1st appeared 15 December 1998

Doctors Continue Hurricane Mitch Relief Effort

The devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch is still being felt in Central America, especially in Honduras and Nicaragua, where it caused billions of dollars of damage and left at least 9,000 dead and two million homeless.

Two UCSF residents will be donating their holiday vacations to take part in the medical relief effort already under way. Colleen Townsend and Arthur Hayashi, both residents in family and community medicine at the San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, will be spending most of the holiday season providing primary health care to the people of Honduras through Doctors for Global Health, a private, not-for-profit organization that promotes health, education and other human rights throughout the world.

"We'll be bringing a lot of medications to Honduras that were donated to SFGHMC and the Department of Public Health," said Townsend. "We will undoubtedly be working in some community clinics providing primary care and doing some community health education as well."

Townsend and Hayashi are recruiting other residents to join the effort in the coming months and are soliciting financial contributions, particularly to defray airfare expenses.

"Health care providers currently working in Central America have been working really hard and we hope to give them some relief from their duties," said Townsend. "Additionally, we would like to set up some sort of affiliation with Doctors for Global Health so other residents who may be interested in donating their vacation time can do so."

And although Townsend says it is a coincidence that she is volunteering during the holiday season, she expects it might be a nice gift for the overworked health care providers in Honduras to get a few days off.

Questions about the relief effort can be sent by email to Hayashi at ahayashi@itsa.ucsf.edu. Financial contributions can be made to:
Doctors for Global Health, c/o Arthur Hayashi, 1431 Dolores, Apt. 2,
San Francisco, CA 94110.

Links:

Doctors for Global Health

Hurricane Mitch Survivor Asks for Relief Assistance

Source: Paula Murphy, Daybreak editor

DAYBREAK | ARCHIVES | CALENDAR | CAMPUS NOTES
CAMPUS EYE | LIFESTYLE | QUICK LINKS | HELP/RESOURCES | SEARCH

Copyright ©1998 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Last Updated May 11, 1999.
Please direct all comments and questions to the Daybreak Editor .
Please contact the UCSF Web Developer for questions of a technical nature.