CHLA Looks to Boost Diabetes Care for Teens

0

Teens and young adults with diabetes are the demographic least likely to seek a doctor’s care to treat the condition, which overall costs Americans close to $240 billion each year, according to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Inc.

Jennifer Raymond, clinical diabetes director at the East Hollywood hospital, is looking to make inroads with younger diabetes patients and was awarded a $1.4 million grant to expand a team approach to encourage the population to seek more medical care.

“We need to focus on improving the care we provide before we ask families to give up their time to come to clinic,” Raymond, who is also an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, said in a statement.

Raymond’s Team Clinic model, which she honed for six years at a health care clinic in Colorado, encourages young patients with diabetes to meet with each other in addition to seeing their physician.

The group meetings not only empower patients with Type 1 diabetes to become more involved with their health care, she said, but make for more satisfied adolescents and young adults.

This encourages them to comply with a federally recommended four doctor visits a year – and helps patients better manage chronic diabetes.

The grant, given by an undisclosed donor, will allow Raymond to develop an online toolbox to share the Team Clinic approach with other hospitals and clinics.

• • •

DOCS SIGN UP FOR DISASTER RELIEF

An Israeli disaster relief network launched an outreach program last month in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, and it’s finding traction among doctors in the regions.

The IsraAID Humanitarian Professionals Network expanded its reach into the United States by offering Americans training and a chance to respond to disasters that range from wildfires in California to refugee response across the world.

Two events leading up to the official Jan. 10 program launch drew nearly 50 doctors who said they’d join the global disaster relief network, which has deployed to 49 countries with current relief efforts in 19 nations.

“IsraAID will make Los Angeles more secure by leveraging their unique expertise in disaster response to train professionals in our community,” said Los Angeles Councilman Paul Koretz, in a statement.

The 18-year-old international nongovernmental organization based in Tel Aviv trains doctors, dentists, nurses, engineers and mental health professionals in disaster response and sends them around the world to help save lives.

In the United States last year, IsraAID provided humanitarian relief in California, Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Puerto Rico. IsraAID also deploys on international missions to disaster areas that span from refugee crises in Greece, Kenya and Bangladesh to violence in Uganda and cyclones in Vanuatu.

• • •

BOARD LOOKS FOR BEDS

A Los Angeles County hospital bed shortage for mental health patients prompted the County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 22 to direct the Department of Mental Health to look at potential sites and funding options to increase supply.

“For far too long, mental health hospital beds have dwindled, leaving a significant number of patients and their families without access to appropriate care,” Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement.

Supervisor Hilda Solis joined Barger in calling for action to increase the county’s supply of beds for mental health patients.

The wait time for placement in one of five state mental hospitals is one year, Barger said. In California, the number of nonstate mental hospitals has dropped to 144 in 2016, from 181 in 1995, resulting in a loss of 2,651 nonstate beds.

In Los Angeles County, there are 22.7 beds per 100,000 residents, less than half the number recommended by mental health experts.

• • •

KIMMEL COMMENCEMENT

Jimmy Kimmel is set to deliver the keynote commencement address at USC’s Keck School of Medicine in May, strengthening ties between the talk show host and the medical community, for which he has been a staunch advocate.

The May 11 ceremony at the USC Galen Center will honor 190 program graduates.

“Jimmy Kimmel is a powerful advocate of health care and has helped raise awareness of critical issues, while putting a high-profile face to the many families that undergo health crises of their own,” said Laura Mosqueda, dean of the Keck School and professor of family medicine, in a statement.

Kimmel became an outspoken advocate for robust health care programs after his newborn son was treated for a heart condition at Children’s Hospital L.A. in 2017. Children’s Hospital also honored Kimmel last year for his advocacy.

Staff reporter Dana Bartholomew can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8333.

No posts to display