Dr. Louis W. Sullivan Honors New Haiti Book

Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Chairman of the Sullivan Alliance, Chairman of the National Health Museum, and President Emeritus of Morehouse School of Medicine Louis W. Sullivan, M.D. writes a compelling tribute to the people of Haiti in a new book edited by Rubens J. Pamies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC).

When the tiny nation of Haiti was devastated by a massive earthquake January 12, 2010, Pamies, a native of Haiti, and others from UNMC in Omaha, Neb., with the assistance of individuals and international organizations like Project Hope, traveled to Haiti and mobilized medical professionals to meet the health care needs of the island's population.

The quake killed more than 200,000 Haitians, injured more than 300,000 and displaced more than a million of the Caribbean island's inhabitants.  Hospitals, roads, communication systems, and electricity were ravaged.

In Help and Hope for Haiti (University of Nebraska Medical Center ©2010) five teams of volunteers describe through documentary accounts and 142 images, the challenges faced by all medical personnel as they struggled to deliver life-saving medical and surgical care within the shattered infrastructure.  The hardcover book offers an eye-witness look at the disaster.  The book also outlines the international effort to rebuild the medical education infrastructure in Haiti.

      All proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the UNMC Haitian Relief and Outreach Fund. 

             To purchase a copy of Help and Hope for Haiti, please contact the UNMC Bookstore.

                     Online orders: www.unmcbookstore.com    Phone orders: 800-454-2665

 Sullivan has worked closely with Pamies to form the Virginia-Nebraska Alliance, a regional consortium of minority undergraduate colleges and academic health centers committed to increasing the availability of health care professionals in underserved communities.  Sullivan's words appear on the back cover of Help and Hope for Haiti.

"For every person who has been concerned about our friends and neighbors in Haiti since the devastating earthquake in 2010, this book is a 'must read.' 

It describes the efforts of Americans, Canadians and others -- individuals and organizations -- to respond to an immense human tragedy resulting from this geological disaster.  This occurred in a country already burdened by extreme degradation of the natural environment.

The efforts to provide immediate health care and to rebuild Haiti's capacity to train their own health professionals for the future are truly heroic.  This is an on-going challenge for which the final chapter is yet to be written.

This publication illustrates the 'better angels' in us, individually and collectively.  Reading it is truly inspiring."