http://www.pdinewlife.org/

POSTSCRIPT:  This well-organized and meaningful Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance event took place on a rainy cold evening.  With good training and professional and personable police officers paving the way for speaking with any homeless persons who were interested in contributing to the survey, this experience is highly recommended.  Please consider it for yourselves next year.  Welcoming and educating this rookie were veterans Joel Feiner MD (psychiatrist advocate and community mental health guru/ leader),  Janie Metzinger (MHA); Mike Katz (NTBHA Consumer/Family Council);Valencia Hooper, John Dornheim, and Sherry Cusumano (NAMI Dallas and Collin County); Sr Cpl Herb Cotner of DPD.   Officers Isaac and Celeste of Northeast and LPC David Mora (presently a City of Dallas caseworker) were wonderfully easy and respectful and humane as we visited with those homeless persons who felt comfortable speaking with us.  My sense:  we all realized we are much more alike than different and but for the grace of…Fortunately riding through my own neighborhood, I learned the haunts and strategies and extreme distress of the unsheltered who were NOT in the Bridge and what they believed would help.    NCmd

2010 Homeless Count and Census:  volunteers needed, on-site training.
ALTERNATIVE TO NTSPP DINNER WHICH HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Highly recommended by Carolyn Rekedres MD who has participated…

It is once again time to conduct the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) annual homeless count and census. The census is conducted each year in the last week of January so that Dallas and Collin Counties can collect information on homeless residents.

With MDHA’s renewed commitment to end Chronic Homelessness by 2014 and the opening of the Bridge Homeless Assistance Center in May of 2008, the Homeless Count and Census allows us to monitor our progress in achieving this goal. The Census helps us to complete a needs assessment for the community and encourage the development of programs to fill identified gaps. The information compiled during the census is also used by several interested groups, including non-profit organizations, faith-based groups, media outlets and various departments in Federal, State and local government.

DATE: Thursday, January 28, 2010
TIME: 6:00 P.M. – 12:00 A.M.  (subject to slight changes if needed, most volunteers are able to leave by 10:30 p.m.)
LOCATION: Dallas City Hall – 1500 Marilla, L1 F North Auditorium  Park in City Hall underground parking (entrance traveling east on Young Street)  Enter through the GREEN door

HOW TO HELP: Volunteers are needed for both the indoor and outdoor census. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age.  Remember to wear comfortable shoes, bring a flashlight, writing pen and clipboard.

Indoor Volunteer Team Member: Conducts the Homeless survey in an indoor location, such as an Emergency Shelter or Transitional Housing facility. Law enforcement professionals are not assigned to these teams, but a staff contact will be provided for teams who visit these locations and agency staff will be present.

Outdoor Volunteer Team Member: Conducts the survey outdoors in teams of two or three. Law enforcement personnel are assigned to each team for safety reasons.

Training:   Training on how to conduct the census will be provided for volunteers on the night of the census. Volunteers will sign-in from 6:00 – 6:30, and should arrive no later than 6:15 P.M. in order to receive all of the information presented.

Contact Information:  Thank you for your interest! In order to volunteer for the Homeless census or to receive more Information, please contact Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance:

Phone: 214-670.1112

E-mail: PMaroney@MDHADallas.org

RESCHEDULED FROM SEPTEMBER 20 DUE TO IKE:

NTSPP AND THE DALLAS COUNTY MEDICAL RESERVE CORPS (DCMRC) OFFER

SPECIAL DISASTER TRAINING AND DCMRC CERTIFICATION FOR PSYCHIATRISTS

The North Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians (NTSPP) is organizing a special half-day disaster training program for psychiatrists (including psychiatry residents and fellows), in partnership with the Dallas County Medical Reserve Corps (DCMRC), on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 1 from 8:45 am to 1:00 pm, at the Dallas County Health Department, 6^th floor, room 627 (2377 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas TX 75207). The training program will be led by Carol North, MD (local, national, and international disaster expert who is a member of NTSPP Executive Council and serves as Mental Health Liaison for DCMRC), Frank Webster, MD (UT Southwestern psychiatrist and organizer of services for the 2008 Hurricanes), Ira Nemeth, MD (DCMRC Medical Director), and Jess Wade (DCMRC Emergency Volunteer Program Coordinator). The program will provide special disaster training for psychiatrists and will conduct recruitment and credentialing of psychiatrist volunteers willing to register in Dallas County. We hope you can attend. (Psychiatrists are welcome to attend the training even if they do not want to be a DCMRC volunteer. CME credits are not being offered.)

