University of Chicago Medical Center's Haiti Earthquake Response

01.20.10
To: All UCMC & BSD Staff
From: Carolyn Wilson, RN, COO
Funmi Olopade, MD, Associate Dean for Global Health

We continue to work closely with the University and various relief agencies to gather resources for the people of Haiti and to assist those of you who want to contribute your clinical skills directly or through generous donations to the overall relief effort.
Medical Assistance in Haiti

A group of 12 UCMC staff (surgeons, anesthesiologists, emergency medicine physicians, and nurses) is preparing to travel to Haiti, or possibly the Dominican Republic, in partnership with a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the region. Deployment will happen as soon as we receive the go-ahead from one of our NGO partners.

At this time, medical relief agencies can only accommodate volunteers with significant surgical or trauma training and experience. They are seeking: surgeons, especially trauma or orthopedic surgeons; full surgical teams, including anesthesiologists, scrub and post-op nurses, and nurse anesthetists; and emergency medicine doctors and nurses.

Since we anticipate continued need for medical professionals in trauma-related fields going to Haiti on a rotating basis, we encourage others who are interested in contributing to this effort to please email us at haitianrelief@uchospitals.edu. Emergency medicine physicians Chrissy Babcock and Christian Theodosis can also provide guidance to medical personnel searching for the best way to play a role in this crucial medical and humanitarian effort. Please note that the work time spent away from the Medical Center serving in this Haitian relief effort will be fully compensated.

If you are a medical professional in one of those fields interested in offering your service, please include the following information:

* Clinical specialty
* Emergency/post-catastrophe experience
* Language skills (especially French or Creole) and level of ability
* Your availability--dates and length of time

Financial Assistance

The University of Chicago Medical Center has agreed to match gifts by Medical Center and University employees and faculty to the Haiti disaster relief fund up to a total of $250,000. Funds collected though this system will be donated to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. In order to make a gift that is eligible for this match--which doubles the value of your contribution--please follow these instructions carefully.

To make a gift online:

* Go to http://alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu and select the Give Now box (below the big picture).
* On the next page, select the Give Now button again to be taken to the Make a Gift Online form.
* Under Your Gift, go to the Area of Giving drop-down menu. Select Other, which is the last selection available at the bottom of the list.
* Complete the form in its entirety, including each line of the billing information section. Please do not check the box that states "Same as contact information."
* In the box labeled Comment, under Special Instructions, please type in "Haiti Relief."
* You will receive an electronic confirmation message from the University, and a receipt that can be used for tax purposes will be sent to you via U.S. Mail. You will also be sent periodic email updates about the University of Chicago Medical Center's efforts to help the victims of the disaster in Haiti including updates about contributions made to the Disaster Relief Fund and matching gifts made as a result of your contributions.

To make a gift via U.S. Mail:

Please make you check payable to the University of Chicago and write "Haiti Relief" in the memo section.

Your check can be mailed to:

Disaster Relief Fund
University of Chicago
1427 East 60th Street, Suite 120
Chicago, IL 60637

A receipt that can be used for tax purposes will be sent to you via U.S. Mail.

As an alternative, the University Community Service Center has assembled a Web page with guidance for those interested in donating to the relief effort and links to international relief organizations. That page, as well as the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs Web page, has information on student-led initiatives. As new efforts arise, those will be added to the lists.

Dear Faculty and Staff,

UChicago for Haiti is a consolidated effort from a variety of organizations around campus who want to provide long-term support for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Below this email is a letter containing more information about this collaborative effort, which has been a remarkable success. In only three days of tabling at the Reynolds Club, we have collected $2,500.00. Students have also said that in their entire time at the University this has been the largest, most efficient, and quickly established joint effort among student organizations on campus.

We would be even more successful if other members of our community would lend their support. If staff and faculty members would be willing to make a donation of $50.00 or more we could reach our goal of sending at least $5000.00 to Haiti. The money will be sent as a University of Chicago certified check, sanctioned by our advisor, Wallace Goode. This check will be sent directly to Partners in Health, an NGO that has worked in Haiti for a number of years. We welcome further collaboration with any other interested party and support from University faculty and staff members. Please support us by forwarding this message to your colleagues.

