On my one-year anniversary as president and CEO of Children’s Health Fund (CHF), I reflect on my privilege to lead an organization that strives to ensure that all children receive the healthcare they deserve and need to thrive and succeed. As an immigrant myself—entering the United States at age seven, from Cuba via Nicaragua—I could not
Children’s Health Fund (CHF) recently had the opportunity to sit down with Licensed Practical Nurse Maria Ramos from the Bronx Health Collective, a CHF National Network partner, to talk about her experience as a healthcare professional throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Maria has been at the Bronx Health Collective for eight years and had incredible insight
Gun violence has been the leading cause of death of youth under age 20 in the United States since 2020, surpassing death from car crashes, cancer, and COVID-19. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data reveals that 4,368 U.S. children and adolescents under age 20 died from firearms in 2020, with 64% by homicide and
When people ask me what I value the most about the work of Children’s Health Fund, the obvious answer, and the one I never hesitate to give, is how every day across the country we provide vital healthcare services to children living in under-resourced communities to help them succeed and thrive. But also important to
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nearly sixty years later, the words of our great civil rights leader still ring true. The abundant advances in healthcare and medical science that are
Our Annual Benefit, a Hamilton Experience, was magical. After a year and a half of social distancing, hundreds of Children’s Health Fund friends got together on Nov. 8, 2021, at TAO Downtown in New York City for a night dedicated to those who have been hit the hardest these last 18 months: children and the
“We were supposed to be untouchable,” said Dr. Nelson Almodóvar Rodríguez, medical sub-director of Salud Integral en la Montaña (SIM), a network of community-based clinics in Puerto Rico. “Historically, hurricanes went underneath us or above us.” But on September 20, 2017, Hurricane María struck the island with direct, deadly force as a category five hurricane.
On August 11, 2021, Senate Democrats approved a budget reconciliation plan known as the Build Back Better Act. Intended to expand the social safety net, this bill provides funding for a wide array of policy initiatives, many of which center the needs of children and families. Through efforts to close the Medicaid coverage gap, subsidize
“Nutrition is the foundation of health. Just like housing, food should be a human right,” says Fadhylla Saballos, registered dietician with the CHF-supported Bronx Health Collective. This may sound like an indisputable truth, but the 13 million children who are expected to experience food insecurity this year live a very different reality. These children cannot
Photo courtesy of NOLA Ready The destruction that was predicted in Louisiana from Hurricane Ida is now heartbreakingly evident across the region. The winds tore up businesses and homes and terrified many children and their families who could not evacuate. Some areas experienced devastating flooding where people feared for their lives and lost power and
We never thought we’d be here, but here we are. Most of the South is seeing COVID-19 infection surges that surpass the peaks seen last winter. It’s not a coincidence that these states also have some of the lowest vaccination rates. While children suffered in many ways during this pandemic, their infection rates had been
In September, Arturo Brito MD, MPH, will become the third leader of our 34-year-old organization. A community pediatrician with a population health focus, Dr. Brito joins us in the midst of an unflagging pandemic and as Children’s Health Fund charts a new path forward. Come along with us as we get to know our new