Adverse Childhood Experiences
March 20, 2019Information
Hannah Ingber
The Roger Barnett Public Health Video Challenge 2019
- 00:02What if time doesn't heal all wounds?
- 00:04What if the past is never truly forgotten?What if we could link the
- 00:08greatest public health crises of our time to one single idea?
- 00:12There is a strong relationship between trauma
- 00:14and health throughout a person's life.
- 00:16For us to have better health we need to understand the prevalence of this trauma.
- 00:19Adverse childhood experiences,
- 00:21or ACEs, can help explain this relationship.
- 00:24In 1998, breakthrough research linked adversities in childhood
- 00:28with adult health outcomes.
- 00:29Nearly two thirds of adults have at least one adverse childhood experience.
- 00:33ACES can include neglect,
- 00:35abuse, significant household dysfunction
- 00:38and community adversity.
- 00:40ACEs cause a toxic amount of stress hormones in the body.
- 00:43Their presence negatively impacts the healthy development of children's hearts,
- 00:47brains and immune systems.
- 00:49Countless studies show that the roots of many common diseases stem from ACEs.
- 00:53This connection must be utilized.
- 00:55If health care providers can better understand the realities of their patients,
- 00:58they can better serve them.
- 01:00We can no longer ignore the toll that trauma takes on our lives.
- 01:03It must be an element of every health discussion.
- 01:06ACEs will not always cause poorer health outcomes.
- 01:08There are ways to protect against them,
- 01:10and to heal them in adulthood.
- 01:12Patients deserve care that is tailored to their personal experiences
- 01:15and strategies that recognize the realities of everyday life.
- 01:18Without acknowledging the connections between past stressors
- 01:21and current physical health, we are missing too many opportunities to help people
- 01:25realize their full health potential.