January 2017

Nevada County is participating in a National initiative called Stepping Up, aimed at addressing the issue of mental illness in jail. Stepping Up is a National initiative to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jail, according to its website. Each year, there are an estimated 2 million people with serious mental illnesses admitted to jails across the nation. That’s equivalent to the populations of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Almost three-fourths of these adults also...

Since it opened 50 years ago, the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic has been a refuge for everyone from flower children to famous rock stars to Vietnam War veterans returning home addicted to heroin. Strolling through the clinic, one of the first of its kind in the nation, founder Dr. David Smith points to a large collage that decorates a wall of an exam room affectionately referred to as the Psychedelic Wall of Fame. Fundamentally, Smith and others say, the organization has remained true...

An invisible disease has been killing middle-aged white people throughout the southern San Joaquin Valley at higher rates than ever before. The disease can’t be detected by a blood test or remedied with a prescription. It’s been referred to as one of the country’s greatest unaddressed public health crises and a rising “epidemic of white death.” The disease is toxic stress, a result of childhood trauma and other environmental stressors like poverty, food insecurity and basic living needs not...

HOUSTON — Donning a protective gown, rubber gloves and a face mask, Dayna Gurley looks like she’s heading into surgery. But Gurley is a medical social worker charged with figuring out why her client, a man who uses more health care services than almost anyone else in Houston, has been in three different hospitals in the last month. The patient, who asked not to be identified, has chronic massive ulcers, AIDS and auditory hallucinations. He rents a cot in another person’s home but is more...

The Collaborative is pleased to share three policy briefs on the impact of ACEs in the health, justice, and education systems including promising practices and recommended actions for change. These briefs were developed by members of the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative—system leaders in Illinois who are working from an ACEs-informed lens to improve systems to prevent and mitigate trauma across generations. Rooted in social justice, these briefs are a call to action to move upstream,...

In 2015, 5,545 children in San Francisco, CA, were reported to have experienced abuse. Of those, the reports of 753 children were substantiated. The expense to San Francisco for not preventing that abuse will cost $400,533 per child over his or her lifetime. That adds up to $301.6 million for just that one year, according to “ The Economics of Child Abuse: A Study of San Francisco.” And, because child abuse is profoundly underreported, the costs are likely to be as much as $5.6 billion/year,...

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is soliciting proposals for the facilitation of California’s three (3) Citizen Review Panels to evaluate the Child Welfare System (CWS), prevention of child abuse and neglect, and critical incidents at the state and local level. CRPs are federally mandated and are designed to promote government accountability, as well as encourage engagement with communities and stakeholders in the work of CDSS. The RFP does not require consideration of...

San Francisco Police Commission President Suzy Loftus resigned Tuesday, leaving the oversight board without a powerful voice amid a sustained push for reforms in the police force. Loftus is joining the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department as assistant chief legal counsel for the law and policy team, and Sheriff Vicki Hennessy determined the role could create conflicts of interest with the duties of a police commissioner. Wednesday will be Loftus’ final meeting after almost five years on the...

In California, childcare for infants costs as much as tuition in the University of California (UC) system, according to new data from the Lucile Packard Foundation of Children’s Health. In 2014, parents of infants in California spent an average of more than $13,300 on childcare. That year, UC tuition and fees were just over $13,200. Achievement gaps start early. According to a report this year from the Economic Policy Institute , children from more affluent backgrounds tend to perform better...

Marin County residents enjoy longer lives on average than residents of any other county in California, and Trinity County residents tend to die younger than anywhere else, according to data from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Last year, the researchers ranked 57 of California’s 58 counties according to longevity, attributing the varying rates to such factors as residents’ access to health care, the quality of care, levels of...

Solano County is becoming a healthier place to live, learn, work and play thanks to the work of many in our community and a federal grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These federal funds have planted seeds throughout the county and in more than 35 other communities around the nation. The lessons we are learning and the unique projects we have started are expected to improve our nation’s health for years to come. For Solano County, being part of this type of...

California, home to the largest foster care population in the country, has publicly declared its intention to pursue the use of so-called “predictive analytics” to foresee and presumably prevent child abuse. California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Deputy Director Greg Rose, who oversees the state’s foster care system, says that the state’s new predictive risk modeling project is designed to give social workers better information about past child welfare cases when they first field a...