BGU Hosts SUNY Students for a Disaster Prep Course
BGU Hosts SUNY Students for a Disaster Prep Course
January 19, 2016
BGU’s Department of Community Action and Charlotte B. and Jack J. Spitzer Department of Social Work recently hosted a group of students visiting from the SUNY New Paltz Institute for Disaster Mental Health (IDMH).
The visit promoted student-to-student interaction and understanding of international perspectives on disaster preparedness, response and recovery, as well as how to assist people in emergency situations.
“We keep moving forward with our efforts, now in its seventh year of cooperation with SUNY – one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities and colleges in the United States,” notes BGU Prof. Richard Isralowitz, organizer of the initiative.
“Bringing together Israeli and American graduate students engaged in disaster preparedness, response and recovery will enable both groups to gain a broader and richer understanding of different types of crises and how to provide the most effective assistance in an ever-changing world,” says Dr. James Halpern, director of the IDMH.
The BGU students hosted the U.S. visitors in community-based apartments that are part of the Lillian and Larry Goodman Open Apartments Program. The students also had the opportunity to tour various parts of Israel including communities on the Gaza border, Jerusalem’s Old City and Masada.
In addition, SUNY students received briefings from agency heads and officials responsible for social work and mental health services in the western Negev.
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