The Red Cross is experiencing the worst blood shortage in over a decade. The dangerously low blood supply levels have forced some hospitals to defer patients from major surgery, including organ transplants. Your donation is desperately needed.The Red Cross said in a&nbsp;statement&nbsp;this week that the dangerously low blood supply levels are posing a concerning risk to patient care, resulting in medical staff making difficult decisions on who receives blood transfusions and who will need to wait until more blood is readily availableIn recent weeks, the Red Cross — which provides nearly 40% of the nation's blood — said it had less than a one-day supply of critical blood types and has had to limit blood product distributions to hospitals.The organization says that at times, up to one-quarter of hospital blood needs are not being met. Additionally, the pandemic has also contributed to a 62% drop in blood drives at schools and colleges."Winter weather across the country and the recent surge of COVID-19 cases are compounding the already-dire situation facing the blood supply," said Dr. Baia Lasky, medical director for the Red Cross.Each Red Cross blood drive and donation center follows high standards of safety and infection control. Red Cross employees have implemented added precautions to ensure blood drives and donation centers are safe for donors and staff.We are taking the following precautions to help ensure the safety of our employees, volunteers, and donors.<ol><li data-list="bullet">Spacing beds 6 feet apart</li><li data-list="bullet">Requiring Face Masks</li><li data-list="bullet">Wiping down donor touched areas</li><li data-list="bullet">Having hand sanitizer available</li></ol> AABB encourages&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aabb.org/for-donors-patients/faqs-about-blood-and-blood-donation" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); background-color: transparent;">eligible</a>&nbsp;individuals to donate blood regularly to help ensure that this lifesaving resource is readily available to patients whenever and wherever it is needed.&nbsp;To find an AABB-accredited blood donation&nbsp;site near you, please provide at least a state or zip code (for best results) using the Blood&nbsp;Donation Site&nbsp;Locator below. <a href="http://www.aabb.org/tm/donation/Pages/Blood-Bank-Locator.aspx" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); background-color: transparent;">http://www.aabb.org/tm/donation/Pages/Blood-Bank-Locator.aspx</a>Once you have identified your nearest donation site, please be sure to&nbsp;first call ahead or visit their website to schedule an appointment and ensure donor eligibility.

