Blog

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,...

By Batya Swift Yasgur, Medscape, May 26, 2020 Roger R, MD, a primary care physician from Philadelphia, set up a telemedicine appointment with a 24-year-old female patient who was experiencing headaches and was worried she might have COVID-19. During the televisit, Dr R noticed that "Tonya" (not her real name) had a purplish bruise under her right eye. When asked how she got the bruise, Tonya said she had bumped into a dresser. The physician suspected abuse. He then heard a man's voice in the...

By Danielle A. Crosby, Julia Mendez, National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families, May 28, 2020 Cost is a key factor shaping families’ decisions about whether and when to use different types of child care arrangements for children. Recent federal guidelines suggest that affordable child care should cost no more than 7 percent of a family’s income. Yet, national analyses indicate that the average market price of formal child care (e.g., centers and licensed or regulated family...

By Pooja Lakshmin, The New York Times, May 27, 2020 After going through a harrowing bout of postpartum depression with her first child, my patient, Emily, had done everything possible to prepare for the postpartum period with her second. She stayed in treatment with me, her perinatal psychiatrist, and together we made the decision for her to continue Zoloft during her pregnancy. With the combination of medication, psychotherapy and a significant amount of planning, she was feeling confident...

By Trust for America's Health and Wellbeing Trust, May 21, 2020

Working-class people pilfering convenience-store goods is deemed “looting.” By contrast, rich folk and corporations stealing billions of dollars during their class war is considered good and necessary “public policy” — aided and abetted by arsonist politicians in Washington lighting the crime scene on fire to try to cover everything up.

Cops may shoot and kill twice as many white people as black, but there about six times as many white people as black people in the United States. Proportionally, black people are much more likely to be shot and killed by cops.

By The Staffs of Kaiser Health News and The Guardian, May 29, 2020 America’s health care workers are dying. In some states, medical staff account for as many as 20% of known coronavirus cases. They tend to patients in hospitals, treating them, serving them food and cleaning their rooms. Others at risk work in nursing homes or are employed as home health aides. Some of them do not survive the encounter. Many hospitals are overwhelmed and some workers lack protective equipment or suffer from...

From Center for Wellness and Nutrition, May 2020 COVID-19 has changed the way we live our day-to-day lives. With many experiencing uncertainties in jobs, healthcare, and support systems, navigating mental health during these times can also be stressful. As the nation struggles to adjust to a new normal in light of the COVID-19 crisis, mental health is perhaps more important than ever. During May, mental health’s value to overall wellness is highlighted as we observe Mental Health Awareness...

By Caitlin Anzelone and Emil Marano, and Ilana Brody, MDRC, May 2020 Parents are facing a host of child care challenges as they deal with the coronavirus emergency. Many essential workers need child care so they can continue to earn a wage and provide much-needed services. Other parents have relied on child care providers that are now closed, and they are struggling to balance family and job duties while they work from home. Still other parents who were working or attending school may have...

Please join us for the ongoing community discussion of A Better Normal, our ongoing series in which we envision the future as trauma-informed. College graduates across the world have been celebrating their big day virtually this month, missing out on the right of passage that marks their stepping into new realms of adult and professional life. Many students and recent graduates are feeling the negative impact of the current pandemic: being housing displaced, adjusting to virtual classrooms,...

By Rodolfo Rossi, Valentina Socci, and Francesca Pacitti, JAMA Network, May 28, 2020 Introduction Health care workers (HCWs) involved in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are exposed to high levels of stressful or traumatic events and express substantial negative mental health outcomes,1 including stress-related symptoms and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia. In this cross-sectional study, we report on mental health outcomes among HCWs in Italy. Methods This...