Health Science Center President Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D. invites you to a compelling presentation on the recent tsunami relief efforts at 5 p.m. April 11 in the auditorium.
Harold Timboe, M.D., M.P.H., assistant vice president for research administration and initiatives, and John P. Howe, III, M.D., former Health Science Center president and current Project HOPE president, will discuss their recent mission for Project HOPE to provide medical relief to tsunami victims.
Dr. Timboe was designated as leader of the volunteer health services effort aboard the USNS Mercy, a U.S. Navy hospital ship. The Mercy carried a basic complement of personnel to run the ship, and was able to accommodate many tertiary-care medical personnel including neurosurgeons, heart surgeons, nurses, X-ray technicians, pathologists, physical therapists, mental health physicians and others.
Dr. Timboe will offer recollections of what he saw in the tsunami-ravaged region that is home to some of the poorest people on earth.
“The devastation was immense in the Banda Aceh area where the Mercy spent about six weeks providing modern health care and assistance to various health care and relief operations on shore,” Dr. Timboe said. “It was gratifying to work with such a talented group of health professionals from diverse backgrounds with all of us focusing on doing our best for lovely people who suffered so much. In representing the American people, we brought health and hope at a time when they just wanted to know that people cared about them. The outpouring of spirit from the international community was tremendous. We were each glad that we could play a small part in that.”
Project HOPE is a Virginia-based international group headed by Dr. Howe. Its mission is to achieve sustainable advances in health care around the world.
To view the presentation online, click on realarc.uthscsa.edu:8080/ramgen/HSC/ProjectHope.rm.