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HealthCetera, Media Engagement

Photo Credit: Colorlines.com

Photo Credit: Colorlines.com

Healthstyles, Thursday, December 15 at 11:00 PM on WBAI 99.5 FM, co-host Barbara Glickstein interviews Research Fellow Esther Portillo-Gonzales, on Applied Research Center’s (ARC) investigative report, Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System. The findings from a year long investigation by Esther Portillo-Gonzales and Seth Freed-Wessler  is still ongoing.

Some key findings from the report:

  • There are at least 5,100 children currently living in foster care who are prevented from uniting with their detained or deported parents.
  • If nothing changes, 15,000 more children may face a similar fate in the next 5 years.
  • This is a growing national problem, not one confined to border jurisdictions or states— ARC identified at least 22 states where these cases have emerged.
  • Families are more likely to be separated where local police aggressively participate in immigration enforcement.
  • Immigrant victims of domestic violence are at particular risk of losing their children
  • ICE detention obstructs participation in Child Protective Services’ plans for family unity.
  • Most child welfare departments lack systemic policies to keep families united when parents are detained or deported.

This program will be streamed live on www.wbai.org and can be listened to here.

Barbara Glickstein

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[caption id="attachment_10253" align="alignleft" width="300"] Photo Credit: Colorlines.com[/caption] Healthstyles,

HealthCetera

report-suicidal-contentOn Tuesday, December 13, Facebook, in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline,  launched a new anti-suicidal tool  that allows users in Canada and the United States to report potentially suicidal postings they see on the site.   Once the user highlights the content, the person who posted it will receive an email with a toll-free number to speak directly to a counselor or to click on a direct link to a private, online chat session with a counselor from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin commended Facebook and Lifeline for addressing suicide — which she described as one of America’s most tragic public health problems. In a statement she said that nearly 100 Americans die by suicide every day.

“We have effective treatments to help suicidal individuals regain hope and a desire to live and we know how powerful personal connections and support can be,” she said. “Therefore we as a nation must do everything we can to reach out and provide them with the help and hope needed to survive and return to productive lives with their family, friends and communities.”

This new Facebook tool appears to be the first active effort by a social media site to identify people in the midst of a mental-health crisis and get them directly to a health professional.

Science writer, Nancy Shute, blogged for NPR’s health blog, Shots, on this new anti-suicide tool and raised the issue of privacy and HIPPA regulations. She also wonders what’s next for Facebook users – “Before too long, hearty eaters could perhaps start getting referrals to Weight Watchers, or the American Diabetes Association.”

Barbara Glickstein, RN, MPH, MS co-director CHMP

 

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On Tuesday, December 13, Facebook, in collaboration

HealthCetera, Media Engagement

This post originally appeared on The Human Factor, a health blog written and edited by Senior Fellow Liz Seegert, MA. 

 

What if it was your daughter?

Suppose your 16 year-old daughter was sexually active with her boyfriend and his condom broke?  Would you want her to be able to buy the Plan B emergency contraceptive right away, or should she first have to wait for a doctor’s visit to get a prescription – by which time it might be too late to use it anyway.

planbCurrently, no one under 17 can buy the Plan B pill from a pharmacist without a prescription; young women must show proof of age. The FDA seemed about to lift that restriction and allow it to be sold openly, put on a drugstore shelf just like condoms are. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ surprisingly overruled the agency, when she put the brakes on the FDA’s plan.  Her rationale: girls younger than 17 are not be cognitively developed enough to make an informed decision without additional input from a doctor.

It’s too bad Sectretary Sebellius seems to have so little faith in 15 or 16 year olds. Who by the way, I find are much more knowledgeable and savvy about sex at that age than many of their parents were. These are kids that grew up with the Internet. They don’t necessarily wait to ask “the question” to their parents. They Google it instead.

Taking this option out from behind the pharmacist’s counter would have been a good move in helping to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I’m not advocating that young teens have sex; but let’s face reality: many do. Many are also unprepared for potential consequences.  Plan B isn’t about “just say no instead.” It’s about “It happened. Now what do I do?” For now, the pill remains behind the counter, and the restrictions remain intact.

If I had a teen daughter who was intimate with her boyfriend, I would much rather know that she has ready, easy access to emergency birth control than not take advantage of this option at all because of age restrictions.

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This post originally appeared on The Human

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