Washington Heights Community Service

Francine Cournos, M.D., Director
Richard Herman, M.A., Administrator
Stephanie LeMelle, M.D., Assistant Director of WHCS
Siobhan Coomaraswamy, M.D., Director, Inwood Mental Health Clinic
Ewald Horwath, M.D., Director, Inpatient Unit
Meg S. Kaplan, Ph.D., Sexual Behavior Clinic
Karen McKinnon, M.A., HIV Training Project Director
Pelligino Sarti, M.D., Director, Audubon Clinic

The Washington Heights Community Service was very actively involved in responding to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and conducted the following activities:

Education – Using the infrastructure of the Columbia University HIV Mental Health Training Project, WHCS organized 5 free educational forums focused on providing mental health interventions to disaster victims. Using faculty from within PI, as well as international experts from other institutions, we conducted sixteen hours of education reaching approximately 550 mental health providers of all disciplines between 9/23/01 and 10/24/01. A separate full day program cosponsored with the New York Academy of Medicine was conducted on 11/16/01 for approximately 375 East Harlem service providers, including staff of health care organizations and CBOs.

Work Site Interventions – We provided similar educational sessions to 17 different worksites (primarily public settings such as the city and state health and social service agencies) between 9/18/01 and 1/4/02, reaching more than 600 employees.

Volunteers – Using both PI and WHCS staff we organized hundreds of volunteer hours which included shifts at Ground Zero and the Family Assistance Center at Pier 94.

Staff Changes
Three psychiatrists left the Inwood Clinic to pursue other interests: Peter Bookstein, M,D,, David Ott, M,D,, and Wilfrid Raby, M,D,. Three psychiatrists replaced them: Luis Gazzola, M.D., Marya Pollack, M.D., and Andres SanMartin, M.D. One occupational therapist, Jennifer Richman, left the service and two new occupational therapists, Marian Gross and Yohan Ness, joined us.

Statistics

AVERAGE MONTHLY OUTPATIENT CENSUS - WHCS – 2001

YEARLY OUTPATIENT VISITS - WHCS – 2001

YEARLY INPATIENT ADMISSION WHCS – 2001

Admissions to Community Service Inpatient Unit – 275
Median Length of Stay – 20 days


Research and Training
Our multiple research collaborations and student rotations continued. The SAMHSA funding stream supporting the Columbia University HIV Mental Health Training Project was discontinued. In its place the project became a partner of the New York/Virgin Islands AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC), housed at the Columbia University School of Public Health.