The Red Cross National Blood Shortage

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<h2> </h2>Simply put, Adverse Childhood Experiences aka ACE’s are ten questions that explain the risk for health complications later in life. The science is truly shocking and irrefutable. Which is why II had to do something to try to mitigate it, at least in our community, where I can show the true value of having all health resources under one site, Choice MD.<h2>How on earth am I going to stop ACE’s in our community?</h2>The simple version is by making it a community effort and using Choice MD as a connector to all the resources in the community that are aided to help improve their lives. The reality behind it is I’m about 9 months into the campaign and I’m excited to share with you the news and an overview of the plan.I initially had the idea when I attended the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce Legislative Round-Up at University of Miami back in March. I saw two individuals from our nonprofit partners, Representative Duran, and it happened to be right after I had discovered the science behind ACE’s. I quickly gathered my partners asked if they would be up to the task and then approached Rep. Duran to share my plan. The details are below:<ol><li data-list="ordered">expand on the ACE's test to include additional stressors including food insecurities, death of a family member due to COVID., etc.</li><li data-list="ordered">universal testing of our children in school settings</li><li data-list="ordered">increased counseling&nbsp;at schools to also help with logistics of support programs</li><li data-list="ordered">adding a class for PTG - post traumatic growth aka (Power to Grow) where kids will attend support programs virtually according to the stressor. i.e. if a child experienced violence in the home they connect with Be Strong Intl. to learn ways to break the cycle and live in a healthy way, or death due to COVID they connect with Children's Bereavement Center if needed, etc. If no support program is needed for the child they will take the time to learn mindfulness. We should take this time to also prepare them for the future.</li></ol> <h2><img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/8912b13a-cbdc-40e8-914e-57fef6f7dcbf-Screen_Shot_2022-01-06_at_9.27.57_AM.png">I have since met with Board member Mari Tere Rojas, Sally Alayon and the entire mental health department at the Miami Dade County School Administration several times.</h2>In the midst of the progress I was making at the school level, I joined forces with Nelson Hincapie and Madeleine Thakur. Madeleine is the President of the Children’s Movement of Florida and rightly so, she is brilliant and has the children’s best intentions in every decision she makes. Nelson is the President of The Voices for Children Foundation and I really can’t think of a better person to advocate for those orphans, he has a true gift of connecting with people like no other. Nelson and I met through Madeleine and we connected over the fact that we both share an ACE score of 7 and we simply understand each other through our hardships. I am eternally grateful for all the help they have provided and between their knowledge of the community and my gusto, I am confident that together we will change the future for our young Miamians. <img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/bdaa2b64-f2b8-456a-b521-96b03dbc60d1-Screen_Shot_2022-01-11_at_9.26.41_AM.png">The concept regarding mitigating&nbsp;ACE's will require the involvement from the entire community. Schools and medical professionals to identify children affected&nbsp;by ACE's, counselors and nonprofits to direct the resources for management. Medical Professionals will also screen patients for ACE's. Parents in the general public will learn about ACE's through their children's homework, this could be possible if we incorporate a class on mental wellness surrounding ACE's. Government&nbsp;officials and policy&nbsp;makers are needed to support the initiative&nbsp;and truly make it happen. Business owners will have their own reasons to mitigate ACE’s, but let’s start at the beginning. <h2>Why is it beneficial to universally screen our kids for ACE’s every year?</h2>For starters, it will most likely give teachers more empathy and understanding when trying to control an unruly child in class. Let’s look at it this way, kids aren’t usually taught ways to deal with stress so when things stress them out at home, this can play out in the classroom. More importantly, it gives us the ability to connect the child and their family with the resources necessary to stop future traumatic experiences and teach the child to overcome adversity. This is the most important step as it will change the health of our kids for generations to come.<h2><img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/1b053505-edd2-418a-8272-1a04578d4e6d-20211028_134515.jpg">Why is it beneficial for business owners to work to improve ACE scores of their employees?</h2>A lot of ACE scores are generational. From a business perspective, it boils down to the dollar. Solving ACE’s could save businesses on a whole, billions in health insurance annually. The health complications linked to ACE’s are Diabetes, Cancer, Ischemic Heart disease, Depression. Etc., The list goes on and just as Benjamin Franklin said “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We are too smart of a society to rebuild after the pandemic without considering ACE’s.<h2>Why should the judicial system look at ACE scores of offenders?</h2>Same issue, ACE’s are generational and being that they happen as a child they are learned through example. Therefore, it would give us a better understanding of why things are playing out the way they are. Perhaps in some instances, best practice would be to follow baby court. After all, the main focus is to ensure future kids have the least amount of traumatic experiences and taking them from the parents would make things worse. Let’s change the narrative when possible and give the parents resources to succeed.<h2>What is B.A.B.Y. Court?</h2>I had no idea what baby court was or that it even existed. This is a prime example of the wealth of knowledge I acquire just by sitting with Nelson and Madeleine. Early Childhood Court, commonly known as “B.A.B.Y.”, is a family-focused program that uses child-parent psychotherapy to assist families during their involvement with the child welfare system. B.A.B.Y.’s main priority is the safety and well-being of children. During separation, B.A.B.Y. will assist families in achieving their goals through the following services:<ol><li data-list="bullet">Individual counseling</li><li data-list="bullet">Parenting education and counseling</li><li data-list="bullet">Case management</li><li data-list="bullet">Therapeutic visitation</li><li data-list="bullet">Community resource navigation assistance</li><li data-list="bullet">Integrated decision team staffings</li><li data-list="bullet">Aftercare support post reunification</li></ol>B.A.B.Y. is composed of a team of individuals who work closely to enhance the parent-child relationship during this difficult time of separation, and focus on the completion of case plan services to ensure permanency is achieved as soon as safely possible.<h2>Why should doctors be familiar with a patient’s ACE score?</h2>It’s every physicians job to improve the health of their patients. This would give them the full picture as to why a particular treatment may not be working.&nbsp;Here’s an interesting fact, the founder of this science, Dr. Vincent Felitti stumbled across the science when trying to figure out why his patients weren’t keeping their weight loss off. You can learn more about that story <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ns8ko9-ljU" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">here.</a>High ACE scores would give doctor’s a better understanding of why treatments may not be working. But more importantly and from the words of Dr. Vincent Fellitti “The significance of this is huge, plays out in a number of different ways. Most of which we avoid thinking about or taking about, or certainly asking about. The key finding was that with an ACE score 6 or higher there was a shortening of life expectancy of almost 20 years.”I’ve said this time and time again, ACE’s has given a true purpose to Choice MD and I will make it my lifetime effort to ensure another child doesn’t have to face the uncertainty of future health outcomes because of a rough start in life.

