Deacon Everett Williams, Christian Health Ministries Foundation Board Member, receives the Pope John Paul II Award
The Pope John Paul II Award is presented annually to a deacon or layperson with an outstanding record of service and high moral character.
The Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of New Orleans has named Deacon Everett J. Williams as the recipient of the 2010 Pope John Paul II Award. Deacon Williams was presented the award at the Catholic Foundation's Annual Dinner on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside.
Deacon Williams has served on many committees and boards including: Archbishop's Community Appeal, Catholic Charities, Catholic Foundation, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, Xavier University, Notre Dame Seminary, Christian Health Ministries Foundation and St. Joseph Seminary College. In the Greater New Orleans community, he has worked with School Leadership Center, Bridge House, Children's Hospital, the Medical Center of Louisiana, the Blood Center of Louisiana and he is currently the chair of the Education Committee of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation.
Ms. Christine Constanza joins our staff as an accountant.
Christine is a graduate of the University of New Orleans and is currently studying to take the Louisiana CPA exam. We all wish her well, and welcome her to our BCM family |
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The McFarland Institute Announces Staff Changes
Chaplain Lynn Hyder, assigned to the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) since October 2003, transferred to the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office on September 1.
Rev. Henry W. Rutledge, Jr., DMin, became a chaplain for The McFarland Institute May, 2010, and is assigned to the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD). Rev. Rutledge is an ordained minister in the Church of God. Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) training was received at hospitals in Albany, Georgia, Tallahassee, Florida, and at Ochsner Medical Center in Kenner, Louisiana. Rev. Rutledge graduated from Albany State University, Albany, Georgia, with a BBA in Business Management; Church of God Theological Seminary in Cleveland, Tennessee, with an MDiv in Counseling and Pastoral Ministry; and Church of God Seminary in Cleveland, Tennessee with a DMin in Leadership and Counseling. Other work experiences include senior pastor at various churches, chaplain at a correctional facility and chaplain at a state prison. Previous jobs and excellent training have prepared Rev. Rutledge well to join McFarland's chaplains in providing ministry to the NOPD.
Faith Berthey, a licensed minister in the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, began as a chaplain at the NOPD on September 7. CPE training was received at East Jefferson General Hospital. Other work experiences include chaplain and instructor at Bridge City Correctional Center for Youth, and Founder/Executive Director for Second Chance, Inc., in New Orleans. Ms. Berthey is currently working on an EdD in Religious Education at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; received a Master of Arts from Houston Baptist University; and a BA in Sociology from Loyola University, New Orleans.
With the these additions, all vacant positions in criminal justice have been filled.
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BCM Funds Cease Fire Project in New Orleans
 Most people who live in New Orleans would list crime at the top of their list of concerns. While there are a number of foundations serving the community, Baptist Community Ministries (BCM) is the only one which specifically funds public safety projects. It is as a result of their long standing commitment to public safety that the City Council of New Orleans looked to BCM as a partner in a cooperative endeavor to support a comprehensive approach to addressing violence in the city. Under the leadership of former Councilman James Carter, the Council undertook a year's study to find community based violence prevention programs which have proven results in both stemming incidents of crime and changing cultural acceptance of violence as a means of settling disputes. They identified Project Cease Fire from Chicago as a model which they believed could be successfully replicated in New Orleans. The 2009 City Council entered into an agreement with BCM to serve as custodian of funds designated to address violence prevention efforts, of which project Cease Fire is a primary component.
Project Cease Fire combines five components; community mobilization, youth outreach, public education, faith-based leadership and criminal justice system involvement to achieve its mission of reducing all forms of community violence. The project has been successful in many of the crime ridden neighborhoods where it is has been implemented, most notably Chicago and Boston. Its success prompted the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support the formal replication of the project by contracting with the Vera Institute to provide hands on technical assistance to communities.
