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How
HSPH Is Helping Hurricane Katrina Public Health Experts Needed
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many Americans have wondered how they can help. Below are examples of what some HSPH members are doing. This page will be updated as we continue to learn of the many ways in which School members are aiding recovery efforts: HSPH
Events For a full listing of events, click here. Tulane Students Make Temporary Home
at HSPH after Hurricane -- About 20 displaced students from the Tulane
School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine chose to take advantage
of an initiative from the Association of Schools of Public Health to continue
their graduate studies at HSPH for the fall semester. HSPH Graduate
Reports Community Spirit to BBC - Alumnus Andrew Cavey was interviewed
by the BBC after he was deployed to Mississippi through the American Red
Cross and Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Hurricane
Katrina’s Aftermath/Evacuee Survey -- webcast from
event held September 28 now available. Speaker: Robert
Blendon, HSPH Professor of Health Policy and Management,
Department of Health Policy and Management HSPH/Kaiser
Family Foundation/Washington Post Survey of Evacuees -- To
give voice to people whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina
and the ensuing floods, The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family
Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a unique
survey of evacuees in shelters in the Houston area. One-third (34%) of
Katrina evacuees report that they were trapped in their homes and had
to be rescued. Half (50%) of those who were trapped said they waited three
or more days to be rescued. HSPH Professor Robert
Blendon co-directed the study design. The Government and Community Relations Office, Office for Student Affairs,
and Human Subjects Administration are pleased to cosponsor a new-and-used
clothing drive from September 19 through October 31, 2005. (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/katrina/contribute.html) HSPH Professor Nancy Kane,
working with the Division of Public Health Practice, plans to conduct
case studies of hospital management during and after the hurricane. Students from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical
Medicine, located in New Orleans, have begun arriving at HSPH
as part of an effort of the Association of Schools of Public Health and
its member schools to provide alternative academic placements for Tulane
students affected by the hurricane (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/katrina/tulane.html).
The Office for Student Services, with the help of HSPH students,
is working to ease their transition, including finding housing for them. Paul Biddinger, associate director of the HSPH-CPHP
and a physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, leaves the week
of September 12 for New Orleans to spend time there as part of an
MGH-based medical team. His colleague from the Center, Joshua Frances,
has been deployed since two days before the hurricane struck (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/katrina/recovery_efforts.html) Jonathan Burstein, Bruce Auerbach, and Howard
Koh--all physicians and leaders of the HSPH-CPHP–collaborated
with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to prepare for the
arrival of evacuees at Camp Edwards on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
Koh is a former Commissioner of Public Health for the state. Burstein
and Auerbach have led medical triage efforts at the camp. Members of the Harvard NIEHS Center for Environmental Health at
HSPH have met in North Carolina with David Schwartz, head of the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and HSPH alumnus.
Professor Joseph Brain
and Senior Research Scientist Christine Rogers are offering advice
on mold exposure assessment. HSPH Professors Howard
Hu and David Christiani
are putting together a proposal with researchers from Rutgers University
in New Jersey to analyze health exposures of relief workers as
they cope with remediation, including collecting baseline data before
the workers begin the clean up. The project proposal is based in part
on lessons learned from the clean up of debris after the collapse of the
World Trade Center in New York. HSPH Professor Jennifer
Leaning has worked in an advisory capacity to the American
Red Cross (ARC). She and Michael VanRooyen, who together co-direct
the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/fxbcenter/HHI_memo_for_web.htm),
are coordinating with the ARC the deployment of public health doctors
to shelters, including HSPH faculty, students, fellows, and alumni. The HSPH-CPHP, in collaboration with the Boston Public Health Commission,
has helped coordinate the enrollment of volunteers through national, state,
and local efforts of the Medical Reserve Corps, a volunteer group
of medical and public health professionals. The Corps is headquartered
in the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. Volunteer enrollment has also
been supported by the Public Health Committee, chaired by Howard Koh,
of the Mass Medical Society through a web site created by Rebecca Cadigan
and Gilbert Nick of the HSPH-CPHP (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/php/about/relief_efforts.html) HSPH members have donated generously to relief efforts, taking advantage
of the matching program initiated by Harvard University. HSPH
students have helped raise awareness of this matching opportunity
by manning a table in the Kresge cafeteria (http://www.community.harvard.edu/communitygifts/) Leonard Marcus of HSPH Center
for Public Health Preparedness Invited by FEMA to Study Leadership Response
-- An expert in public health preparedness, HSPH Lecturer Leonard
Marcus was invited by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
to study the leadership response to Hurricane Katrina, leaving for Louisiana
on September 7 to meet with top officials who are handling the crisis
and then flying by helicopter from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to gain
a first-hand view of the extensive damage. Joshua Frances of HSPH Center for
Public Health Preparedness Serves as EMT in Recovery Efforts in Mississippi
-- EMT Joshua Frances has a clear view of the ocean from the hospital
where he is working. Problem is, he shouldn't. The ocean is four blocks
away, but the buildings that normally would obstruct his view no longer
stand. They were literally blown away when Hurricane Katrina hit Biloxi
and Gulfport, Mississippi, leaving behind a rutted, debris-strewn wasteland. To contact the Harvard School of Public Health with suggestions, comments, or questions, please use our feedback form at: www.hsph.harvard.edu/email.html. Copyright 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard College |
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