Nicola's Churchill Adventure

After two days in downtown San Francisco I check out early and head across the bay to Berkeley Marina my spot for the next three nights. My contact here who has been amazingly welcoming before I have even arrived (for the last 3 years of planning/delays/planning again) Deidre Bernard-Pearl is coming to pick me up and drive me the hour or so commute to where she works in Santa Rosa. Dr Pearl has been involved in the Community Health Clinics in this area for many years, and I have followed the work of her and her colleagues because of the great success they have had in implementing community wide screening of ACEs in their paediatric and other health settings.

In the hour or so drive up we share stories of current work situations, Covid experiences, family and travels. Once at Santa Rosa I am given a tour around the facilities of one of the Community Health Centres and chat to several of the staff and make plans to catch up in more detail in the next few days.

Underprepared and Overwhelmed

After a morning of introductions and quick conversations, Deidre informed me that she had arranged for me to have lunch with her former colleague and mentor, Deidre and another friend Terri. At this point I need to point out just how jet lagged and generally out of it I was feeling. I have never really had bad jet lag before, so the night before when I was tossing, turning, overthinking, and kinda panicking all night was a shock. I was introduced to two friendly and extremely welcoming women, who Deidre handed me over to. They said ‘let’s go to lunch, and asked what cuisine I would prefer’. I jumped in their new Tesla – very cool and escaped the 40 degree Celsius plus temperatures that the area is experiencing. They also asked if I liked wine tasting, which of course I replied – yes I do!.

The next few hours were some of the most surreal and fun hours I have had in a long time. Over a delicious lunch, it became apparent to me whom I was dining with. Terri – was a research associate with Dr Vince Felitti, working with him at the time the original ACEs study was being developed and Dr Meredith Kieschnick, the paediatrician largely responsible for the universal screening of ACEs being implemented in this region. As Cameron framed it later ‘You had lunch with the Godmothers of ACEs’.

Over lunch Meredith asked me what I wanted to know. As I was realising where I was and who I was with – the fog of my brain was struggling big time to formulate succinct and intelligent questions that would do justice to who I was speaking with. I didn’t do well. I wasn’t articulate. I’m not being modest. BUT, amazingly they hung in there with me. They weren’t joking about wineries. I spent the afternoon with the two amazing women – we went to a winery and tasted a fleet of local wines. They took me to their home and I met their two gorgeous puppies. We shared family snaps. We laughed, and I never had a warmer welcome to such a daunting adventure as the Churchill in my life. They have set quite the bar for day 1.