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ATTENTION!!!
On June 5, 2003, Rep. Patrick Kennedy introduced The National
Resilience Development Act of 2003. His office remains in discussion
with several potential Republican cosponsors. Rep. Kennedy has provided
excellent leadership on this issue and we are grateful.
The goals of the legislation are:
- To coordinate the efforts of different government agencies
in researching and developing programs and protocols designed to increase
the psychological resilience and mitigate distress reactions of the American
public as they relate to terrorism.
- To facilitate the work of the Department of Homeland Security
by incorporating programs and protocols designed to increase the psychological
resilience and mitigate distress reactions of the American public in its
efforts to protect the United States from terrorism.
- To identify effective interventions to the harmful psychological
consequences of disasters, and to integrate them into the United States,
plans on mitigating, planning for, responding to, and recovering from
potential and actual terrorist attacks.
- To enable the States to effectively respond to the psychological
consequences of terrorism.
- To begin to integrate mental health care into the overall
public health system of the United States.
On May 7th, the United States Surgeon General Richard H.
Carmona, M.D., and other nationally recognized experts on disaster and
terrorism including the Director of NIMH Thomas Insel, M.D., Administrator
of SAMSHA Charles G.Curie, and former Assistant Surgeon General Brian W.
Flynn, Ed.D., briefed members and staff of the House of Representatives
about the importance of mental health research and services in terrorism
preparedness and response. We are thankful for their leadership on this
issue.
If you wish to write a letter in support of this new bill,
please send it to:
Representative Patrick J. Kennedy
United States Congress
407 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
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