To be credentialed as a disaster responder volunteer for Dallas County at this meeting, you must:

    1) Attend this meeting (at which your photo will be taken and a badge prepared to be given to you at the completion of your credentialing) and read the Volunteer Handbook provided at this meeting

    2) Register as a DCMRC volunteer (you can fill out an application online at www.metroplexvolunteers.com)

    3) Complete on-line training as required by the US Department of Homeland Security (IS-100 and IS-700), and forward evidence of your certification to the MRC (instructions below)

    4) Return a confidentiality agreement package and pass a related credentials check (see confidentiality agreement document for completion attached to this message)

If you would like to attend this training meeting, please RSVP to
Jess Wade (numbers/addresses provided at the bottom of this document). Thank you for considering participation in this training and joining the ranks of DCMRC volunteers as a Disaster Psychiatrist. The effort you invest in this endeavor will help you, the DCMRC, and NTSPP be better prepared to respond to disaster.

Directions to complete the on-line training are as follows:

On-line courses can be conveniently completed at your own computer. Just click on the link below to access it (or if that does not work, copy it into the address window of your browser):

http://training.fema.gov/IS/NIMS.asp

Select the second IS100 course: “Introduction to Incident Command System for Healthcare/ Hospitals.” Follow the instructions closely to avoid time-consuming missteps.

IS100 is presented in 5 lessons plus the test (~2.5 hrs – but most psychiatrists can do it a lot faster!)

IS700 is presented in 8 lessons plus the test (~3 hrs – but most psychiatrists can do it a lot faster!)

Please send a copy of your Certificate of Completion and also your Confidentiality Agreement to Jess Wade at Dallas County MRC:

Email: jdwade@dallascounty.org

Fax: 2148192099, ATTN: Jess Wade

Mail: Dallas County Dept. of Health & Human Services, 2377 N. Stemmons Freeway, Suite 500, Dallas, TX 75207

Phone: 2148191922

TO RSVP FOR THE NOVEMBER 1 TRAINING, PLEASE SEND YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION including both e-mail address and phone numbers TO JESS WADE (ABOVE). Program changes (if any) will be sent to you by Mr. Wade and posted on the www.ntspp.org website.

NTSPP 4th Thursday eve: Thursday August 28 6:00 pm   Volunteer Opportunities for Psychiatrists and PGYs:

Project Access, The Bridge, The After Hours Clinic, and the New Life Opportunities Program (Prostitute Diversion)

 Thanks to our friends at DCMS Project Access, Metrocare, Homeward Bound & DPD for creating and organizing these wonderful, easy opportunites for satisfying service, while providing liability coverage:

Jim Walton MD, MIchael Darrouzet & Connie Webster of Dallas County Medical Society ~ Project Access

Jim Baker MD CEO and Greg Graves MD Medical Director of Metrocare ~ Project Access, The Bridge, The After Hours Clinic

Renee Breazeale and Doug Denton of Homeward Bound, Sgt Louis Felini of DPD, Martha Felini PhD ~ The New Life Opportunities Program (Prostitute Diversion Initiative at I20 Truck Stops)

 RSVP if attending only to ntspprsvp@gmail.com along with your pizza topping likes/dislikes.

Confirmation email with location and details will be sent to you the SAME WEEK AS THE EVENT.

Please notify us if you have not received a confirmation email by Monday, August 25.

Psychiatrists & PGYs, please bring cash to cover pizza & drinks. Speakers, you are our guests!

See you there! Your Friends at the NTSPP EC

–

NTSPP

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

Nicole Cooper MD (President) ***Ed Nace MD (Vice-President) ***Rege Stewart MD (Treasurer)

Adam Brenner MD ***John Debus MD ***Madeline Harford MD ***Alan Koenigsberg MD

Phil Korenman MD Carol North MD ***Dan Pearson III MD Catherin Roberts MD

***Past President of NTSPP

CHAPTER OFFICE

NTSPPchapter@gmail.com www.ntspp.org Chase Building 8111 Preston Rd Ste 811 Dallas TX 75225.6316

MOTTO

Affiliation~Altruism~Anticipation~Humor~Mentalization~Self-Assertion~Self-Observation~Sublimation~Suppression

TERRITORY

Dallas Collin Cooke Denton Ellis Fannin Grayson Hunt Kaufman Montague Navarro Rockwall Counties

ORGANIZATION

The North Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians (NTSPP)

is the local chapter of the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians (TSPP),

the district branch of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

TSPP: TSPPofc@aol.com www.txpsych.org APA: www.psych.org