The money will allow staffers, including a case manager, to receive some compensation for their time. The program has been assisting 60 patients a year but now plans to double in size, Deutsch says. When the Los Angeles program began, few guidelines existed for treating torture survivors. Deutsch and Quiroga developed their own approach to healing scarred hearts and broken bodies, beginning with efforts to get patients to tell their stories and receive thorough medical examinations. Many victims have badly healed bones.
Broken teeth are common.
Torture victims from countries where political violence is commonplace often do not realize the connection between their ordeal and lingering depression. They usually find their way to the Healing Club through referrals from social workers and immigrant advocates. For many, it is a relief to simply find a supportive group of people with whom they can share their histories. As Vietnam vets learned long ago, most people are not interested in tales of unpleasant events in far-off places. The Healing Club is designed to assist dislocated refugees in rebuilding ruptured connections to the happier periods of their lives.