Early childhood adversity like abuse and divorce is a root cause of many of the greatest public health challenges we face today. But doctors don’t even screen children for exposure to adversity. That’s changing in California, thanks to Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and other child advocates. As of Jan. 1, 2020, almost 100,000 physicians in 8,800 clinics will be reimbursed for routinely screening Medi-Cal patients for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), in an effort California hopes will help prevent ongoing ACEs-related stress and disease. Here are nine big questions surrounding the change.
1. What Is Childhood Adversity (ACEs) and its Impact?
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include abuse, neglect, divorce, parental incarceration, parental mental illness, etc. These ...
How do you convey what is closest to your heart? Doug Hattaway, president of Hattaway Communications, says that the way we communicate can make the difference between positive movement in an issue or those ideas falling on deaf ears. Today, he joins Salud Talks to discuss the strategy his firm uses to fight for positive change — aspirational communication. Check out this discussion on the Salud Talks Podcast, Episode 18, "Speak No Evil"! WHAT: A #SaludTalks discussion about how we speak to one another and how we can do that better GUEST: President of Hattaway Communications, Doug Hattaway
WHERE: Available wherever fine podcasts are downloaded, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Tune In, and others
WHEN: The episode went live at 11 a.m., Jan. 29, ...
When Julia Maues was 29, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy who had a full head of hair—while she had no hair at all due to chemotherapy for breast cancer. During her pregnancy, she was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer. Maues began chemo while pregnant, which is the standard of care. After her son was born in 2013, she underwent more tests she couldn’t have while pregnant. Doctors found that her cancer had already spread to her brain, liver, and bones. After trying different drugs and finding the right one, the cancer started to respond to the therapy. There were (and still are) many setbacks: Most drugs don’t penetrate the brain, many drugs harm the heart, the side effects can be debilitating, and her incurable illness has taken a huge emotional toll on ...
As a white woman living in Boston who grew up all around the world, privileged and well-educated, Alison Corcoran was a stranger to injustice and health inequity. “I’ve never been denied anything,” Corcoran told Salud America!. That all changed 11 years ago when she became a foster parent to her African American son.
Experiencing Health Inequity and Bias First-Hand
When Corcoran’s son joined the family, he was only in the first grade. During the family transition meetings, his social worker had told her: “Make sure you take him to the dentist soon – I don’t think he has ever gone.” So Corcoran took him to the family dentist for a cleaning and exam. During the appointment, it was no surprise that her son had multiple cavities. Then, it came time to visit ...
The number of victims from anti-Latino hate crimes rose by over 21% last year, according to new FBI data. While the total number of hate crimes fell slightly to 7,120 from 2017 to 2018, the amount of hate crimes involving physical violence — intimidation, assault, and homicide — reached a 16-year high. The number of hate crime homicides hit its highest number ever: 24 murder victims. This, coupled with the rise in anti-Latino hate crimes, is alarming, experts say. "We're seeing a leaner and meaner type of hate crime going on," Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said in a statement.
The Politics of Hate: Anti-Latino Biases
Some experts are connecting the hate crime data and current political ...
In training, doctors and other healthcare providers are taught to disregard their own personal upbringings, and that of their patients, from clinical decisions. But doctors are susceptible to their unconscious bias. Dr. Jabraan Pasha is changing that. Pasha created a workshop to spread awareness of implicit bias─the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions unconsciously─in the healthcare system. “The workshop aims to make us realize we are not bad people because of [implicit bias],” Pasha said. “We have these biases that are there. Agree or not they are there, and this can help people take steps to correct it.” “It’s important to remove shame and guilt.”
Pasha’s Discovery of Implicit Bias
Pasha, a native of Tulsa, ...
What is the motivation behind your day job? For Kelly Capatosto, it is her family and the Latino population. Capatosto, who started exploring implicit racial bias in school discipline at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University, wanted to help her family and make them proud. At the same time, she is making a huge impact on health equity for her community. Capatosto and the Kirwan Institute are generating significant research and training on implicit bias—the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions unconsciously. Implicit bias has a big impact on Latino health equity. "When we got the funding to start working this implicit bias training, we were also living in a different world than it is today," ...
How often do you see Latinos and people of color on the big screen? Kerry Valderrama, president of Alamo City Studios, joins Salud Talks to discuss how his company is creating a culture in which all people can tell their stories through art and film. Check out this discussion on the #SaludTalks Podcast, Episode 11, "Homogenizing Hollywood"! WHAT: A #SaludTalks discussion on minority representation in art and film GUEST: Kerry Valderrama, president of Alamo City Studios
WHERE: Available wherever fine podcasts are downloaded, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Tune In, and others
WHEN: The episode went live at 9:00 a.m., Nov. 20, 2019 In this episode, we explored questions such as: Why does cultural representation in art and film matter?
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Dr. Rogelio Sáenz is no stranger to health inequity. Growing up along the Texas-Mexico border, he saw Latino families ripped apart by poverty, plagued by systemic bias and racism, struggling to get the healthcare they needed—yet facing a mostly white leadership not ready for change. Sáenz' own grandfather worked as a janitor for a local electric co-op. He couldn't advance in the job due to extreme racism. He had to take side jobs to make extra money for his family. As a child, Sáenz himself experienced racism in the classroom. He continuously got in trouble for speaking Spanish. He also could not hang out with his white friend outside of class. “My white classmate invited me to his house. But then he [his classmate] came back and said, 'Never mind, my parents said no ...
