Maternal and Child Health Access

Maternal and Child Health Access (MCHA) improves the health of low income women and families through advocacy, education, training and direct services.

In May 2017, Maternal and Child Health Access, coinciding with maternal depression awareness month, released a document to share the news that mental health and substance use disorder treatment services are now covered under Pregnancy-Related Medi-Cal and the Medi-Cal Access Program (MCAP) for slightly higher income women.   For women in Pregnancy-Related Medi-Cal or MCAP, coverage is now available for medically necessary services to treat “mild to moderate” as well as more serious conditions requiring “specialty mental health” care.    Services are covered regardless of the woman’s immigration status.  We will need to continue to follow up to ensure that providers are screening and aware of these covered services, and that access to mental health professionals exists.

BUILDING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES - 2015 HEALTH PROFILES Click HERE to see a map of clinics & hospitals in Boyle Heights and neighboring communities. Click HERE for a printable map and list of the Boyle Heights medical clinics and hospitals.

If you’d like to get involved in the Health Happens with Prevention workgroup, join our monthly meetings for more information. Please see the BHC BH calendar.

Sept 2016 - Exploring the health of women and children in Boyle Heights Thanks to funding from The California Endowment, through the “Health Happens With Prevention Campaign” and Building Healthy Communities Boyle Heights Collaborative, Maternal and Child Health Access conducted community-based research on access to quality health care for women and children in Boyle Heights. View our VIDEO to learn more and click HERE for a one-page summary of the research. . The condensed version of the report with graphics and images is HERE, and Spanish translation HERE. To see the full (43 page) report click HERE.

In February of 2014 MCHA hosted the first conference on oral health and pregnancy (Educate and Advocate: Oral Health During Pregnancy). If you didn’t attend the conference or would like to share the information with staff and colleges, you can do so now! If you treat or provide social services to pregnant women and young children, we highly recommend you view the overview video and any of the specific subtopic videos from our conference; they are short yet informative.  Remember, pregnant women on Medi-Cal are entitled to ALL restored Medi-Cal benefits for adults; see the Provider Bulletin here.  And click here to watch the conference video on our YouTube channel.

Click here to view the opening video clip that Maternal and Child Health Access (MCHA) premiered at the "Educate and Advocate: Oral Health During Pregnancy" Conference on February 24, 2014! Hear an actual client that called MCHA needing assistance in finding oral health care resources and how our policy work is addressing barriers to care. Help us spread the word: Medi-Cal includes dental benefits for pregnant women!

Over one million women of childbearing age live in California and may be eligible for Access for Infants and Mothers (AIM), now called the Medi-Cal Access Program (MCAP). Yet only a few thousand women are enrolled and taking advantage of its important benefits. Here are 5 things you need to know about MCAP: Read more...

MCHA assists uninsured families and individuals by providing application assistance with free and low-cost health coverage programs - like Covered California and Medi-Cal - and referrals for health services available in Los Angeles County. Once enrolled or receiving services, we help with maintaining eligibility and coverage, and with knowing how to use the health programs or services and what rights and responsibilities come with these benefits. We conduct outreach presentations at various community sites including: schools, churches, food banks, clinics, and work sites

Welcome Baby is a voluntary, universal home visitation program available to all pregnant women who deliver at California Hospital Medical Center (CHMC) and live within a 5 mile radius. Welcome Baby is part of Best Start LA - a multi-year investment created by First 5 LA that aims to shape, strengthen and support Los Angeles County neighborhoods by building resources and providing access to activities that improve the wellbeing, development and care experienced by pregnant women, new parents and children age three and under.

Our Programs and Services links include:

• Training and Education, with materials used at Core "We've Got You Covered!" trainings, including our popular income charts for health care programs, our program fact sheets and our colorful bar chart illustrating the many health programs available in the state andLos Angeles County.
• Perinatal Outreach and Education, about our direct services work with pregnant and parenting women;

• Breastfeeding Support Groups, to know more about the remarkable success our clients have had breastfeeding;
• Outreach and Education, our program that serves the health care coverage and services needs for low-income and working poor people;
• Educational and Support Classes, about our weekly classes with our clients;

• Monthly Meetings, lists minutes from our policy, advocacy and networking meetings held the third Thursday of the month;
• Women's Art Collective, where we hope to include online sales
• Welcome Baby, is our newest program, a free, voluntary family engagement program that focuses on education and support for expectant women and mothers of newborns. The program is offered to all pregnant women, regardless of income or risk factors, who deliver at California Hospital Medical Center
• CalFresh, Access to fresh, healthy food is as integral to good health as access to insurance. Through grants from the California Association of Food Banks and LA Care Community Benefits
• Oral Health Advocacy for Pregnant Women and Children  The Oral Health project addresses policy and programmatic barriers that impede access and provision of oral health services, focusing on increasing 1) access to appropriate oral health care resources and 2) utilization of preventive and therapeutic dental health services for pregnant women and children in Los Angeles County.

Our Policy and Advocacy links provide information on Maternal and Child Health-related legislation and alerts. Be sure to check out our Calendar for the details on upcoming meetings and events and to sign up for trainings. Join our mailing lists under About MCHA. You may choose from our quarterly newsletters, monthly mailing, healthcare advocate or newborn enrollment LISTSERVS. If you would like to contribute to MCHA, please see our Donations links. Here you can make a secure donation with a credit card. You can also review our "Wish List" of items for the office and our clients. We are deeply grateful for your financial and material support.

And don’t miss our changing MCHA photos in the lower left-hand corner as you peruse the site. Let us know what you think at info@mchaccess.org and watch our website features GROW!