April 2020

There are two "Better Normal" community discussions this week, on Tuesday and on Thursday. On Tuesday, Ingrid Cockhren, ACEs Connection community facilitator and DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) expert returns to continue the discussing health equity during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, Lara Kain will lead another education "Better Normal".

"Ultimately, she wants all primary care—for both children and adults—to be “trauma-informed care.” “One basic of trauma-informed care is having the entire clinical team trained to support patient safety, confidentiality, and privacy, in order to avoid triggering or retraumatizing patients. Another basic is supporting and connecting patients and families to resources. And another is understanding the principles of self-care,” she says. Ideally, every pediatric or primary-care practice would...

"Abby Vernon, an instructor for YogaSix in San Diego and an expert in trauma-informed yoga, has seen time and again the ways that yoga can help process traumatic experiences. “Trauma tends to keep people trapped in their survival responses of fight, flight or freeze,” she says. Because yoga calls us to focus on the present and our own bodies, it encourages students to tune into their moment-by-moment experiences instead of ruminating on the past. “Rather than working from the top-down,...

The nationwide movement to give health care workers a safe place to stay is also helping San Diegans on the front lines fighting the coronavirus. RVS 4 MDS matches recreational vehicle owners with medical workers in hopes of minimizing exposure and the chances of bringing the virus into their home. “I don't even have the words for all the family and friends that have reached out to see how they can help us, go grocery shopping for us. Now we have this extra shelter in place to try and...

" Trauma-informed practices must become the standard. Many students and teachers are feeling the stress and grief from COVID-19. Even before this pandemic, schools primarily treated the behaviors associated with grief as discipline cases. When youth and adults act out in grief, with short tempers or by becoming withdrawn, we need leaders and counselors to recognize grief and respond through trauma-informed practices. In this crisis, we are seeing a warming of empathy and compassion in our...

"The 43-year-old Jamaican American raised in Palo Alto is on a national mission following her appointment to develop “trauma-sensitive and trauma-informed” education programs that she hopes will lead to changes in school policies. Harris’ ultimate focus is to improve the health of children exposed to toxic stress and trauma early in life, demanding that there are universal stress screenings for all children as part of their regular physical exams." To read more of Mohammed Awal's article,...

Evidence suggests that during the early phase of the coronavirus pandemic, blacks are suffering the greatest death rates compared to all other ethnic groups. Why? I can assure you that the coronavirus does not discriminate based upon skin color or ethnicity. Instead, it has a predilection for populations with the highest rates of chronic diseases, poor access to health care and too little information from trusted sources. For decades, the National Medical Association — which represents more...

The decision by districts across California to shut K-12 schools last month to slow the spread of coronavirus remains a smart and practical move that aligned with other “social distancing” measures to keep virus deaths at a lower level than in other states — and to allow health-care providers more time to prepare for a projected onslaught of patients. But besides managing the public health crisis, leaders in San Diego and statewide also face another huge challenge: the need to make online...

By Bruce Chernof, MD, President and CEO, The SCAN Foundation k Unprecedented times call for unprecedented action, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been quick to respond. In the last few weeks, CMS has issued an array of waivers and rules creating new flexibilities that allow health systems to respond to the growing challenges brought forth by COVID-19. These new flexibilities allow health systems to build off current capacities tested in recent years, as well as...

By Emily Deruy, Bay Area News Group, April 2, 2020 Santa Clara County trails San Diego and Los Angeles counties when it comes to the number of confirmed coronavirus patients who have been hospitalized. That’s according to a new searchable dashboard from the state , which offers a first look at how intensely COVID-19 is hitting hospitals in counties across the state. As of Wednesday, hospitals reported a total of 1,855 patients confirmed to have the virus. Los Angeles County, by far the...