In the early 2000s, the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child coined the term “toxic stress,” explaining how ACEs trigger biological reactions from the excessive activation of stress response systems on a child’s developing brain, as well as the immune system, metabolic regulatory systems, and the cardiovascular system. Toxic stress from ongoing, high doses of adversity can become embedded in a person’s traits and behaviors.

In the mid-1990s, there was a landmark study conducted by the Center for Disease Control that revealed that 12.5% of individuals who experienced four or more ACEs before their 18th birthday had a 390% increased risk of COPD, a 240% increased risk of hepatitis, a 460% increased risk of depression, and a shocking 1,220% increased risk of suicide.

A short account of how I continue to learn about health disparities and strive for better practice.

In our street medicine program, Project HOPE long recognized that there were three times as many males experiencing homelessness as there were females. Or so it seemed.

In my sixth year of living with epilepsy, I experienced a satori, the moment in the Buddhist tradition when one’s intuitive wisdom reveals a new way of seeing. It’s also called “riding the wind.”

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs for humans is shown as a pyramid.