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Posted inDATA, DEVELOP PGH, ECONOMY & HOUSING, Equity, HEALTH, On the beat, posts
A third of U.S. children are raised by single parents
More than a third of the country’s children were being raised by a single parent last year, according to new data released by KIDS COUNT, a project of the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Posted inDATA, Equity, HEALTH, IN-DEPTH, PUBLIC SAFETY, Troubled kids, powerful drugs
State won’t disclose names of doctors prescribing in youth corrections
VIDEO The state defied an Office of Open Records ruling and took the matter to court to conceal the names of doctors prescribing to kids confined in its six correctional facilities.
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services insisted the physicians who care for and prescribe to the state’s most chronic or violent youth offenders would be endangered if their names were made public.
Posted inDATA, Equity, HEALTH, IN-DEPTH, PUBLIC SAFETY, Troubled kids, powerful drugs
Where’s the oversight of psychiatric meds for PA youth offenders?
VIDEO Pennsylvania is lagging when it comes to tracking the powerful psychiatric medications kids get in the state’s youth correctional facilities.
While other states have reformed the way they control and track such medications so that it is done systemwide, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services follows only the total amount paid for the drugs prescribed in its six facilities on a systemic basis.
Posted inDATA, Equity, HEALTH, IN-DEPTH, PUBLIC SAFETY, Troubled kids, powerful drugs
PA juvenile offenders given psychiatric drugs at high rates
VIDEO Thousands of at-risk kids lived in six state-operated youth development centers and forestry camps from 2007 through 2013. Within the razor wire — or dense tree lines in forestry camps — psychiatric medications are flowing, despite the potential consequences to the developing brains and bodies of kids.
Posted inEquity, HEALTH, Local Government, On the beat, posts
State budget delays impacting public health efforts
The disagreements and delays in the state Capitol over the annual budget aren’t simply political games. Some believe it’s directly affecting the health and welfare of many Pennsylvanians.
Posted inHEALTH, On the beat, posts
ER visits for dental crises doubled in 12 years
The number of emergency room visits by people in need of critical dental care doubled between 2000 and 2012, and the nation’s new healthcare law doesn’t appear to be chipping away at the problem yet.
Posted inDATA, Equity, HEALTH, PUBLIC SAFETY, Troubled kids, powerful drugs
Troubled kids, powerful drugs
PublicSource built a database of the medications ordered by the six state-operated youth correctional facilities from 2007 through 2013.
The high-security system has been shrinking over the last decade, but the facilities remain to take the state’s most chronic or violent juvenile offenders.
Use this tool to search through the psychotropic drugs prescribed to youth offenders in the state facilities.
Posted inEquity, HEALTH, On the beat, posts
Governor’s budget emphasizes home health care for state’s seniors
In the state budget released today by Gov. Tom Wolf, there is a promise of access to home health care services for at least 5,500 senior Pennsylvanians.
A priority for the fourth “oldest” state, Wolf said his plan includes speeding up the approval process for home health care and making programs for home improvements and modifications more accessible to older residents.
Posted inEquity, On the beat, posts
$2 billion in disability benefits shouldn’t have been paid
A Social Security inspector general’s report uncovered an estimated $2 billion in inappropriate disability benefit payouts over seven years.
