D7CCB657B4362C07872583C3004AF835 Hearing Summary

Dr. Sarah Watamura, University of Denver, introduced herself and began her presentation, which was distributed to members of the committee (Attachment A). She discussed the adverse childhood experience (ACE) study and described what ACEs are and how they impact adults. There are three categories of ACES, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; household challenges; and emotional and physical neglect. Household challenges include abuse of a mother, substance abuse, mental illness in the family, or separation or divorce. Dr. Watamura discussed the factors that can contribute to ACEs, including alcoholism and abuse, depression, poor work performance, and suicide attempts. She explained that ACEs can have lasting effects on behavior and health and explained that certain risk factors have an effect on life expectancy. She also discussed the consequences of ACEs on achievement in education, and stated that overdose and suicide are much more likely to occur with the presence of ACEs.

Dr. Watamura further discussed how ACE scoring has evolved. There is a maximum ACE score of 8, and in Colorado, 38 percent of people reported an ACE score of 0 and 15 percent reported an ACE score of 4 or higher. She discussed the percent of Coloradans reporting each type of ACE, and noted that a high percentage of adults in Colorado reported substance abuse as an ACE. She discussed ACE prevalence in different demographics and also the correlation of ACES and certain diseases, such as heart disease and depression. She also discussed the correlation of the effect of ACES on parents with children.

Dr. Watamura answered questions from the committee.