@Matt Erb posted:Dear community,
I feel that it is somewhat obvious to state that the receipt of health care, under certain conditions, can be an ACE, especially when in childhood/developmental stages. I have been searching Google Scholar and PubMed for any direct references/papers that speak to this. In particular, can anyone point me to published academic/peer-reviewed references that describe how needing medical care/having medical problems as a child can be classifiable as an ACE? I know response to stress exposure is highly individualized. I did find some material about how ICU care often leads to PTSD but that is not ACE specific. I have seen (and included myself) the idea that medical issues / medical care in childhood can be a possible ACE on "expanded ACE lists" but want to reference it more thoroughly if possible. Thank you for any leads.
Matt Erb, PT, Senior Faculty, The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, and Independent Scholar
Matt Erb - The 40+ ACE questionnaire in use by the World Health Organization (the "WHO ACE International Questionnaire") had been available on the WHO website. It was used during the WHO Assessment of the World's Healthiest Children (Netherlands was #1, followed by most/if not all of Scandinavia, US was 25th, Canada 26th...) As a teen, in a state youth home, having experienced an injury/'puncture' about 2 inches across, to the back of my upper right thigh - by a (2 1/2 foot tall) tree stump cut off at a sharp angle [where wood chips ended up remaining in the wound after leaving a teaching hospital's ER, - until 3-4 years later, while I was regularly squatting on a dairy farm job...and the scar tissue swelled up, and the [prison] physician who oversaw the follow-up only wanted dry gauze used to dress the 're-punctured' scar tissue (without 'Drawing Salve')... --requiring further 'surgery' with only local anesthetic. ... The 'Consumer Majorities' we had under the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-641), until the Reagan administration gutted funds for that type of 'Government-mandated Citizen Participation' ... might have availed children an opportunity to tell their own story, or at least advocate for themselves, or have a forum such as you are trying to address... -Robert Olcott