The first day of school (with pink eye)
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GoogleMy two children have received excellent public health benefits in San Francisco since before they were born. I qualified for no-cost Medi-Cal during both pregnancies though my partner and I were both self-employed. After my children were born, this coverage has allowed me to focus on taking care of our kids - now ages 5 and 2.5 - rather than get a job just for the healthcare benefits. The care I can provide them has given them a great start in life - including working at their co-op preschool, giving them healthy food, and taking them to museums, parks and libraries. I've slept well knowing they have excellent medical coverage either through Healthy Families or San Francisco's Healthy Kids and I am proud and happy to have spent their early years doing what I believe is best for my kids and our family.
On the morning of my son's very first day of kindergarten a few weeks ago, he woke up with a swollen, pink, and teary eye. I knew he couldn't stay at school like that, but I had to follow through on all the build-up to the first day! We had to go through the motions, line up with the class, then leave to deal with the pink eye. After watching him disappear into his classroom, I consulted the school nurse who said he needed to see a doctor (though she thought we did the right thing in bringing him up for the first day of school). We took him to the nearby clinic where he has been seen since he was a baby, and the doctor said it looked like a bacterial infection had invaded the soft tissue and if we hadn't come in my son's vision might have been permanently affected! She prescribed oral antibiotics, and he was back in class the next day. If we hadn't had healthcare, I would have been at home with him applying compresses and using all the home remedies I could until it got really bad. He might have missed a week or more of school or even gone blind.
With my son on Healthy Families, he didn't miss out on his education or his eyesight. Our leaders need to realize that taking care of medical issues at the onset of a problem saves our government money and can change a child's life.
Huggies Diaper alert
I want to make as many people aware as possible about the dangers of Huggies diapers. I was changing my granddaughter when I was stabbed and scratched by something in her diaper. I found a 3 inch piece of plastic in the waistband, which looked and felt like a big needle! I told my daughter who said she had found a smaller one that very morning from the same pack of diapers.
I called Kimberly-Clark who knew what it was I found and that this does occur from time to time. They explained that platic is melted during manufacturing and that sometimes it forms on the diapers and goes out undetected.
They sent me 2 coupons for free diapers and "hoped that they didn't lose me as a customer".
I am very concerned about the safety of babies and want to get the word out, since Kimberly-Clark won't. If I would have laid her down on this needle, it could have stabbed her! I asked them why there is no public warning about this and they said it doesn't happen very much. This is unexceptable to me. I have contacted Parent's magazines, Mom's blogs and even Oprah, with no response from anyone! I guess baby safety is not a high priority on their list.
Kimberly-Clark has done nothing to rectify this situation with the public and I feel they should be held accountable. I have kept the diaper and the plastic pieces in hopes that someone who cares about this MAJOR safety issue for babies will contact me to make a stand against Kimberly-Clark to get them to at least put a warning on the package to look for any plastic residue that may cause bodily injuring to innocent babies.
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