Tagged With "COVID-19"

By Samuel Yamshon, Los Angeles Times, May 15, 2020 As I make my way into my building’s elevator after a long hospital shift, a neighbor throws his arm out to stop me. “Sorry,” he says, “only one person per elevator.” Seeing my confusion, our doorman kindly but firmly corrects him. “Two per elevator is fine.” I take a step toward the open doors, but the passenger again holds up his palm. “Please,” he pleads, his eyes glancing frantically at my scrubs. “Please, just take a different one.”...

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...

Millions of lives have been affected in unprecedented ways by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are all grappling with uncertainty—our daily routines interrupted, not knowing what is to come. For those of us who have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), these times can be particularly distressing. At the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), we know that childhood trauma can have a significant impact on an individual’s health and well-being – both physiologically and psychologically. Since the...

By Latanya West, San Diego Voice, May 15, 2020 In January 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Dr. Nadine Burke Harris as California’s first-ever Surgeon General. An award-winning physician, researcher and advocate, Dr. Burke Harris’ career has been dedicated to serving vulnerable communities and combating the root causes of health disparities. Her work is equally dedicated to changing the way our society responds to one of the most serious, expensive and widespread public health crises of...

By Kevin Sherin, American College of Preventive Medicine, May 7, 2020 There is a growing dialog about COVID-19 and its impacts on childhood adversity (ACEs), chronic stress, and mental health across the lifespan. The fear and social isolation associated with COVID-19 commonly exacerbates existing chronic stresses. Reports are surfacing of increased mental health problems, anxiety, partner violence, depression, suicidality, child abuse, opioid use disorder, other substance abuse, drug...

first published by The Meadows 4/15/20 Our sense of loss during the current COVID-19 crisis can trigger hidden emotions from when we experienced a sense of loss before. Whatever early losses you have had in your life — whether they be your own divorce, your parents, or both, or the abandonment of one parent, a childhood or parental illness or death, financial upheaval, constant moving around, or growing up with parental addiction or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) — they are likely to...

By The Daily, The New York Times, May 20, 2020 Some have called the pandemic “the great equalizer.” But the coronavirus is killing black Americans at staggeringly higher rates than white Americans. Today, we explore why. Guest: Linda Villarosa, a writer for The New York Times Magazine covering racial health disparities, who spoke to Nicole Charles in New Orleans, La. about the death of her husband, Cornell Charles, known as Dickey. He was 51. For more information on today’s episode, visit...

By Amine Souadka, Hajar Essangri, Amine Benkabbou, et al., EClinical Medicine, May 17, 2020 During the COVID-19 outbreak, healthcare professionals are exposed to a high-risk of infection and mental health problems, but also fear of contagion and spreading the virus to their families. In fact, considering them as individuals implies looking beyond their function as frontline responders and taking into account their societal role as parents, spouses and offspring. While work-family balance is...

By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, April 20, 2020 Latoyha Young had a birth plan. She was going to have the baby in Sacramento with community doula Joy Dean by her side. Dean was funded by the county’s Black Child Legacy Campaign , which works to reduce the disproportional number of Black infant and child deaths in Sacramento. But in mid-March, when Young went into labor just as Governor Gavin Newsom ordered Californians to stay at home to avoid spreading the novel...

From Weill Institute for Neurosciences, UCSF, May 2020 These are unprecedented times. We need to work extra hard to manage our emotions well. Expect to have a lot of mixed feelings. Naturally we feel anxiety, and maybe waves of panic, particularly when seeing new headlines. A recent article by stress scientist and Vice Chair of Adult Psychology Elissa Epel, PhD, outlines the psychology behind the COVID-19 panic response and how we can try to make the best of this situation. Our anxiety is...

By Jennifer Abbasi, JAMA Network, May 20, 2020 I n the spring of 2013, Eileen Barrett, MD, MPH, lost a colleague to suicide. The two worked at the Indian Health Service’s Gallup Indian Medical Center in New Mexico, where Barrett was the deputy chief of medicine. Even before the tragic event, she saw workers struggle under administrative burdens and hold themselves personally responsible for problems outside of their control. With her coworker’s death it became painfully clear that clinician...

From American College of Preventive Medicine, May 2020 Preventive Medicine Physicians are our nation's first line of defense against pandemic disease. They are responding to the current COVID-19 pandemic with dedication, expertise and unfailing commitment to public health. We are curating a collection of well-vetted resources on COVID-19 for physicians, families and anyone interested in learning more about the coronavirus. Read our new blog, Preventive Medicine Responds to COVID-19 HERE. [...

By Maria Godoy and Daniel Wood, National Public Radio, May 30, 2020 In April, New Orleans health officials realized their drive-through testing strategy for the coronavirus wasn't working. The reason? Census tract data revealed hot spots for the virus were located in predominantly low-income African-American neighborhoods where many residents lacked cars. In response, officials have changed their strategy, sending mobile testing vans to some of those areas, says Thomas LaVeist , dean of...

By KQED Science, KQED, June 14, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic and the recent killing of George Floyd have brought longstanding racial inequities into sharp focus. One of those disparities concerns the high rate of coronavirus transmission among people of color. To talk about the intersection of race and health, KQED's Brian Watt spoke last week with California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, who is known for her pioneering work on the role that childhood stress and trauma play on...

By Rachel R. Hardeman, Eduardo M. Medina, and Rhea W. Boyd, New England Journal of Medicine, June 10, 2020 In Minnesota, where black Americans account for 6% of the population but 14% of Covid-19 cases and 33% of Covid-19 deaths, George Floyd died at the hands of police. “Please — I can’t breathe.” He was a black man detained on suspicion of forgery, an alleged offense that was never litigated or even charged, but for which he received an extrajudicial death sentence. “Please — I can’t...