November 2016

Last year, the Texas legislature approved a $350 million cut in Medicaid reimbursement rates to early childhood intervention therapists and providers. The cuts, made to help balance a billion dollars in property tax relief, affect the most vulnerable Texas children — those born extremely prematurely or with Down syndrome or other genetic conditions that put them at risk for developmental delay. For months, providers of in-home physical, speech and occupational therapies have continued to...

Connecting with professionals between sessions who are familiar with the effects of domestic violence Last week, I did a presentation about ACEs science and trauma for 150 people who attended Stanislaus County's 17th Annual Family Domestic Violence Conference in Modesto, CA. The conference participants work in family court, social services, education, law enforcement, and probation. (L to R) Dave Lockridge; Honorable Linda McFadden of Family Court; and Dick Monteith, Stanislaus County...

Students at JLA are reminded that change starts with themselves In 2004, after nearly a decade as program director at Jubilee Leadership Academy (JLA), a Christian alternative boarding school for troubled boys ages 13-18 in Prescott, WA, Rick Griffin decided to take a job in Phoenix, AZ, to work with adults with developmental disabilities. There, he began to see similarities between the issues they were having and what he saw in the kids at JLA. “There was a cognitive reason these adults I...

This network allows us to collaborate and learn about so many other great individuals, organizations and initiatives. One of my favorite groups is the The Trigger Points Anthology which is led by two amazing women, Joyelle Brandt and Dawn White Daum. Both are survivors, activists and parents. They are also ACE-informed. In fact, the first link on their resource page to parents is all about ACEs. This week they published the first two stories in their Survivor Empowering Survivor series . You...

Naja Tunney’s home is filled with books. Sometimes she will pull them from a bookshelf to read during meals. At bedtime, Naja, 5, reads to her 2-year-old sister, Hannah. “We have books anywhere you sit in the living room,” said their mother, Cheryl Tunney, who curls up with her girls on an oversized green chair to read stories. Naja and Hannah are beneficiaries of Reach Out and Read, an early intervention literacy program that collaborates with medical care providers to provide free books...

A pioneer in the field of medicine, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris is a leader in the movement to transform how we respond to early childhood adversity and the resulting toxic stress that dramatically impacts our health and longevity. By revealing the science behind childhood adversity, she offers a new way to understand the adverse events that affect all of us throughout our lifetimes. As a pediatrician, a mom and the founder/CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness, Dr. Burke Harris has brought these...

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...

More than half of Americans have at least one chronic disease, mental illness or problem with drugs or alcohol, according to a new study. "The health of individuals in the U.S.A. is increasingly being defined by complexity and multimorbidity, the co-occurrence of two or more chronic medical conditions," said the study authors, Elizabeth Lee Reisinger Walker and Dr. Benjamin Druss. They emphasized that people with multiple health issues need more access to care and better coordination among...

Meet the seven winners of the 2016 RWJF Culture of Health Prize, in a visual tour through innovative breakthroughs that could serve every American community. [Go to http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/robert-wood-johnson-foundation-2016-syndicated/this-is-what-a-culture-of-health-looks-like-in-america-today/1085/]

Back in March, Anderson Cooper famously compared Donald Trump to a 5-year-old. The presidential nominee had tweeted a flattering photo of his wife Melania juxtaposed with a less-flattering photo of the wife of his then-opponent Ted Cruz, and, when Cooper pressed him, he defended the tweet with a kindergartener’s default excuse: “I didn’t start it.” Trump turned 70 this summer. But there may, in the broadest of senses, be science to support Cooper’s analogy—at least when considering what his...

For many Missouri health advocates, an increase in the state's tobacco tax is long overdue. But onlookers might be surprised to hear that tobacco companies are spending a fortune this election year to get one or another increase in that tax passed, while health groups are urging a no vote. At 17 cents for a pack of cigarettes, Missouri's tax is the lowest in the country — a fraction of what you'd pay in many states. New York's tax is the highest at $4.35 a pack, for example, and Florida...

In conjunction with the Office of the First Lady of the United States, Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The goal of Joining Forces Wellness Week is to increase awareness about the health needs of the nation's veterans, service members, and their families. Our friends at the Center for Deployment Psychology are hosting a series of five free webinars during Joining...