When tragedy rocked Haiti on Jan. 12, members of the Duke community voiced an immediate desire to help. Since then, people across campus -- from students and faculty to medical professionals -- have responded to the call for help in ways large and small.
Now, Duke is setting the stage to align its relief efforts in Haiti with its research and teaching missions.
A class on Creole for relief workers, organized by French instructor Deborah Jenson, helped set the stage.
Larry Moneta, Duke's vice president of student affairs, went a step further, asking Provost Peter Lange to encourage schools and institutes within Duke to explore what role they may play in addressing Haiti's needs.
"I imagine opportunities exist with our service learning and research service learning programs, and probably many others," Moneta said.
One of Duke's strategic goals is to use knowledge in the service of society. As such, Lange intends to devote the 2010-2011 Provost's Lecture Series to the topic of disaster relief.
Indeed, the DukeEngage in Haiti program, scheduled to begin on June 1, will proceed as scheduled, offering students an opportunity to apply knowledge "in the field." Working with Family Health Ministries (FHM) in Leogane, Haiti, the program will allow students to work with underserved families around the issues of maternal and child health.
Program director Eric Mlyn traveled to the earthquake-ravaged country just last week to confirm the DukeEngage program.
"After visiting our Haiti program site in Leogane, and meeting with our community partners there, I feel strongly that students who choose to participate can make a significant contribution to the communities we serve," Mlyn said. "We have been and will continue to work diligently to mitigate the inherent risks."
Students who still wish to participate must petition the university's International Travel Oversight Committee (ITOC) for a waiver, given that Haiti remains on a restricted regions list.
The Office of Student Affairs and Facilities has encouraged students who are anxious to help in the aftermath of the quake to pursue alternative spring breaks in Haiti for 2011. Due to travel restrictions, they may also think creatively about pursuing projects in the U.S. that would benefit Haiti.
"It's been wonderful to watch Duke students 'rise to the occasion' in response to Haiti's needs," Moneta said.
Communications in a Box
Duke is putting the latest networking technology to work to help earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Using two advanced "network-in-a-box" toolkits provided by the Office of Information Technology health-care workers at clinics in Port-au-Prince and Leogane, Haiti, can phone from one clinic to another, call medical experts at Duke, and connect to Duke databases and libraries as if they were on the Durham campus.
To learn more, click here.
In January, anticipating such a response from Duke students, Moneta and others formed a Haiti Response Steering Committee to coordinate fundraising efforts and share information about events and the logistics of getting help to Haiti.
"This committee is now focused on sustained education, research and service opportunities that can simultaneously serve Duke's educational and Haiti's recovery needs," Moneta said. "Simultaneously, the Duke Health System is focused on parallel organizing and direct service efforts from the health care community."
Recently, a Durham resident distraught over his family's circumstances in Haiti asked Duke to help by providing a tent for his family. (See video above)
A team from the Medical Center, on a fourth trip to Haiti to care for people who lost limbs, located the man's family members and delivered tents to them. The team previously brought boxes of much-needed medical supplies to Haiti.
However, experienced relief workers agree that cash has been the most immediate need.
The Duke Card office was able to arrange for individual students and staff to donate money using their Flex cards, which raised more than $32,000 for the Red Cross.
Some of Duke's other fund-raising efforts have included:
-- REMEDY, a volunteer program that collects usable medical surplus from the Medical Center for donation, sent 400 boxes of supplies;
-- With the help of Duke staffers, dozens of area restaurants offered 10 percent of their proceeds to relief agencies for two days. "Dine Out Durham" raised more than $10,000 for both Partners in Health and FHM;
-- Law students held a fundraiser at Alivia's Durham Bistro in downtown Durham, raising $1,595 for Doctors Without Borders;
-- Students at the Sanford School of Public Policy raised slightly more than $2,300 for Mercy Corps.
"I'm never surprised by the manner in which the Duke community rallies around each other to help whenever help is needed," said Chris Roby, director of student life at Duke. "The spirit of giving is such a part of Duke's fabric."
Pictured below, a refugee scene in Haiti, taken by the visiting Duke medical team.
