One out of four New Yorkers doesn't speak or understand complex sentences in English. But at some point in their lives, every one of them will need to see a doctor. Language barriers can result in misdiagnoses, medication errors, and potentially fatal mistakes that are costly for both patients and providers. For this reason, hospitals in New York are required to provide "meaningful language access" to all patients. But in a city where more than 140 different languages are spoken, this is no easy task.
A Crisis in Caring: California's School Nursing Shortage focuses on the critical shortage of school nurses in Northern California, and its impact on students, teachers, parents and whole communities. California's top leaders, local physicians and students with chronic illnesses weigh in on the crisis.
HIV/AIDS is an emerging public health problem in the Asian community in the United States. Rong Xiaoqing, a recipient of the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, examines its impact for the Chinese-language publication Sing Tao Daily.
Part 2: Cultural tradition traps Chinese elder-abuse victims in U.S.
The Women, Infants and Children Program provides food vouchers and nutritional education to low income families. California runs the biggest WIC program in the nation -- 60 percent of all infants born in this state are enrolled in it. Now, the program's changing the kinds of food it recommends. Reporter: Rachel Dornhelm
aired on http://www.californiareport.org/
Serious depression is a growing problem for multicultural seniors. But unlike older whites, ethnic people 50-plus are blocked from treatment by poverty, limited or no insurance, lack of programs geared for them—and the stigma of mental problems that permeates many cultures. New America media senior editor Paul Kleyman begins his occasional series on mental challenges for ethnic seniors with this article on treatable depression.
In California alone, nearly 4 million working people lack health insurance. Many of them are young, educated professionals who freelance or work part time. These are the invisible uninsured, our neighbors and friends. Often, lacking health care is their uncomfortable secret.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll hear some of the stories of this group. Today, KALW’s Zoe Corneli reports on educated young adults who make the choice to live without health insurance.
Immigration reform is in the air once again - with President Obama saying the issue will be tackled next year. Join Health Dialogues as we look at what it's like for undocumented and seasonal workers to get health care under the current system, and how immigration reform could change things.
Conversation about health care reform is heating up in Washington. Here in California, we hear from health care providers, patient advocates, employers, insurers and others across the state about how they would tackle this issue.
Polly Stryker, Senior Producer on Health Dialogues
The state Inspector General’s Office will issue a report on the quality of prison medical care in California by the end of the year. It’ll include a summary of inspections at 11 state prisons. The report will help a federal judge determine when to return control of prison medical care to the state. KPCC’s Julie Small has looked over some of the preliminary scores.
In hopes of reducing the national cost of health care, the Congressional Budget Office will produce a report with options to help save money.
