Grants:
From 1973 to 1992 I helped establish and run the MENDAC Program (an
acronym for Mental Health Needs of Deaf Adults and Children), which
provided free psychiatric services to deaf adults and children in
sign language at Michael Reese Hospital. I did so along with Drs.
Lazlo Stein (now Professor of Audiology of Northwestern University)
and Eugene Mindel (then Chair of Child Psychiatry at Michael Reese).
We had applied for and received a Federal Grant and a corresponding
State Public Aid Grant to run this program, which I reapplied for
when we moved the program to Mount Sinai Hospital in 1992 and ran
it there until 1996 (with the support of Illinois Senator Paul Simon).
Over the years we provided free psychiatric help to thousands of
deaf people, taught psychotherapy to many deaf therapists, and empowered
this kind of program which became a national standard all across the
country. As noted above, Senator Paul Simon personally singled out
the MENDAC program for praise when he lobbied for the renewal of our
grants under my leadership at Mount Sinai.
In 1992 I completed my work in this area, and intensified my activities
in other neuropsychiatric research, passing on the torch to a new
MENDAC Program under Dr. James Vanderbasch.