November 2001 • POST-ASSEMBLY EDITION
Family Physicians must protect abused chilgren, says 2002 FP of the Year
BY JODY McAULAY GLOOR
Family physicians have the power to protect abused children from the terror in their own homes, said AAFP's 2002 Family Physician of the Year, Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, M.D., at the Annual Assembly in Atlanta.
In her impassioned Oct. 1 acceptance speech before the Academy's Congress of Delegates, the Wasilla, Alaska, FP urged her colleagues to begin the fight against child abuse with "one child, one family at a time."
"Child maltreatment may be a vast and multi-layered problem, but this group has incredible power to make change," she said, because FPs see what's going on in the entire family. "We start with education. We can learn to make the diagnosis. We can learn how to intervene. And we should always be working toward prevention."
Baldwin-Johnson's commitment to end child abuse was sparked in 1994 when she volunteered to train for and perform sexual and physical abuse exams in her growing Alaskan community.
She headed to the "Lower 48" for training with the idea that "I'd just be doing a little of this," she said. But when she came home, "the floodgates opened."
Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, M.D., examines the ankle of Weston Patrick in her Wasilla, Alaska, office. Patient Lauren Patrick says "Aaah" during a routine visit. Baldwin-Johnson checks over one of her newest patients, Blake Pfifer. Word spread about her training, and Baldwin-Johnson said she quickly was labeled the region's "expert" in child and adult sexual abuse assessment. Her phone began ringing off the wall with requests for help from area police departments, other physicians, social services agencies and hospital emergency rooms.
So she helped form a Sexual Assault Response Team for the Matanuska Susitna Borough in which she lives and practices family medicine. Yet it soon became clear that the team was being called on to deal mostly with adult victims. Baldwin-Johnson became concerned that children might be ill-served by a response process geared toward adults. That's because trips to the emergency room, law enforcement center and counseling center can create enormous stress for children, Baldwin-Johnson said.
Then she heard about the Children's Advocacy Center model in which abuse cases are processed using a child-focused approach. The model hinges on ensuring that young victims are not "revictimized" by the legal and medical processes designed to protect them. "They let the child stay in one place and not go through locked doors, a jail or interrogation rooms," Baldwin-Johnson said. Instead, legal and medical professionals come to the child.
Excited about the possibility of starting Alaska's second such center, Baldwin-Johnson spent countless hours recruiting supporters and volunteers. A little more than two years later, The Children's Place opened its doors. "It definitely was a community effort," said Baldwin-Johnson.
The center is now in its third year. Health care providers at The Children's Place videotape or photograph every victim interview and exam so a team of professionals can monitor the process. Most often the children are referred for mental health services, but the center also looks at their families' needs, such as insurance assistance, counseling, shelters or substance abuse centers.
Baldwin-Johnson spends at least half a day per week, some evenings and many weekends at the center performing medical exams, reviewing cases and consulting on other cases within Alaska. Also, she oversees projects and writes grant proposals. Yet she still runs a full-time family practice.
"Sometimes it's hard because I have to juggle so many things," she said. "But my husband and children are so supportive, and that helps."
Her husband, Rick Johnson, markets insurance to small businesses, which gives him "a lot of flexibility" to help care for their children Travis, 17, and Kristin, 14.
Baldwin-Johnson's dedication in starting The Children's Place "makes her extraordinary," said Karen Perdue, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. That commitment also earned Baldwin-Johnson the Alaska First Lady's Volunteer of the Year Award in 1999 and the 2000 Family Physician of the Year award from the Alaska AFP.
Needless to say, Perdue added, "We do not hesitate to call on her for expert consultation."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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