The largest natural gas disaster in the U.S. occurred when the gas storage well at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility ruptured on 10/23/2015, releasing about 109,000 metric tons of pollutants into the air until 2/18/2016 when the well was capped.

Authors used California emergency department (ED) visit data to examine whether exposure to pollutants increased the rate of visits. They measured ED visits per 1,000 residents of the affected community living downwind of the well and a comparison group of residents with similar demographic and environmental characteristics (524,508). ED visits for the primary diagnosis for conditions and symptoms that are associated with such exposure were measured, and visits from 10/2013 to 4/2014 (“before”), 10/2015 to 4/2016 (“during”), or 10/2016 to 4/2017 (“after”) the blowout were examined. Quasi-experimental design was used to examine the impact of the blowout on ED visits from before to during and after the blowout and ordinary least square regression models were developed to control for demographics and insurance coverage.

Findings: The affected community had 26 more ED visits per 1,000 from before to during the blowout than the comparison community and this rate remained elevated after the blowout. We also found more ED visits for acute respiratory infections, anxiety and stress-related disorders, respiratory-related symptoms, and gastrointestinal-related symptoms and these rates also remained elevated. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding all possible public health and societal risks of continued reliance on natural gas and its contribution to climate change.

Nadereh Pourat, associate center director at UCLA CHPR, is lead author of this study.

In this brief, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research summarizes information from their evaluation of the 2024 Parks After Dark (PAD) program in Los Angeles County, including innovative “spotlights” that made PAD unique. PAD was a county initiative led by the Department of Parks and Recreation in partnership with other county departments and community-based organizations. In its 14th year, PAD programming — including sports, entertainment, activities, and more — was offered for eight weeks on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 34 parks between June and August 2024.

Findings: Evaluators found that PAD continued to make significant progress in achieving its goals by providing quality recreational programming in a safe and family-friendly environment. PAD provided programming for participants of all ages with a more recent focus on Youth and Seniors.

While ensuring participants’ sense of safety at parks while attending PAD events, PAD also encouraged meaningful collaboration between participating county departments and community-based organizations. PAD contributed to participant’s feelings of well-being, family togetherness, social cohesion, and involved a diverse range of participants in community-driven programming in a meaningful way. PAD may have also helped to reduce the burden of disease for those that engaged in sports and exercise activities.
 

Researchers identify collaboration strategies used to integrate health, behavioral health, and social services for Medicaid members in California's Medi-Cal Whole Person Care Pilot program (WPC). Data were collected as part of the statewide evaluation of WPC. Authors analyzed qualitative data to examine strategies used by pilots to integrate care, network data to identify pilots that improved cross-sector collaboration (i.e., strengthened density or multiplexity of cross-sector ties) following WPC implementation, and comparative case analysis to identify strategies that differentiated pilots that improved collaboration from those that did not.

Findings: Pilots used multiple strategies to facilitate the integration of care. Network analyses identified 10 pilots that significantly improved either density or multiplexity of cross-sector ties, and one pilot with high cross-sector collaboration prior to WPC. Compared to pilots that did not improve cross-sector collaboration, these pilots meaningfully engaged partners in program design and implementation, used braided funds, and leveraged WPC to support broader systems change. These pilots also reported fewer challenges in developing and managing contractual relationships and ensuring meaningful use of data-sharing infrastructure by frontline staff responsible for care coordination.

Data sharing is necessary but not sufficient for systems alignment. Collaboration strategies focused on addressing financial barriers to integration and strengthening normative and interpersonal integration are also needed.

In this infographic brief, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research summarizes information from their evaluation of the 2022 Parks After Dark (PAD) program in Los Angeles County. PAD is a county initiative led by the Department of Parks and Recreation in partnership with other county departments and community-based organizations. PAD programming — including sports, entertainment, activities, and more — was offered for eight weeks on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 34 parks between June and August 2023.

Findings: Evaluators found that PAD has made significant progress in achieving its intended goals through the provision of quality recreational programming in a safe and family-friendly environment. Besides ensuring participant’s sense of safety at parks while attending PAD programming, evidence indicates that PAD may have reduced crime in PAD parks and their surrounding areas since its inception in 2010. In addition, PAD encouraged meaningful collaboration between participating county departments and community-based organizations; contributed to participant’s feelings of well-being, family togetherness, and social cohesion; and involved a diverse range of participants in community-driven programming in a meaningful way. PAD may also have reduced the burden of disease for those that engaged in exercise opportunities.