Posts Tagged: needs

Opinion

Equity in education funding is a right for all students

Students studying in a California classroom. (Photo: GagliardiPhotography, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: One of the charges I hold seriously is to ensure every child in California has the resources they need to succeed. As a product of California’s K-12 public schools in the Central Valley, I can still recall the deficiency in resources as well as the knowledge of those that were appointed to secure that my future endeavors were aligned for excellence.

Opinion

State’s rigid funding rules hurt community colleges

College students working jointly on a project. (Photo: Prostock-studio, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Earlier this month, the nation’s largest system of higher education, the California Community Colleges, reported that it had met a key goal of increasing by 20 percent the number of students who earn college credentials. While this is impressive, there is more work ahead to meet the remaining goals that are focused on closing achievement gaps for students of color and for students living in poorer regions of the state.

Opinion

Teledentistry of key importance during pandemic

Photo illustration of using online communication to address health issues. (Photo: PENpics Studio, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Telehealth is quickly becoming the new norm as the nation fights the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to innovative telemedicine technology, medical professionals are able to treat patients without having to travel to the doctor’s office which reduces costs, saves time, reduces pressure on the healthcare system and helps stop the COVID-19 spread.

Opinion

Human trafficking: Inspiration from the survivors

Photo illustration of a woman held captive, a victim of human trafficking. (Photo: Structuresxx, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: I’m a survivor of human trafficking. When I was 7, I was sold into trafficking by my abuser. A young woman just a few years older than me, who had also been trafficked, helped free me when I was 11 years old. I didn’t see myself as a survivor until I saw other survivors take ownership over what happened to them and transform their healing to action.

Opinion

The fight against chronic disease

A man's body seen from behind with dermatitis on the neck. (Photo: Naeblys, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: For the millions of Californians living with chronic health conditions like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma and arthritis, securing adequate and affordable health care coverage can be a challenging feat.

Opinion

A solid level of nursing home staffing

A patient gets help walking at a nursing home. (Photo: Photographee.eu, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: If there were Olympic medals for the delivery of quality care in the state’s nursing homes, California would have just scored gold, silver and bronze in seven separate categories. That’s how the federal government ranks the care that is currently delivered – 24 hours a day – to 350,000 residents in skilled nursing facilities in California.

News

Doctors win in dispute with nurses

A physician and a nurse tend to a patient. (Photo: Tyloer Olson, Shutterstock)

Here’s the diagnosis: It was the doctors versus the nurses, and the doctors won – for now. An effort to allow nurse practitioners limited authority to treat patients without the supervision of a doctor was blocked in the Assembly amid opposition from physicians, who said the plan would hinder high-quality medical care.

News

The drought — with a grain of salt

A parched lake bed at Lake Oroville, about 60 miles north of Sacramento. (Photo: sddatta, via Shutterstock)

As drought-parched California withers, salt water captures attention – again. Santa Barbara, which built a desalination plan more than 20 years ago and then abruptly shut it down because of costs, is considering upgrading and restarting the project and provide the city of 91,000 with about a fourth of its drinking water. The tentative price tag is $40 million. In Sacramento, the State Water Resources Control Board is poised to adopt new regulations in May governing desalination.

Opinion

Critical priority: Dental care for low-income children

A youngster on his visit to the dentist. (Photo: Wavebreakmedia, via Shutterstock)

It is not often that dental professionals, health care providers, advocates, and legislators from both sides of the aisle all agree on an issue, but that is precisely what happened at a hearing this week on the state’s dental program for low-income children. Testimony and discussion honed in on the sobering results of a December 2014 state audit, which found that millions of children enrolled in Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) were not getting the dental care they need.

News

Poor caught in dispute over Medi-Cal reimbursements

Consumers have been complaining this year that Covered California insurance plans have doctor’s networks that are too narrow. The doctors they want to see don’t accept the insurance, they say. While a relatively new problem for California’s upper- and middle-class residents, this situation has been a problem for the poor for decades.

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