for mental health issues among California youth ages 5-19, a 38% increase in the last decade . With the emergence of COVID-19, children with existing mental health issues must endure the added burden of a pandemic. Children often rely on schools to provide mental health services, but school closures have made it difficult to access and preserve the quality of these services. Historical...
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How mindfulness meditation can help you cope during COVID-19
Zoom meetings on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction - Monday evenings at 7pm at no cost. If you are interested please email me for the password: joanie@ apositivelight.com Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/4054010231?pwd=RHJnYWtSZXRxZ2xwcDk4em56WTBPUT09
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How San Francisco's D.A. Is Decreasing The Jail Population Amid COVID-19 [npr.org]
By Terry Gross, National Public Radio, April 9, 2020 Chesa Boudin's radical leftist parents were imprisoned when he was a toddler. Now he's working to reduce the inmate population in San Francisco — and worrying about his dad, who remains in prison. TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. It's difficult or impossible to practice social distancing in an overcrowded prison, which is dangerous not only for the people who are incarcerated but also for the guards and other prison...
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How to Shelter in Place if You Live With Domestic Abuse [kqed.org]
By Michelle Wiley and Shannon Lin, KQED, March 24, 2020 Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted a shelter-in-place order across California. The order, which limits the kinds of businesses and activities that are allowed, is meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and encourages people to stay inside their homes as much as possible. But what do you do when home is a dangerous place? For many survivors of domestic violence in California, sheltering in place can feel strangely familiar. Many...
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In Contra Costa, jail bookings are down 84 percent; county facilities at one-third capacity [mercurynews.com]
By Nate Gartrell and Annie Sciacca, The Mercury News, April 16, 2020 Arrests that result in jail bookings have dropped to staggeringly low rates throughout Contra Costa, in response to state and local directives aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 in the county jail system. Over the past 30 days, the rate of new inmates being booked in Contra Costa jails fell by 84 percent, from a norm of roughly 60 per day to roughly 10 per day, Sheriff David Livingston told the county Board of...
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In COVID-19 Tracking Poll, Californians Report Worsening Mental Health, Cost Worries [chcf.org]
By Kristof Stremikis, California Health Care Foundation, April 10, 2020 The number of Californians tested for COVID-19 increased and the share of state residents reporting recent telehealth visits with health care professionals jumped, according to a new tracking poll. CHCF and survey firm Ipsos updated their regular survey of Californians’ experience with COVID-19 testing, their access to health care services during the global pandemic, and their reports on mental health status and worries...
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Information about Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Prevention [cpedv.org]
From California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, May 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19) is serious respiratory disease that continues to impact communities worldwide, and has officially been named a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Below, we’ve included a number of resources that can slow the rate of transmission, and support our Members as they serve survivors and advance prevention in their communities. Most importantly, programs should monitor and follow the guidance of your...
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Jail Bookings Down Significantly during COVID-19 [ppic.org]
By Magnus Lofstrom and Brandon Martin, Public Policy Institute of California, May 6, 2020 In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, California has sought to reduce county jail populations through a range of actions, including a “zero bail” emergency measure . This means that most misdemeanor and lower-level felonies currently have no bail amount associated with them, and that suspects are more likely to be cited and released instead of booked into jail. This new practice, along with...
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Re: COVID-19: Mental health and well-being for ourselves and our children [news.berkeley.edu]
Hi. Can you please share this resource for fathers with your list. Attached you will find the flyers in English and Spanish. Thank you. [cid:image003.png@01D61956.3A2B5AD0]< https://www.childrensinstitute.org/ > Marino Aragón Fatherhood Specialist Children's Institute 2121 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90026 Ph: 213-260-7737 | Ext: 8237 childrensinstitute.org< https://www.childrensinstitute.org/ > The materials and information in this email are confidential and may contain...
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Re: Hospitals prepare for wave of mental health disorders among their workers [latimes.com]
On Wed, May 6, 2020 at 10:31 AM ACEsConnection < communitymanager@acesconnection.com> wrote:
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Re: Hospitals prepare for wave of mental health disorders among their workers [latimes.com]
May God help and heal us all.
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Re: Hospitals prepare for wave of mental health disorders among their workers [latimes.com]
It is SO IMPORTANT to do daily self care: Here are 3 videos that demonstrate how to reduce anxiety/fear, strengthen the immune system, and eliminate anger/ and frustration. I am a psychologist specializing in working with individuals and families with I/DD. These three short videos demonstrate how to reduce the conditions listed above using Thought Field Therapy. This is an evidence based therapy, approved by SAMHSA, that I have used for 2 decades to heal trauma, anger, rage, depression,...
