International Forensic Nurse addressing sexual violence in conflict zones in central & east Africa

Senior Fellow, Nancy Cabelus, DNP, MSN, RN, is an international forensic nurse consultant currently working with Physicians for Human Rights on a program addressing sexual violence in conflict zones in central and east Africa.

In recent weeks I visited impoverished areas in Kenya to specifically meet with women and talk with them about sexual violence.  In Kibera slum, the largest and most renowned slum on the African continent, I spoke one morning with 16 women.  The women I met with are HIV positive and receive antiretroviral (ARV) treatment.  I asked the women to whom they would turn if they or someone close to them were raped. All said that they would seek care from a doctor but most were not aware of places they could go where medical treatment was free. Only two reported that they would seek help from the police. Police are perceived as rude, accusatory, and often ask for bribes from women seeking help.  Two women stated they would speak to the tribal chief in the slum and eleven others said they would tell a trusted friend. None would tell a family member and would prefer to suffer in silence rather than deal with the stigma and family outcast attached to rape.

Health Homes- an opportunity for transforming substance use services

Daliah Heller, PhD, MPH, joins the Center for Health Media and Policy (CHMP) at Hunter College this year as a Visiting Scholar.

I’m beginning to think Health Homes are one of the best-kept secrets in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). I’ve spoken with a lot of health care providers lately, and few seem to know about this provision, and that it is not the same as a Medical Home, though could be part of one.

Health Homes are case management-type entities established by the state health authority to
serve Medicaid-eligible people with chronic health conditions. ACA includes substance use
disorders among the eligible conditions, alongside mental health conditions, asthma, diabetes,
heart disease, and being overweight. And for the record, the term ‘substance use disorder’ refers
to a spectrum of excessive or harmful alcohol or drug use.

Title V Summer Institute Nurse Messenger Media Training

On July 17th I attended the Title V Summer Institute Media Training Workshop held at the Hudson County Community College Culinary Arts/Conference Center in Jersey City, presented by Barbara Glickstein and Dr. Kenya Beard. This program was a series of workshops aimed at improving diversity in nursing and in classrooms, retaining students from Hispanic and Latino communities, and helping to mentor them in study skills, test taking, and leadership. Only 1.7% of nurses in America are Hispanic or Latino, and the purpose of the Title V grant is to increase this percentage so that it may be proportional to the percentage of Hispanic and Latino patients in hospitals. The purpose of this specific workshop, called Nurse Messenger Media Training, was to teach foundational media skills, so that attendees would leave knowing how to address the media in a way that clearly expresses why diversity in nursing is essential, as well as how to share several key points during a short interview, and also how to capture the targeted audience. The workshop, a series of interactive, engaging, and educational activities, was definitely successful, as attendees left saying how much more confident they felt now and how they were camera-ready. Attendees had the opportunity first to learn about why addressing the media effectively is crucial in achieving their goals, and then to practice addressing the media- first in mock television interviews and then in mock press releases- after articulating the key points they wanted to express as well as the audience they wanted to reach. Although participants in the program were wary at first of being put on the spot and having to watch themselves on TV after having their mock interviews, they soon realized how fun and empowering having a media presence can be, and everyone left seeming ready to head to the newsroom for a real televised interview.