The Importance of ACE's

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<h2> </h2>Working through Childhood Traumas or ACE’s is one of the most difficult and rewarding journeys. I know, because I am currently going through the process. To be completely transparent, I thought I was a really happy kid that was able to adapt easily. The truth is, I realize now I was only masking my struggle.Often time with the need to over perform and perfectionism just to be able to reach levels of recognition every year.<h2>What Were My ACE’s?</h2>At this point, you’re probably wondering just what my traumas were and why I felt the need to over perform. ACE’s are personal and while I’m happy to share my score of 7, I’m not really keen on opening up about how exactly I got those scores. I will say this, my parents are both immigrants from Bolivia and a lot of immigrants have a harder life ahead of them due to lack of familial support, financial hardships, unfamiliarity with the system, etc. All things considered, my parents did the best they could but even then, I ended up with the score of 7.That said, my therapist and I have the same discussion every week “do I feel this campaign is helping me?” She sees my struggle and my response is usually a muted yes. Perhaps because I’m still going through the process and it’s painful to think of the various scenarios that happened as a child that affect the way I function now. Moreover, it can be difficult to reflect back on a scenario you experienced as a child with the understanding of an adults’ perspective. Let me give you an example, with both my parents working, I really didn’t have the time needed to connect with my parents. A lot of times I felt lonely as play dates weren’t set up. So instead I had two imaginary friends, an elephant and a mouse. I guess at the very core that is the definition of post traumatic growth. In psychology, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_growth" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">Posttraumatic growth</a>is a concept describing positive psychological change experienced as a result of struggling with highly challenging, highly stressful life circumstances.&nbsp;<h2><img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/c260e579-e4a7-46d1-9352-a338ab3f4003-MicrosoftTeams-image_(6).png">Post-traumatic Growth and ACE’s</h2>I know what you’re thinking, how could imagining a friend be a positive thing? It was a coping mechanism I had at the time and it’s just one of my many quirks that allowed me to continue to be the positive, happy person I am today. That mouse and elephant solved my problem of loneliness for the time being. Well, now as a mom to a 7-year old daughter I am mortified to think back on just how lonely I was. I could never imagine my little Amelie looking into thin air, laughing and playing hopscotch with an imaginary friend.That said, I like to think of my life as a Kintsugi vase. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext;">K</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">intsugi</a>&nbsp;is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold — built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art.I bring that art into my own parenting style. I suppose embracing my flaws makes it easier to accept the fact that while I may not have the same skill set as other parents, whatever parenting style I am adapting for my family, beautifully strengthens the flaws I once had.At the end of the day, I am grateful for having discovered the science behind ACE’s because as painful as the journey has been, I know that everything I am doing is not only for my benefit but for my daughter’s as well!<img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/a4b71d6a-cc6b-48ac-bed6-01d189b04b9a-MicrosoftTeams-image_(5).png"><img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/d7015853-6ae1-4b38-b61f-ad93c15ebc66-MicrosoftTeams-image_(4).png"><img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/9e724923-b69c-4355-b7e4-668243372b4e-MicrosoftTeams-image_(3).png"><img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/ef3780da-43f6-4526-944a-a8669b239747-MicrosoftTeams-image_(2).png">

Working Through Childhood Traumas or ACE’s

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It’s the season of giving and I’d say not many individuals give more than this young lady has in her 17 years of life. I’d love for you folks to meet Gabriela Hernandez from the <a href="https://sasdreamfactory.org/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">School for Advanced Studies</a> in Miami. I had the pleasure of meeting Gaby for the first time at the <a href="https://www.choicemd.com/blog/coral-gables-summer-literacy-festival-combats-the-summer-slump" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Coral Gables Summer Literacy Festival</a> where she was promoting her book: “Timothy’s Magic Wheelchair: The Martian Overlord.”<img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/2e978617-e3f8-49ed-8e29-ac10f85c207a-IMG_9468.jpeg">At the time, I was still chair to the City’s Advisory Board on Disability Affairs and happy to check out all the booths that were scoped out to represent the disabled population. This particular table took me by surprise because all the proceeds from this children’s book benefit the <a href="https://www.jettfoundation.org/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Jett Foundation</a>. I was so intrigued and I simply had to find out more. So many questions came flooding into my mind. For example, why did she decide to do something so altruistic, especially at such a young age? From my experience, the people who choose to do these types of things are usually the ones whose lives have been directly affected, and helping others can become part of the growth that takes place when faced with adversity. Well, it turns out that was exactly the case. Her life forever changed when her cousin Ale was diagnosed with <a href="https://www.duchenne.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy</a>, a genetic disorder usually diagnosed in early childhood that causes muscle weakness and degeneration due to the alteration of a protein that helps keep muscles intact. I can only imagine the amount of courage and resiliency needed to navigate a life filled with so much difficulty. It was after a trip to a theme park in Orlando where Gaby realized how difficult the prospect of being in a wheelchair was for her cousin Ale and that was really what sparked the idea for the book.<img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/80fc4698-646c-473e-9c02-f2b990c7914b-IMG_9469.jpeg">After that intro, I quickly went to Amazon to order a copy and our family was more than pleasantly surprised. It is a really well-written children’s book with a delightfully whimsical yet realistic twist about adapting to a physical disability. I seriously liked it so much that when I found out she would be at the Coral Gables Adventure Day for All, six months later, I went rummaging through my daughter’s bookshelf so that I could bring it to the event and ask for her signature – she already is a superstar in my mind!<img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/18b0784a-96b0-4fad-b807-7fda07fc60a8-Resized_20211023_141853.jpeg">If you’re looking for gifts that will teach your children about the beauty of appreciating the differences in all of us then this is the perfect book for you!

