{"id":30130,"date":"2020-12-21T15:53:56","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T23:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=30130"},"modified":"2020-12-21T15:53:56","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T23:53:56","slug":"county-plugs-in-health-care-gaps-as-covid-19-surges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=30130","title":{"rendered":"COUNTY PLUGS IN HEALTH-CARE GAPS AS COVID-19 SURGES"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by\u00a0Mark Hedin<\/a><\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0Dec 21, 2020<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0COVID-19<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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From left to right: Anna Gorman, Director, Community Partnerships & Programs, LA County Department of Health Services; Miriam Brown, Deputy Director, Emergency Outreach & Triage Division, LA County Department of Mental Health; Sherri Cheatham, Chief, Medi-Cal & In-Home Supportive Services Program Division, LA County Department of Public Social Services<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Undocumented? Impoverished? How to get the care you need<\/p>\n

By Mark Hedin, Ethnic Media Services<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the COVID pandemic setting new records almost daily for the number of people dying or hospitalized, Los Angeles County officials met with ethnic media members to spread the word about programs to expand health care to everyone, at little or no cost and without consideration of immigration status, or sometimes even identities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the middle of the worst surge,\u201d said Anna Gorman, community partnerships and programs director for the county Department of Health Services. Hospital admissions in the county doubled in the past few weeks to the point that, \u201cToday (Dec. 17), across all hospitals in the county, there are fewer than 100 (66) ICU (intensive care unit) beds open, and 346 total.\u201d At DHS\u2019s four hospitals, she said, there were only 18 ICU beds open.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really an untenable situation,\u201d she said, and cited long waits in emergency rooms, or to be taken from ambulances, challenges in having space and staff enough to do the medical work, record numbers of deaths, and more.
\nGorman is director of My Health LA (https:\/\/dhs.lacounty.gov\/my-health-la\/<\/a>), a DHS program aiming to fill the biggest gap in keeping the community healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter ACA (Obamacare), one population group that didn\u2019t get covered is the undocumented,\u201d she said. MediCal is California\u2019s system within the ACA, and it covers kids. But for those who don\u2019t have health insurance or don\u2019t qualify for ACA but live in Los Angeles County, there\u2019s My Health LA. Neighboring Orange County is not as fortunate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not ask for documentation status or immigration status,\u201d Gorman said.<\/p>\n

There are more than 200 clinic sites (https:\/\/dhs.lacounty.gov\/our-locations<\/a>), large and small, where patients can enroll. Upon deciding which one is best for them, clients will have access to the facility for a year and can return for a range of services, from medications, follow-up and preventive care, lab tests, equipment, dental and mental health care and substance abuse treatment. COVID-19 tests, too, although there are still 180 testing sites around the county, she said. DHS has also started an at-home testing collection service and mobile testing.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not sure if you are eligible for My Health LA, call (877) 333-4952 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Fridays.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a society, we need to make sure that people have somewhere to go,\u201d Gorman said. In response to the pandemic and a frustrating drop in enrollment, the program now allows people to enroll or re-enroll by phone.<\/p>\n

Also, in July, MyHealthLA added an array of mental health services (http:\/\/dhs.lacounty.gov\/mhla<\/a>), at the clinics themselves, as a preferable option to making referrals to other providers.<\/p>\n

Miriam Brown, deputy director of the Department of Mental Health, DPH\u2019s partner in the new My Health LA program, touted her department\u2019s ability to go out into the community to meet its clients\u2019 needs.
\nIn part, that\u2019s been by ramping up its by-phone accessibility.<\/p>\n

The department\u2019s access line, (800) 854-7771, is open all day, every day and can field calls in all principal languages found in the county, she said. Callers don\u2019t even have to give their names, and no data about them is collected.<\/p>\n

And \u201cWe don\u2019t ask for insurance or immigration status,\u201d Brown emphasized.<\/p>\n

Brown said there\u2019s been an increase in callers experiencing depression to the point of contemplating suicide, increased substance abuse and growing stress levels from schools being closed and the demands that puts on children and their families who lose campus-based connections with people trained to spot and address their needs. Isolation, too, has taken a toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re struggling,\u201d Brown urged, \u201cAsk to speak with somebody!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who had been struggling prior to the pandemic, have been hit really hard,\u201d Sherri Cheatham, who is chief of Medi-Cal and In-Home Supportive Services for the Department of Public Social Services, said next.<\/p>\n

As of last month, she said, DPSS had helped more than 3.2 million Angelenos with Medi-Cal benefits including \u201coutpatient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, preventative and wellness care, chronic disease management, mental health and substance abuse disorder services, prescription services and dental services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent legislation has expanded the availability of the full range of Medi-Cal services to undocumented immigrant children younger than 19 and young adults up to 25, Cheatham said.<\/p>\n

Callers can apply for benefits at any time at:\u00a0https:\/\/dpss.lacounty.gov\/en\/customer-service.html<\/a>\u00a0or by phoning (866) 613-3777 during the call center\u2019s newly expanded hours: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays. Call agents speak up to 10 languages and have access to speakers in others<\/p>\n

DPSS is \u201clooking for all ways of letting the community know that we\u2019re here for them,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause of the pandemic, we realized that there are a record number of people who have become unemployed or had their hours reduced,\u201d she said, and many may unknowingly now qualify for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here for them and we\u2019re committed to helping them,\u201d she said. \u201cI encourage all of you to stay connected with us. Don\u2019t assume that you may not qualify. Apply!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Mark Hedin\u00a0|\u00a0Dec 21, 2020\u00a0|\u00a0COVID-19 From left...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30131,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30130\/revisions\/30131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}