After hearing stories of the widespread destruction and human suffering along the Gulf Coast, senior Brandon Goodwin, a resident of DeRidder, La., and executive vice president of Duke Student Government, decided to direct most of his energy toward Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
“I sort of got personally involved,” he said, noting that his brother, a medical student at Tulane University, lost almost all of his possessions in the storm. “It’s been a very difficult time.”
Goodwin, along with senior Blake Stanfill, a resident of New Orleans and member of the Student Organization Finance Committee, set up a website Friday morning where students can donate their Food Points and FLEX to the Red Cross.
Stanfill’s home in New Orleans was devastated by the hurricane, which struck the coast Monday Aug. 29.
By Saturday night, community members had already donated $7,000 through the website. Goodwin said he expects several thousand more dollars to be raised by the end of the week, as students will be able to donate through FLEX for the foreseeable future.
Like Goodwin and Stanfill, students and faculty from various parts of campus—including entities such as Duke University Medical Center and the Community Service Center—have offered time, money and emotional support to Gulf Coast residents affected by the hurricane.
University officials scheduled two community meetings for Tuesday, Sept. 6 at noon in Von Canon Room C of the Bryan Center and 2 p.m. in the Upper East Side of The Marketplace at which students will have the opportunity to discuss how to contribute to relief efforts.
Senior Becca Parrish, student co-director of the Community Service Center, said the meetings will be aimed at both informing the public about the different avenues through which students can help and organizing student groups’ cooperative efforts.
“We are trying to support groups so they aren’t doing things individually but could be a collective force for change,” Parrish said.
Mentioning a possible reggae band benefit concert, she said CSC has been working with other groups on a variety of projects.
“We have offered to send relief groups, but right now that is not what they are asking,” Parrish said of officials directing relief efforts in Louisiana. “When that changes, we will be offering many opportunities for students.”
Duke University Health System, however, has sent some registered nurses and emergency medical technicians to the affected region.
Five individuals from DUHS left Friday to Gulfport, Miss. They will join a group of about 80 doctors from around North Carolina who will set up a 100-bed healthcare facility to support a hospital that was severely damaged in the disaster.
The Duke volunteers will return Sunday, Sept. 11, but another group of Duke healthcare officials will be deployed Friday, Sept. 9.
Claudia McCormick, program manager for Duke’s Emergency Medical Services and coordinator of the volunteers being sent to Mississippi, said communicating with her team has been difficult since cell phone towers are not working in the disaster area.
“Right now they are seeing lots of trees and power lines down,” she said. “They have not set up yet to be seeing the people.”
Dr. Victor Dzau, chancellor for health affairs at Duke and president and CEO of DUHS, said in a memo to DUHS officials that Duke may receive some of the patients airlifted and transported from the affected region.
As of Saturday evening, DUHS had received no patients from the area.
The University also announced Friday that 75 students enrolled at universities closed because of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina can study at Duke for the fall semester.
Those who enroll must be from North or South Carolina, have a sibling currently attending Duke or have a parent who is an alumnus, faculty or staff member.
Several of these students have already arrived on campus and will start attending class Monday.
Several student leaders have been asked to show the new students around campus.
“This is only a small part of what Duke will do,” President Richard Brodhead told The Chronicle Friday. “We are just going to let common sense and human decency prevail.”
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