Mental Health Support at the RNC

Collaboration between Icarus Project and Northstar has resulted in a working group focused specifically on providing mental health support. That group has a website at:

http://rncmentalhealth.wordpress.com

Mental Health folks are meetings every Sunday at 6:00 at the Blue Moon Cafe (3822 E Lake St., Minneapolis). This in addition to general Northstar meetings on Fridays at Walker Church.

Legal Update

North Star Health Collective (NSHC) works with both the Coldsnap Legal Collective and members of the National Lawyers Guild on the interface of medical and legal issues. Our intent is to create a safe environment for our community and our health care practitioners.

Information about Coldsnap http://coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com/

MN Chapter of National Lawyers Guild  http://www.nlgminnesota.org/

We need your help! If you have legal or medical expertise, please contact the Street Medic Legal Crew at northstarhealth@gmail.com for information about how to get involved.

From our meetings, we have identified the following legal issues:

1)      Concern about documenting brutality
-we are working to cross-train legal and medical observers to assist in documenting potential abuse
-we would like to have video and digital photo capacity available at clinics
-our clinic will have representatives from legal teams to help provide information to activists
-there will be a standardized form available for activists and medics to document any cases of brutality

-we will have monitoring and spokespeople available from within the medical community to assist in communicating our concerns to the media, public, and decision-makers if there is escalating violence and injuries

2)      Denying health care on basis of political membership or opposition to state or police

-we are preemptively working with some EMTs and emergency room staff to build awareness and trust between activists, community members, medics and official health care systems.

-we would like to develop a guidebook about existing community based clinics and resources to refer activists and community members
-we will have autonomous wellness and trauma clinics designed for community activists
-we will work with jail support and legal teams to facilitate getting medical services and medicines to people in jail, for example getting appropriate medical evaluations, documents for chronically ill to maintain access to their medications

3)      Legal issues concerning licensed health care practitioners or students providing health services with NSHC
-we are researching the boundaries of our scope of practice to protect our clinicians and make sure that practitioners can make informed decisions about how to safely and legally provide services
-we would like input from existing student run clinics, free clinics about how to provide services within our scope of practice. Likely, this means that a liscensed MD will need to be on premises of our clinics overseeing students etc
-we will have a training for medical and nursing students in late August about legal issues

4)   Good Samaritan Laws to cover liability for nonliscensed practitioners

-we are researching the extent that Good Samaritan Laws apply to our activist street medics
-Lawyers will provide legal “train the trainers” to North Star to understand legal issues– this needs to be scheduled, in the next 1-2 weeks

What We Are Doing / What We Need

As we all know, the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul/Minneapolis is a mere two months away. With the support and hard work of a national network, we in the Twin Cities have accomplished a lot since the convention was announced. Miracles have happened this past year and a half, and collectively we have built an incredible infrastructure, but now it is crunch time and there are still holes to fill. We at Northstar – side by side with our allies providing for legal, food, communication, and other logistical needs – intend to be the caulk of this resistance and the community it comes out of, but we can’t do it alone. The revolution will not be hospitalized.

WHAT WE ARE DOING
We will fill the gaps between hospitals, EMTs, grassroots groups, and everyday folks — both the protestors and those affected adversely by the RNC. We will supplement care and give aid to those often disregarded by mainstream organizations. Supporting trans individuals is a primary concern of ours, as is ensuring that appropriate mental health and sexuality care happens. In achieving these goals, it is imperative for us not to strain local resources; instead, we want to use the conventions and protests to strengthen the alternative health network – building the capacities of existing groups, creating new ones, and drawing attention to current wrongs in the system.

More concretely, we have undertaken the following tasks:
•    Creating an infrastructure for the medically skilled or interested to plug into. We want to know what you can provide and provide what you need.
•    Setting up a trauma clinic, wellness center, and quiet space for use around the time of the RNC. We are close to securing one or two spaces near downtown Saint Paul, and we will provide or give support to other spaces in the region.
•    Providing street medics and the equipment they need, in coordination with legal observers and videographers.
•    Facilitating health care and first aid trainings, both in the communities affected by the RNC and for activist groups, with the goal of readying street medics.

WHAT WE NEED
Don’t think that you need to be a doctor to be useful, or that you can’t be empowered to help yourself. There are all sorts of ways folks can plug in – more than are listed here:
•    Medics to come, provide care, and share their experience.
•    Funds. We hate to say it but it’s true. Space, equipment, communication, transportation, and preparing for legal defenses all cost money, and there’s only so much we can get for free. Pool resources, host benefits, and outreach to potential donators – hospitals, doctors, suppliers, student groups, health advocacy organizations, or other protesters.
•    Medical supplies. Free or really cheap is awesome, but we’ll take advice or other help too. A solid comm system is crucial, as well.
•    A designated person with medical skills in every affinity group. You and those around you will be safer and more autonomous, and it spreads the burden of our collective safety.
•    People to set up and provide trainings, both elsewhere and here. The benefits of this one are so far ranging; regardless of the event, spreading your knowledge is one of the best things you can do.
•    Self-education. Know what to expect and how to deal with whatever may come up – from dehydration to chemical weapons.

AND FINALLY
Planning on being a part of the medical support? Let us know by RSVPing to our email address below! Include whatever you know (or what you don’t): where you’re from, your plans and goals, how many people, dates, what skills and equipment you have, what you need from us, or anything else that may be useful.

See you in September (… or August … or July),
The Northstar Health Collective

northstarhealth@gmail.com