Category: News

National Doctors’ Day is March 30–the perfect time to honor a doctor or health advocate for the work they do for their patients, the communities they work in and for society as a whole.

Dear Friends of Young & Healthy,

Sweet little Camila lives with severe cerebral palsy. Her condition should be quite enough for any six-year-old, but unfortunately her life is even more complicated. Camila and her mother are here in the United States on what is called a V-Visa. This is shorthand for the fact that they are fleeing domestic violence…very sad on so many levels.

In spite of navigating a traumatic life, a new country and a difficult disease, there are some practicalities to be dealt with, such as getting Camila enrolled in school. Young & Healthy is involved because she needed a physical and a dental exam before she could enroll in school. This would have been an easy task if she were a typically developing little girl, but Camila is far from that.

The Young & Healthy team worked to find just the right physician and dentist who could examine this medically fragile young girl. A significant amount of diligent case management eventually resulted in finding care for her. Camila received her necessary examinations and was able to enroll in school. Though Young & Healthy can’t fix everything, we can certainly strive to lighten some of the hardship.

This is why we need your support. Please take a moment today to let your doctor or health advocate know their work is important to you.

 Our goal is 30K in 30 days in honor of all the Young & Healthy professional volunteers that care for the children we serve in our community.

Thank you,

Mary Donnelly-Crocker, Executive Director

Young & Healthy

DONATE NOW IN HONOR OF YOUR SPECIAL HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL: https://yhpasadena.org/support-us/donate/?utm_source=website&utm_campaign=Support%20Us&utm_content=Header%20Donate%20Button

Greetings,

Thank you for joining Young & Healthy in embracing the demands of the children in our community who need healthcare, whether that be medical, dental or mental healthcare, insurance support, education or simply coordination of care. The complexity of services that Young & Healthy provides is clearly evident in Marcus’ story.

We came to know sixteen-year-old Marcus when his paternal grandmother, Sonia, contacted Young & Healthy for some guidance, shortly after being granted partial custody of Marcus. Marcus’ often homeless father and hospitalized mother were incapable of taking care of him any longer. Sonia is legally able to make education and healthcare decisions for Marcus, but is not able to afford private healthcare for him. She had no idea that she could obtain Medi-Cal insurance for Marcus. Our case management staff happily educated and assisted Sonia with the process for obtaining Medi-Cal for Marcus, but much more was needed in the meantime. As anyone might imagine, Marcus is emotionally fragile and deeply traumatized in thinking that nobody wants him. Young & Healthy set Marcus up with weekly counseling sessions to help him cope with this unfortunate situation. Marcus has also seen one of our volunteer dermatologists for some necessary care. Young & Healthy has brought to light some resiliency and hope for Sonia and Marcus. A simple smile on Marcus’ face is the evidence.

Today we are writing to ask you for your continued support of our important work in the community. Our efforts have proven to be successful and through the generous funding of our Annual Appeal, Young & Healthy plans to continue to assist many more children in need.

Your dollars make a real, lasting impact in the lives of those who need it the most.

We hope that you will join us in embracing care for the whole child and in continuing to provide for the underserved in order to strengthen our community overall. Can we count on YOU to help make a difference in the life of a child?

Make A Donation

Thank you for your generosity,

Sandy Roberts
Board President      

Mary Donnelly-Crocker
Executive Director

On October 12 2019, Young & Healthy officially celebrated 30 years of providing healthcare to the underserved children in the Greater Pasadena area. The benefit event was co-chaired by Allison Dietrick and Carrie Walker and held at the Pasadena Masonic Temple. Popular restaurant and cupcake vendors from around the City of Pasadena were represented at dining stations for guests, as they mingled during the evening. MirMir Photography provided fun photo booth shots of all guests. Young & Healthy founders, J. Donald Thomas, MD and Lourna Touryan Miller were recognized for their vision 30 years ago. Also, the organization’s 13 past board presidents were honored for their leadership and direction, which has lead to the success of Young & Healthy to date. Lively participation in the evening’s paddle raise helped to generate almost $300,000 overall to support the mission and on-going work of Young & Healthy in and for the community.

Episode 61: Creating Trauma-Informed Communities w/ Mary Donnelly-Crocker

Podcasters: Mary Donnelly-Crocker, Matthew Bennett, and Jerry Yager

Mary Donnelly-Crocker joins Matt and Jerry to discuss her effort to turn Pasadena into a trauma-informed community. Learn how Mary and her organization, Young and Healthy are working to get information about trauma spread throughout the community. Mary demonstrates the power one person has to change the world!

You can find the Trauma-Informed Lens podcast on iTunes and most other podcasting apps. You can download the audio version or stream the video version on our website at traumainformedlens.org.

Young & Healthy was again proud to bring the USC Mobile Dental Clinic to Pasadena this year.  Between February 23 and March 2, dozens of kids between the ages of 6-18, with NO dental insurance, having cavities and who were income eligible and living in Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre or South Pasadena were each seen for several appointments during the week of the clinic.   All of the dental services were administered for FREE!

The Young & Healthy Alliance and Kids Alliance participated in the clinic by preparing and serving a brown bag lunch on Saturday for all patients and their families and all of the dentists providing care that day.  It was a true community event!!  We thank everyone who was involved for making the clinic so successful.