One therapist tells the story of a client who entered an emergency room for treatment of a back ailment. Nonetheless, professionals seem to prefer that the issue be openly addressed. Although professionals and survivors agree that the health care community must be trained to respond to survivor's needs, progress in this area has been slow. Local responses to related training proposals have been less than overwhelming. Pediatrician Anne Frankel, Director of Medical Services for Child Protection, Montgomery County Health Department, feels more optimistic about the future.
Medical administrators are inclined to agree.
Nevertheless, Ayers contends that the subject would be most appropriately addressed while physicians are completing their residency training or participating in continuing education programs. In fact, family practice resident Wendy Warren notes that the Fort Lincoln Family Medicine clinic might agree to such a presentation. Study groups affiliated with the Washington D.C. Dental Society may also be amenable to such discussions. And other area teaching institutions are considering ways to disseminate new information on the subject. Begun in 1984 by a nurse and a physician concerned about the battered women and abused children they encountered, the multidisciplinary program now aids in coordinating the physical health, mental health, and social services administered to victims of current and past physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.