Families across the country are grieving the loss of a million Americans. More than 200,000 American children are orphans as a result of the swine flu.
The short film introduces Avion Simon, a teenager from the Midwest who is struggling to comprehend the loss of his mother to Covid, only two years after he died. He is finishing high school while caring for his siblings.
Scientists have known for 25 years that stressors like Avion's Adverse Childhood Experiences increase the risk of disease later in life. There are a number of serious medical problems associated with adverse experiences in childhood. In our interview, Dr. Felitti talks about how he came to discover this connection.
Behavioral and mental health problems can be caused by trauma. It was difficult to believe that it could cause physical problems as well. His work took a long time to be accepted by the medical community.
There is hope for young people who have lost a parent or caregivers. The impact of ACES can be mitigated by important connections with family, community and mental health professionals Charles Nelson is an expert who advocates for more services to better meet the needs of America's Covid orphans. He told us that the effects of these experiences can be immediate and long term.
The story was created with Retro Report. Here, you can view more of their films.
There is a video transcript.
It was the first week of everything happening. I was stressed out a lot. I had a lot of stuff. I wasn't feeling well. The world was on my shoulders.
When his mom fell sick with covid last year, Avion stayed home and cared for his siblings, while juggling his own schoolwork, his job, and football.
She was hurting so much that you could tell. I haven't seen my mom before. I was taking care of her and the children. Everything is going to be okay. Don't fret about anything. You are aware that you have me. I will be with you all the time.
She had double pneumonia in both of her lungs, and they figured it out. It got worse when that happened. She couldn't talk to me while I was there. I didn't know who my mother was. She looked different when she left the house that day. She died at 1:14 the next day.
I don't feel like I'm doing anything. You have to wake up with the knowledge that you don't have any parents. You don't have any parents so you have to sleep. It is the most difficult part for me. I don't know why that happened to me and my family. Why did I do it? I don't understand it.
More than 200,000 children and teens like Avion, C.J., and Momo have lost a parent or a loved one.
There isn't anything like this that compares to the number of kids that have lost their caregivers at a single moment in time.
Over 200,000 children have lost a parent in the last two years because of Covid.
Nelson asked what their psychological needs would be. How will those requirements be met? The long term effects of those psychological consequences could be with them for the rest of their life.
There are no comments at this time.
The relationship between adversity in childhood and long term impacts on mental and physical health was first discovered in the 1980s.
We started with a detailed medical history and went on for 20 years.
The female health questionnaire is a health appraisal questionnaire...
The landmark study looked at 10 kinds of adverse childhood experiences, or ace, among a group of 17,000 people.
Fetali has been physically abused as a child, verbal abused as a child, and matched to risky health behavior and disease later in life.
We were able to look at specific questions like if a person has any adverse childhood experiences, how does that affect the likelihood of them getting cancer over the next 20 years or becoming chronically depressed, etc.
There are additional diseases and high blood pressure.
Felitti and his research partner Robert Anda were shocked by the results.
Adverse childhood experiences have a big impact on public health. We found a high correlation between cancer and other diseases. Our initial thought was, "Well, you know, okay." Smoking two or three packs a day is what you end up doing because of your bad childhood. That was just a small part.
Even without risky behavior, ongoing or repeated exposure to adversity increased the chance of later disease.
We had an explanation for medical problems that have been hard to deal with.
The implications of Felitti's findings for understanding the risk and for prevention of many common diseases in the U.S. were huge.
I thought that it would catch on in medical circles. The thing didn't. They have to deal with it, so people didn't want to know about it. I would have been a shrink if I wanted to be one.
There are no comments at this time.
The idea that early adversity can lead to disease has taken root as researchers have made strides in understanding how the brain and the body respond to chronic stress. The brain releases hormones that flood the body in the face of a threat. The system usually shuts off when the threat is gone.
It starts to have a negative impact when those systems are left on a lot. It's changing your body chemistry. Immune systems lose their strength. The chance of chronic disease, cancer and heart disease go up.
Poverty, community violence, and racism can affect the body in ways that abuse or a parent's divorce can.
Kids in low-income families are more at risk of toxic stress. Half of the children under the age of 6 are in America today.
Children exposed to poverty, violence, and substance abuse can have long-term effects on their mental and physical health.
Researchers are trying to figure out how to calm down the stress response system.
There are things that we can do to help prevent those psychological and physical health consequences.
It can be as simple as helping a child.
Nelson said that easing a child's anxiety, helping them negotiate and manage stress, and reducing stress hormones are the reasons this has such a large effect on a child's biological makeup. It helps calm things down. The body doesn't suffer as much as it could.
Children lose the person who played that role when COVID-19 spreads.
Nelson said the rug had been pulled out. There isn't a buffering relationship there. What is a replacement for that buffering relationship? This is a national disaster that needs our attention now. These kids will suffer for years and years to come if we don't act quickly.
There are no comments at this time.
Without an effective national strategy to help children who have lost caregivers to Covid, families around the country are doing everything they can.
There are things we know how to do that minimize the impact of traumas. You may be able to navigate a loss like that if you have connections.
What is it that makes it funny?
Since Avion's mom died, the narration has been over six months. Avion's stepbrother died two years ago. Avion helps care for his siblings. Avion lived with his best friend's family because there wasn't room for him.
The babies are strong and smart. Yes. There have been changes in them. Sometimes she is sad. I will speak to her at night. She says that she misses her mom. I told her I miss her. I talk to her about how her day went and get her off the topic and make her sleepy.
C.J. asked if you wanted some salad.
Thank you, I'm okay.
A counselor at school helped C.J. and Momo through their grief. Avion works out.
I just go to the gym and work out when I explode. There is a place where I feel safe. It's another place to escape. I don't have to think about it. I don't think about what I need to do.
Avion is going to college next year and will return to his hometown to raise his two siblings.
I put this picture on my lock screen so I could see her face every day. I keep going because of it.
If I have to fight for them to have what they want, that is what my parents did for me when I was young. I want them to be happy and not have to worry about other things.
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