SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Newborns won\u2019t be leaving the hospital empty-handed in California. <\/p>\n
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Friday that the state is partnering with Baby2Baby to provide 400 free diapers to every newborn. Baby2Baby is a national nonprofit based in California that provides clothing and other basic necessities to children. <\/p>\n
The governor said it would help families with the rising cost of living. <\/p>\n
\u201cSince the pandemic, we have seen the cost of diapers go up by 45%,\u201d said Newsom, speaking at a press conference in San Francisco. \u201cOne out of four families skip meals to pay for diapers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new program, dubbed the Golden State Start, will launch this summer. Participating hospitals will distribute the diapers to families at the time of discharge. Forty million diapers will be distributed during the program\u2019s first year, with a goal of later expanding the program to provide 160 million. <\/p>\n
Newsom said the state will prioritize hospitals that serve large numbers of parents enrolled in Medi-Cal, California\u2019s version of the federal Medicaid program providing healthcare coverage to low-income Americans. The state plans to later expand to additional hospitals and birthing centers. <\/p>\n
The governor described the program as the first of its kind in the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not imitating; we are a model to others,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Kim Johnson, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, said the initiative would help families enjoy their first few weeks at home with a new baby. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe first days at home with a newborn should be focused on the love, connection, and joy of an expanded family, not stress about affording diapers,\u201d Johnson said in a statement. \u201cThis program helps ensure families can begin that journey with greater stability and peace of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Diaper Bank Network, a national nonprofit that tracks diaper insecurity, found about 60% of low-income families nationwide struggle with the cost of diapers and rely on less-frequent changes to get by. The organization said dirty diapers leave babies at risk of developing rashes or urinary tract infections. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Newborns won\u2019t be leaving the hospital empty-handed in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Friday that the state…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":782820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,13332,287930,246,320268,3441,316,6478,268839,2961,224,5337,320267,320266,320265,25767,4369,290],"class_list":{"0":"post-782819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-cost","11":"tag-diaper","12":"tag-family","13":"tag-federal-medicaid-program","14":"tag-gov-gavin-newsom","15":"tag-home","16":"tag-hospital","17":"tag-kim-johnson","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-national-nonprofit","22":"tag-new-baby","23":"tag-new-diaper-program","24":"tag-newborn","25":"tag-program","26":"tag-state"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116541138252537442","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}