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From an old ambulance, they help the growing homeless population
Ginny Monk, The Connecticut Mirror, May 25
Driving around in a refurbished ambulance, Hartford HealthCare’s Neighborhood Health team is out almost every day, visiting shelters and encampments to provide health care to those experiencing homelessness. People often have multiple diagnoses, and with older age groups, there are often health complications that make illnesses or injuries harder to treat. Their work is helping save lives though. One man they treated had to have both legs amputated due to frostbite from living outside in the winter. Because he was unable to pay for nursing home care, he was going to be sent back to live on the street with no legs. Neighborhood Health stepped in and got him into a rehabilitation facility, where he is now learning to use his prosthetic legs.
Churches seeing spike in worries about Medicaid, Social Security cuts
News 12 Staff, News 12 Connecticut, May 25
A Bridgeport pastor says he and other clergy are seeing a “dramatic rise” in the number of people worried about losing Medicaid and Social Security benefits. Charlie Stallworth, of the East End Tabernacle, says he is part of a coalition of religious leaders who have reported that churchgoers are coming to them with concerns about potential cuts to the programs. “The mindset is, ‘Will I have coverage? What’s going to happen if I get sick or I already have an illness? What’s going to happen? Can I continue to see my doctor?’ And it’s not this time a matter of choosing, whether it’s Obamacare or not, but this is a matter of something versus nothing,” Stallworth said.
GOP’s ‘beautiful’ bill endangers Black women’s health
Jennifer Porter Gore, Word in Black, May 22
A bill that passed in the House of Representatives earlier this month slashes $700 billion from Medicaid, which provides health care for one in three Black women. It also effectively defunds Planned Parenthood, which has helped nearly half of all Black women look after their reproductive health. The Medicaid cuts will prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid-eligible reimbursements for many of its services, including birth control, testing for sexually-transmitted infections, and cancer screenings. Sixty-four percent of Planned Parenthood’s health centers are in rural and medically underserved communities.
A big Trump administration cutback went nearly unnoticed
Sabrina Malhi, The Washington Post, May 27
At the Perry Hill Family Free Clinic in Madison, Wisconsin, the employees have a tradition of cheering when a patient walks in, celebrating them for keeping their appointments. There, the patients have their medical, dental, and mental health visits scheduled, meet with a doctor, and receive follow-ups with resources for food, housing or insurance. That kind of personal attention, often missing from health care, was abruptly eliminated last month due to layoffs at AmeriCorps. More than 32,000 members and volunteers were terminated as a result of sweeping federal budget cuts.
Study finds a steep drop in mothers’ mental health
Catherine Pearson, The New York Times, May 27
A new study found that the mental health of mothers in the United States declined significantly from 2016 to 2023. The percentage of mothers who rated their mental health as poor increased during that period, particularly those who were single parents or whose children were covered by Medicaid or uninsured. Experts say there are a number of factors that are likely hurting maternal mental health, including high costs of housing, increasing child care costs, and soaring food prices.