California’s care for sickle cell patients finally works. We can’t abandon it now

As a teenager Rialton Reid was rushed to a Los Angeles emergency room in excruciating pain. Not only was he battling a sickle cell crisis; he was fighting a system unprepared to care for him. 

The doctors at the time questioned his pain. Nurses misread his symptoms. And his family watched helplessly as he fought for treatment while just trying to survive.