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From ACEs Aware, May 13, 2020 This webinar will focus on building understanding and identifying primary care and telehealth strategies and tools to address the secondary health effects of the COVID-19 emergency. Widespread stress and anxiety regarding COVID-19, compounded by the economic distress due to lost wages, employment and financial assets; mass school closures; and necessary physical distancing measures can result in an increase of stress-related health conditions. These secondary...

FLINT, Mich. — A baby born in Flint, Mich., where I am a pediatrician, is likely to live almost 20 fewer years than a child born elsewhere in the same county. She’s a baby like any other, with wide eyes, a growing brain and a vast, bottomless innocence — too innocent to understand the injustices that without her knowing or choosing have put her at risk. Some of the babies I care for have the bad luck to be born into neighborhoods where life expectancy is just over 64 years. Only a few miles...

When Dr. Erika Roshanravan, a family physician with CommuniCare in Woodland, CA, thinks back to her patient visits prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one way she drew their deep-seated concerns was to ask the reason for the visit and to interject throughout, “Is there anything else?” And it’s asking that question during phone and video visits that has also helped her understand the true reason for her patients’ needs now, she told people who attended an ACEs Aware webinar on April 29 entitled:...

By Bindiya Bagga and Jason Yaun, Daily Memphian, May 8, 2020 While the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates as the case and death totals continue to climb, children have fortunately been spared from the worst of the direct ravages of this virus. But as the pandemic continues and the effects on the health and financial well-being of caregivers mount, children are being impacted in a myriad of harmful ways that could have long-lasting consequences if not addressed. As parents and...

By Neeraj Bhala, Gwnetta Curry, et al., The Lancet, May 8, 2020 Tackling injustices, including those that result from prejudice and racism globally, is essential in the response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Here, we focus on UK South Asian and Black and African-American populations, using internationally recognised terminology and definitions, and consider the UK and the USA as globally relevant examples. We recognise other minorities also need consideration in the...

By Jane Brody, The NY Times, May 11, 2020. Even if no other good for health care emerges from the coronavirus crisis, one development — the incorporation of telemedicine into routine medical care — promises to be transformative. Using technology that already exists and devices that most people have in their homes, medical practice over the internet can result in faster diagnoses and treatments, increase the efficiency of care and reduce patient stress. Without having to travel to a doctor’s...

Children for whom ACEs and asthma co-occur may ultimately require different prevention and intervention strategies due to their ACEs-related physiology. As more pediatric clinics screen for ACEs, the field needs consensus and management guidelines that address the biological links between adversity and health outcomes. The National Committee on Asthma and Toxic Stress (NCATS), in partnership with the Center for Youth Wellness, the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at...

Written by Abbie Roth for the Dispatch, May 3 2020 You might have seen the headlines warning that, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the current mental health crisis facing youth in the United States will only worsen. Like adults, children are experiencing new or intensified stressors as a result of the pandemic, including loss of routine, separation from friends and extended family, and increased anxiety and frustration. Some more extreme stressors — food insecurity, loss of a parent or...

By Abbie Roth, The Columbus Dispatch, May 3, 2020 You might have seen the headlines warning that, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the current mental health crisis facing youth in the United States will only worsen. Like adults, children are experiencing new or intensified stressors as a result of the pandemic, including loss of routine, separation from friends and extended family, and increased anxiety and frustration. Some more extreme stressors — food insecurity, loss of a parent or...

From MedicineNet, May 3, 2020 The tragic death by suicide this week of an emergency department physician who had been caring for COVID-19 patients in New York City underscores the huge psychological impact of the pandemic -- which will linger long after the virus is gone, experts say. "For frontline responders, the trauma of witnessing so much illness and death will have lasting effects for many," Bruce Schwartz, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), said during the...

The Pinetree Institute is a Maine non-profit located on the NH border in Eliot. They conduct research and present workshops on ACEs and resilience. A workshop with Dr. Christina Bethell was scheduled for today, but was cancelled because of COVID-19. Dr. Bethell's field of expertise is PCE (Positive Childhood Experiences) and their role in combatting ACEs and promoting resilience throughout the lifetime. Because of the circumstances, Pinetree Institute is offering a 40 minute podcast in which...

Across the country, from California to Iowa to Massachusetts , child abuse reports have plummeted since the virus arrived. In the nation’s capital, hotline reports of abuse and neglect between mid-March and mid-April were 62 percent lower than in the same period last year, according to the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency. Reports to child protective services in Maryland have fallen just as far, and in Virginia, referrals from school staffers have dipped by 94 percent. The cases...