Minutes of the HAPA Eighth Annual Meeting
5/22/07 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
NOTE: This draft of the 2007 HAPA Annual Meeting Minutes was approved by the HAPA executive committee. The Minutes were posted on the HAPA website and were ratified as written during the 9th HAPA Annual Meeting in May 2008 in Washington DC
Honorary Guests Present: Governor & Mrs. Dukakis, Larry Tye, Konstantinos Roditis, Juan Enrique Mezzich MD (WPA President), Marcia Goin, MD (Past APA President), Drew Clemens, MD, Richard Shadoan & Mrs Shadoan, Thomas Ciesla, MD (APA Trustee Area VI).
Members Present: Drs. Agalianos, Christodoulou (Immediate Past President HPA) and Mrs Christodoulou, Cassimatis, Lymberis, Samolis, Gatos, Pantelis (Professor from Melbourne Australia), Petrides, Roditis, Gross (SCPS President), Kader, Tsapakis, Locateli, Mariari, Galton, Kaliora, Vidalis, Mawhinney (President of CPA) and Mrs Mawhinney as well as Mrs Mary Thurrell (Past President of APAA).
Members Unable to attend: Drs. Lyketsos, Cardasis, Kalogerakis, Kentros, Stratas, Kanellopoulou, Kachoris, Zaphiropoulos, Georgopoulos, Papakostas, Latousssakis, Papastrat.
(1) Introductions
HAPA President Dr Petrides opened the meeting at 7:15PM.
He welcomed our members and our special honorary guests
He noted that this is an unusual occasion for two reasons. First, in having the honor of hearing first hand the experiences of a patient who was successfully treated with modern ECT but especially in having such a prominent Greek American family go public about psychiatric illness and its treatment. He noted that we will hold an abbreviated members meeting to leave maximum time for the presenters.
(2) HAPA 2006 Annual Meeting Minutes
Dr Lymberis presented the minutes of the 2005 HAPA Annual Meeting which took place in Toronto Canada. The Minutes were posted on the HAPA Website and copies were provided at the meeting. They were approved as written.
(3) Treasurer’s Report
Dr Latoussakis was unable to attend.
Dr Lymberis presented his report:
HAPA Balance from 2005: $4,110.30
(after expenses for the 2005 meeting)
HAPA Dues Income during 2006: $1,523.59
HAPA Expenses in 2006: $3,899.03
(expenses 2006 meeting)
HAPA Dues collected in 2006: $360.00
HAPA balance as of 5/15/07 $ 2,094.86
Dr. Lymberis noted that since 2002 HAPA has had no outside financial support. HAPA is now a member organization entirely supported by member dues. She urged that we all become involved in recruiting new members. She noted that HAPA’s mission is vital in this world of interconnections. HAPA provides a valuable service by linking psychiatrists in the US with those in Greece and the rest of the world. HAPA members can support our organization by letting fellow Greek psychiatrists and others know of our programs and by helping to promote the various programs offered by HPA and the Pan-Hellenic Society of General Hospital Psychiatry in Greece.
Dr. Lymberis noted that for the first time the HAPA executive committee asked that members pay an additional charge of $15.00 to cover the cost of the dinner for today’s meeting. Up until this time the member annual dues of $50.00 have covered the dinner. However, our dues have not been raised since our founding in 1999 while our costs connected to the annual meeting have gone up.
It should be noted that HAPA has no paid staff and that the work is done by the HAPA officers mostly by email and thru our HAPA website
(4) Updates on Psychiatry in Greece
Dr. Christodoulou gave a comprehensive report on the various activities of organized psychiatry in Greece. Specifically that under the umbrella of the World Psychiatric Association, the WPA Institutional Program on Disasters under his leadership, in collaboration with the Hellenic Psychiatric Association was able to get the three national Psychiatric Associations of the three warring Middle East nations (Lebanon, Israel and Palestine) to independently produce a Declaration Against War. This is a small but impressive step in the right direction. Psychiatry was able to bring together all three on an agreement on the need for prevention of the catastrophic personal and psychiatric damages that the ongoing war is inflicting on countless innocent civilians on all sides in that region.
Dr Christodoulou note that there are excellent meetings of psychiatric interest coming up in Greece: The 20th Pan-Hellenic Psychiatric Congress will take place in Crete from May 14 to May 18 2008. More details will be posted on the HAPA Website when available. In 2009 he will be the organizer of the World Congress of Mental Health. This meeting is sponsored by the World Federation of Mental Health. It will be held in Athens in September 2009 (9/16-9/20). If you plan to attend, check the HAPA website in 2008 for more information.
Drs Vidalis and WPA President Dr. Mezzich also briefly addressed our meeting with news about their organizations and upcoming meetings.
(5) HAPA Scientific Program
Dr. Petrides introduced our three presenters. Mrs. Kitty Dukakis spoke first. She gave a very moving account of her personal battle with depression and how, finally, reluctantly, she agreed to ECT.
That treatment has changed her life.
Governor Dukakis spoke second. He gave the inside story of being the spouse who was witnessing the ravages of depression that were transforming his vibrant wife and her dramatic return to her usual self with ECT. Larry Tye as the co author with Kitty Dukakis of the much acclaimed book “”Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy”” detailed his involvement in the project of writing this book.
Dr. Petrides who is intimately involved in research on ECT and a member of the national multicenter CATE study on ECT was the discussant. He presented the history, the stigma associated with this treatment modality and the data as to its efficacy.
An open discussion followed with members actively interacting with the presenters.
(6) Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00PM
The next HAPA Annual Meeting will take place in Washington, DC in connection with the APA 2008 Annual Meeting.
Respectfully Submitted
Maria T. Lymberis, MD
HAPA Founder & Past President”
