Blog

In the thirteenth installation of the " A Better Normal " community discussion series, ACEs Connection facilitated a conversation focused on health inequity as it pertains to the COVID-19 pandemic . This discussion featured myself and ACEs Connection member Joshunda Sanders and highlighted the role of racism, historical trauma and poverty when it comes to the impact of this pandemic on African Americans and other vulnerable populations. In this session our guests were Sarah Bounse with...

By Ruby R. Tran, Fort Lee Traveller, May 21, 2020 I have always been tempted to write a prescription that reads “Go out and play” just to see how the parent responds. Turns out, there is no better time than this – nearly three months into the social distancing, no public gatherings and shelter-at-home requirements to prevent the spread of COVID-19 – to follow that exact recommendation. As a pediatrician in Kenner Army Health Clinic, I have observed how this situation has not been ideal for...

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...

By P. Berman Please let them pass me by again . Don’t let me have to talk. Larry had been silent for the last hour. One by one the men in group had talked about their night sweats, their screams, their pacing around their property; something, from everyone but him. What could he say? He didn’t remember anything.…. I can’t tell them about the voice. What if the blood on those hands wasn’t mine? What if the scratching means I’m crazy? These were the thoughts occupying Larry as he tried to...

I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I cannot let myself sleep! Larry kept exercising on the cold floor to keep himself awake. It had been three days since he’d used his prayer beads. He could not let himself fall asleep. He didn’t want another dream- he might find out that he’d been hurting someone. Hurting someone so badly that his hands were covered in blood. The morning finally came. After breakfast, he rushed through washing the dishes and ran until he was in the garden. The only place where...

Old Lady in the lighthouse, where did you go? One day I filled my pockets full of stones. I wadded slowly, into the vicious ocean storm. You were there beside me, I was never alone. Hand over hand you retrieved me from the waters deep. It was not time to relinquish, forever fall asleep. You cradled my face in your cupped warm hands. You gently rocked me, brushed my hair full of sand. Remember that little girl, who remains my foe? She still clings to me wretchedly in tow. Please old lady in...

When shelter-in-place orders first took effect in early March, I was just recovering from 3 days serious fever and chills (no tests available at that time so we'll never know if it was "a" virus or "the" virus). I went to bed on March 12th with an upset stomach and I woke up on March 15 to find that all sports games, concerts, events, and gatherings were being canceled, flights to Europe were now a no-go, coronavirus infection rates around the world were skyrocketing, and and schools and...

It has been an honor to collaborate with the wonderful and wise Elaine Miller-Karas on 5 online events since I started working at ACEs Connection a year ago. The recordings of these events are our most popular videos on YouTube, with a combined total of over a thousand views. I have now compiled them into a single playlist on our YouTube Channel. >>Click here to visit the playlist<< The videos include: 1. Building Resilient Communities - August 8, 2019 2. The Human Impact of...

By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: May 21, 2020 at 10:59 a.m. | UPDATED: May 21, 2020 at 3:20 p.m. Distance learning in the COVID-19 era has put a strain on all families, but especially those with children with special education needs. “No one was ready. Obviously, we didn’t see this coming,” said Christina Schmidt, executive vice president of the Palo Alto Council of Parent Teacher Associations. And parents, she said, can be caught unaware of how...

Teri Wellbrock sits down with Dr. Jamie Marich who describes herself as a facilitator of transformative experiences. A clinical trauma specialist, expressive artist, writer, yogini, performer, short filmmaker, Reiki master, and recovery advocate, she unites all of these elements in her mission to inspire healing in others.

The $3 Trillion Heroes Act that passed the House of Representatives on May 15 is primarily a statement of House Democrats’ priorities for the next stimulus COVID legislation and will not be the starting point for the Senate when it returns after the Memorial Day recess. The slim Republican majority in the Senate, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, questions whether a large spending bill is the right approach, saying that states and localities must demonstrate that they are spending the...