Dr. Veenod L. Chulani
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The Arizona House of Representatives Committee on Health heard presentations on Feb. 9 on “Overcoming Adverse Childhood Experiences: Creating Hope for a Healthier Arizona.” During the meeting, House Health Chair Heather Carter noted that the hearing was the first step in an ongoing discussion about the importance of addressing childhood trauma.
H.B. 2198, sponsored by Rep. Heather Carter and co-sponsored by Rep. Regina Cobb who is the Committee’s Vice Chair, was introduced earlier this session and would establish a study committee to consider ACEs. Representative Carter announced during Thursday’s hearing that she is pursuing a non-statutory committee that would meet after the end of Arizona’s legislative session instead of pursuing the passage of the bill.
Marcia Stanton, coordinator of child abuse prevention at Phoenix Children's Hospital, has been closely involved in the effort and has been hearing positive remarks about the legislation and what it intends to accomplish.
The bill would establish the “Adverse Childhood Experiences Study Committee” to “conduct a thorough study of all matters relating to adverse childhood experiences, including prevention, treatment, long term effects on individuals and effects on the health and wellbeing of citizens in this state as a whole, including effects on high school graduation rates, unemployment rates, risky health behaviors and chronic health conditions.” Members of the committee would include legislators, experts in healthcare, behavioral health, someone with personal experience with ACEs, and others. The study committee would be required to submit a report to the governor by March 1, 2018. A copy of the bill is attached and is also available on the Arizona legislature site under “Documents.”
Dr. Veenod (Vinny) L. Chulani, section chief of adolescent medicine and medical director of the homeless youth outreach program at Phoenix Children's Hospital, and Jessica Nicely, CEO/founder of Winged Hope Family Advocacy Foundation, were the two presenters for the Health Committee session.
Prior to the hearing, Stanton provided this background on the presenters and their remarks: “Dr. Chulani will briefly talk about the science of ACEs/toxic stress, followed by comments from an Arizona ACE Consortium member, Jessica Nicely. Jessica authored the book, All My Friends Are Zeros: My Secret to Overcoming Adverse Childhood Experiences, and speaks frequently about her experience growing up in a family with multiple ACEs.”
A similar educational presentation was done in 2015 when, the House Health committee had a 10-minute presentation on ACEs by two pediatricians — Dr. Scott Grant and Dr. Sara Bode— from Phoenix Children’s Hospital. You can access that video as well the video for the Feb. 9th presentations here.
The education process around the legislation will include reaching out to other stakeholder organizations, legislators, and the governor’s office.
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