IAFN’s 5-part series for members only on medical-forensic evaluation of asylum seekers continues next month with the 2nd session, Clinical Interview and Considerations for Vulnerable Populations. It will be held December 11th at 1pm ET. Registration is limited to 200, so don’t procrastinate (it will be archived, however, so if you miss it, you can still listen to it afterward).

The remaining topics in the series will be covered in 2019:

• Medical Forensic Exam & Utilizing the Istanbul Protocol
• Specific Forms of Torture & Corresponding Clinical Findings
• Writing a Medical-Legal Affidavit & Providing Oral Testimony

I’ll keep saying it–this is such a great topic for a webinar series. If I was not going to be on a plane at this exact time I would already be registered….

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

It’ll be an abbreviated week here at FHO with the Thanksgiving holiday and all. Honestly, I spent most of the weekend trying to compensate for the days off, and it didn’t hurt that the wife was off with the Army for an extended weekend. That also left me some time to catch up on the interwebs. Here’s what caught my eye since last we spoke:

Could helping someone who is suicidal be as simple as this?

The health impacts of generational trauma

Related

Domestic violence tragedy in the neighborhood where I grew up; this one literally hits close to home on multiple levels

Understanding how the wildfires in California happened

…And how healthcare is happening in the wake of them

Patriarchy is a trap men keep falling for

The impact of the changes to Title IX

I found myself holding my breath reading this story about working in federal prison while female

In this country, we blame pregnant women for their own deaths

Terry Gross teaches us how to talk to people

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

With the really chilling stories of the fires in California, I give you this uplifting twitter thread about one particularly heroic nurse in Paradise:

Here’s the crazy story of just one of the many heroes in Paradise, the town destroyed by California’s deadliest fire ever. His name is Allyn Pierce, and he’s the badass nurse who drove this truck through the flames. pic.twitter.com/xAL7zRf34H

— Jack Nicas (@jacknicas) November 13, 2018

(Click on the arrow at the bottom to read the full thread)

F*ck yeah, nurses! And as a reminder, here’s how you can help those impacted by the wildfires.

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

Today is a mellow day here at FHO headquarters, as we observe Veterans Day in the US, and I spend it with my very favorite veteran. We are making blueberry ricotta pancakes, just FYI. Thank you, veterans, for your service and dedication. I am lucky to work with and know so many of you. “In valor, there is hope” (Tacitus).

California folks, I hope you all are safe and doing whatever it takes to keep yourselves that way. If you want to help, here are a couple of good articles that recommend specific actions: New York Times; Refinery 29 Please let us know if there is anything FHO readers can do to assist you.

This week is my last reprieve before I’m back on the road every week through the end of the year, and Sasha’s calendar doesn’t look much better. So we’ll be prepping for a lot of travel, including two international trips. But with the long weekend, I’ve had some time to peruse the interwebs. Here are a few things that have caught my eye since last we spoke:

How did Larry Nasser deceive so many for so long?

MedTwitter is rightfully in an uproar over NRA’s ridiculous claim that gun violence isn’t in our lane. One byproduct of the nonsense is the new account @ThisIsOurLane

SNL tackles hip-hop/rap and consent (the video is great, but probably NSFW, the article has the video embedded if you want to watch)

“It is a peculiarly American affliction that this epidemic of gun violence doesn’t move us to take any real steps toward curbing gun violence and access to guns.” Roxane Gay, brilliant as always.

Yes, childhood trauma is a public health issue

Excellent list if you’re looking for something to read

Finally, this is some truth telling right here.

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

Hey, how about that election the other night! While it was not perfect (Florida, what happened? And the Texas senate race? And please do not get me started on what’s still going on in Georgia…), there were some really incredible things that *did* happen. One hundred plus women going to the House is a pretty big deal. New Mexico sending a full delegation of people of color to the House to represent the state is a pretty big deal. And other firsts: two Muslim women to the House; two Native American women to the House; many LGBTQ+ candidates elected (a rainbow wave!), including an openly gay man elected governor of Colorado.