Based on a public health perspective, project Cease Fire views violence as a disease stemming from learned behavior which accepts violence as a sanctioned response. The project looks to change both the acceptance of violence and the social context in which it occurs. Through extensive marketing campaigns and public education efforts which saturate the selected neighborhood with materials carrying pointed messages about the consequences shootings, Cease Fire engages the larger community and seeks to change social norms. On an individual level, guided by data analysis to identify neighborhoods with high concentrations of shootings, it deploys street smart outreach workers to develop relationships with those most at risk of being perpetrators and victims of violence and through the establishment of trust, redirects them into safer and more productive activities. These efforts are supported by a high degree of community mobilization in which formal and informal leaders from the neighborhood are involved in identifying the needs and targets for intervention. Many of these leaders are from the faith community who provide the use of their facility as a safe alternative to the streets and actively engage their congregants in preventing community violence.
The project is in its early stages in New Orleans; a test area in Central City will be the first site of implementation. A community-wide poster contest is underway to create the violence prevention messages and many of the church and community leaders have been meeting together to strategize how to adapt the program to the specific needs of the neighborhood. Described as more of a movement than a service intervention, Cease Fire has the potential to make New Orleans a safer and healthier community.
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Foundation Facts
In 1926, The Southern Baptist Hospital opened its doors to New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Its mission: to care for the ill and the underserved of all denominations regardless of their ability to pay.
Today, Baptist Community Ministries adheres to the same mission with our commitment to the development of a healthy community offering a wholesome quality of life to its residents and to improving the physical, mental and spiritural health of all individuals served. |
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Calendar of Upcoming Events
November 9, 2010 (1:30-3:30 PM) - Estate Planning Symposium - Westin Canal Place - Free attendance
RSVP 504-593-2321
November 10-12, 2010 - Southeastern Council of Foundations Annual Meeting
December 9, 2010 - Annual Board Christmas Event
December 10, 2010 - Annual Employee Christmas Luncheon |
Find Out More... 
www.ceasefire.org. |
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Have a Story to Share?
Know of programs and people positively contributing to our community working with BCM? Send your story to cmarkham@bcm.org! |
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Greetings!
Welcome to fiscal year 2011! BCM will be focusing on our strategic endeavors and working toward achieving our objectives in Health, Education, Public Safety, and Governmental Oversight. Our newsletter will bring you updates on projects quarterly. Enjoy the stories of success and know that each is paving the way for a brighter future for our community. |
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St. Bernard Family Resiliency Project Receives Prominent National Award
Recognized for excellence, the program is a collaboration between LSU Health Sciences Center, St. Bernard Public Schools and Baptist Community Ministries
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Pictured at the October 22nd event are Cliff Englande, President St. Bernard School Board; Liz Scheer, BCM; Doris Voitier, Superintendent, St. Bernard Public Schools; Dr. Howard Osofsky, LSUHSC Dept. of Psychiatry; Ryan Gregoire; Diana Dysart, VP, St. Bernard School Board; and Ronald Nicosia, School Board member. |
The St. Bernard Family Resiliency Project has received the Gold Award for Academically or Institutionally Sponsored Programs from the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Services Achievement Awards for 2010. This collaboration between Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) and St. Bernard Public School System, funded by BCM, is recognized for excellence after undergoing a stringent review by the APA's Award Committee.
"The St. Bernard Family Resiliency Project is one of the many programs that BCM supports as a part of our commitment to the health and well-being of our community," says Dr. Byron Harrell, President of BCM. "Its recognition for excellence by the American Psychiatric Association is a true honor for all parties involved, and BCM congratulates Dr. Osofsky and his staff as well as Superintendent Doris Voitier and her staff in St. Bernard."
The project began in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina extracted a severe emotional toll on the citizens of St. Bernard Parish. It was evident that the students in St. Bernard Parish and their families were dealing with extraordinarily high levels of stress and trauma. Dr. Howard Osofsky from LSU's Department of Psychiatry formed a partnership with the St. Bernard school leaders and created the St. Bernard Family Resiliency Project. The purpose of this project was to address individual, family and community level post-disaster mental health issues and promote personal growth. In spring 2006, with 1,000 students attending school, BCM provided a three-year grant that allowed the LSU Department of Psychiatry staff and the school system to provide training for school personnel and parents on recognizing children's 'red flags'. They also provided mental health screening and psychiatric assessments for every student (pre-k through 12th grade) along with interventions for those students at increased risk for academic and behavioral difficulties. It also encompassed a structure to help teens find their productive place in the rebuilding community and promote their personal growth and resiliency.