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'We Miss Them All So Much': Grandparents Ache as The COVID Exile Grinds On [californiahealthline.org]
By JoNel Aleccia, California Healthline, May 26, 2020 Back home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Richard and Denise Victor would get to see their four grandchildren almost every day. One set of kids lives around the block; the others are half an hour away, all close enough for frequent visits and sleepovers. “With the younger ones, we have a routine of stories when they spend the night,” Richard Victor said. But when the coronavirus hit, the couple were at their vacation home in Florida and,...
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How to Help Families and Staff Build Resilience During the COVID-19 Outbreak [developingchild.harvard.edu]
From Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, May 2020 The worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a source of unexpected stress and adversity for many people. Resilience can help us get through and overcome hardship. But resilience is not something we’re born with—it’s built over time as the experiences we have interact with our unique, individual genetic makeup. That’s why we all respond to stress and adversity—like that from the COVID-19...
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Information and Updates on COVID-19 [acpm.org]
From American College of Preventive Medicine, May 2020 Preventive Medicine Physicians are our nation's first line of defense against pandemic disease. They are responding to the current COVID-19 pandemic with dedication, expertise and unfailing commitment to public health. We are curating a collection of well-vetted resources on COVID-19 for physicians, families and anyone interested in learning more about the coronavirus. Read our new blog, Preventive Medicine Responds to COVID-19 HERE. [...
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Tackling Food Insecurity among K-12 Students during COVID-19 [ppic.org]
By Caroline Danielson and Niu Gao, Public Policy Institute of California, May 28, 2020 Food insecurity—either concerns around having enough food or outright hunger— has increased sharply this spring. Nationally, among children age 12 and under, the rate is up 14 points—from about 3% in 2018 to 17% in April 2020. During California’s COVID-19 school closures, even large districts appear to be serving fewer free and low-cost meals than before the pandemic, while rural or small districts face...
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Mental Health Awareness: When Suffering Is Not an Illness
When I was an adolescent and young adult, I struggled with depression. As I reflect back on that time, so much of what I was experiencing was deeply tied to coming to terms with my sexuality. Growing up in the 1980’s in a relatively conservative town, I was closeted (even to myself) until I was a young adult. The pain and fear of being different, of not belonging, of being judged or rejected for who I was more than my adolescent brain could wrap its conscious head around.
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America! "Oh, Say Can You See?" [blackvoicenews.com]
By S.E. Williams and Chuck Bibbs, Black Voice News, May 20, 2020 The COVID-19 Pandemic shined a brighter spotlight on the unorthodox leadership of this nation and revealed an unprepared healthcare system. In the process, it also exposed a grim, denigrating and devastating reality regarding people of color and the poor, particularly Black people. The health vulnerabilities these communities have lived with for generations, left them dangerously vulnerable to this deadly virus. Now, they are...
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COVID-19 Adjustment for Community Partner Santa Barbara County Education Office's Taundra Pitchford
Taundra Pitchford, the Child Care Planning Council Coordinator at the Santa Barbara County Education Office (SBCEO), shared with me in an interview that SBCEO, not unlike other organizations within the Resilient Santa Barbara County ACEs Connection Network, remains open and operational amid the ever-evolving Coronavirus turmoil we find ourselves navigating. Pitchford commented, when asked how her work has shifted since the outbreak of the virus, "While I was busy before, I have never worked...
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The pandemic's great divide: Twelve hours in an L.A. restaurant [calmatters.org]
By Nigel Duara, Cal Matters, May 29, 2020 Edson Romero maneuvers his black Cadillac Escalade under the early afternoon sun onto Highway 101 in Los Angeles. Behind him is the Boyle Heights home he shares with three siblings. Up ahead is Echo Park, and the job he’s held since the recovery from the last economic crash, back in 2011. He’s dressed in his work uniform: blue jean shorts, running shoes and a black shirt emblazoned with “Sage Plant Based Bistro” in yellow-green lettering. Romero, 34,...
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What Isolation Does to Undocumented Immigrants [theatlantic.com]
By Emily Kaplan, The Atlantic, May 27, 2020 One of the first times I met with Antonio, a middle-aged undocumented man in Queens, he was an hour late. When he arrived, panting, he explained that while he was on the subway, word spread among passengers that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were waiting at the next station. Antonio stayed on the train for several more stops—but when he got off, he said he saw agents at that station too. This was the only day that entire month, he told...
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Newsom's Proposed Cuts to Child Care Rates Have Advocates Worried [kqed.org]
By Katie Orr, KQED, June 3, 2020 Child care provider Pat Alexander has hung onto her in-home child care center during the COVID-19 pandemic, but just barely. Alexander was caring for 13 kids in her Elk Grove home in Sacramento County, but now she's down to three. So far, she's survived the hit to her income. But a proposed 10% cut to the amount of money the state gives her to care for children from low-income families would force her to re-evaluate her business. Gov. Gavin Newsom has...
