Tagged With "East Palo Alto"
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Building Community Health
Dr Sandy Escobar is transforming healthcare in East Palo Alto, one family at a time.
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
Over the last dozen years or so, many pediatricians, astounded by the ramifications of the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the children they care for, began integrating this science into their practices. The most common approach has been to ask parents about ACEs using a questionnaire, and to use this information to counsel parents and identify resources for the family. Different practices have been using different questionnaires: Some ask parents for their ACE scores...
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
[Editor's note: This blog was first posted in April 2017. Dr. Marie-Mitchell updated the assessment by modifying a few of the questions, so we are republishing with the new assessment, one in Spanish and one in English.] Over the last dozen years or so, many pediatricians, astounded by the ramifications of the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the children they care for, began integrating this science into their practices. The most common approach has been to ask parents...
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Alternative IHEBA with ACEs for California (and Other) Pediatricians
If you are a pediatrician serving Medicaid managed care patients in California, then you are required to use the Staying Healthy Assessment or an alternative IHEBA (Individual Health Education Behavioral Assessment) at all well-child visits. The bad news is that getting approval to use an alternative IHEBA is a tedious process. The good news is that as of October 27, 2016 the Whole Child Assessment (WCA) is available for use in English and Spanish. Most importantly, the WCA has been...
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As schools adopt social-emotional programs, a new guide offers help [EdSource.org]
Parents, teachers and students streamed into the library of Palo Alto’s Gunn High School on a warm evening this spring to hear about a new plan , coming this fall, to help high school students develop empathy and coping skills through “social and emotional learning.” For starters, the audience wanted the answer to a question that has dogged the jargon phrase for years: What is social and emotional learning and why should schools get involved in it? The term is bedeviled by abstractions, but...
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New Program Director Job, LCSW for Sexually Exploited Youth Residential Prog
Program Director, Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth, Hayward Click here for more information: Residential Program Director LCSW required This is a unique opportunity to get involved with the launch of a brand new, well-funded program and influence program design from its outset. Further the program allows for rich wrap-around services for clients. The Residential Program Director provides clinical care, supervision and program leadership to transition age youth in need of intensive out...
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San Bruno, CA, police reduce stress, burn-out with mindfulness
When Officer John Hampton of the San Bruno Police Department in San Bruno, CA, first heard that mindfulness training was being offered to him and his fellow cops, he had two reactions. John Hampton “I think my major reaction was: ‘Oh, there’s some hippy thing that they’re trying to get cops to do,’” he said. “When I say that, it’s funny because that’s not my voice. It’s the caricature of a police officer-like voice. In the back of my mind, I was interested and open to it, but that police...
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Screening for Childhood Trauma
Dr. Ken Epstein has been in the social services sector for nearly four decades and has witnessed firsthand the long-term effects of trauma. As both the son and father of fellow social workers, the work runs in his blood. Now, he’s helping Bay Area health clinics screen for and address childhood trauma through the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative (RBC), led by Center for Care Innovations (CCI) and made possible by Genentech.
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Teacher traveled statewide to capture the spark in California classrooms [EdSource.org]
David B. Cohen, a veteran English teacher at Palo Alto High and columnist for Education Week, spent a year crisscrossing California observing some of the state’s best teachers. The result was Capturing the Spark: Inspired Teachers, Thriving Schools, an insightful look at talented teachers, effective practices and promising schools, from Arcata to El Centro. Some interviewees were California Teachers of the Year or, like Cohen, have their national board certification, a distinguished...
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Teen suicide clusters prompt mandate for California schools to confront taboo topic (calmatters.org)
In California and across the country, suicide is the second leading cause of death among teens—a grim reminder that many high school students’ primary barrier to adulthood is themselves. More young people take their own lives than the number killed by cancer, heart disease, birth defects, stroke, flu, pneumonia and chronic lung disease combined. And under legislation set to take effect in January, school systems up and down the state will be forced to confront the taboo topic head-on.
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The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review [ CMQCC, CDPH, MCAH, PHI]
New reports, recently released: The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (CA-PAMR) is a statewide, in-depth examination of deaths while pregnant or within one year after end of pregnancy, which aims to identify the cause and timing of death, factors that contributed to the death, and improvement opportunities in maternity care and support, with the ultimate goal to reduce preventable deaths and associated health disparities. CA-PAMR is a collaborative effort between the Maternal,...
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The urgent need for a system of support for California schools (edsource.org)
Earlier this year, a representative of a California advocacy and civil-rights organization asked me if the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence , the new state agency that I head, has a “genuine sense of urgency” about its work in getting the right kind of help and assistance to districts, charters and county offices of education. I told him that the very first meeting that we had in the very first district that we agreed to take on was at Ironwood State Prison, which is...
