Texas health program served more low-income women, but improvement since funding cuts is unclear, By Jackie Wang, April 27, 2018, Dallas News: “A new report shows more people enrolled in a health program for low-income women in 2017, but it doesn’t show if the numbers are an improvement over the years before funding was cut. According to a Texas Health and Human Services Commission report published Thursday, Healthy Texas Women increased its total number of clients served from 70,336 in 2016 to 122,406 in 2017. The Family Planning Program increased its clients from 38,404 in 2016 to 96,990 in 2017. Overall, Texas served 29 percent more women in one year…”
Category: Health
Families and the Opioid Crisis
- Keeley and the Vial, By Rich Lord, April 30, 2018, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Keeley Ashbaugh puts one hand on the arm of the couch, another on the electric fireplace, and pushes up with her thin arms so that her feet are inches off the floor. And then, because 8-year-olds don’t stay still, she swings her feet back, forward, back, forward, all the while babbling about a relative’s kitten, which is, oddly, named Puppy…”
- Opioids swamping child welfare system, By Rich Lord, April 30, 2018, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “First came an anonymous tip that a young girl was living in a building with no utilities. When police arrived at the boarded-up apartment on East Warrington Avenue, in Allentown, they saw no sign that anyone was inside, and no clear way in. A half-hour later on that September morning last year, though, another call reported an overdose at that address. Medics busted in, and revived Connie Hartwick, 46, from a heroin overdose, according to a police affidavit…”
- In rural areas hit hard by opioids, a new source of hope, By Jen Fifield, April 30, 2018, Stateline: “For people addicted to opioids, the first time in detox isn’t necessarily the last. For Brian Taylor, the second time wasn’t the last, either — nor was the third, fourth or fifth. The sixth time, though, was different. It has been nearly 17 months since Taylor, 33, walked out of his last treatment at the Withdrawal Management Center in Harrington, Delaware, and he hasn’t used drugs since. If the detox center hadn’t been so accessible — just 20 miles from where he was living, in the small town of Seaford — he said he may have lost his children, his family and even his life…”
Kids Count Report – Delaware
Study: Almost half of Delaware children experience trauma, stress, By Meredith Newman, May 1, 2018, News Journal: “Almost half of Delaware children experience some type of traumatic or stressful moment growing up that could influence a child’s overall health, according to a new study. The annual Kids Count report, released Tuesday, found that 48 percent of kids in Delaware experience one or more adverse childhood experiences, slightly higher than that the national average of 46 percent…”