Thread started: Mar 12 2009, 1:44 AM EDT
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For my 1st advocacy project (to take place on March 23rd At Tufts – for all you New Englanders who want to come out and support me) I am hosting an event at Tufts Medical School for students, residents and physicians centered on 1) the medical care of immigrant survivors of political torture and 2) the asylum-seeking process in the US.
A little background - I became interested in this topic my second year at Tufts when I got involved with the Asylum Network from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). This group of doctors helps medically/legally evaluate persons seeking political asylum in the US, many of whom have been tortured. As I went out on several "asylum" evaluations with PHR's docs and as I met refugees in family medicine clinic, I realized that I did not have the requisite clinical skills to evaluate or even approach such patients. I now believe that content and skills regarding the medical, psychological, ethical, and legal aspects of evaluating and caring for torture survivors needs to be incorporated into our undergraduate medical curriculum. I have thus invited the deans and physicians in charge of the psychosocial curriculum at my school to the event with the hopes of convincing them to incorporate this topic into the 1st and 2nd year lectures as well as into the 3rd/4th year clinical experiences.
In addition to “general advocacy”, part of the evening is specifically targeted towards physicians and residents who may be interested in volunteering with the Asylum network. To my surprise Massachusetts actually has a shortage of available physicians to do asylum evaluations and hopefully this event will inspire some attendees to join the network. The head of PHR’s Asylum network will be there to head the recruitment.
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RE: Advocay Event - Caring for survivors of torture and the asylum process
By: Zhenya.Krapivinsky,
Mar 12 2009, 1:45 AM EDT
Logistically, the evening will consist of a screening of Refuge: Caring for Survivors of Torture, a half hour documentary on the identification, treatment and support of immigrant torture survivors living in the United States. Ben Achtenberg, the director of the documentary will be there to lead a discussion on the film. I think the major goals of the film are to:
• Increase public awareness and understanding of the situation of torture survivors in our communities
• To help us medical professionals recognize torture survivors in our immigrant patients
• Demonstrate the was that physicians can effectively confront the issues of torture survivors in their daily practice
• Highlight the barriers to torture survivors receiving comprehensive and competent care in our healthcare system.
•
The 2nd part of the evening will be lead by the director of PHR’s asylum network and a physician who volunteers with the network. They will lead us through an interactive case presentation of an asylum interview. My hopes are than this portion of the event will a) recruit some of the physicians and residents to volunteer with the Asylum network and b) Exemplify a very concrete way that clinicians (and us future clinicians) can help and support asylum seekers and detainees in the US.
So, that’s the big plan, I will post again after March 23rd with the outcomes. My biggest hope is that people show up. I am posting the flier I made for the event below; so if any of you kids are in the area, please do come out.
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