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Schools across Iowa are beginning classes this week amid concerns from public health officials about the drop in vaccination rates. At many schools, the percentage of students fully vaccinated is below 90 percent, and at a few around the state, it's below 50 percent. State Epidemiologist Dr. Patricia Quinlisk says more families are seeking exemptions from vaccinations for a variety of reasons.  (Moon, Kieffer and Dillard, 8/22)

A Georgia Tech researcher said Monday that hundreds of thousands of Georgia children have problems getting access to a dentist in the state. Nicoleta Serban, an industrial and systems engineering professor, told state lawmakers that there are more than 500,000 Georgia children who are not eligible for the public insurance programs Medicaid and PeachCare, but whose parents cannot afford dental care. (Miller, 8/22)

The state of Georgia could save millions of dollars a year and serve thousands of children from low-income families by increasing access to basic dental care, researchers told key lawmakers Monday. But one suggested solution appears to be stalled in the kind of fight between health care professionals that often eats up weeks of every General Assembly session. Dental hygienists say the dentist lobby — a big campaign contributor to lawmakers — held up legislation earlier this year that would have allowed hygienists to do basic cleaning and preventive care at so-called “safety-net settings,” qualified health centers and school-based health clinics, without a dentist present. (Salzer, 8/22)

The experience highlighted some of the hurdles facing a fledgling New York City health program to give low-income women free access to a resource that hospitals and insurers alike have long treated as a luxury for wealthy women seeking boutique births. Most doulas are present at delivery and later help the new mother care for her baby and give advice on breast-feeding. In 2015, the City Council and New York state started earmarking about $468,500 annually for the free program, called Healthy Women, Healthy Futures, as part of a broader initiative to address high rates of infant and maternal mortality among black New Yorkers as well as those women living in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. (Sharp, 8/22)

The survey also found that repeat crime victims are rarely able to access even basic services and support for recovery. Two out of three survivors reported anxiety, stress, difficulty sleeping and other symptoms resulting from the traumatic effects of their victimization, but few reported receiving treatment. Most were unaware of the full spectrum of victim services that are available, a finding that holds true nationally, too. (Dayton, 8/23)

Five years ago, when Lisa Conn became a mental health provider for juvenile justice in Santa Barbara County, she noticed a disturbing trend: A large number of the incarcerated girls were displaying symptoms of complex trauma and, in particular, sex trauma. ... “Their symptoms were beyond what we would typically see with sexual assault,” she said. Conn noticed the young women had an intense loyalty to the men she suspected were their abusers; they seemed almost brainwashed. “Not all of them would even say they were being raped, but they had the telltale signs of trauma.” (Bartos, 8/23)

Chauncey Liles Jr. was poisoned by lead paint by the time he was 2 years old. Now 18, he says he's struggled ever since...Now Liles, of West Baltimore, faces another challenge. The $1.3 million a jury awarded his family last week is in jeopardy because of a legal dispute between a London-based insurance company and Liles' former landlord. (Broadwater, 8/22)