Yale Team Providing Medical Assistance, as Campus Groups Continue To Raise Funds

Members of the campus community have banded together in a variety of ways to contribute to disaster relief efforts in Haiti.

More than $26,000 was raised at the “Help Can’t Wait Haiti” benefit concert that was held Jan. 18 in Woolsey Hall, where musicians and dancers from more than a dozen Yale groups performed. Contributions continue to come in response to the benefit, and 100% of the monies collected will go to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Doctors Without Borders, AmeriCares and the United Nations for humanitarian aid, service and supplies in the earthquake-devastated country.

Earlier that week, on Jan. 14, President Richard C. Levin presented a $5,000 contribution for Haitian relief efforts to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was on campus for the opening ceremony of the Global Colloquium of University Presidents, an international network of university leaders who are committed to addressing global public policy problems through research and teaching.

“As a caring, global community, Yale wants to do all that it can to help alleviate the suffering of the people of Haiti,” Levin said at the presentation. “This initial contribution of humanitarian aid will be greatly amplified over the coming weeks by gifts from other members of the Yale community and by the proceeds from [the] benefit concert.”

A team of Yale School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hosptial (Y-NNH) physicians and medical professionals trained in disaster response flew on Jan. 26 to Haiti, where they will provide trauma and surgical expertise. The team brought $12,000 worth of medical equipment and supplies donated by the hospital to

treat the injured and prevent the further spread of infection. In the Hinche region, team members will link up with Partners in Health, the Boston-based organization that has been on the ground in Haiti for more than 20 years. Members of the team from Yale include Dr. Gregory Luke Larkin, professor of emergency medicine; Dr. Dirk Johnson, assistant professor of surgery (trauma); Donald MacMillan, lecturer in emergency medicine; and Thomas Kimberly, lecturer in emergency medicine. The team also includes Y-NHH anesthesiologist Dr. Nousheh Saidi, and Dr. Peter Boone, an orthopaedist from St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport.

Medical supplies for Haiti — including packages of dressings, antiseptics and personal care items — were also donated by REMEDY, an independently incorporated not-for-profit agency located within the campus of the School of Medicine. These were hand-carried to Haiti by two of REMEDY’s partner organizations. REMEDY distributes open-but-unused medical and surgical supplies to charitable agencies for use in the developing world.

Other campus groups that hosted Haitian disaster relief benefits include the Dominican Student Association and One La Casa Cultural, which held a “Poppin’ for Haiti” dance on Jan. 22, and the Yale women’s lacrosse team, which turned one of its free January clinics into a fundraising drive, with donations going to the American Red Cross.

Yale students, faculty and staff have also joined the newly created Yale for Haiti Collaborative, which was established to assist with communication, and financial and volunteer support for any campus initiatives supporting relief efforts. It held its first meeting on Jan. 22. Likewise, at its bazaar on Jan. 19, Dwight Hall had a station set up to gather information from volunteers interested in joining the overall Yale effort to help Haiti.

Other ways to help: The Yale School of Art is holding a silent auction of small-scale works by students and faculty through Feb. 8 to benefit victims of the earthquake. The donated works will be on display in the Green Hall Gallery, 1156 Chapel St., Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and during the weekends (times to be announced on the website listed below). Bids on the works will be taken until 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 8, when the winning bidders will be announced and a brief talk about conditions in Haiti will be presented.

Bidders should bring their checkbooks to the closing event. The School of Art will make a list of suggested charitable organizations available to bidders, and winners can make their checks payable to the organization of their choice. Checks will be sent directly to requested organizations. Computers will also be set up at the closing event so that all visitors who wish to make an online contribution can do so without purchasing art. For more information about the auction, contact Sam Messer at 203-687-9351 or Patricia DeChiara at 203-432-2600.

A Haiti Week is planned for February as part of Black History month events.

Yale’s website on campus relief efforts for Haiti is continually being updated with other events and news. The website can be viewed at http://opa.yale.edu/haiti.