A documentary about Dr. Hodes will be aired on HBO in April called “Making the Crooked Straight.” Watch the trailer:

- Jacob

Two different groups recently collected boxes of supplies from the U2H warehouse to aid their medical mission trips over the upcoming Spring Break (2/27-3/7). The first group, Team Cuba, is taking the supplies on their trip to Cuba through Global Reach, a UM Medical School program. The second is FIMRC, a student group that provides medical care to children without access, who will use the supplies at their clinic in Costa Rica.

Both groups will provide us with updates and pictures when they return, so stay tuned!

Team Cuba will use this box full of medical supplies to provide care in Cuba over Spring Break.

Yesterday, it was my privilege to testify before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations at their hearing on “Haiti: from Rescue to Recovery and Reconstruction.”

I opened my testimony thus: “Today, my hope is to do justice to Haiti not by chronicling the events of the past two weeks, which are well known to you, but by attesting to the possibility of hope for the country, and of the importance of meaningful investment and sustainable development in Haiti. That said, I will not pretend that hope is not at times difficult to muster.”

In my role as the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti, as well as from my long-standing homes at Partners In Health and at Harvard, I have witnessed the many varieties of privation endured by Haiti as well as the country’s extraordinary resilience. But in more than twenty-five years of working there, I have never seen devastation or suffering on this scale. The response from our community has been equally immense: acts of great courage within Haiti, and of great generosity beyond it.

I know that Haiti can and will recover. I believe that there is an opportunity to build Haiti back better. I am convinced that it will require a massive and ongoing commitment on all of our parts, and that the road will be a long one. We are fortunate to have many partners in this effort, in addition to the five thousand employees of Zanmi Lasante: my colleagues now joining them in Haiti, many of whom have been sharing updates with us and with you; the extraordinary team in Boston; the legions of PIH supporters, old and new, as well as our organizational partners and our colleagues at the Clinton Foundation and the UN. Together, we are all working to serve the people of Haiti, especially those marginalized by chronic poverty as well as the acute insult (to use medical terms) of January 12.

Please join us.

In gratitude,

Paul

To read the rest of Paul’s Senate testimony, click here.

The people of Haiti need our help right now! Buy a “HELP HAITI” Tee for just $10 today and 100% of the proceeds afters costs will go directly to assisting Partners in Health (PIH) and their ambitious Haiti relief efforts. PIH has over 20 years of experience working in Haiti. The cost is $5 per shirt to make, so $5 of every sale goes directly to PIH.)

U2H is partnering with Samantha Kelman, founder of Save Our Women, in order to promote and sell the t-shirts. You can buy your shirt today through Save Our Women.

Buy your “HELP HAITI” Tee today to support immediate Haiti relief efforts!

-

Please email helphaititees@gmail.com with any questions.

A few months ago, I joined President Clinton as a volunteer to, in his words, help Haiti “build back better” after a series of storms in 2008 destroyed an estimated 15 percent of already beleaguered Haiti’s GDP. We had just been meeting about these efforts and a series of upcoming forums to be held in Port-au-Prince, and I was then going to join colleagues from Partners In Health in central Haiti, where I have had the good fortune to work with remarkable Haitian medical colleagues for many years. The day before our New York meeting, Port-au-Prince was flattened by an earthquake. There is not a lot left to be said, but having just returned from Port-au-Prince, there are some points worth underlining.”

Click to read more.

—-

* Paul Farmer is the co-founder of Partner’s in Health, a major player in the recent Haiti relief efforts. PIH has over 20 years of experience on the ground in Haiti. United 2 Heal will be sending a container of medical supplies to aid PIH’s efforts as soon as possible (toward the end of the school year). To learn more, please visit www.PIH.org.

I have now returned from Sene District and am in Kumasi. Today we finished our last day of research and training, which all went very well…..big relief. So another really cool story about U2H. My boss and I had a meeting with the Provost of Health Sciences, the Dean of the Medical School, the dept. chair for Obgyn, Public relations officer today. We were doing a press release/photo type of thing and the dean was speaking about UM/Ghana relations. He started talking about the pulse/ox and surgical tools that we donated to KATH! Then he started laughing and was like wait are you the same person that donated them from Children of Abraham? It was a crazy coincidence as I hadn’t met with him in over a year. They are still using the pulse-ox though and it was obviously a much appreciated item!

I have lots of updates to give on our Ghana stuff. I was able to meet with Joel yesterday and interview him. He started talking about where he lives. He lives by himself and has to talk on his crippled hands to get inside. Everytime he has to go to the bathroom, his manager/best friend who lives about a mile away has to come over and bring him to his house as Joel does not have a toilet. He said with the extra money we could help him to earn, he will hopefully be able to buy a toilet one day. He also hopes he can get a new wheelchair as the one he has is basically falling apart……operations want to take care of that one? Of course I have pictures and video of our interview.

love,

jp

The meeting w/Dr. Ofosu went great. We will arrange for the payment for the container very soon, as he has it approved by the regional and district chief directors.

The new ward is starting to be built. I have taken a few pictures. I also have an updated list of equipment which will be very helpful for us. He was also very excited about the painting project for the Ghana trip which I spoke to some of you about.

I have to go train as the TBAs are waiting for us, but I will write a longer e-mail w/pics tonight/tomorrow morning.

Joey

Purchase your tickets online today for our Third Annual U2H Benefit Dinner, in fourth floor Rackham Hall on Sunday, April 11, 2010. Come eat great food and support a great cause. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Anthony Ofosu, visiting all the way from Sene District, Ghana.

We are sending 40 hospital beds to furnish a new ward of the Sene District Hospital at the end of this school year. Dr. Ofosu is the  lone doctor for the hospital, which supports nearly 100,000 people. He will speak about his experience working with extremely limited resources and other related topics.

Buy your ticket(s) today! Ticket price includes admission, dinner, and silent auction eligibility.

• Adults ($35)
• Student/Child ($10)
• Full Table, 8 Seats ($240)

All proceeds from ticket sales go towards future U2H activities.

“How many of you are going to be doctors? Are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians and engineers?”

Presidential nominee John F. Kennedy said these words in front of the Michigan Union on October 14, 1960 to a group of excited students and onlookers. The speech is widely considered the unveiling of JFK’s Peace Corp initiative. Listen to the historical speech by clicking the link below:

Audio of JFK’s speech, October 14, 1960

Here is the full transcript.

Read more about the speech at http://michigantoday.umich.edu/2008/jan/jfk.php.