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Uneven Ground Part II: Navigating Food Deserts and Swamps [paloaltoonline.com]
By Kate Bradshaw, Palo Alto Online, September 11, 2019 When Kendy Mendoza of East Palo Alto and his wife experienced health scares over the last few years, they took action to turn their lives around. Eight years ago, when his wife was diagnosed with diabetes, she cut out bread and tortillas from her diet, he said. Two years ago, after a heart-related health scare, he added, he changed his diet and exercise habits, and now hikes and eats 70% more fruits and vegetables. "My life is changing,"...
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Dozens of stakeholders representing thousands of practitioners send public comments on Calif. ACEs-screening plan
Update: We posted this story on Tuesday evening and received a response from the Department of Health Care Services Wednesday that clarifies additional information. DHCS information Officer Katharine Weir said that subject to budget approval by the legislature and the governor: The reimbursement rate will be $29. Federally Qualified Health Centers will also be reimbursed for screening pediatric patients for trauma through Prop 56 funds and federal matching funds. In response to a question...
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DULCE helps pediatricians in Oakland, CA, prevent toxic stress in newborns
On a recent day in early March, Laura Lopez met a former patient of hers in the waiting room of Highland Hospital’s pediatric clinic in Oakland, CA. The patient had forgotten her Medi-Cal card and called Lopez asking for help. But in the brief conversation, Lopez, a family specialist with the DULCE program, learned about some dire changes in the patient’s life. Laura Lopez “Without me even asking, she shared with me that she had separated from her partner, that she needs to apply for food...
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New bill would require California colleges to let homeless students park overnight (mercurynews.com)
According to several recent surveys, around one in five — or about 400,000 — California community college students has experienced homelessness in the last year. Thousands more are at risk of becoming homeless. Calling that number “shocking, alarming and tragic,” Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, on Tuesday outlined a new bill — AB 302 — that would force community colleges to allow homeless students to sleep inside their vehicles in campus parking lots overnight. “Shame on us if we turn...
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New Data: Surprising Number Of California Parents Experienced Abuse As Children [CaliforniaHealthline.org]
One out of five California adults with children living in their homes were beaten, kicked or physically abused when they were children, and one in ten were sexually abused, according to data released recently by a children’s health foundation. Experts believe that’s an undercount. “I think it’s probably a low estimate,” said Cassandra Joubert, director of the Central California Children’s Institute at California State University, Fresno. “I think these kinds of events within families are...
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Opinion: Suicide Prevention Requires Caring Neighbors and Friends [eastbaytimes.com]
By Narges Zohoury Dillon, East Bay Times, September 25, 2019 I find that I have some of the most meaningful conversations with near strangers when I tell them that I work in the field of suicide prevention. So often, people share that they have lost a loved one to suicide or that they have struggled with their own mental health challenges. On an Uber ride from the airport, a driver shared with me a history of trauma and suicidal thinking and her hope to go back to school so she could help...
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Restaurant Flooded With Business After Launching an ‘Adopt a Doc or Nurse’ Catering Service (goodnewsnetwork.org)
A California restaurant has found a compassionate way of keeping their business open while simultaneously caring for hospital staffers fighting the novel coronavirus outbreaks. In addition to continuing their takeout and delivery services, the Tootsie’s restaurant at the Stanford Mall in Palo Alto has been using their catering services to feed doctors and nurses at their local hospitals. Since Tootsie’s owner Rocco Scordella launched his ingenious “Adopt a Doctor or Nurse” program earlier...
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Community advocates and Bay Area county health agencies work together on trauma-informed systems change
The talk around the table is not what one might expect when community advocates begin a meeting with county health officials. “I went into this [work] through my own lived experience of trauma and family addiction,” said Toni DeMarco, the deputy director of children’s services for San Mateo County Health System. Rocsana Enriquez, who teaches yoga to teens in juvenile hall in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and in high schools for the Palo Alto-based Art of Yoga Project , chimed in. “I’m...
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Congressional Briefing Addresses Public Policy to Improve Response to ACEs
In the final weeks of the 114 th Congress, Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) welcomed her colleague Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) as a new host in the third and final briefing on addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The December 1 briefing focused on public policies to improve coordination, prevention and response to childhood trauma. In addition to joining forces to raise awareness of the impact of ACEs, Senators Heitkamp and Durbin are drafting legislation based on a framework they...
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‘Change in culture’: New California guidelines aim to help teach social, emotional skills [Press Democrat]
The nation’s schools long ago broadened their missions beyond the teaching of academic subjects and participation in extracurricular activities. Educators have for decades been entrusted to teach students a wider range of life skills, including those that touch on emotions, empathy and relationships with other people. Now, a new state guide , released Wednesday, offers a slew of resources for teachers and administrators seeking to bolster kids’ social and emotional development. “Science...