And a nurse from Naperville, IL named Lauren Underwood became the 1st black woman from her district to get elected. I’d ask you to watch this clip from last night’s Rachel Maddow show about her surprise upset in a very Republican, very white district, because, look, how she went about making it happen was peak nursing (she basically did it all at the “bedside”–she went directly to the people, all of them, no matter who or where they were, even the most underserved by politicians). I found her story to be both inspiring and empowering as a nurse and a policy nerd.

And if that doesn’t light your fire today, here’s a little bonus for you: with the House flipping control, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), a nurse, is now poised to chair the House Science Committee. From The Hill:

Johnson, if elected chair, will be the first woman with a degree in a STEM field to hold the position since 1990. She was the first registered nurse elected to Congress when she won her first term in 1993, and she’s served as ranking member on House Science, Space and Technology Committee since 2011…Johnson released a statement Tuesday night promising to restore ‘the credibility of the Science Committee as a place where science is respected and recognized as a crucial input to good policymaking”.

F*ck yeah, nurses!

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

Sorry about the late notice on this one: IAFN is hosting a webinar this week, Writing Grants: Show Me the Money. The session will be held on November 8th at 2pm ET.  CE is available. The session (free for members, $20 for non-members) will be archived if you cannot attend the live event, which is limited to 200 participants. From the website:

Have you wanted to begin a forensic nursing research project and don’t know where to start? This webinar is for you!  In this live webinar, we will go over some strategies for successful grant identification (finding the money) and then give you some tips and techniques to write a successful proposal. 

What you will learn in this webinar:

1. Resources to find grants
2. Resources on grant writing
3. Practical grant writing tips and techniques

Register for the session here.

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

Happy Forensic Nurses Week to everyone! It’s a fine time to take a moment and celebrate the excellent work we all do, although I hope it’s not only appreciated this one week each year. This week is also important here in the US, because it is the critical midterm elections tomorrow. It is it important for us as individuals and professionals, but it’s also important for our patients, many of whom represent populations outside the dominant culture, many of whom have preexisting conditions (or will have preexisting conditions after the violence they have experienced), many of whom have tenuous status as residents of this country (and have that status used as a weapon against them in violent relationships), and most of whom are women and are watching their bodily autonomy slip away with each passing week of the current administration (not just abortion access, but access to birth control, to include emergency contraception). So no matter what you think of the quality of the candidates, no matter how exhausted you are by all the political rhetoric, simply not voting is not an option. Roxane Gay made the case brilliantly in this essay for why your disillusionment doesn’t give you a free pass to just stay home.

It was a very emotional week, following the shooting in Pittsburgh, and for us it was a week of travel capped with services Friday night. Along with 800 members of our community, we turned out at our beloved Sixth and I synagogue Friday night, the place Sasha and I call our spiritual home, for Shabbat services. Prior to standing up to say the Mourners Kaddish for the 11 killed at the Tree of Life synagogue and the two killed in the Krogers parking lot the day prior, our Rabbi asked that we rise in three waves: the 1st wave would be allies–those non-Jews who came to support the Jewish community, to pay their respects to the lives lost, and to stand shoulder to shoulder with us; the 2nd wave would be the Jews in the room (however they chose to define themselves), who were new to 6th and I or at least didn’t identify it as their spiritual home; and the 3rd wave would be those of us who called 6th and I our home. Then she called the 1st wave to stand–and the most incredible thing occurred. The majority of the synagogue rose. And Rabbi Shira started to cry, and Sasha and I were crying (and honestly, we are not criers), and it was such an unbelievable thing to look around and see so many damn people standing up as allies that I cried my way through the entire Mourner’s Kaddish (see the video below) and maybe got every 6th word out. You won’t necessarily read about that aspect of the service, but you will hear a bit about the evening in this article, that also captured services from other congregations around the country in the wake of the shooting. Because that’s the thing about people and difficult times and darkness and all the bad shit we are forced to face–we are resilient and we go on.

