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By Erminia Scarcella, MD
Since the days following 9/11, Washington, DC, probably
more than other communities in the nation, has stood at heightened alert
for terrorist activities. WPS members have taken an active role in preparing
themselves to serve our community should disaster - either manmade or
natural- strike our region. As the nation's capital, Washington is home
to a large contingent of foreign nationals, many of whom belong to the
180 embassies and legations in the city.
In 2003, the WPS International Medical Graduate (IMG)
group organized an outreach program to assist the diplomatic community.
Our goal is to link a WPS member with the embassy of his/her native
country.
As we make connections with the embassies, we convey to
them the need for and the value of a mental health component in addressing
medical emergencies generated by a disaster. We can serve an educational
need on the kinds of mental health problems that may follow a disaster
in the immediate aftermath and the years that follow. WPS IMGs in the
program have agreed to be available even on site at the embassy should
disaster strike and to serve at the request and direction of the Ambassador.
Participants have undergone disaster response training and will keep
themselves current on the literature and available for additional training
opportunities.
At present, 16 embassies have agreed to be a part of our
program. Where we are not able to find a WPS member from a particular
country, we have matched that embassy with a psychiatrist who speaks
the native language. Current matches are:
-
Erminia Scarcella, MD
- Carlos E. Sluzki, MD; Eliana Santoro, M.D; Vincenzo Holder-Perkins, M.D., MPH; Anjali DSouza, MD, PLLC
- Gerald P. Perman
- Eriminia Scarcella, MD
- Victor Khayat,
MD and Ali Rifai, MD
- Mia Kogan,
MD; Antoine Hani, MD and Mariana Niemtzoff, MD
- Gerald P. Perman,
MD
- Gerald P. Perman, MD, William Lawsom, MD, and Hind Benjelloun, MD
- Fortuna Israel,
MD
- Erminia Scarcella,
MD
- Dr. Rod Drake, Dr. Gordon Kirschner, and Dr. Antonia Baum
- TBD
- Dr. Hind Benjelloun
- Eriminia Scarcella, MD
- Antonia Baum, M.D.
- David Charney, MD and Catherine May, MD
- Michael Golder, MD
- Eriminia Scarcella, MD
- Simona Pic
Both, MD
- Connie
Dunlap, MD; Varsha Morar, MD, Saul Levin, MD
- David Ratnavale,
MD
- Erminia
Scarcella, MD
- Smita Patel, M.D., Antonia Baum, M.D.
As the list of embassies participating grows, we
invite WPS IMG members from other nations to join our program and commit
to this important program and service to the diplomatic community. Also,
we invite non IMG psychiatrists to join. We need more psychiatrists.
I will be happy to talk with you about participating and answer questions
you may have about the Embassy Project. Contact me at 202-244-5462 or
by email at ermsca@bellatlantic.net.
In order to demonstrate our concern for all members of
the Washington, DC Community and especially to serve the Diplomatic
Corps and its dependents in the event of a disaster, either natural
or manmade, The Washington Psychiatric Society, led by its International
Medical Graduate members, establishes a Committee on Disaster Response
to the International Community. The Committee has determined that the following goals
will guide its activities:
1. We will convey to the diplomatic community
through embassy officials the need for and value of a mental health
component in addressing medical emergencies generated by a disaster.
2. We will educate embassy personnel on the kinds of mental health
problems that often follow in the immediate and long-term aftermath
of a disaster.
3. We will inform embassy leaders of the benefits of having mental
health professionals on call and available to care for embassy staff
and dependents should disaster strike.
4. We will make ourselves available on site at the embassies as soon
as practicable in the wake of a disaster to render psychiatric medical
care to persons in need of such care.
5. We will coordinate with other medical professionals and serve as
a component of the medical team in caring for the needs of embassy
staff and dependents in a disaster.
6. We will serve as a liaison between the embassies and the larger
medical community, and facilitate medical referrals as needed.
7. We will, through an on-going dialogue, consult with embassy staff
to assess each embassy's particular needs and wishes for mental health
care, and design response programs tailored to each embassy's requirements.
8. We will go only where we are invited.
9. We will avail ourselves of training and educational opportunities
to enhance our skills as healers and psychiatric medical responders
to disaster.
10. We will be guided at all times by the ethical
standards of the medical profession and our oath as physicians.
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