Kaiser Permanente announced they have awarded a grant to the Medically Vulnerable Care Coordination Project (MVCCP). The grant will provide for a second straight year of funding for the Trauma-Informed Kern County training initiative.What is Trauma-Informed Kern County?
The effects of long lasting trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on children and adults has been documented in research for over 20 years. Since 2016, the Bakersfield Californian has highlighted the drastic impact of Toxic Stress on many in Kern County, and increased awareness of its long-term effects on our community. Toxic Stress has been found to substantially shorten people’s lives and has been linked to diseases such as diabetes, cancer and asthma, as well as drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide. Many of these conditions and experiences are linked to early childhood trauma that can occur across generations and seriously impact and impair families and communities, not just in Kern but across our nation.
The goal of the training cohort is to to bring all our diverse communities together from around Kern in a county-wide, system-wide training and collaboration that can make a greater, long-term impact on the lives of individuals, families and our many communities.
Over time, becoming a Trauma-Informed Kern County will lead to improvements in our approaches to people, leading to changes in policies, procedures and even physical structures that will be more welcoming and effective as we jointly work to improve health, education, employment opportunities and community well-being in Kern County.
The second session of the training takes place on May 15. For members of the media interested in attending, please reach out to First 5 Kern Communications & Media Specialist, Kevin Bartl.