In Brief: CDPH Creates Ebola Hotline; Many Latino Children Have Issues Accessing Healthcare

CDPH Creates Ebola Hotline

The California Department of Public Health has established a telephone hotline to deal with inquiries related to the Ebola virus.

“Our goal is to be available to eliminate the mystery of this disease and offer the facts to Californians as the situation evolves,” said CDPH Director Ron Chapman, M.D. “This is one in a series of steps we have taken in the last few months.”

The nation has been shaken with the diagnosis of three Ebola cases in Texas over the past month, all related to a Liberian national who contracted the virus back in Africa. He later infected two nurses who cared for him at a Dallas hospital.

There have been no cases of the deadly virus diagnosed in California. Two patients who were suspected of having the virus were ruled out after extensive testing. The CDPH has maintained it is prepared should there be any cases that occur within the state.

The toll-free hotline number, 855-421-5921, will be in operation from 8  a.m. to 5 p.m. p.m. Monday through Friday, CDPH officials said.

Many Latino Children Have Issues Accessing Healthcare Services

Latino children in California who live in households where Spanish is the primary language have a much harder time accessing healthcare services than children who live in primarily English-speaking households.

The study by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health focused on the state's 4.7 million Latino children, who represent about half of the kids in the Golden State.

The study concluded that 34.4% of Latino children in households where English is spoken as the primary language received at least the minimum standard for healthcare services. By comparison, just 14.9% of children in households where Spanish is the primary language had access to at least the minimum of healthcare services (among white children, the rate is 43.7%).

The study correlated the stark differences to the fact that 

“Health is such a critical component of future success for California’s Latino children. If they don’t achieve their full potential, it will be a terrible economic burden for the state,” said Fernando Mendoza, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and one of the health experts consulted for the study. “This study shows the need to develop policies that improve access to health care, address language and cultural barriers to better health, and ameliorate the harmful health effects caused by poverty.”

Union Sues Prime Over Daughters of Charity Sale

The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West has filed suit against Ontario-based Prime Healthcare Services over its planned acquisition of the six-hospital Daughters of Charity system.

The suit claims that pensions for employees represented by the union would be jeopardized by a sale to Prime.