State Highlights: Money Hinders Push For Mental Health Urgent Care Clinics In Massachusetts; Calif. Drinking Water Contaminated With Carcinogenic Toxins From Wildfires

WBUR: Urgent Care On Demand, Except This Time For Mental Health
There are just a handful of clinics in Massachusetts where patients can get mental health care on demand and few examples around the country. Eight states are testing a free-standing community center model. Some hospitals are developing walk-in care for addiction during the opioid epidemic, which may include treatment for anxiety and depression. CVS and Walgreen's, two of the largest retail clinic networks, do not offer mental health care. (Bebinger, 4/19)

The Associated Press: Cancer-Causing Chemical Taints Water After California Blaze
The drinking water in Paradise, California, where 85 people died last year in the nation’s worst wildfire in a century, is contaminated with the cancer-causing chemical benzene, officials said. Officials said they believe the contamination happened after the November firestorm created a toxic combination of gases in burning homes that got sucked into the water pipes as residents and firefighters drew water heavily, the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported Thursday. (4/18)

Seattle Times: King County Cutting, Revamping Low-Income Maternity And Nutrition Services
Faced with dwindling participation, King County will seek to revamp how it delivers maternity support and nutrition services to low-income women and infants throughout the region, county Executive Dow Constantine said in his State of the County speech Thursday. The programs, which are administered through county public-health centers, have seen participation decline by more than 35 percent in recent years and need to cut 50 to 55 positions — about 20 percent of their workforce, said Keith Seinfeld, a spokesman for Public Health – Seattle and King County. (Gutman, 4/17)

Denver Post: Kaiser Permanente Starts Negotiations With Union After Colorado Cuts
Kaiser Permanente, a health care company with roughly 7,000 employees in Colorado, began negotiations on new contracts with union workers in Colorado and six other states on Thursday. The new contracts would affect 85,000 health care workers across the country and roughly 3,500 in Colorado, Ron Ruggiero, president of Colorado’s chapter of the Service Employee International Union, said. The union is hoping to improve employee benefits and limit the number of jobs that can be outsourced and automated. (Barnett, 4/18)

Seattle Times: Homeless Man In King County Diagnosed With Hepatitis A 
King County public-health officials are urging vigilance after a local man who was living on the streets was diagnosed with the highly contagious hepatitis A virus. The man, who is in his 40s, was hospitalized following a contagious period that lasted from March 25 to April 16. Public Health – Seattle and King County officials are providing vaccinations to people at homeless shelters, day centers, meal services and unsanctioned camps where the man was known to spend time, as well as cleaning assistance. (Coleman, 4/18)

Georgia Health News: Hepatitis A And E. Coli Outbreaks Continue To Beset Georgia
Hepatitis A cases continue to surge in Georgia, with 31 more cases reported since about a week ago, Public Health officials said Wednesday. ...Georgia is one of 18 states currently experiencing a large number of cases of the highly contagious liver infection. GHN first reported on the Georgia hepatitis A surge last month. (Miller, 4/18)

KCUR: Many Kansas Babies Still Aren't Sleeping Safely. Here's What Families Should Know. 
Many Kansas families may not be following safe sleep practices meant to cut down the risk that infants could die in their sleep. The first survey of its kind in the state found four in five new mothers said their babies sleep primarily on their backs. ...In recent years, nearly 20 percent of infant deaths in Kansas fell into this category, which includes sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. Many factors appear to play into SIDS. But pediatricians have reached a broad consensus after studying those and other sleep-related deaths that certain sleep positions and bedding come with higher risks. (Llopis-Jepsen, 4/19)

KCUR: With $10 Million Gift, Truman Medical Centers Launches Campaign To Modernize Its NICU 
Buoyed by the biggest gift in its history, $10 million from the Sunderland Foundation, Truman Medical Centers on Thursday launched an ambitious campaign to raise nearly $19 million to upgrade its neonatal intensive care unit. The push to modernize and expand Truman's NICU has locked in pledges of $14 million, according to hospital officials. That includes additional commitments of $2.5 million from the Hall Family Foundation and other contributors such as Waddell and Reed CEO Phil Sanders, the president of Truman’s board. (Margolies, 4/18)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cuyahoga County Jail Warden Indicted, Ordered Body Cameras Shut Off During Inmate Death Investigation, Prosecutors Say
Demoted Cuyahoga County Jail Warden Eric Ivey was indicted Thursday for ordering corrections officers to turn off their body cameras during an investigation into the death of an inmate and lying to investigators, prosecutors say. Ivey, 53, was singled out in a damning November U.S. Marshals Service report as someone who facilitated civil rights violations of inmates at the jail where eight inmates died in 2018. (Ferrise, 4/18)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Union Representing Some Nurses At Cuyahoga County Jails Allege Unfair Labor Practices
The president of AFSCME Ohio Council 8 accused Cuyahoga County leaders Thursday of firing unionized medical staff at the county jails without due process and of unfair labor practices. John Lyall made the accusations in a letter to County Council President Dan Brady, responding to a letter Brady sent to another union leader Wednesday regarding nurses at the jails. (Astolfi, 4/18)

Pioneer Press: MN Hopes To Continue Pilot Program To Treat Mental Illness And Addiction 
People struggling with mental illness also often face problems with addiction and other challenges, but getting comprehensive treatment can be tough. Patients would typically need to visit more than one clinician for help with problems like mental illness and substance abuse. A pilot program in Minnesota and seven other states has had success locating multiple types of treatments under one roof, but it is at risk of ending. Congress and the state Legislature cleared the way in 2015 to create Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics. Minnesota was picked as a pilot state in 2016 and the program has been underway for about two years. (Magan, 4/18)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Strafford County Leaders Propose Strategies To Address Homelessness
When the temperatures dropped below zero for multiple nights last winter, local organizations and community leaders in Rochester came together to open the city's first emergency cold weather shelter. This was after other homeless shelters in the area had already filled up. The mayors of Rochester, Dover, and Somersworth went on to form a regional council to address homelessness. (Biello and Cohen, 4/18)