Dr. Osofsky states, "Our collaboration with St. Bernard Schools since Hurricane Katrina has been a life altering privilege. From the first days when my wife, Joy, and I together with our LSU Health Sciences Center trauma team began to work with Ms. Doris Voitier and Assistant Superintendent, Beverly Lawrason, we knew that we were making a long-term commitment to the students and families of St. Bernard Parish. Without schools-even housed in temporary facilities- families could not return. Without the excellence and commitment of the St. Bernard Schools, students could not have gained the remarkable resilience and leadership that we have witnessed during this time. Ms. Voitier noted that education and mental health are equal partners in allowing students to achieve their full potential. I want to express my appreciation to the St. Bernard School System and to Baptist Community Ministries for fostering this remarkable partnership."
The Family Resiliency Project is based on supporting the individual strengths of each student and with BCM grant support the school system was able to increase the number of mental health professionals available to the students and their families. All students are given trauma assessments, and students in fourth grade and older complete the assessment themselves. Those whose scores indicate a need either participate in groups in which they discuss their experiences or see counselors individually. Specialized programming has been developed for the Alternative School which has helped those students decrease their disruptive behaviors.
In recognition that teens respond positively when given opportunities to give back to their community, a Youth Leadership Program was developed (and is now a high school elective) which provides hands-on support to the community in a variety of ways ranging from hosting pet adoption events, to coordinating the fifth year commemoration events for Hurricane Katrina.
The project would come to a natural conclusion as the Parish rebuilds, but the need for the project continues as the community wrestles with the implications of the British Petroleum (BP) Oil Spill and continued economic uncertainty. BCM's financial support continues to make a difference, training teachers and parents and supporting the young people of St. Bernard Parish through the St. Bernard Family Resiliency Project.
The award for this innovative project was accepted by Dr. Howard Osofsky in Boston at the opening session of the Institute on Psychiatric Services meeting held October 14, 2010. |
Behavioral Health Action Network Unifies Voices of the Mental Health Community
In some areas like civic engagement and public education, New Orleans has embraced a progressive spirit of reform which would have been unthinkable prior to Hurricane Katrina. However, in other areas like accessible and effective treatment for the seriously mentally ill, as a compassionate citizenry, we continue to fall short of our expectations. Immediately after the storm, the fragile service system for the mentally ill was laid bare with the loss of infrastructure and displacement of service professionals.
What initially began as an internet-based group for dis-
placed and returning mental health professionals, became, with the financial support of Baptist Community Ministries (BCM), a formalized collaborative network field (Behavioral Health Action Network- BHAN) which over the subsequent five years facilitated the establishment of mental health service priorities and approaches and served as the unified voice for this vulnerable population's needs.
As mental health providers made plans to return to New Orleans, many of them realized that funds to serve their clients would begin to flow into the state as part of the recovery effort and they had an opportunity to shape the new system which would be formed as the waters receded. In 2006 BCM awarded the Louisiana Public Health Institute a grant to house and provide technological support to BHAN. With a staff of one who served as the clearinghouse and disseminator of information and provider of logistical support for online and face to face meetings, they began to formalize their relationship and undertake a collaborative problem- solving approach to consensually establish priorities and gather data to inform decision makers. One of their first steps was to prioritize three areas for the new mental health system; crisis response for psychiatric care, inpatient psychiatric beds and workforce development focusing on trauma response. The group also undertook the important process of cataloguing and updating the available community mental health resources.