The Gift of Appreciating the Differences in All of Us

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<h2><img src="https://images.sitesails.com/1/original/2ba65e19-0079-4827-90fb-fe0c39641bf5-Add_a_heading_(2).png">A New COVID-19 Variant – The Omicron Variant</h2>The news has been saturated with information about a new COVID variant <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/omicron-variant.html" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(5, 99, 193);">B.1.1.529</a>with very little actual information about this new virus. It was first detected in South Africa in late November, but it is possible that Omicron did not originate there. The virus has been found in samples in Europe that precede the discovery in South Africa. It is now found in at least 26 countries including several states in the US. The confirmed case count is low but rising quickly. With this early statistical information and the fact that the new strain is highly mutated compared to the Delta variant, experts believe that the virus is more transmissible. There is some good news at least anecdotal that would indicate that the new virus could be less deadly as the symptoms appear to be milder than symptoms with the Delta Variant.<h2>The Omicron Stage of The Pandemic</h2>All this information is preliminary as we are very early into the Omicron stage of the pandemic. Not enough information has been gathered and not enough data been cross referenced to the patient population specifics like vaccine status, and prior infection status. This does not allow any certainty in the prediction of severity. The vaccine companies are scrambling to understand how the variant reacts to the current vaccines and they need time to make valid conclusions. They are confident that there is benefit to the existing vaccines; but are already looking into plan B an Omicron booster and they expect to have a plan B vaccine production ready in about 100 days. Let’s hope we don’t need plan B, but it appears that it will be available soon.<h2>What Can We DoInTheMeantime?</h2>Meanwhile what can we do as a population to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); background-color: transparent;">help ourselves.</a>We can continue to socially distance, we can continue to wear face masks in public, we can continue to wash our hands frequently. We can continue to test when we have suspicious symptoms or suspect exposure. We can continue to adjust our lives to the pandemic. We are all tired of this and wish that it had already passed, but once again we will need to dig deep and continue to show that we can survive<h2>Is There a Silver Lining to The Omicron Variant?</h2>If there is a silver lining to the appearance of Omicron is that vaccination rates have gone up. This is good news because if it turns out that the current vaccines are highly effective against Omicron we are in better shape. Even if they are not very effective, they will reduce the healthcare system load from prior variants. Two years into this pandemic every country’s health care system is to the breaking point, the care givers are physically and mentally tired, they have lost many colleagues to the virus and have lost many to retirement due to exhaustion. The number of hospital beds maybe the same but if you cannot adequately staff the facility, those facilities become less effective. This has caused ripple effects for patients that need help due to non-COVID related illness. Or even those that are waiting for “elective” surgeries which is a misnomer; they can survive without the surgery but are possibly living with more pain or have a diminished quality of life.One last comment and it is more a hope than a prediction or a statement. If (and that is a big IF still) the variant is less deadly it maybe that the virus is starting to become just another common cold virus or flu. Don’t get me wrong even the most mundane form of the flu is still deadly to some people and it is still tragic; but as a society we could return to a more normal life,and that is a good thing.Stay up to date by reading my recent <a href="https://www.choicemd.com/blog" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); background-color: transparent;">Blog posts</a>or <a href="https://www.choicemd.com/health-news" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193); background-color: transparent;">News articles!</a>

The Red Cross National Blood Shortage

The Importance of ACE's

Working Through Childhood Traumas or ACE’s

The Gift of Appreciating the Differences in All of Us

What is The New Omicron COVID Variant?

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