Blog

The Kern County Medically Vulnerable Care Coordination Project was formed in 2008 and has over 50 partner organizations. Our Vision – Use coordinated services to measurably improve outcomes for Kern County infants and children, prenatal through 5 years of age, who are at risk of costly, lifelong medical and developmental issues. Among the greatest challenges faced by our collaborative case management partners are the long-term effects of childhood trauma on Kern County mothers, fathers and...

When my mother died, the first thing I did was call my two best friends. Like good friends will, they dropped everything and came to my rescue. Having them there made all the difference in getting through a very difficult period of my life. Researchers haven’t always emphasized this kind of social support as a factor in individual resilience—that is, the ability to recover from hardship and move forward in a positive, adaptive way. Instead, they have placed a high premium on studying...

After hours of testimony, the state Board of Education Thursday rejected two history textbooks from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, but approved 10 others based on new history social sciences guidelines. Following nearly eight hours of emotional pleas from Hindus and Indian American, as well as advocates for the LGBTQ community requesting fair historical representations in K-8 textbooks, the state Board of Education endorsed the recommendations of an advisory panel. When Board President Mike...

On October 23, Senator Cory Booker, one of the members of Congress most capable of harnessing bipartisan cooperation , introduced the Environmental Justice Act of 2017 , which was devoid of one Republican sponsor. If passed, the bill would force the federal government to strengthen legal protections for communities of color and low-income people. However, as Charles Pierce wrote in Esquire.com , while this bill is necessary, it “doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in the Salton Sea of ever...

WASHINGTON – People with a history of “self-mutilation,” bipolar disorder, depression and drug and alcohol abuse can now seek waivers to join the Army under an unannounced policy enacted in August, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY. The decision to open Army recruiting to those with mental health conditions comes as the service faces the challenging goal of recruiting 80,000 new soldiers through September 2018. To meet last year's goal of 69,000, the Army accepted more recruits...

One day in 2013, AJ Vandermeyden drove to Tesla’s corporate headquarters, in Palo Alto, California, sat down on a bench outside the main entrance, and waited, in the hope of spotting someone who looked like a company employee. Vandermeyden, who was thirty years old, had been working as a pharmaceutical sales representative since shortly after college, but she wanted a different kind of job, in what seemed to her the center of the world—Silicon Valley. She knew that Tesla’s ambitious,...

SEATTLE—Mere blocks from the tourists swarming Pike Place Market, Stacy Lenny pointed out the tradecraft of some of her drug-dealing clients: “There’s Todd with a wheelchair—that’s good camo for a drug hustle,” she said, nodding toward one man sitting on the corner and dealing crack out of his motorized scooter. “Missy has a lot of drugs in that bag,” she said, about another woman passing by. A 50-year-old mom with short, gray hair and bright-blue glasses, Lenny is a harm-reduction recovery...

Traditionally, Ojibwe people observe a lunar calendar. Each moon, or giizis, is often named after activities conducted during those times, weather, harvests, or other notable things in Ojibwe life. November coincides with Gashkadino-Giizis or Freezing Over Moon. Since beginning my career as a journalist, however, I have come to think of November, National Native American Heritage Month, as the Moon of Explaining Indians to White People. Inevitably I get requests from editors of mainstream...

A new study out of the University of Manitoba shows kids are not the only ones affected by the child welfare system — mothers of children who have been taken into foster care see a significant deterioration in their health and social situation after apprehension. The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, looked at the health records and other data of mothers whose first child was born in Manitoba between April 1998 and March 2011. Half of the mothers, just shy...

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador —It’s a few minutes after 10 a.m. and Frank Ticas has just finished teaching his first English class of the day, on the perfect progressive tense. As a dozen young Salvadorans, most in their early- to mid-20s, file out of the classroom towards the institute’s front door, Ticas wishes them well. The 41-year-old sports a shaved head, goatee and jeans. On his right upper-arm, a scorpion tattoo peeks out from beneath the short-sleeve of his blue FC Barcelona soccer...

Fingers flying, incessant texting, phones held to ear as secondary appendages gives the illusion we are well connected. We are chattering and snapping and “selfieing” (I think I just made that word up — you can do that these days) all the live long day. Meanwhile scientists quietly dispense reports underlining an incredible finding: We are socially anxious people. Extremely socially anxious. So what gives? Slowly raise your head away from your phone. It’s okay. You can do it. I am trying the...

Empathy is a skill, and a new workshop from the Institute for Healthcare Communication teaches essential, evidence-based empathy conveyance skills to all members of the caregiving team. The Empathy Effect: Countering Bias to Improve Health Outcomes , is a half-day workshop, based on evidence in the literature that patients' health outcomes are influenced by how patients feel they are treated by their healthcare team members. Consider a caregiving organization where every patient and family...