October 2-3, 2001
Family physicians vital in fight against child abuse, FP of the Year says
BY JODY McAULAY GLOOR
Nine years into her career as a family physician, Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, M.D., recognized her growing Alaska community needed someone with the skills to perform sexual and physical abuse exams. So in 1994, she voluntarily headed to the "Lower 48" for extra training "with the idea that I'd just be doing a little of this," she says. When she returned home to Wasilla, "the floodgates opened."
Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, M.D., checks over one ov her newest patients, Blake Pfifer, in her Wasilla, Alaska, office.Word spread about her training, and Baldwin-Johnson says she quickly was labeled as the region's "expert" in child and adult sexual abuse testing. Her phone was ringing off the wall with requests for help from area police departments, other physicians, social service agencies and hospital emergency rooms. And she answered those calls in more ways than one.
That level of compassion and commitment was instrumental to Baldwin-Johnson's selection as AAFP's 2002 Family Physician of the Year. The Congress of Delegates presented her with the award Monday.
"It's an incredible honor, and I recognize that," says Baldwin-Johnson. She still experiences some disbelief about the award "because there's still part of me that says, 'I'm just a small-town family doctor.'"
She intends to spend the next year emphasizing "the family physician's role in preventing and treating child maltreatment," she says, referring to the work that's kept her hopping since 1994.
When requests for her help in such cases mounted, Baldwin-Johnson helped form a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) for the Matanuska Susitna Borough. Mostly, the team dealt with adult victims and soon realized that approach did not work well in cases of child sexual abuse. That's because, she says, a trip to the emergency room, law enforcement center and a counseling center creates enormous stress for children.
Then she learned about the Children's Advocacy Center model in which cases are processed using a child-focused approach. A center's goal is to ensure that young victims are not "revictimized" by the legal and medical processes designed to protect them. "So they let the child stay in one place and not go through locked doors, a jail or interrogation rooms," Baldwin-Johnson says. Centers bring agencies and professionals to the child to investigate the case and provide intervention services.
Excited about the possibility of starting Alaska's second such center, Baldwin-Johnson spent countless hours recruiting supporters and volunteers. More than two years later, The Children's Place in Wasilla opened in 1999.
"It definitely was a community effort," she says. She and several supporters garnered donations to cover start-up costs. One Wasilla resident donated a house that was later remodeled and expanded to become home for The Children's Place. "And I understand we did something else that everyone says can't be done," Baldwin-Johnson says. "This was my first experience in grant writing, and we got 10 out of the 11 grants we first asked for."
2002 Family Physician of the Year Finalists
Lawrence F. Braden, M.D.
Camden, Ark.Winnie Claire Hicks, M.D.
Jesup, Ga.Ritchie C. Shoemaker, M.D.
Pocomoke, Md.Leah Raye Mabry, M.D.
Pleasanton, TexasNow in its sixth year, The Children's Place is one of only three such centers in Alaska. Each victim interview and exam is videotaped or photographed and then monitored by a team of professionals. 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 has a full-time family practice to run, too.
"Sometimes it's hard because I have to juggle so many things," she says. "But my husband and children are so supportive, and that helps."
Her husband, Rick Johnson, markets insurance to small businesses, which Baldwin-Johnson says gives him "a lot of flexibility" to help care for their children: 17-year-old Travis, a high school senior, and Kristin, 14, a freshman. When the children were young, Baldwin-Johnson opened an office day-care center, "so they always went to work with me," she says.
That dedication to her family, practice and community is outstanding, says Karen Perdue, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. "But what makes her extraordinary is the countless hours she volunteered toward starting The Children's Place. We do not hesitate to call on her for expert consultation."
The work earned Baldwin-Johnson the Alaska First Lady's Volunteer of the Year Award in 1999, and she was named Family Physician of the Year by the Alaska AFP in 2000.
Now, as AAFP Family Physician of the Year, she's ready to spread the knowledge that "family physicians have such a unique and powerful perspective (about child abuse) by seeing what's going on in the family. I see this as the time to speak out for children and to advocate the family physician," Baldwin-Johnson says. "I see this as an opportunity of a lifetime."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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