Panel: Linking Mental Illness, Violence Only Increases Stigma
A Coachella Valley high school organized a panel of local and federal law enforcement and mental health workers to talk about mass shootings and their link to mental health. In other public health news, women in LA County jail will now be able to provide their breast milk to be picked up for their children under a new program, a study looks at demographics' role in dementia and a Silicon Valley woman shares how addiction affected her family.
The Desert Sun:
Panel Weighs In On Gun Violence And Mental Health
Prompted by a series of well-publicized mass shootings, including this past December’s terrorist attack in San Bernardino that killed 14 people and injured nearly two dozen others, many local high school students have wondered why such incidents occur and whether mental health issues are to blame. (Newkirk, 2/18)
KPCC:
Los Angeles Jail Moms Can Provide Breast Milk For Their Kids In Lactation Pilot Program
Women held in the Los Angeles County Jail who are mothers of newborn infants will be allowed to lactate and provide their breast milk that can be picked up and given to their child outside the jail, under a new pilot program initiated by the Sheriff's Department. The first woman to participate in the program gave birth to a son while in the jail on Valentine's Day, said Nicole Nishida, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman. (2/18)
Payers & Providers:
A Delve Into Dementia Demographics
A new study by researchers at UC San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente has concluded that age-related dementia is more prevalent among African-Americans and Native Americans than whites and other ethnicities. Both organizations claim that the study is the most comprehensive on how dementia impacts Americans after the age of 65 based on racial background. (Shinkman, 2/18)
Contra Costa Times:
Memoir: When Drug Addiction Hits Home
D'Anne Burwell didn't see it coming. She and her husband, Bruce, were raising their two smart, athletic children in a cozy, three-bedroom ranch house on a quiet Silicon Valley street, feeling that their kids were well on their way to winning what a friend of Burwell's calls the "Bay Area lottery": good grades leading to good colleges and happy, successful lives. In elementary school, her son Jake constantly received praise from teachers for being precocious and kindhearted, Burwell recounts in her memoir "Saving Jake: When Addiction Hits Home." As he started high school, he took AP classes, played soccer and wasn't running with a partying crowd. (Ross, 2/18)