Ways to Donate to Haiti Relief

• Donate |
• Volunteer |
• Counseling and Assistance


• Dean's Report from Haiti |
• UM Haiti Relief Effort in the News

Where to Donate

Many of you have asked how you can best help the earthquake victims in Haiti. Right now the priority is raising money for the UM Global Institute to support our doctors, nurses and students who are working at our hospital in Port-au-Prince.

You can make an online donation directly at www.umglobalinstitute.com/donate/.

You can also send your check made out to the "University of Miami-Global Institute" to P.O. Box 248073, Coral Gables, Florida, 33124.

You can also give to the United Way/UM through "Operation Helping Hands."

Donating Medical Supplies, Equipment and Pharmaceuticals
Monetary donations to cover the cost of shipping vital supplies to Haiti is now the biggest need, but you may contact Chris McHugh at cmchugh@med.miami.edu or call 305-243-5372 to donate medical supplies, equipment and pharmaceuticals. To donate food, water and other non-medical supplies, please send an e-mail to haitiearthquakerelief@gmail.com.

For a complete list of the medical and non-medical supplies that are urgently needed in Haiti click here.

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How to Volunteer

There is and will be a continuing need for surgeons, anesthesiologists, specialists in infectious disease, internal and family medicine, as well as surgical care, critical care and general nurses, especially those fluent in Creole. If you are willing and able to assist in Haiti and have not yet submitted your volunteer contact information, please fill out the volunteer sign-up form. If you already have submitted your volunteer contact information, there is no need for further action.

All perspective volunteers should review the CDC’s Guidance for Relief Workers and Others Traveling to Haiti for Earthquake Response.

Please remember that University leave policies and processes will apply for faculty and staff who wish to volunteer for Haiti relief efforts. Faculty and staff who wish to be considered for volunteering can use accrued vacation leave and/or available floating holidays (UMH staff can use PTO).

In addition, faculty and staff must first obtain approval from their supervisor for a specific leave period. For those who are approved for leave to volunteer but do not have sufficient leave to cover their absence, our donation-of-leave policy can be considered. Questions about leave policies regarding this matter should be directed to the following: UMH staff should contact Errol Douglas at 305-689-5613; other medical school faculty and staff should contact Maria Muniz at 305-243-6501.

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Counseling and Assistance

UM Counseling Center and Staff Assistance Program
Many UM students, faculty, and staff are waiting to hear from or about loved ones in Haiti, and our thoughts and prayers go out to them. Counselors are available to our students through the Counseling Center at 305-284-5511. Faculty and staff who need assistance should contact the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program at 305-284-6604.

Switchboard of Miami, Inc.
Switchboard of Miami, Inc. is available to assist anyone expressing stress, frustration or depression because of the earthquake.  Please call 305-358-HELP (4357) or 2-1-1 for assistance.  All calls are confidential.

Red Cross Family Links
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has launched a Family Links Web site to help people in Haiti and other countries register the names of relatives with whom they are trying to restore contact lost as a result of the earthquake. The ICRC will progressively incorporate information offering responses to those queries. Persons seeking news from their loved ones should register the names of the people they are trying to find directly on the site at: http://www.icrc.org/familylinks

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Dean's Report from Haiti

Dear Friends,

Our doctors, nurses and staff are doing God's work in Haiti and at home! One week after the devastating earthquake that wrecked the capital city of Port-Au-Prince, our team has established an invaluable urgent care center where hundreds of patients have found refuge, help and life-saving care.

Lying on stretchers, the patients are getting round-the-clock, top-notch trauma care that stabilizes their fractures, provides wound care for skin injuries, burn care, eye care, care for lung injuries and acute kidney failure, etc. Because all urgent care hospitals are full, we are partnering with other nations to exchange patients according to the specific technical prowess of each center. A 13-year-old girl whose flailed chest was wounded by a falling rock needed plastic surgery to cover her rib cage. Her skin, bones and chest muscles had been destroyed by the trauma over a patch the size of the palm of her hand, and her lung movement could be seen through the window of her chest. We took her to the "Corps Medical des Forces de Defense d'Israel" (the Israeli medical camp), where such specialized surgery was available, and traded her for a young man with an arm fracture and a severe back wound, whom we took back in a makeshift ambulance to our camp.

The Haitians are stoic. From the woman who climbs a mountain with four gallons of fresh water on her head for her family and neighbors, to the patients and their families who wait patiently for care, watching the expressions on the faces of their doctors and nurses, they give us a lesson in courage that will be remembered forever! Instructively, right after the earthquake they went back to their regular habits. For food and drink, they go to the local market. For care, they go to their regular hospital. Hence, if the United Nations is to be successful in bringing loads of food and water, they need to be distributed at sites where people go for such needs. The same applies for hospitals: those hospitals that have been wrecked need to be reconstituted with urgent care centers where the old hospital used to be.

Ron Bogue, his son Chris, and the UM facilities team are building us the most impressive temporary hospital camp, with four air-conditioned white tents that were donated by Alonzo Mourning and Stuart Miller, to provide our patients and care providers with an improved environment and technology. New operating rooms for life-saving surgeries, hospital wards and advanced technologies are being installed. The facility opens tomorrow (Wednesday) to our patients, only one week after the catastrophe hit Port-au-Prince.

We need to get help to transfer the patients to the new camp, which is located within the UN-protected compound for the security of our team and patients. The UN forces and the U.S. Army need to help us get the clearances and vehicles to bring the patients to their new hospital. We need X-ray equipment and PACS to assess fractures and head traumas. We need improved communication with local phones rather than satellite phones that do not work. We need a kitchen that can bake fresh bread and prepare sandwiches for the staff, patients and families. We need a giant coffee pot that keeps good coffee for our doctors and nurses. We need refrigerators and freezers to store perishable food, sodas and water, and medications. We need inflatable beds and showers for all. We have received so much help, but there is so much more to do...

One week after the earthquake, we stand strong to help the people of Haiti. Few groups have been able to deploy an effective system, and we were the first to be able to do so because Barth Green and his Global Institute team at UM have such a deep knowledge of the region and its people. And the extraordinary support of the local and U.S. benefactors has been nothing short of miraculous.

My deepest thanks to all of you for your incredibly hard work and your unwavering dedication to our patients and community, whether in Haiti or right here in Miami.

Pascal

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