Health & Safety Resources

General Resources

Medi-Cal is California’s version of the Federal Medicaid program, and offers no-cost and low-cost healthcare coverage to eligible people in California.  This includes people who have low-income, who are aged, disabled, or have high medical costs. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) oversees the Medi-Cal program. Your local county office manages most Medi-Cal cases. You can reach your local county office online at www.benefitscal.com. You can get the phone number for your local county office by calling 1-800-541-5555 (TTY 1-800-430-7077).

Medicare is healthcare coverage for people 65 or older. You’re first eligible to sign up for Medicare 3 months before you turn 65. You may be eligible to get Medicare earlier if you have a disability. 

National Center for Cultural Competence at Georgetown University (NCCC) was created to increase the capacity of health care and mental health care programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems to address growing diversity, persistent disparities, and to promote health and mental health equity.

National Institutes of Health is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  National Institute of Mental Health provides research and information on mental health, services and advocacy. See a full list of the National Institutes of Health here.

Supported Decision-Making (SDM) is a tool that allows people with disabilities to keep their decision-making capacity by choosing supporters to help them make choices. You can learn more:

 

Peer-Run Warm Line is a peer-run, non-emergency resource for anyone in the state seeking mental and emotional support. They provide assistance via phone and web chat on a nondiscriminatory basis to anyone in need. Some concerns callers share are challenges with interpersonal relationships, anxiety, pain, depression, finances, alcohol/drug use, etc.