A roundup of recent newspaper stories about children's health...
Monday, March 19:
Opinion:
Dental Care May Be Most Important Need for Kids
This San Jose Mercury News opinion piece by Steve Wiegand supports a bill
introduced by Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, that would extend
dental health care for uninsured children. Weigand notes that many California
kids suffer in pain without dental care. The bill would lift a cap on
per-child spending for state dental insurance, extend screenings, and
offer more prevention methods. (SJ Mercury, 3/10/07, by Wiegand)
Youth
Summit Encourages Alternatives to Gang Participation
About 300 youth attended a summit last weekend in East Palo Alto that
included a series of panels with ex-gang members, youth, and police officers
to encourage kids to stay away from gangs. The event was organized in
response to a rise in gang violence in East Palo Alto since the beginning
of this year. (SJ Mercury, 3/11/07, by Bohan)
Study:
Low Birth Weight Girls at Higher Risk for Depression
Researchers have shown that girls who weighed less than 5.5 pounds at
birth are more than four times as likely to develop depression in their
adolescent years as their normal birth weight peers. They suggest that
parents and pediatricians of low birth weight girls should be on the lookout
for mental health changes around puberty. (LA Times, 3/12/07, by Brink)
Hospice
Programs Help Families of Dying Infants
While many parents opt to terminate a pregnancy when they learn the fetus
has a fatal condition, others turn to perinatal hospice programs. The
programs help families prepare for the newborn’s death by providing
practical and emotional support to try to give parents some control over
an event that may be overwhelming. (NY Times, 3/14/07, by Banerjee)
Spending
on Seniors Inhibits Funding for Kids, Report Says
An increase in spending on seniors is limiting the federal government's
ability to invest in children's programs, including health insurance,
according to a study by the Urban Institute. Researchers noted that spending
for senior services such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is
expected to increase 2 percent in the coming years, while spending on
children will decrease 0.5 percent. (USA Today, 3/14/07, by Wolf)
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