To better inform decision makers, BHAN, now representing over 26 organizations defined indicators of community capacity to respond to the needs of the seriously mentally ill. Descriptions of the indicators which would serve as benchmarks for progress continues to be available online (www.lphi.org/BHANDash/v2). These measures and benchmarks were used by Louisiana's Secretary of Health and Hospitals to allocate service dollars. Recognizing their many commonalities, the group which represented law enforcement, social work, medical and psychiatric settings, began to advocate in one voice for the wide spread adoption of best practice or evidenced based approaches to care. Reversing the historical trend of limited communication and collaboration across jurisdictional lines, BHAN successfully advocated for a regional approach to responding to mental health needs. BHAN was also actively involved in the educational efforts surrounding the passage of state legislation mandating the inpatient psychiatric treatment for violent offenders known as Nicola's Law. They served as a partner with the state during the re-organization of the Metropolitan Services Board to ensure services were provided efficiently and effectively.
Usually recipients of scarce funding tend to be more competitive than collaborative with one another, often to the detriment of the population they serve. BHAN created a different model of planning and problem solving with an objective, unbiased data-driven and consensual approach to respond to complicated issues. The funding for BHAN expired October 1st of this year. While the workforce development functions of the network is continuing under the auspices of its member organizations, the updating of community assets and labor intensive work to create agreement among providers on system priorities and objective measures to gauge outcomes has been put on hold until new funds can be secured. While projects like BHAN are often a harder 'sell' for funding organizations than direct service projects, their proven potential for system wide impact makes projects such as these a very wise investment to move the New Orleans region towards becoming the community we hope it would be.
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New Orleans Police Department Chaplain Rutledge Tells of Days on New Orleans Streets
As I write this vignette, I am reminded of the events and experiences of this month. Since I have been added to the New Orleans Police Department notification list, my world has expanded tremendously. I have been a pastor and a chaplain. As a pastor I have seen the effects of tragedy on families. I have shared with them the sorrows they express over the loss of a loved one. For the most part what we saw was very sterile as we saw the loved ones after they have been "cleaned up."
As a chaplain in the prison system, I saw the after-effects of crime. I saw men dressed in their prison clothes working, playing, eating and sleeping in an orderly manner as others instructed them. Their time was not their own, but the institution's. As a chaplain in the hospital it is much the same as a pastor. Unless it is a trauma center where you are allowed in the Emergency Room as the patient comes in off the ambulance, the scene is pretty much the same.
But it is on the streets riding with the officers, hearing the calls going out, walking up to a scene on the street and seeing the carnage and the senseless loss of life that moves you. It is here where you see life in all of its ugliness. Blood puddled in every room or in the middle of the street. You smell the stench of death and you see the place where some person, usually a young man, was killed over drugs or women or turf. You look at him crumpled up on the ground without dignity or life and he lies there in that position sometimes for hours before he is removed. As some say, "He was shot down like a dog and left lying in the street." For those who are fortunate enough to have some family or someone to care for them close by, you hear the screams, the questions, the grief, and the sorrow. But there is more.
Standing on the side doing their jobs are the men and women in blue. They look on a scene they have seen many times before. They see yet another life that has been wasted. They are mothers and fathers. They have children the same age as those they look at lying in the street. From the outside they appear cold and calloused, but on the inside they are flesh and blood, moved at the gory and heartbreaking scenes they see almost daily. Secretly and sometimes openly, they ponder what brought this young person to this point. Sometimes they hold it all in and at other times they will talk to the chaplain about what they feel on the inside.
Then after a while, the crime scene has been completed, the victim is taken away, the blood is washed away, and all that remains are the memories and the impact this event has had on everyone. But for the officer, tomorrow is another day. Will it yield yet another senseless murder? Will they have to face the family of another victim? Or will it come to a point and a place where they say, "I can't take it anymore."
It is into this environment that I come as a chaplain; to hear and to see the heart of the officers. To walk with them, talk with them, and listen to them as they express who they are and what their needs are. To understand the need for professionalism and yet to be there for them when they are in need. It is a strange and unusual calling I find myself in, yet I would not trade it for anything else. I thank God and The McFarland Institute for this opportunity.
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In Closing...
We look forward to bringing you more exciting successes in future issues. |
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Sincerely,
Cindy Markham
BCM |
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