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Over the past 70 years, the number of inpatient psychiatric beds has dropped dramatically, leaving many without critical care when they experience mental health crises. I was one of the lucky ones to get a bed — after 21 hours of waiting.

Join the conversation as the HealthQ team explores the messiness, humor, and satisfaction that comes with caregiving when you’re sandwiched between aging parents and growing kids.

Gov. Gavin Newsom launched an ambitious initiative to make public schools the epicenter of mental health services for young people. Five years after he promised transformation, many schools have struggled to get the program up and running, and hundreds more have yet to try.

A program in rural eastern Kentucky is receiving opioid settlement funding to address substance use disorders, housing, hunger, and other challenges.

Massachusetts passed laws and joined lawsuits to protect access to gender-affirming care for minors. But faced with the Trump administration’s threats, some hospitals voluntarily stopped care. Families are outraged.

An estimated hundreds of thousands of children, many of them U.S. citizens, have been separated from a parent in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Their distress manifests in physical and mental health symptoms including developmental regression, stomachaches, sleep problems, and falling grades. Research points to long-term health consequences.

Squeezed between their young children and aging parents, the sandwich generation is juggling a lot. KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony discusses embracing her identity as a caregiver and which resources are available to Washington, D.C., residents caring for family members.

The research is clear: Among the various complex issues that contribute to suicide, loneliness is a big one. Now, there’s a growing push to address loneliness not just through personal choices but also through public policy.

To collect and scrutinize millions of Americans’ health data, U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aims to work with state organizations that help health systems share medical records. In Nebraska, millions in federal dollars has flowed into one nonprofit cooperating with Kennedy’s project.