Senior Bowl Player Provide TLC

Senior Bowl players paid a visit to USA Children's and Women's Hospital on Friday, Jan. 29, to encourage hospitalized patients who won't make tomorrow's game. Quarterbacks Dan LeFevour of Central Michigan and Zac Robinson of Oklahoma State University caught up with USA Pediatric faculty members Drs. Ihab Jubran and Mary Mancao between patient visits.   The Senior Bowl game will be played Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

USA College of Medicine Plays Role in Coordinating Relief Effort in Haiti

Health care is one of the many challenges facing Port Au Prince, Haiti, after the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12, 2009. Carl Taylor, assistant dean at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, is working to meet some of those health care needs.

Taylor recommends supporting a collaboration between the University of Miami and Medishare.org. Within 24 hours of the earthquake, UM and Medishare established a field hospital at the airport in Port Au Prince. The command center in Miami and the deployed team are coordinating logistics and flights to and from Haiti with medical volunteers and supplies.

The team has been returning U.S. citizens and patients back to the U.S. The immediate focus is on acute care with ever-improving surgical capabilities, and personnel from around the U.S. have joined the team.

“As of last week, 3,300 Americans, including many of Haitian heritage, have been transferred to the United States from Haiti,” said Taylor. “Two hundred of those required some level of medical care. Hospitals in Miami, most notably Jackson Memorial Hospital, Fort Lauderdale- Broward General Medical Center and Palm Beach have seen the bulk of those patients.”

Taylor was able to route supplies through the courtesy of the Broward County Medical Association and the Hop-A-Jet Worldwide Jet Charter. “Space is limited on these flights, but I am working on more aircraft capacity through the Japanese Embassy,” Taylor said. Logistics on the ground is also a challenge, but it is getting better as time goes by. Specific needs include medical supplies, food and water. For more information on supply needs, visit Taylor’s Web site at http://h.xchlive.org/ .

“Another outstanding group worthy of donations and potentially volunteer work is Partners In Health,” Taylor said. “Dr. Paul Farmer has worked tirelessly in Haiti for many years, and his team is now running 10 medical centers.”

Taylor encourages people who want to help to donate to their favorite charity that is involved in Haiti. Taylor said it is especially important for medical students to volunteer and raise supplies. “It’s important to realize that the challenges in Haiti will remain for quite some time even after the news coverage evaporates.”

“There are many heroes right now on the ground in Haiti, and a large percentage of those are medical professionals,” he said. “This is a time when well-directed assistance can make a fundamental life saving difference in the lives of a human being.”

To donate directly to the UM/Medishare effort and to find out how to volunteer, visit http://www.med.miami.edu/haiti-relief .

More ways to donate:

• Donations can be mailed to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to a local American Red Cross chapter. Donations to the International Response Fund can be made by phone at 1-800-733-2767 or online at http://www.redcross.org/.

• Those with wireless devices, including cell phones, can send $10 donations to the Red Cross International Relief Fund by sending a text message to 90999. A confirmation message will arrive within a few minutes. Responding “yes” will finalize the donation. Standard text messaging rates may apply.

• Catholic Relief Services can be contacted by calling 1-800-736-3467 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Donations may be mailed to Catholic Relief Services, Box 17090, Baltimore, Md. 21203.

• Disaster response volunteers who want to assist the United Methodist Church in Alabama can call Clyde Pressley at 1-866-340-1956.

• Baptist Global Response is working to get disaster relief to Haiti. Donations can be made through its Web site at http://www.baptistglobalresponse.com/ .

"Justice, Health, and Health Reform"

The University of South Alabama is pleased to announce a special lecture by Dr. Norman Daniels entitled “Justice, Health, and Health Reform.” Dr. Daniels is a Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Population Ethics and Professor of Ethics and Population Health at Harvard University.

Dr. Daniels's lecture will be Friday, Feb. 5th at 4 p.m. in the auditorium at the Laidlaw Performing Arts Center, located on the USA campus, and will be open to the public. This presentation is sponsored by Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, the Division of Academic Affairs, the Division of Health Sciences, the Department of Philosophy, and Jaguar Productions.

For further information, please contact Dr. Ted Poston in the Department of Philosophy at USA at 460-6248.