This program offers further diagnosis or medical treatment for children with specific medical conditions, usually of a more serious or chronic nature. It provides expert medical care from a wide array of pediatric specialists who are in the California CCS system, including large children's medical centers, typically involving travel to the specialists' offices outside of Alpine County.

Personal case management helping families access these medical specialists and some financial assistance is provided through the local CCS office if eligible. The child must be a California resident, have a specific medical condition or concern, and may be required to meet other financial requirements.

Also, therapy services and evaluations such as physical and occupational therapy, durable medical equipment, and bracing are available when the child is eligible.

This program offers free physical examinations for children at specific age intervals from birth to 21 years. These wellness exams include preventive health care as well as early detection of disease and disabilities. These are free to eligible children of low-to-moderate income families and to children having Medi-Cal. The exam may include referral to dental, vision, and other resources as needed. Families can receive case management assistance for the referral process, and financial assistance for further medical care if eligible.

CHDP Gateway is an enrollment process through CHDP provider offices to enroll low to moderate children in the appropriate insurance coverage for CHDP services, starting July 1, 2003.

This program monitors reportable communicable and infectious diseases and investigates and follows cases as necessary. Communicable diseases include, but are not limited to: tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, hantavirus, hepatitis, SARS, foodborne diseases, childhood infections (such as measles, polio, chickenpox, mumps). Certain testing, such as the PPD skin test for tuberculosis is available.

Free tests for some sexually transmitted infections (ie chlamydia and gonorrhea ) can be done at the Alpine County Health and Human Services office. Results are available in 4-5 working days. Please call for an appointment.

There are several diseases that our community needs to be aware of. Some are endemic to our county and others are unlikely but serious. These include, Hantavirus, West Nile Virus, Relapsing Fever, Lyme Disease, Plague, and SARS. There are also some potentially infectious diseases that this program monitors such as smallpox.

If you or anyone you know has symptons of any of these diseases and they are in Alpine County, please contact the Health and Human Services Department right away as they could be life threatening and appropriate evaluation, contact tracing, and referral will be made.

This program offers a public health nurse within Alpine County called a Foster Care PHN to assist children with their health care when out-of-home placement is needed. The nurse is available to the biological parent, case social worker/probation officer, and substitute care provider for coordination of the child's health needs until the child returns to the family or is emancipated at age 18. This nurse assists in coordinating health assessments and treatment as needed.

The Alpine County HIV/AIDS/STD Department provides the following services:

• HIV Testing: It's free and the results are confidential.
• Education and Prevention: We offer educational presentations and brochures, and sponsor events at schools, churches, and civic and community organizations.
• Surveillance: We insure that all local cases of the disease are reported to the California Department of Health Services.

The Alpine County Home Outreach Nursing Program offers nursing evaluation and limited serves at home for those who qualify.  Call the office for more information.

This Department offers the full range of childhood vaccines. Routine adult immunizations are also available. Some vaccinations for international travel are available to both children and adults, or referrals may be make to international travel immunization clinics in nearby areas.

Influenza vaccine clinics are held yearly in the fall by appointment, and are also offered at the annual fall health fair.

Senior Meals Program
The Senior Meals Program provides nutritionally balanced meals to persons sixty (60) years of age and over who qualify, and their spouses. Meals are delivered five (5) days a week, Monday through Friday, at midday.

California Food Assistance Program
Would an extra bag of groceries per month help?

Program eligibility is based on the following criteria:

• Must be a resident of Alpine County
• Must be income eligible

Households interested in participating in this program wil be required to have:

• Proof of residency
• Proof of total household income

The goal of the perinatal outreach program is to assure early continuous prenatal care of all pregnant women, and to reduce the use of tobacco and other drugs during pregnancy in order to prevent serious medical problems in the infants who are born to women who use these drugs. The Public Health nurse participates in outreach to women of childbearing age, asseses health status, develops individualized plans to assure access to prenatal care, provides case management and education and coordinates with other outreach services to identify high need areas. The Public Health Nurse will provide follow-up to targeted Medi-Cal eligible women to assist them in continuing prenatal care and to assist them in obtaining other needed services and immediate preventive medical care for the baby through the CHDP program and/or Healthy Families.

This nutrition/education program provides approximately $60.00 worth of food coupons a month for infants and mothers who qualify, and is available the third Thursday of every month at HHS Conference Room:

75A Diamond Valley Rd

Markleeville, CA 96120

Contact the South Lake Tahoe WIC program:

3368 Lake Tahoe Blvd Ste 202
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150-7916
(530) 573-3491