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Hannah Sherfinski: Breaking the silence: Identifying youth in need through trauma screening [madison.com]
By Hannah Sherfinski, The Cap Times, June 1, 2020 For two months, our country has been enduring the effects of COVID-19. With over 1 million COVID-19 cases reported in the U.S. and over 30 million Americans filing for unemployment, many of us are panic-stricken about our future physical, mental, social and financial well-being. Worst of all, we must cope with these fears in isolation. These intense feelings of uncertainty and desolation may trigger the body’s instinctual fight, flight or...
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The Struggle to Overcome Racism [ssir.org]
By SSIR Editors, Stanford Social Innovation Review, June 1, 2020 The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers has ignited protests and focused the national discourse on institutional racism and how to eradicate it. SSIR's editors have assembled a list of resources to help leaders of social change and activists trying to put an end to this intractable American scourge. Racism in the United States has been a longstanding crisis that the COVID-19 pandemic has cast into an even...
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Bob's Blog: Proximate [calendow.org]
By Robert K. Ross, The California Endowment, May 13, 2020 Some of you may be aware that I very recently lost my life partner, my rock, my bride, and my best friend, Robin, to breast cancer. I am still grieving, processing, and the healing will take some time. Her passage obviously came at an already challenging time. On top of the health and economic tsunami that COVID-19 hath wrought, we also recently lost a talented, social justice-minded star at TCE in regional director Beatriz Solis – to...
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California needs to create a just and equitable recovery [calmatters.org]
By Sonrisa Cooper and Sylvia Chi, Cal Matters, June 4, 2020 The recent tragedies of the COVID-19 pandemic and high-profile incidents of police violence against black people have shown us that our country has a deep and visceral need for racial justice. Whether we are talking about a global pandemic, climate change or police brutality, people of color, especially black communities, are always hit first and hardest, and this has to change. We have a collective moral imperative to do better by...
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Racism Fuels Double Crisis: Police Violence and COVID-19 Disparities [chcf.org]
By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, June 8, 2020 Across the US, two public health crises — one new and one ages old — have merged into a devastating tandem. Systemic racism undergirds COVID-19 health disparities and the plague of police violence, both of which kill Black Americans at disproportionately high rates. As protesters have taken to the streets to march against police brutality and to remember George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other unarmed Black people who have...
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Opinion: More Than Ever, We Must Prioritize the Mental Health and Well-being of Children [stanfordchildrens.org]
By Rachel Velcoff and Steven Adelsheim, Stanford Children's Health, June 8, 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the lives of families across the country and left many adults feeling stressed, anxious, and struggling to cope. It has also put the mental health of our youngest and most vulnerable at risk. Now, three months into the pandemic, youth are experiencing further stress and trauma, as our country grapples with another profound crisis: the murder of George Floyd and the...
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COVID-19 and Demands for Racial Justice Underscore the Urgent Need to Advance CalAIM's Children's Behavioral Health Reform Effort [cachildrenstrust.org]
By California Children's Trust and California Alliance, June 2020 Our nation is experiencing the rage, grief, fear, and uncertainty of the compounding crises of a global pandemic, economic recession, and response to deeply rooted racial injustice in this country, all of which creates trauma for youth and demands leadership and swift action to strengthen the systems foundational to their healing. While the public narrative has painted COVID-19 as a shared common trauma, the reality is that...
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Mass Decarceration, COVID-19, and Justice in America [ssir.org]
(Free to be collage by Ekua Holmes/www.ekuaholmes.com) By Deanna Van Buren & F. Javier Torres-Campos, Stanford Social Innovation Review, June 9, 2020 With the highest incarceration rate in the world, US prisons and jails are drivers for the catastrophic outbreak of COVID-19. Because of dense living conditions, limited soap and hand sanitizer, poor access to quality healthcare, and an increasingly elderly population, the outbreaks we’ve seen so far may be just the beginning. It’s no...
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Prison Admissions Resume as COVID-19 Spreads [ppic.org]
By Heather Harris, Public Policy Institute of California, June 12, 2020 The COVID-19 crisis triggered an eight-week moratorium on prison admissions that helped reduce California’s prison population to a level not seen for more than 25 years. On May 26—as demonstrations decrying police violence and systemic racial inequality spread across the nation—California resumed admitting prison inmates. Resuming admissions without also accelerating prison releases could reverse the latest reductions in...
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Proposition 47 and Racial Disparities in California [ppic.org]
From Public Policy Institute of California, June 16, 2020 About the Program While the COVID-19 pandemic has required changes to law enforcement and correctional policies, widespread protests over the police-involved deaths of African Americans have intensified concern about racial and ethnic disparities in our criminal justice system. In recent years, California has implemented significant reforms that, while not motivated by racial disparities, are narrowing them. PPIC researcher Brandon...
