Article by: Aisling Carroll Katherine Haynes, senior program officer at the California Health Care Foundation, and Dr. Mini Swift, vice president of population health at Alameda Health System, attend a Community of Practice meeting in Oakland. CAPH is posting this on behalf of our partner organization the California Health Care Safety Net Institute. The evolution of Alameda Health System’s equity journey, and the support of peers “We have experience addressing disparity gaps in some areas, such as our BElovedBIRTH Black Centering program,” said Dr. Mini Swift, vice president of population ..read more

Across California, long lines of people who waited for COVID-19 tests mirrored those eager for food. Whether a retail clerk in Compton, an undocumented farmworker in Salinas, or someone experiencing homelessness in San Jose, these residents have had crushing and inseparable medical and non-medical needs throughout the pandemic. COVID-19 has disproportionally impacted them in every way. For two and a half years, millions of people, many of whom face financial hardship and complex health issues, have been safeguarded, supported, and cared for by those working at the core of the state’s health c ..read more

The California Health Care Safety Net Institute (SNI), CAPH’s partner, recently launched a new initiative to advance public health care systems’ efforts to dismantle racism and improve health equity. As major safety net providers in communities of color, California’s public health care systems have long focused on health equity. However, the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on racial and ethnic groups and the racial unrest of 2020 have further exposed the need to address structural racism in more deliberate and meaningful ways. The Racial Equity Community of Practice is an 18-m ..read more

Millions of people in California, many of whom face financial hardships and complex health issues, have been safeguarded, supported, and cared for by those working at public health care systems since the COVID-19 pandemic began. RUHS – Medical Center health care worker with a COVID-19 patient. Photo Credit: RUHS – Medical Center. Our blog series, funded by the California Health Care Foundation, captures the remarkable stories of nurses, doctors, medical assistants, and community health workers at 10 public health care systems who went above and beyond to care for patients in greatest need. Pat ..read more

Article by: Aisling Carroll A clinical team at Kern Medical tends to a patient. Photo credit: CAPH/Kern Medical. Since the pandemic began, residents of Kern County have landed inside Kern Medical in non-stop numbers. And it’s not just due to contracting COVID-19, which has been consistently higher here than in other parts of the state. In a continuous cascade of cases, people are rushed to the hospital’s Trauma Center. They’ve crashed in motor vehicle accidents, attempted suicide, or were the victims of violence and domestic abuse. “A lot of terrible things have happened in our county that peo ..read more

Article by: Aisling Carroll Disaster service workers from the County of Santa Clara check a client’s temperature. Photo credit: County of Santa Clara Health System. For five years, David’s hammock was his home along San Jose’s Guadalupe River. He previously lived on a boat in the Berkeley Marina before his fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome made him too sick to work as a network architect and contractor. Unable to pay the docking fees and not wanting to burden his family, he moved into the hammock with two sleeping bags and a foam pad. “Homelessness beats you up. It’s like you’re a boxe ..read more

Article by: Aisling Carroll Marmie Williamson after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine at The Forum in Inglewood in January 2021. The Forum was one of Los Angeles County’s mass vaccination sites. Photo credit: Mayra Beltran Vasquez/County of Los Angeles. A patient was on the phone with Dr. Atul Nakhasi, internist at Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Outpatient Center in Los Angeles, after a routine surgery in the summer of 2021. She was recovering well, and she didn’t want anything to mess with that. The vaccine for COVID-19 might, she thought. Similar to the hundreds of conversations he’s had with othe ..read more

Article By: Aisling Carroll Photo Credit: © 2006 Nancy NehringA “co-conspirator” in Merced County Merced County’s leading cause of death in 2020 was the coronavirus, tragically exemplifying just how hard many of the Central Valley’s rural, low-income and vulnerable residents have been hit by Covid-19. According to The Lancet, there is a “co-conspirator” in areas disproportionately impacted like Merced: diabetes. This complex chronic illness has shown Merced that it’s not limited to causing heart attacks, strokes, amputations, blindness and premature death; diabetes can also crater a patient’s ..read more

Photo: Contra Costa Health Services Public health care systems have been leaders in vaccinating communities of color, low-wage essential workers, and other populations that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, the California Health Care Safety Net Institute (SNI) interviewed 35 vaccine administration leaders across California’s public health care systems to better understand what led to their success. In the report, we share three key strategies, including practical tips and 27 real-world examples, of how public health care systems have increased vaccinatio ..read more

Article By: Aisling Carroll Clinicians from Natividad Medical Center meet with farmworkers in Monterey County about COVID-19. Photo Credit: Natividad Medical Center.Meeting in Fields and Parking Lots Alongside some of the highest-producing fields in the world, Dr. Erika Romero, a medical resident at Natividad Medical Center used to a gleaming hospital floor underfoot, stood on an outdoor gravel parking lot in Monterey County’s Salinas Valley. She spoke with a group of farmworkers who had stopped cutting cauliflower and bagging lettuce to talk about Covid-19. This was Natividad’s first coronavi ..read more