A new program called Baby Gateway is making sure that babies born in Watsonville get the care they need, and that parents of these babies get the support they need in those critical early years.
Though half of all babies born in Santa Cruz County qualify for MediCal, the registration process can be confusing for many parents, and infants often end up being brought to the emergency room when there is a problem. Baby Gateway hopes to alleviate the problems by assisting new parents with the MediCal enrollment process and ensuring that each family has a primary care physician to help it with its needs. New parents are also offered a crash course in how to tend to their babies, and what signs to look out for that may indicate that the child is ill. Materials are provided in English, Spanish and Korean.
The program, which was created by the Watsonville Community Hospital, is now being studied by the county with the goal of expanding it to other hospitals. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
