In another part of his community, Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula is known as Dr. Armabula, and before he decided to run for the Legislature he was an emergency room physician at the Adventist Hospital in Selma.
It is from this perspective that the Fresno Democrat is looking for support for a for a novel wellness program aimed at reducing childhood exposure to adverse experiences as a means of preventing chronic disease later in life.
The concept, known as adverse childhood experiences, or ACE, is driven by a landmark 1998 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser Permanente that linked events like divorce and family financial hardship as well as more severe experiences like physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence and parental mental illness—to stress-related health illness decades later—such as heart disease, obesity and premature death.
After conducting hearings into ACE earlier this month, Arambula wants to incorporate the success of some bellwether pediatricians who have translated the research into better patient care.
“In the emergency room, we want to address those factors that may worsen issues in health care without being directly related,” he said in an interview. “It became obvious to me that we have to address those things further upstream rather than waiting until they arrive at the ER. We needed to figure out what is happening out in our community.
“And I believe that adverse childhood experiences is that missing piece,” he said.
The entire article by by Tom Chorneau published on April 16, 2018 can be read HERE
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