January 31, 2001

California is failing in its care for female health issues.

That's the summation of a report filed today by the Women's Foundation which conducted a press conference in Sacramento to reveal its findings from the evaluation six leading women's and ethnic health organizations gave to state policymakers and business leaders.

"Women have repeatedly come to Sacramento to teach the governor, legislators and business leaders about the health care needs of women and girls in California," said Patricia Chang, president and CEO of the sponsoring organization, a San Francisco-based entity which spearheaded the report.

A couple of local perspectives have been registered in response to the release of the information.

From the surface, Monica Kahler, Practice Manager for the Family Medical Group and Family Medical Group Urgent Care Turlock, said, "There are issues of accountability. As an example, Kahler reacted to one of the key points reached in the study that "women who become pregnant while working in semiconductor plants are 40 to 100 percent more likely to suffer a miscarriage than women who do not work in these plants."

"Those women have to work. There are things to be known -- are they married, unmarried, making choices?" Kahler questioned.

David Jones, Public Information Officer for the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, perused the information put forward in the news conference today and suggested most of what was covered in the matter has to do with policy issues at the state level rather than an assertion related to individual handling of patients.

The report dealt with health needs of women and girls in four key areas: basic health status, access to coverage and care, women's health and the environment and California's Policy Framework for Women's Health.

Among the issues cited besides the miscarriage situation, the report declares that California has the highest rate of uninsured people in the nation, it is the seventh largest hazardous waste-generating state in the nation, ranks 33rd in providing Pap smear tests which screen for cervical cancer and the level of hunger is higher than the national average.

The report says without universal coverage, gaps in health care access and coverage are unavoidable - and they affect low-income communities of color especially hard. "The health statistics on African-American women in our state are alarming - double the rate of HIV infection, death rates from cervical cancer higher than the national average, double the rate of heart disease - but they shouldn't be surprising," said Latonya Slack, executive director of the California Black Women's Health Project.

The report also emphasized the need for legislators to address and remedy the health hazards women face from environmental and occupational toxins at home, at work, and in the natural environment.

"When they bring on these studies, they work to bring on thought process and agendas. There is a certain amount of self-accountability," Kahler commented of the report.

"It's their determination. They have to be interested in their own health themselves. There's enough information out there in all languages for a society who tries to focus on self-determination," Kahler said.

Reprinted by permission of The Turlock Journal.