Before being elected to the United States Congress by the citizens of our Central Coast, I had served for many years as a school nurse for the Santa Barbara School District. It was a distinct honor and a privilege to live among and work with the families of our community in supporting the health and welfare of our children.
However, during these years, I also became keenly aware of disparities in access to affordable health care by so many of these hard-working families. And this despite the availability of Medi-Cal and our Neighborhood Clinics. Fortunately, the state and federally funded Child Health and Disability Prevention Program is available in California for periodic childhood screening. But there were — for a variety of reasons — many gaps in health-care coverage and service.
Of special importance to me during my years as a school nurse were the teenagers who became pregnant and parents at a young age. Their experiences and many challenges underscored the value of the appropriate inclusion of comprehensive sex education as a part of the school curriculum beginning at a young age.
