Dr. Vincent Felitti spent three days in Juneau, Alaska this week as a guest of the Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) and its president, Dr. Rosita Worl. He was invited to speak about the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experience Study and how it might benefit Alaska, specifically the Alaska Native community.
Beginning with a radio appearance and a community reception with about 100 people in attendance, Dr. Felitti was well received. While in Juneau, he met with Alaska Native leadership, representatives of All Alaska Pediatric Partnership, the state pediatrics organization, state employees who are either using ACEs knowledge in their programs or considering its use, legislators, Gov. Bill Walker, Lt. Governor Byron Mallott, and representatives of the Alaska Departments of Health and Social Services and Corrections. A planned presentation to the Alaska House Health and Social Services Committee was cancelled by edict of legislative leadership, who said that only committee meetings on budget issues would be authorized. We quickly arranged a meeting with the House Minority Caucus and a member of the House Finance Committee, where there was considerable interest.
A real conundrum involved the cancellation of the hearing in deference to working on budget issues only. As Dr. Felitti explained to every audience he spoke to, a followup study of 130,000 Kaiser Permanente patients conducted over a 2+ year time period demonstrated a drop of 35% in patient visits for a one-year time period if they filled out a health assessment form. With eight million members in Southern California, and a budget for primary care of $6.5 billion, the impact of a 35% drop in visits would be considerable.
The public lecture presented by Dr. Felitti set records for Sealaska Heritage Institute attendance. Held in the Clan House at the new Walter Soboleff Building , about 140 people attended; an additional 40 to 50 people were turned away at the door due to lack of space. The lecture was videoed and will be made available online through SHI.
The Juneau Empire reported on the lecture in this story -- Speaker: Childhood trauma can lead to health issues.
The resolution introduced by Rep. Geran Tarr (D-Anchorage) as House Concurrent Resolution 21, was discussed with a number of Alaska Representatives and their staff. We made Gov. Walker aware of the Resolution and he agreed to review it and make a decision on whether to support it.
The visit exceeded my expectations and am hopeful that we can start to make progress with addressing state policy on addressing childhood trauma.
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