NEW HAVEN, Conn., Feb. 26, 1998-The 3rd Annual Domestic Violence Seminar Series at Yale strives to educate health professionals and members of community agencies who work with victims of domestic violence about this significant issue of personal safety and public health.
Three lectures, which are free and open to the public, are scheduled for March 30 and 31 and April 1 at Yale University School of Medicine. The lectures will take place in Epidemiology and Public Health's Winslow Auditorium at 60 College St. from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Yale's 3rd Annual Domestic Violence Seminar Series will offer health-care providers insight into the experiences of a survivor, facts about policies affecting domestic violence, and suggestions for treating patients, particularly patients from diverse communities, who are survivors. The students sponsoring the conference believe these valuable tools will allow health-care providers to better serve the more that 300,000 women in Connecticut for whom domestic violence may be a fact of life.
Domestic violence accounts for up to 35 percent of women who seek care in emergency departments throughout the United States, according to American Medical Association reports. Despite these statistics, researchers agree that domestic violence is dramatically underreported in this country.
The Domestic Violence Seminar Series is sponsored by Yale public health and medical students, the Pew Urban Health Program, Epidemiology and Public Health Student Organization, Office of Women in Medicine, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Medical Student Council, and with advisory support from the Domestic Violence Training Project. For more information, please call (203) 785-5911.
Monday, March 30, 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Yolanda Haywood, M.D.: A Bridge over Troubled Waters. Dr. Haywood will speak about her own experience as a survivor of domestic violence, as well as about how to recognize domestic violence in clinical settings.
Dr. Haywood, associate professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University Medical Center, received her M.D. degree from Howard University School of Medicine, and completed her residency training in emergency medicine at GW. She then joined its faculty. She directs the violence initiative at GW's Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine. The recipient of numerous teaching and clinical excellence awards, she has spoken nationally on domestic violence, both as a personal and a clinical issue.
Tuesday, March 31, 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Sujata Warrier, Ph.D.: From Sensitivity to Competency: Working with Victims of Domestic Violence from Diverse Communities. Dr. Warrier will discuss the need for health-care professionals to achieve competency when working with victims of domestic violence from diverse communities. She will provide attendees with basic guiding principles and exercises that will enable them to successfully intervene with diverse victims of domestic violence, particularly immigrant women.
Dr. Warrier, director of the New York City Program of the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV), received her Ph.D. degree from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She has written and worked on issues of women for more than 10 years, with special emphasis on the concerns of immigrant women. Within OPDV, she has trained professionals in the health-care system, criminal justice system, and community and social service agencies on domestic violence issues. Before joining the office, she coordinated the Coalition of Battered Women's Advocates in NYC. She volunteers at Manavi, a pioneering organization for South Asian women in the United States, and serves as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University. She recently co-authored From Sensitivity to Competency for the Family Violence Prevention Fund.
Wednesday, April 1, 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Donna Edward, J.D.: Violence against Women: From Idea to Action. Ms. Edwards will focus on the evolution of the federal Violence against Women Act and will introduce participants to the pending Violence against Women Act II.
Ms. Edwards is the executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Network to End Domestic Violence, a national organization of state domestic violence coalitions. A national expert on domestic violence policy issues, she has worked in the field for more than 15 years. In addition, she serves as president of the District of Columbia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, advisor to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and Resource Center, and commissioner on the District of Columbia Mayor's Commission on Violence Against Women.