HEALTH CARE providers may be the first and only professionals in a position to recognize violence in their patients' lives. Physicians are advised to routinely discuss the problem of domestic violence with their female patients and make available written material with resource information.
Resources for Patients
The Michigan Coalition Against Domestic Violence provides information packets to health care providers nationwide that include brochures and stickers for use in the office. Physicians who use these materials say they cannot keep enough on hand. All the materials may be reproduced. (Write the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic Violence, PO Box 463100, Mount Clemens, MI 48046, or telephone (313) 954-1180.)The best place to display the brochures is in the examination room, and not the lobby, says Sherrie Eisele, advocate/volunteer coordinator for Woman-Kind. If the brochures are in the lobby, Eisele explains, the woman has to "walk across the room and pick up a