Dr. Fernando Publishes "When Racial Trauma is a Chief Complaint Among Healthcare Staff" in The Lancet

Libertas’ Executive Director, Dr. Dinali Fernando, co-writes the article alongside Dr. Richard Mollica, Director of the Harvard Program of Refugee Trauma.

In the article, they highlight the racial trauma that healthcare workers experience in their workplaces, and the importance of support to address and process such trauma.

They write: “This abuse should give us pause to consider our health-care colleagues who experience such racial discrimination on a continuum, even in non-pandemic times. The Black Lives Matter protests happening throughout the world have brought the issue of racial injustice in the USA into the limelight. Health-care workers are no exception to these racial biases.”

The Recent Events at the Capitol Building

We at Libertas are appalled at the events we saw at the Capitol this past Wednesday. While we affirm that the right to assemble is absolute, this was not a peaceful demonstration of grievances. The Trump-supported mob acted violently and flagrantly disobeyed the law in an act of domestic terrorism. Furthermore, the acquiescence to violent Trump supporters stood in stark contrast to the coordinated brutality displayed towards peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors, especially BIPOC protestors, this past summer.

During this time, our primary concern is our clients and their safety. So many of our clients have experienced traumatic political instability and/or persecution in their home countries, and the events of yesterday were no doubt a reminder of the trauma that they have experienced. In addition, refugees and asylum seekers are highly vulnerable populations as a result of the very same white supremacy that played out at the Capitol last week, and we remain very concerned by Trump's violent rhetoric towards immigrants. To our clients: we are here for you.

Dinali Fernando, MD, MPH Executive Director

Thank You Video for Supporters

Thank you for your continued support of the Libertas Center for Human Rights through our most challenging year. Please take a moment to watch this short video highlighting some of the work we accomplished throughout the pandemic and expressing our sincere thanks for your generosity.

Libertas Publishes COVID-19 Response Report

Since March, Libertas' response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been immediate, determined, and sustained. Today, we are excited to announce the release of the
Libertas Center COVID-19 Report on our response to the pandemic over the past nine months to highlight the pandemic relief work we have done and continue to do to care for our clients. 

Thank you for your incredible support during this unprecedented time.

Dr. Fernando and Dr. McVane Present at NYACEP

Libertas’ own Dr. Dinali Fernando and Dr. Ben McVane each presented to the New York American College of Emergency Physicians at the November 2020 Resident Research Conference. Dr Fernando spoke about caring for refugees, asylum-seekers, and torture survivors while working in the Emergency Department and at Libertas, and Dr. McVane discussed human rights investigations.