Learn and Play While at IPS
Whether attending sessions to further your clinical skills or taking in the sights and sounds of the Big Easy, this year’s IPS promises to be an outstanding experience.
The great city of New Orleans is hosting APA’s IPS: The Mental Health Services Conference this year, from October 19 to 22. It not only offers an exciting and innovative series of scientific sessions to sharpen your clinical skills but also provides an opportunity to enjoy one of this country’s most vibrant cities for dining, nightlife, and sightseeing.
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The theme of this year’s institute, chosen by APA President Anita Everett, M.D., is “Enhancing Access and Effective Care.” It will be held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, a short walk to the French Quarter and the Riverwalk along the Mississippi waterfront.
IPS Scientific Program Committee Chair Glenda Wrenn, M.D., told Psychiatric News that “the committee worked very hard to put together a program that addresses salient issues such as increased interest in social justice and ensuring access to quality health care.”
“I am very pleased that a number of sessions will tackle topics such as climate change and mental health,” Wrenn continued, noting that “extraordinary current events” inspired the creation of topics never before discussed at the institute.
She also noted that the institute provides an excellent opportunity for students, residents, and junior faculty to comfortably connect with like minds and national leaders and experts.
When meeting attendees take a break from scientific sessions to explore the Big Easy’s neighborhoods, they will discover a resilient and renewed city: while Hurricane Katrina struck over a decade ago, causing just over $108 billion in property losses to the area and damaging nearly a million homes, a record 10.45 million visitors flocked to the city in 2016, according to a survey conducted by the University of New Orleans Hospitality Research Center.
What brings most tourists to New Orleans are its French Quarter, world-famous cuisine and nightlife, and distinctive old-world architecture. Here are just a few suggestions on how to experience the beauty and excitement of the city:
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Chef Nina Compton offers a varied menu of inventive dishes at Compere Lapin, which dining critic Brett Anderson named as his first-ever New Orleans’ Restaurant of the Year in 2016. Compton combines her native Caribbean cuisine with classic New Orleans fare. Many reviewers recommend the Caribbean seafood pepper pot or, for a small bite, the crispy dirty rice arancini/sour orange mojo.
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Ride through the French Quarter on one of the horse-drawn carriage tours, which line up from 8 a.m. to midnight on Decatur Street in front of Jackson Square. Guests are taken on an educational and colorful tour of the French Quarter.
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Some of the city’s most ornate and beautiful architecture—dating as far back as the late 1700s—lies in its rows of above-ground tombs. Save Our Cemeteries is a nonprofit organization that preserves the city’s historic cemeteries and offers walking tours for $15 to $20 per person that last about an hour.
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The Spotted Cat Music Club bills itself as the quintessential jazz club of New Orleans. The club is located in the quieter end of the French Quarter and doesn’t charge a cover for patrons who wander in to hear the local acts. In addition to modern and traditional jazz, one can hear blues and funk here as well.
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Go full circle at the Carousel Bar and Lounge in the Hotel Monteleone, where patrons sit at a bar on a slowly revolving carousel with 25 seats. The bar is known for more than this novelty, however—it has a renowned craft cocktail selection. Try the bar’s signature cocktail, the Vieux Carre, or the Sazerac, declared the city’s official cocktail by the Louisiana legislature in 2008.
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The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum features surgical instruments from the mid-19th century that were once used for bloodletting, patent medicines, an original soda fountain, and an exhibit on 19th century prescriptions and compounding. Visitors will also find hand-blown apothecary bottles filled with crude drugs, medicinal herbs, and “gris-gris” potions used by voodoo practitioners. ■
Information on the IPS program, registration, and housing can be accessed here. Low advance registration fees are now in effect.
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Published online: 18 July 2017
Published in print: July 8, 2017 – July 21, 2017
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