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How collaboration helps clinic in San Mateo County, CA, tackle ACEs in children
Dr. Elizabeth Grady is a pediatrician at the South San Francisco Clinic, a community clinic of San Mateo Medical Center. She and Susana Flores , a senior public health nurse with San Mateo County Health, spoke with me about how the clinic and other health agencies in San Mateo have been able to craft ways to work together to prevent and heal toxic stress in children. Grady also talked about how she and Flores have been working with the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative (RBC), a group of...
Comment
Re: DULCE helps pediatricians in Oakland, CA, prevent toxic stress in newborns
DULCE is a great program, and much because our former CA early childhood colleague Patsy Hampton is the director. Thank you Patsy for always bringing integrity and honesty to the work! We miss you here in CA.
Comment
Re: 4CA Policymaker Education Day is Back!
I can't make the meeting on May 1 but the attached chapter has information starting in p211 that shows the profound effect that skillful asking about ACEs has on subsequent medical care. The implications for the MediCal budget are in the multi-billion dollar range.
Comment
Re: OPEN for Public Comment: Prop 56 - Trauma Screenings
It is not clear to me what the $29. is for and who will be billed by whom. Having done this with 440,000 adults over a multi-year period, I would like to suggest that the State create a truly comprehensive medical history questionnaire posted on the Internet and that includes the ACE Questions. This would be free and people would list their names after disconnecting, ensuring their privacy. The output printed at home would consist of an iteration of all Yes answers, organized by body system.
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LATINOS AND THE CORONAVIRUS: THE COMMUNITY RESPONSE
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Child Life specialists empower kids in hospitals, disasters and now the pandemic
In late May, Betsy Andersen’s 7-year-old son, Ezra, had a serious meltdown. He and his six-year-old sister Abby had been enjoying an online Zoom interaction with “Miss Eileen,” “Miss Savannah,” a couple of their colleagues, and a puppet. Betsy Andersen “I could see him trailing off and then he started crying,” says Andersen, who lives in Mundelein, Illinois. But before she swooped in, she heard Miss Eileen talking to him: “She was saying ‘Hey, I see you’re having some big emotions.” Speaking...
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Painful Questions [imprintnews.org]
By Karen De Sa and Nadra Nittle, The Imprint, August 18, 2020 Has your child ever lived with a parent or caregiver who went to jail or prison? Has your child’s parent or caregiver ever had depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or anxiety? Have caregivers struggled with too much alcohol, street drugs or prescription meds? Has any adult in the household ever hit your child so hard that it left marks? Has anyone had oral, anal or vaginal sex with your child? These are among 17 questions...
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Voter Education Toolkit (CDPH)
In English and Spanish The Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division (MCAH) and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Division partnered to develop a new voter education toolkit with social media content and flyers that encourages voter participation in the 2020 General Election. This toolkit provides additional information about the voting process, becoming a poll worker and helping others register to vote. These flyers and posts below are part of a Center for Family Health - Health...
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New Resource: Strategies for Trauma-Informed School Communities
The California Essentials for Childhood Initiative is excited to share a newly developed attached, “Strategies for Trauma-Informed School Communities: Practices to Improve Resiliency in School-Aged Children and Address Adverse Childhood Experiences”. This new resource is intended to assist state and local public health programs, child-serving systems, non-profits, and philanthropic organizations in their efforts to educate about the need for trauma-informed school policies and practices that...
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Mayra Tafolla
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Lettie McGuire
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Sparkle Springfield
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Suzanne Ribbe
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Yin Ling Leung
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Brandel France de Bravo
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Llamadas telefónicas de alto precio en la cárcel: $15 para hablar con su hija [calmatters.org]
Por Anne Stuhldreher, Cal Matters, April 27, 2021 Al crecer, Blossom Sergejev tenía suerte si hablaba con su madre una vez a la semana. Por lo general, era una vez al mes. Incluso entonces, sus conversaciones terminaron casi tan pronto como comenzaron. Ella, su hermano y su hermana tenían un temporizador para asegurarse de que los tres tuvieran su parte justa del tiempo de su madre: cinco minutos cada uno. “No hubo una pequeña charla sobre esas llamadas, y no fue nada alegre”, dice Sergejev.
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Terri Fields Hosler
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Rachel Wallace
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Youthful Advisers Help Shape a Mental Health Program for Their Peers [californiahealthline.org]
By Mark Kreidler, California Healthline, October 1, 2021 Phebe Cox grew up in what might seem an unlikely mental health danger zone for a kid: tony Palo Alto, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. But behind its façade of family success and wealth, she said, is an environment of crushing pressure on students to perform. By 2016, when Cox was in middle school, Palo Alto had a teen suicide rate four times the national average . Cox’s family lived by the railroad tracks where many of the...