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'I was ready to die': A coronavirus survivor's diary [sfchronicle.com]
By Matthias Gafni, San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 2020 Surely, Rafael Arias thought, it must have been the spicy fish and rice he’d eaten the day before. The 42-year-old Oakland restaurant worker could think of no other reason for suddenly feeling ill. It was late March, and the novel coronavirus had begun to take hold in the Bay Area. On March 22, the day after Arias felt those first symptoms, California postponed jury trials, Hayward opened a free drive-by testing site, and Alameda...
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Racism's Effect on Health, and the Heartbreak of Being a Black Parent Right Now: California's Surgeon General Speaks [kqed.org]
By KQED Science, KQED, June 14, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic and the recent killing of George Floyd have brought longstanding racial inequities into sharp focus. One of those disparities concerns the high rate of coronavirus transmission among people of color. To talk about the intersection of race and health, KQED's Brian Watt spoke last week with California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, who is known for her pioneering work on the role that childhood stress and trauma play on...
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Opinion: How Systemic Racism Shows Up in California—And Why We Must End It [calhealthreport.org]
By Denzel Tongue, California Health Report, June 18, 2020 Across the Bay Area and California, people are eager for things to feel normal. But for communities of color hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, this crisis has revealed an uncomfortable and urgent truth: “Normal” isn’t working. Local statistics show how COVID-19 has amplified existing racial inequities when it comes to different communities’ health outcomes. These inequalities are resulting in Black residents in three Bay Area...
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Coronavirus surging in Sacramento's poor neighborhoods. What can be done to slow it? [sacbee.com]
By Theresa Clift and Phillip Reese, The Sacramento Bee, June 20, 2020 The recent surge in Sacramento County’s confirmed COVID-19 cases has hit several socioeconomically-disadvantaged communities hard, including some places that had previously avoided the worst of the outbreak, according to a Sacramento Bee review of county and census data. All five of the ZIP codes with the highest rates of COVID-19 cases per 10,000 residents diagnosed from mid-May through mid-June are in areas with high...
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Coronavirus cases at San Quentin soar to 190: 'they're calling man down every 20 or 30 minutes' [sfchronicle.com]
By Jason Fagone and Megan Cassidy, San Francisco Chronicle, June 20, 2020 A week ago, Jessica Miller-Marez received a troubling phone call from her husband, 37-year-old Jesse Marez, who is incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County. Something strange was happening at San Quentin, Jesse told her. A large number of prisoners had recently arrived on buses from somewhere in Southern California and had been placed in cells on the upper tiers of Jesse’s housing area — a unit known as...
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How Shasta County family advocates will increase their outreach as child abuse reports decline during COVID-19 [redding.com]
By Nada Atieh, Redding Record Searchlight, June 22, 2020 An alarmingly low number of child abuse cases were reported to Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency's Children’s Branch in April and May, going undetected as a symptom of the pandemic. In April 2019, 347 cases of child abuse were reported in contrast to 158 cases in April 2020, according to Shasta County Health and Human Services Children’s branch. And in May 2019, 366 child abuse cases were reported while only 169 reports...
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Housing Assistance on COVID-19 Issues [changelabsolutions.org]
By Change Lab Solutions, June 23, 2020 Access to safe, stable, and affordable housing is crucial for community health, and COVID-19 is amplifying its importance. Access to housing helps individuals practice social distancing and maintain adequate hygiene to prevent infection. Housing quality is equally important. Given that families are encouraged to stay home as much as possible during the pandemic, it is critical that individuals have housing that is free of lead, mold, and other harmful...
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California Surgeon General: Systemic Racism Is Linked To COVID-19 Pandemic [news.wjct.org]
By WJCT Editor, WJCT Public Media, June 22, 2020 A new California rule requires everyone to wear face masks in public as more businesses and public spaces reopen in the state this week. For some residents, the mandate is controversial even as COVID-19 hospitalizations are surging. California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris says public health officials are considering how to boost economic activity in the safest way possible. “The goal of this is really around protecting Californians...
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Stolen Breaths [njem.org]
By Rachel R. Hardeman, Eduardo M. Medina, and Rhea W. Boyd, New England Journal of Medicine, June 10, 2020 In Minnesota, where black Americans account for 6% of the population but 14% of Covid-19 cases and 33% of Covid-19 deaths, George Floyd died at the hands of police. “Please — I can’t breathe.” He was a black man detained on suspicion of forgery, an alleged offense that was never litigated or even charged, but for which he received an extrajudicial death sentence. “Please — I can’t...
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How the COVID-19 Pandemic is Highlighting the Importance of Trauma-Informed Care: Q&A with Dr. Edward Machtinger [chcs.org]
By Meryl Schulman and Emma Opthof, Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc., July 7, 2020 COVID-19 and the stressors it is placing on individuals’ physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing create a new imperative for health care systems to look to trauma-informed care to support both patients and frontline workers. To learn more about how health care providers are using trauma-informed approaches to care in the current environment, the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) recently...