Answers to questions about baby formula access, particularly for those enrolled in Wisconsin’s Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program.
Tag: Department of Health Services
Posted inHealth & Welfare, Justice & Safety, Precious Lives
Focus on traumatic childhood helps victims heal and succeed
Wisconsin is part of a growing nationwide movement to adopt trauma-informed care, an approach that helps people identify and overcome negative childhood experiences. The approach is being used to improve mental health, provide social services and address a wide range of criminal justice problems.
Posted inFailure at the Faucet, Government, Health & Welfare, Water Watch Wisconsin
Lead poisoning would trigger tap water test under proposal
Two Democratic lawmakers want the state Department of Health Services to investigate drinking water as a possible source when children are lead poisoned. The proposal also greatly lowers the blood lead levels that would trigger an investigation.
Posted inGovernment, Health & Welfare
Wisconsin cuts back on long-term institutional care for the disabled
It’s part of a national trend. But parents and guardians of patients at Central Wisconsin Center, one of the state’s facilities for the developmentally disabled, are worried that the state’s no-new-admissions policy could endanger people who could benefit from the centers’ services. Now a couple have gone to court to keep their child at the center.
Posted inGovernment, Health & Welfare, Justice & Safety, Rethinking Sex Offenders
Inside the walls of Sand Ridge: ‘We have a huge challenge here’
From the outside, Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center looks like a maximum security prison. Inside, more than 300 men live there, committed there by juries and judges throughout the state as “sexually violent persons.” The challenge, for staff, is to treat and reintegrate them into communities.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
Photos: Inside Sand Ridge, where the sexually violent are treated
Center reporter Nora Hertel and Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Gilman Halsted were the first journalists since 2007 to tour Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, the Mauston facility that houses sex offenders who have been committed to the state.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
Photos: Inside Sand Ridge, where the sexually violent are treated
Center reporter Nora Hertel and Wisconsin Public Radio reporter Gilman Halsted were the first journalists since 2007 to tour Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, the Mauston facility that houses sex offenders who have been committed to the state.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
State spending now an open book
Critics were quick to carp that OpenBook Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker’s new website tracking state spending, was delayed for a year and is still not fully functional. One Democratic lawmaker said “it’s had more problems than the Obamacare website.”
Posted inEconomy, Government, Health & Welfare
Neighbors diverge on health care
People in Wisconsin and Minnesota living just barely above the poverty line are about to see their health care fortunes change — in opposite directions.
Posted inOpinion
Your Right to Know: Child-care, elder records easier to get
Two recent developments have eased access to state records on child care and senior care facilities — institutions serving highly vulnerable populations.
Posted inA Frail System, Government, Health & Welfare, Justice & Safety
Wisconsin nursing homes fail to report deaths, injuries
Attorneys for families of residents say that facilities’ failure to report serious injuries or deaths related to abuse or neglect is not uncommon. Far more often, they say, the state health department only learns about a case of alleged neglect or abuse after a family member files a complaint. Advocates for health care providers stress that incidents of neglect and abuse are extremely rare, and can come to regulators’ attention in a variety of ways.
Posted inA Frail System, Government, Health & Welfare
Center’s inquiries prompt state policy changes
In response to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism’s inquiries into an accident involving a 88-year-old woman at a Milwaukee nursing home, the state Department of Health Services launched an internal review, which concluded that state officials did not properly respond. As a result, the department says it has reviewed its intake procedures and made changes to ensure that complaints against nursing homes are triaged appropriately and investigated in a timely fashion.