For further information, please feel free to contact Adama Wiltshire (adama@uchicago.edu / 773-318-0416) or Judith Kituku ( kituku@uchicago.edu). Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

UCHICAGO FOR HAITI

In an attempt to consolidate the efforts of student organizations concerned with supporting relief efforts in Haiti, UChicago for Haiti was formed. This group incorporates the efforts of Beats & Pieces, ACSA, PRSA, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc, F.I.E.R.C.E, OBS, PAECE and a number of independent students from both graduate and undergraduate divisions. The primary objective of UChicago for Haiti is to provide opportunities for the campus community to support long-term relief efforts to the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. We believe that through collaboration, we can effectively share resources, manpower and conduct joint advertising campaigns for all events on campus. We hope that through these events our organization will promote awareness of Haitians' plight and the need to support members of our UChicago community who are most affected by this tragedy.

We hope to use a series of events, fund raising drives and arts programs to collect monetary donations, clothing, medical supplies, food and water. UChicago for Haiti will co-ordinate a massive campus wide network of collection sites to provide opportunities for all members of the University community and the surrounding neighborhoods to donate items to support relief efforts. We hope to begin this project on Friday January 22, 2010. Groups have already agreed to man collection posts and be responsible for the timely transportation and storage of items. There will also be collection posts during many cultural events on campus.

We welcome further collaboration with any other interested party and support from the University administration. For further information, please feel free to contact Adama Wiltshire (adama@uchicago.edu / 773-318-0416) or Judith Kituku (kituku@uchicago.edu).

Thank you for your support!

Adama Wiltshire

Member of UChicago for Haiti

Below is the University's initial response to the earthquake in Haiti. For more information on the University's response, how to donate funds, items, volunteer or other information, please click the links to the right.

To: Members of the University Community
From: Kimberly Goff-Crews, Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students in the University
Re: Haiti earthquake response
January 15, 2010

Each day the scope of the disaster in Haiti and the enormity of suffering become more apparent. Our hearts go out to all those touched by this calamity and those who await word on loved ones.

In a special way, our thoughts are with members of the University community who may have family, friends or colleagues in Haiti. Since news of the earthquake first broke, staff members in my office have been working with colleagues across the University, as well as government officials and private citizens, to locate members of our community who may have been in Haiti at the time of the earthquake and to ascertain their well-being. So far the news has been good, but because communications are so limited, we do not know when we will be able to answer that question definitively. In addition, we are offering support to students, staff or faculty who have family members in Haiti affected by the disaster.

Many of you want to help the people of Haiti. The University Community Service Center has assembled a web page with guidance and links to international relief organizations: https://blogs.uchicago.edu/chicagostudies/2010/01/disaster_in_haiti.html. That page, as well as the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at omsa.uchicago.edu, have information on a student-led fundraising, clothing and toiletries drive, with drop-off sites at the Reynolds Club and at OMSA's office at 5710 S. Woodlawn. As other new efforts arise, we will make note of them on the University's website.

A special space has been set aside in Rockefeller Chapel for those who want to pray or grieve or leave remembrances of those affected by the earthquake. Members of the University's many faith communities will remember the people of Haiti at their regular gatherings, and special prayers will be included in Sunday morning worship at Rockefeller at 11 a.m. An interfaith act of remembrance will take place at the Chapel on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 5 p.m., a week after the time of the earthquake.

If you have questions or suggestions about the University's response to the disaster in Haiti, please e-mail ucsc@uchicago.edu. Please write to that address with any new relief efforts or observances at the University, as well, so that we can share them with the broader community.

Our thoughts go out to the people of Haiti, Chicagoans, UChicagoans and all those around the world impacted by the disaster. Chicago was founded by Haitian Jean Baptiste Point du Sable; in many ways we owe our existence in this location to Haiti.  Chicago's Haitian-American community numbers in the tens of thousands.

• Information on Financial Contributions
• Information on Volunteering
  
• Information on Donating Items
• Additional Information
  

***UPDATE***02/03/10***

• The effort of UChicago for Haiti raised more than $10,000! Thank you to all who donated and volunteered to make this possible. Thanks to the UCMC for matching the more than $5,000 raised by the effort!
  

• Students Unite to Provide Relief for Haiti

• University of Chicago medical team in place for Haitian relief effort.

• 2/12/10 -  Traffic Light Party for the benefit of the Haiti Disaster Relief Fund - The International House Residents' Council will hold the largest Valentine's Day party on campus- the Traffic Light Party on February 12 - for the benefit of the Haiti Disaster Relief Fund.  We welcome your in-kind donations at the International House at 1414 E. 59th Street. For more information, please contact George Vassilev at georgevass@uchicago.edu  
  

• Tues, Feb 9, 6 pm, 5710 W. Woodlawn - Teach-in on Haiti - CLAS, CSRPC, and OMSA Host a Teach-in on Haiti. Featuring a panel of UChicago faculty, students, representatives from the Haitian Community and the UofC Medical Center. 

