Medical specialists top volunteer list for Haiti
Vehicles from the United Methodist Committee on
Relief join a line of vehicles heading into Haiti at the border of the
Dominican Republic. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.
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By Linda Bloom*
4:15 PM EST Jan. 22, 2010 | NEW YORK (UMNS)
Medical specialists are the first category of volunteers needed to
assist earthquake survivors in Haiti.
Officials with the United Methodist Committee on Relief and other units
of its parent agency, the Board of Global Ministries, said they would be
working with the Methodist Church of Haiti and other organizations to
provide medical and other services to Haiti.
Bishop Joel Martinez
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“We have already received an outpouring of inquiries and offers for
volunteers to provide a variety of services,” wrote Bishop Joel
Martinez, the Board of Global Ministries’ interim top executive, in a
letter to bishops. “While we are encouraged by this spirit of support,
we strongly advise that teams and others not set out for Haiti at this
time.”
Many other volunteers will be needed later as Haiti recovers from the
Jan. 12 earthquake, which destroyed much of Port-au-Prince, resulted in
an estimated 75,000 to 200,000 deaths and left upward of 2 million
people homeless. Currently, however, the country’s shattered
infrastructure cannot support volunteer teams.
Dalton Rushing, director of communications in the office of United
Methodist Volunteers in Mission for the denomination’s Southeastern
Jurisdiction, said transportation also remains a concern. “The main
problem is that it’s just about impossible right now for volunteers to
get in and out of Haiti,” he explained.
Looming medical crisis
Rushing said his office is flagging the names of people with medical
skills on potential volunteer lists.
The New York Times reported a looming medical crisis in Haiti as the
wounds of thousands of earthquake survivors remained untreated and the
number of bodies left in the wreckage increased the risk of disease.
The Board of Global Ministries advises that some medical specialists
may want to respond to a call from the U.S. government for trauma
surgeons, orthopedists, anesthesiologists and others with experience in
treating crush injuries.
Those volunteers must be able to serve for at least two weeks, and be
willing to live and work in spartan conditions. Preference will be
given to physicians who are Creole or French speakers and to those
credentialed through the Medical Reserve Corps in their home state or
the ESAR-VHP (Emergency Services Advanced Registration of Volunteer
Health Personnel) program.
For more information, contact Michala Koch at Michala.Koch@hhs.gov. For
information on becoming part of the Medical Reserve Corps go to www.medicalreservecorps.gov.
Volunteers for the long haul
United Methodist volunteer teams have been working in Haiti for decades
and Rushing predicted that people with any number of skills—including
experience in construction, education and pastoral care—would be welcome
once the country is able to support those workers.
“This situation is so dire that we need everybody,” he added.
Short-term volunteer experiences can last from one week to two months. A
map outlining the regions covered by the denomination’s U.S.
jurisdictional volunteer coordinators can be found at umvim.info.
Those coordinators, with telephone numbers and email addresses are
North Central, Lorna Jost, (605) 692-3390, umvim-ncj@brookings.net;
Northeastern, Gregory Forrester, (607) 756-7799, umvimnej@twcny.rr.com;
Southeastern, Paulette West, (404) 377-7424, sejinfo@umvim.org; South Central,
Debbie Vest, (913) 568-8826, vimscj@scglobal.net;
and Western, Heather Wilson, (818) 333-6730, umvimwj@hotmail.com.
Placement for individual long-term volunteers, serving two months to two
years, is possible as the recovery in Haiti progresses. More
information is available at www.individualvolunteers.info.
“We will be working in Haiti for a long, long time,” Rushing said.
“The underlying problems of extreme poverty in Haiti have really
increased the amount of work it’s going to take to recover from this
disaster.”
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
slideshow
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Resources
UMCOR:
Volunteering in Haiti
Medical
Reserve Corps
United Methodist Volunteers in Mission
UMCOR: Haiti Emergency
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