A year after taking over Children’s Hospital Oakland, the UC San Francisco decision to move critical pediatric care out of Oakland has left East Bay children and families to cope with the consequences.
As a clinical social worker and therapist supporting children with sickle cell disease, cancer and other serious illnesses, I support families who already must manage fear, financial strain, transportation barriers and the immense demands of caring for a sick child.
Families of immunocompromised children are now being told to avoid infection risks and unnecessary exposure, while they’re being forced to take Ubers to access care that used to be available in Oakland. They are being put in the impossible position of choosing between being at the bedside of a critically ill child in San Francisco, or working or caring for other children at home in the East Bay…