On June 9th, 2015, the Rio Center received a few guests to discuss Healthcare Practices in a Resilient City. From Rio Mayor's Office we had Rodrigo Rosa, who is the special advisor for the Rio Resiliente Initiative. Also from the Rio Mayor's Office, came Dr. Betina Durovni, who is a Deputy Secretary at the Health Department of the Rio de Janeiro's Municipality. From Columbia University, we received Dr. Michael Sparer, a Department Chair at the Mailman School of Public Health.
They gathered at the CGC's Classroom to bring light to questions regarding the public services offer through times of catastrophes and epidemics. In a context of climate change, new challenges are faced, specially when it comes to the ability of offering fast mobilization of resources for healthcare.
Mr. Rosa, therefore, presented the mobilization mechanisms offered by the Rio Resiliente initiative, which congregates most of the bureaucray of the City of Rio de Janeiro, toward building a city that is able to respond quickly to crisis situation. Dr. Durovni, on its turn, talked about the Family Clinics initiative in Rio de Janeiro, which has broaden the coverage of primary care in the City and expanded the capacity of it to respond locally, in cases of epidemics, accidents and disasters. Dr. Sparer came last and spoke about the challenges of implementing such mechanisms in the US, due to the issues regarding insurances and develery systems.
The Workshop was attended mostly by employees from the City's Health Department and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a Federal Health Research Instution.