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Calculating a Child-ACE score is not necessary for using the Whole Child Assessment to screen and counsel families. However, because we know some providers for different reasons may want to calculate a score, we have simplified and updated the scoring guide at the bottom of the WCA forms and provided scoring instructions. No changes to any questions were made. https://lluch.org/health-professionals/whole-child-assessment-wca

For Dr. Mercie Digangi, a pediatrician at Kaiser Southern California in Downey, CA, ACEs screening provided a crystal clear before-and-after in how she changed treatment plans for her pediatric patients, she explained to attendees of a December 2 webinar organized by the National Pediatric Practice Community on ACEs (NPPC) and cosponsored by ACEs Connection. Dr. Mercie Digangi One case that turned ACEs screening into a never-go-back moment for her was a three-year-old who was speech-delayed.

Curious about California moving forward on ACEs screening, and preventing and mitigating toxic stress in California residents? Beginning January 1, 2020, California will begin reimbursing Medi-Cal providers for their participation in this new statewide effort known as the ACEs Aware Initiative. California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris in partnership with the Department of Health Care Services has launched the ACEs Aware website , which includes: Fact sheets about ACEs Aware , a FAQ...

Are you looking to make your clinical practice safer and more supportive for those affected by trauma? Do you need concrete guidance about how to make your primary care organization more trauma-informed? If yes, be sure to access the newly released Fostering Resilience and Recovery: A Change Package for Advancing Trauma-Informed Primary Care Change Package ! This resource, from the National Council for Behavioral Health and supported by Kaiser Permanente, is a field-informed guide, developed...

By Manuela Tobias, Cal Matters, December 4, 2019 The Trump administration finalized a rule Wednesday that will cut off food stamps to roughly 688,000 American adults by requiring states to enforce work requirements. The U.S. Agriculture Department said the move will save about $5.5 billion over five years. The rule takes effect in April 2020. “This is about restoring the original intent of food stamps,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on a call to reporters. “Moving more able-bodied...

By Elizabeth Aguilera, Desert Sun, December 4, 2019 Primary care doctors are a hot commodity across California. Students are being lured by full-ride scholarships to medical schools. New grads are specifically recruited for training residencies. And full-fledged doctors are being offered loan repayment programs to serve low-income residents or work in underserved areas. These efforts are intended to ease or stave off the physician shortage expected to peak within the next decade in...

By Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2019 A study of nearly 1,900 fatal police encounters and millions of birth records in California suggests that police killings of unarmed black people may affect the health of black infants before they are even born. Pregnant black women who lived near the site of such officer-involved fatalities had their babies sooner than mothers who weren’t exposed to such incidents during their pregnancies, researchers found. What’s more, those infants had...

By Theresa Clift, The Sacramento Bee, December 5, 2019 A long-vacant dirt lot across from Garden Valley Elementary School in the Northgate neighborhood of north Sacramento could soon become the site of 49 cabins sheltering homeless women and children. Councilman Jeff Harris wants the City Council to consider the project as one potential site for shelters as Sacramento continues to search for ways to address its increasing homeless population. The development, on city-owned land at Northgate...

By Lorna Fernandes, University of California San Francisco, December 4, 2019 The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has approved the use of a screening tool for Medi-Cal patients that helps pediatricians identify Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that can lead to increased health risks in their patients. It is the only tool of its kind to qualify for pediatric Medi-Cal payments. Known as PEARLS, for Pediatric ACEs and Related Life-Events Screener, the tool was developed...

California Governor's Office of Planning and Research, December 4, 2019 We are pleased to announce the 2019 Request For Proposals (RFP). This RFP will serve as a means to identify collaborative proof-of-principle Demonstration Projects with the aim to improve care for Californians who have been impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). This RFP incorporates demonstration project selection criteria codified by AB 1602, Chapter 24, Statutes of 2016, which establishes the California...

A remarkable coping mechanism helped me survive parts of my childhood, and I find I need to give a heads-up about it to anyone who treats me in a medical setting. While chatting about it at last year’s ACEs Conference in San Francisco, Dr. Vince Felitti asked me to write an article for The Permanente Journal about my experiences with the medical community, as a person with a childhood-trauma-related, but mostly invisible, mental health disorder. And, of course, who can say “No” to Dr.

On November 21st, 2019 we had the pleasure of welcoming California's Surgeon General, and ACEs Champion, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris to Humboldt County for the third town hall event on ACEs and resilience hosted by Senator Mike McGuire and First 5 Humboldt. This event was an opportunity for the community to come together again to deepen awareness of the impacts of ACEs on our children and families, and what has been done over the years to address and prevent childhood adversity at local and...