For the last decade, Mount Sinai Hospital has participated in Toronto’s Neuberger Holocaust Education Week events, considered one of the most comprehensive series for Holocaust education and remembrance in the world. The Grand Rounds event was co-sponsored by the departments of Psychiatry and Medicine. This year’s engagement, titled The Impact of Adversity throughout the Lifespan, considered the ways that trauma, especially experienced early in life, can affect physical and mental health as people age.
From Sinai Health, Dr. Lesley Wiesenfeld, Psychiatrist-in-Chief & Geriatric Psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry and Dr. Robert Maunder, Health and Behaviour Chair, Deputy Psychiatrist-in-Chief & Head of Research, Department of Psychiatry each highlighted opportunities for advocacy, prevention and improved health care, through the lens of learning from the impact of the Holocaust and other threats to psychological safety and well-being. The event was open to staff as well as the general public, and was broadcast live to Toronto General and Toronto Western hospitals, with viewers there also having the opportunity to ask questions at the end.
Dr. Chaim Bell, Physician-in-Chief at Sinai Health, opened the event and made special note of the recent horrific events in Pittsburgh, tying current anti-Semitism to historical events as well as the ongoing importance of events like Holocaust Education Week.