FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 20, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 21
Jamaica Hospital welcomes Puerto Rico
earthquake team with special ceremony
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A team of mental health professionals
who were deployed on a disaster relief
mission to Puerto Rico received a warm
welcome back home with a special reception
Photo by Carlotta Mohamed/QNS
State Assemblyman David Weprin (third from right) with members of the Jamaica Hospital Health Disaster Response Team, who were deployed on a
disaster relief mission to Puerto Rico.
Photo : Carlotta Mohamed/QNS
Bruce J. Flanz, President & Chief Executive Offi cer of the MediSys Health Network (l.) receives a
citation from State Assemblyman David Weprin.
and award ceremony at Jamaica
Hospital Medical Center on Friday, Feb.
14.
On Feb. 2, Gov. Andrew Cuomo made
the special announcement that a delegation
of bilingual mental health professionals
were being deployed to Puerto Rico
to provide much-needed support to residents
recouping from a string of devastating
earthquakes.
Th e MediSys Health Network volunteered
a group of six mental health experts
from the Jamaica Hospital Health Disaster
Response Team to serve on the mental
health relief mission coordinated by the
Greater New York Hospital Association
(GYNHA).
Th e team — Frank Lopes (social worker);
Denise Osorto (social worker);
Alberto Palomino (clinical manager);
Martha Edelman (CPEP medical director);
Attilio Rizzo (chief social service
psychiatry); and Jennifer Santos (psychologist)
— returned to New York on Feb. 10.
In celebration of their humanitarian
work in Puerto Rico, State Assemblyman
David Weprin presented each team member
with a certifi cate from the New York
State Assembly.
“What you did going to Puerto Rico
to assist — and I know that a number of
mental health initiatives from all of the
suff ering people have gone through and
dealing with the issues post earthquake
and hurricane — I commend all of you,”
said Weprin, who visited the island in
November.
Although the earthquakes — which
began on Dec. 28, 2019 and continue to
occur — have caused hundreds of millions
of dollars in property damage, the
greatest impact of the catastrophic events
is refl ected in the mental health of the
island’s residents. Th e devastation has left
many people feeling hopeless and fearful.
Several have been diagnosed with mental
health disorders such as depression,
anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD).
“Th e need for mental health support on
the island was overwhelming. We realized
that survivors were in great need
of our assistance, and this prompted us
to respond with urgency to serve on the
mental health relief mission,” said Mark
Marino, director of Pre-Hospital Care.
According to Marino, the team was
deployed to shelters and camps in
Guanica, Guayanilla and Ponce on Feb. 3.
Jamaica Hospital’s mental health professionals
were integrated into the work of
the Puerto Rico Administration of Mental
Health and Anti-Addiction Services.
Each day, during their week-long mission,
the team separated into two groups
to canvass the south-west part of the
island. One group led by Edelman,
worked at camps in various locations as
well as a park used as an informal school
for children.
“Th ere was a nonprofi t teachers association
and they had 165 kids in that park
trying to do classes for kindergarteners
through third grade for two hours each
morning,” Edelman said. “I saw amazing,
strong loving people who are trying to
help each other.”
According to Edelman, buildings are
either destroyed or undermined to the
point where people are unable to live in it.
“Here and there is a building where
people can still be in, but in general, those
homes were built to withstand hurricanes,
not an earthquake. Th ey were on stilts,”
Edelman said. “People are also not sleeping.
Th ey’re very anxious and are experiencing
panic attacks.”
Describing the trip as a “life changing
experience and a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity,” Edelman said the team
members are still adjusting on their return
back to New York.
“It’s a sharp contrast — the kind of work
we do in mental health is exposure to a lot
of suff ering, and so we have a lot of ways
in coping with that and this was diff erent,”
Edelman said.
Th e other group, led by Rizzo, was
deployed to diff erent neighborhoods in
mountainous areas, where they conducted
door-to- door canvassing and provided
home visits to those in need.
According to Rizzo, a database called
Go Canvas was created to gather information
on 1,200 patients evaluated in
Puerto Rico.
“It was about what they were experiencing
and what types of symptoms, specifically
to whatever they claimed to what
was making them feel that way, which
was the tremors,” Rizzo said. “Th ey’re still
working on that database and we don’t
know the complete results, but when we
do, we’ll fi gure out how to help them
down there. We’re hoping we can develop
another plan.”
Santos said amid the destruction she
observed a resilient community.
“We saw people who are strong and
community-oriented,” Santos said. “Even
though we were there to assist them, you
could see the resilience and culture that
assisted them to move forward and look
into the future.”
Anthony Maffi a, vice president of
Psychiatry, said, “Jamaica Hospital is
proud to have served on this mission and
hope that by supporting the victims of the
earthquakes, we were able to help them
to recover from traumatic events and
rebuild their lives.”
Th e MediSys Health
Network has a long
history of providing
disaster relief to
those in need. Some
past relief eff orts
of the
MediSys Health Network include:
• Hurricane Andrew – Homestead,
Florida, 1992
• Northern Country Ice Storms –
Watertown, NY, 1998
• World Trade Center Attacks (9/11) –
New York, NY, 2001
• Hurricane Katrina –Louisiana &
Mississippi, 2005
• Hurricane Sandy – Far Rockaway, New
York, 2012
• Hurricane Maria- Puerto Rico, 2017
According to Bruce J. Flanz, president
and CEO of the MediSys Health Network,
“It has always been our mission to provide
relief to those in need. Responding to
disas- ters and exporting our
talents where they
can be utilized is
something that we
are proud to do
and will continue
to off er whenever
it is needed.”
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