• Friday, Feb 5, 1:30 - 6 pm - "The Many Faces of Haiti" Collage. Reynolds Club Marketplace. This week come out on Friday to make a collage of pictures of Haiti and rejuvenate your commitment to standing up for Haiti!! The collage will be a 40" x 60" impression of Haiti before and after the earthquake.The pictures and everything will be on the table, just bring your jolly self and your two friends and put your impression on "The Many Faces of Haiti."  The collage will be housed in Reynolds for a few days as testimony to our hard work and will be permanently housed in one of the hallways of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs(OMSA).

• Local French and Creole Translators Needed for Haiti Relief Effort  American Red Cross needs French and/or Creole translators to support shelter operations for Haiti evacuees. January 28 - February 20. Shifts Daily: Evening Shift:  6:30pm - midnight; Overnight Shift:  midnight - 6am; Daytime:  anytime between 6am - 6pm. Shelter location near O'Hare Airport. Email cooperm@usa.redcross.org with name, email, cell phone & desired shift (date & time)

***UPDATE***01/21/10***

• Letter from UChicago for Haiti - Student/RSO-led relief effort
  

***UPDATE***01/18/10

• Hot chocolate ($2) and tea ($1) are being Tuesday to Friday, Cobb 10am to 2pm, Reynolds Club 9 to 5pm and Saturday at the International Food Festival. Organized by the African and Caribbean Students Association (ACSA).  All proceeds go to victims in Haiti.
  

***UPDATE***01/15/10

• Letter to Members of the University Community from Vice President Kim Goff-Crews
  
• Fundraising by RSOs has raised more than $1,300 for relief. You still have an opportunity to give cash donations on Tuesday in the Reynolds Club Marketplace from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• A special space has been set aside in Rockefeller Chapel for those who want to pray or grieve or leave remembrances of those affected by the earthquake. Members of the University's many faith communities will be remember the people of Haiti at their regular gatherings, and special prayers will be included in Sunday morning worship at Rockefeller at 11 a.m. 
• An interfaith act of remembrance will take place at Rockefeller Chapel on Tuesday January 19 at 5 p.m., a week after the time of the earthquake.
• Sun-Times list of local benefits/fundraisers for Haiti Relief
  
• If you have any new relief efforts, observances at the University, questions or suggestions about the University's response to the disaster in Haiti, please email ucsc@uchicago.edu.

***UPDATE***01/14/10
You can make donations to the Red Cross and Partners in Health at tables in the Reynolds Club Marketplace. The tables are organized by RSOs Beats and Pieces, African Caribbean Students Association, and Puerto Rican Students Association.  Tables will be staffed Thursday, January 14 through Tuesday, January 19. 

From the White House's webpage:
"You can also help immediately by donating to the Red Cross to assist the relief effort. Contribute online to the Red Cross, or donate $10 to be charged to your cell phone bill by texting "HAITI" to "90999." Find more ways to help through the Center for International Disaster Information."

International Relief Organizations:

• American Red Cross
• Medicins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders
• Partners in Health
• Yele - http://www.yele.org/ (Thanks to Vanessa Fabbre, see comment below for more details.)
• There are many more relief organizations doing great work in Haiti. This list is not intended to be comprehensive and may be updated from time to time.  Here is the InterAction List of Organizations responding to the crisis in Haiti.
  

Chicago Area Organizations/News

• Haitian American Community Association
• Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti (Evanston)
• Chicago Organizations Join the Relief Effort
• Chicago Area Haitians Respond
  

What about donations of food, clothing, or other supplies?
While usually done with the best intentions, in-kind donations can often be more complicated for organizations both where you are and where you want to send the items. From the CIDI "Guidelines for Donating":

• "Financial contributions allow professional relief organizations to purchase exactly what is most urgently needed by disaster victims and to pay for the transportation necessary to distribute those supplies. Unlike in-kind donations, cash donations entail no transportation cost. In addition, cash donations allow relief supplies to be purchased at locations as near to the disaster site as possible. Supplies, particularly food, can almost always be purchased locally - even in famine situations. This approach has the triple advantage of stimulating local economies (providing employment, generating cash flow), ensuring that supplies arrive as quickly as possible and reducing transport and storage costs. Cash contributions to established legitimate relief agencies are always considerably more beneficial than the donation of commodities."

We will update this post as more information becomes available.