Sandy HookElementary School Mass Shooting
Situation Report - Tuesday, December 12, 2012 - 1100 EST
Incident: Friday, December, 14, 2012
CPDD AND CONNECTICUT DB RESPONSE
Friday 12/14
- Dr Ursano, Chairperson, CPDD, activated a national APA response.Dr. Regier participated.
- Christopher Reynolds, APA Staff for CPDD, emailed "Restoring a Sense of Safety in the Aftermath of a Mass Shooting: Tips for Parents and Professionals" to the entire APA-DB Disaster Liaison Network as directed by Dr Ursano. Visit:
- I sent an official CPDD message to Area 1 via Dr. Rogoff, Area 1 Rep, and to the Connecticut Psychiatric Society: President John Santopietro, MD APA-DB Disaster Liaison Shaukat Khan, MD, and Executive Director Jacquelyn Coleman, CAE. Here is that message including the list of appropriate Cc's at that time including the APA-DB Disaster Liaison Network but without attachments. Drs. Santopietro and Khan replied and we learned that the CT DB had taken action immediately and were formulating an action plan, reaching out to pertinent organizations, assembling psychiatrists for a response, consulting with local authorities, and doing other necessary tasks to be part of a coordinated, effective mental health support outreach as needed.
- Communication between the CPDD and Drs. Santopietro and Khan has been ongoing.
- Dr Arshad Husain, CPDD member and Director, InternationalCenter for Psychosocial Trauma (ICPT), offered his team at no cost to the Newtown Public Schools to go to Newtown and train teachers in the program "Teachers as Therapists." "This model has been used in eighty disaster sites and war zones worldwide training over six thousand teachers." This program is not for the immediate response but is done within weeks of the disaster.
- Dr Fred Stoddard, APA-DB Disaster Liaison, MassachusettsPsychiatric Society, went to Newtown at the request of Dr Khan.
- Dr Tony Ng, Past Chairperson, CPDD, informed us he was traveling to Newtown as part of the American Red Cross response and would be deploying for a week at this time.
- Others who communicated on the CPDD emails are Dr. Michael Blumenfield, Past Speaker and former CPDD member; Dr. Al Gaw, Past Speaker*; Dr. Harold Ginsburg, Area 5 Rep, APA-DB Disaster Liaison, Area 5 and Oklahoma Psychiatric Physicians Association; Dr. Leslie Gise, APA-DB Disaster Liaison, Area 7 and Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association; Dr. Edward Kantor, APA-DB Disaster Liaison, South Carolina Psychiatric Association; Dr. Ann Norwood, Past Chairperson*, CPDD; Dr Jerry Rogoff, Area 1 Rep; Dr Erminia Scarcella, APA-DB Disaster Liaison and Founder of Embassy Disaster Preparedness, Washington Psychiatric Society; Dr. Gabrielle Shapiro, member, AACAP Disaster and Trauma Team, and Aaron Levin, journalist, Psychiatric News.
The CPDD sent other resources including:
- APA CPDD URGENT INFORMATION for Sandy Hook ElementarySchool Mass Shooting
- ABC's of Caring for Children
- Disaster Distress HelpLine Information
APA Expresses Sympathy for Families of Connecticut School Tragedy
- The APA expresses our deepest sympathies to all those touched by the unspeakable events in the school in Connecticut. See a statement fromAPA President Dilip Jeste, MD[See below.]
- A message from psychiatrist andAMA President Jeremy Lazarus, MD; [Visit
- An interview withAPA President-elect Jeffrey Lieberman, MD.
- Restoring a Sense of Safety in the Aftermath of A Mass Shooting: Tips for Parents and Professionals[Visit from the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress
- Tips for Talking to Children about the Connecticut School Shooting HealthyMinds Blog post [Visit
- More onTalking to Children about Disasters[Visit