I read a few other things since last we spoke:

May his memory be a blessing

Spanking: still not good

So jealous those of you in FL who get to vote for this guy

The problem with sex-ed in the US

Why online hate is so dangerous

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

Thanks to everyone who alerted me about the issues with the FHO Contact form. It took me a while to troubleshoot the issue (since I am FHO’s tech support, too), but at long last, the problem is solved. Feel free to use the Contact form as you see fit. Thanks for your patience.

This week is our annual IAFN conference, so I have no idea whether any other posts will happen. Hard to say, based on the level of historical (good) chaos that is this event. I am debuting brand new content, and there are a lot of moving parts to the one testimony session, so I am going to apologize in advance and just tell you, it will probably be kind of quiet over here as my energies are directed elsewhere. That being said, I am super excited to see so many of you in person. Please come say hello–you will surely see me all over the place, and I love meeting FHO readers, so feel free to introduce yourself.

The news continues to be appalling and scary and sad. I continue to waver on whether or not to even bother with the weekly round-up, but for now, I am leaning in favor, and so here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:

This news about the administration’s trans memo is beyond upsetting (and frightening, disheartening, maddening, nauseating–insert your choice of adjectives). Love this list of action items in the wake of that bombshell. (We gave last night to Trans Lifeline, but there are many excellent groups on the list if you have some spare cash, as well as other non-monetary options).

Men’s regret (this is– a lot)

Good job, Lyft

Want to help other women? More talk, less blame.

Abortion by mail?

For some men, the pain is the point

Why the UN wants to ban virginity testing

I read this story to Sasha this morning as she got dressed and made her tear up because there actually are still some really good people in the world.

Safe travels, everyone–see you in Reno!

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

When I was posting Tuesday’s content I happened to notice that FCoE had an interview with the fabulous Bobbi Jo O’Neal that just went live, so as a bonus, today I am featuring her interview. I haven’t had a chance to listen to the whole thing (I have it downloaded for my next flight). She’s a great ambassador for forensic nurse death investigators, so if that’s an area of interest, or you’re just curious what your colleagues in that subspecialty are up to, I encourage you to check it out. Listen here on Soundcloud.

You can also download from:

iTunes

Google Play

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

IAFN is offering a special 5-part series for members only on medical-forensic evaluation of asylum seekers (such a great topic). The 1st part of the series will be held on November 15th at 1pm: Legal Framework for Immigrant Victims & Introduction to the Istanbul Protocol. All sessions will be archived for later review.

Remaining webinars will take place in 2019 (again, these topics!):

• The Clinical Interview & Considerations for Vulnerable Populations
• Medical Forensic Exam & Utilizing the Istanbul Protocol
• Specific Forms of Torture & Corresponding Clinical Findings
• Writing a Medical-Legal Affidavit & Providing Oral Testimony

Register here (please note: the live session is limited to 200 people so don’t procrastinate if you want to attend).

The benefits of belonging to your professional organization, my friends…

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.

I’m on my way to Ft. Bragg this morning. Not going to lie–getting on a plane was not easy today. Last week was a slog of straight 15+ hour days and this month and next, I am on the road every week, as many of you are. But this particular rainy morning I really did not want to get out of bed and drag myself back to the airport. Of course, now that I am in motion, it’s fine, but those 1st few hours this morning required some significant espresso to jumpstart my brain. On top of the travel, I am prepping for a series of new workshops and lectures, especially the ones at IAFN (that testimony workshop–whew, it’s going to be something, I am so excited about it). In the meantime, here’s a bit of distraction, what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:

Men, women, America, equality?

Longread: Unprotected (it is so good, though)

How a chef with terminal cancer is spending her remaining time

A most magical obituary; an all too familiar and tragic one that still begs to be read

Half the women in my life probably need to download this to escape the deluge of email

You don’t owe anyone an interaction

All the men who never assaulted me

Have you checked out the FHO store lately? You can find our newest research brief, Aging Bruises Based On Color, plus our original guide, Injury Following Consensual Sex. Both available now for electronic download.