Important Message from Partners in Health

From Partners in Health: Medical Personnel sought for Haiti

Wanted: Surgeons, nurses, and other medical personnel to help in Haiti

We are deeply grateful for the multitude of people who have contacted us wanting to provide medical assistance. As patients flood to our sites from Port-au-Prince, we're finding ourselves in need of both medical personnel and supplies. In particular, we need surgeons (especially trauma/orthopedic surgeons), ER doctors and nurses, and full surgical teams (including anesthesiologists, scrub and post-op nurses, and nurse anesthetists).

If you are a health professional interested in volunteering, please send an email to volunteer@pih.org with information on your credentials, language capabilities (Haitian Creole or French desired), availability, and contact information. Please visit our website for more information at http://www.pih.org/home.html.

As phone lines in Haiti remain down and transportation and communication are difficult, PIH is still in the process of determining where we can set up operations in Port-au-Prince, and how we can transport patients and volunteers to our sites. We will be able to offer more concrete information after these logistical matters are resolved.

Once again - thank you for your support.

Check out Global HEED on the cover of a recent Beverly Hills Weekly issue!

View the Summer 2009 Global HEED Guatemala Interns

Applications are now being accepted for the winter 2009-2010 service trip to Calhuitz, Guatemala. This trip is open to anyone 18 years and older. There are no foreign language requirements. The details of the trips are as follows.

• 2 week trip to Calhuitz, Guatemala
• The summer trip is from August 7, 2009 to August 21, 2009 and the winter trip is from December 28, 2009 to January 11, 2010
• Volunteers will help build the first section of the health care clinic, conduct a community assessment and implement the micro-credit initiative
• Apply online for the winter trip. The deadline to apply is December 10, 2009. The trips are limited to 20 volunteers. Applicants are accepted on a rolling basis (first come, first serve). A non-refundable deposit of $600 is due 2 weeks following acceptance in order to secure your spot on the trip.
• Trip cost: TBD. The trip cost covers hotels, housing, food (breakfast, lunch, dinner), in-country transportation and logistical fees.

• Work closely with villagers and local NGOs to make an impact in in poverty-stricken communities
• Learn principles of community building, social change, servant-leadership
• Investigate issues pertaining to the economy, health and education in developing nations
• Particpate in ALL meetings between Global HEED executive board members and on-site partners
• Develop and conduct assessments and that will directly benefit the community
• Implement proposals to promote the quality of life for people living in remote, impoverished and under-served communities.
• Stand out when applying for jobs, scholarships, awards, medical school, public health school, law school, business school, and other graduate schools.
• Receive priority for Global HEED executive board and other leadership positions

These unique trips will be a memorable and character-developing experiences. If you have any questions please e-mail contactus@globalheed.org.

We encourage volunteers to contact their schools, study abroad offices and departments to earn academic credit and/or apply for scholarships and grants in addition to asking close friends and family to pledge support for this worthy cause.

Grant Opportunities for Emory University Students ONLY

If you are not an Emory student, please contact your respective schools and/or study abroad offices to see if they have any similar grant opportunities.

About Global H.E.E.D.

Global HEED has successfully engaged college students from some of the top universities in the United States. We have developed an internship program for volunteers on our service trips that will allow the students to conduct literature, best-practice, and field research in the areas of health, education, and economic development. The interns will first receive training in the basic principles, theories and tools used in community building, social change, servant leadership, and previous similar initiatives that have addressed multifaceted issues in developing nations. The interns will then work together with other interns going on the same service trip to complete tasks as determined by our partner NGO in Guatemala and the Global HEED committee comprised of Guatemalan residents. Such tasks can include developing and implementing a community assessment (through the use of surveys, interviews, and focus groups) to collect demographic information, statistics, and other pertinent data needed to better understand the local values, priorities, conditions and resources of the project site. Following the on-site experience in Guatemala, the team of interns will create a case study that will contain (1) a background/problem definition section to provide the broad context of the issues related to health, education and/or economic development; (2) a section on the project site that will provide a more specific context of the issues by providing the history of the area, prevalent issues found in the project site, and any other pertinent background information about the project site; (3) a section that includes any data collected during the trip; (4) an analysis section of the data; (5) a section where interns can make conclusions based on their results; and (6) a section where interns can make recommendations/proposals to Global HEED on how to best address the issues in the area based on their conclusions. This internship-like experience will not only engage students to become socially responsible and foster interest in research but also directly benefit the community by providing information about the project site that can be used by Global HEED and other local NGOs in the area. Global HEED encourages students to obtain academic credit from their respective universities for their work. We will encourage students to find advisors and principal investigators to help submit research proposals to the Institutional Review Board at their respective universities with the hope the case study can be eventually published in professional journals.

Since one of our main missions is to directly engage students, interns are also encouraged to attend all of the meetings between local residents and the Global HEED board, as well as to assist in the execution of our various initiatives. We are also currently forming Global HEED chapters at Emory University, Harvard University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Connecticut, Oxford College of Emory University, and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. We aim to have chapters formed at other top-tier universities by the end of 2009. If interested in starting a chapter at your university visit our Start a Global HEED Chapter page. Get involved now!

Show your support for Global HEED and help us spread the word by joining the Global HEED Facebook Group.

Fundraising

Global HEED must raise at least $100,000 in order to build a basic health care clinic, a school, and implement the micro-credit initiative. Please consider making a donation, as our success will depend on your continuous support. Click on the donation button to donate. Remember, every dollar counts!