Respond, Rescue, Rebuild

In late Oct. 2001, people the world over mourned the death of Massachusetts General Hospital’s own Thomas S. Durant, MD, who lost a 13-year battle with cancer at the age of 73. A native of Dorchester, Mass., who served as assistant director of Mass General for 35 years, Dr. Durant is best known as a pioneer in the field of humanitarian health care and refugee medicine.

Help for Haiti at a Moment’s Notice

One of the worst natural disasters on record in the western hemisphere, Haiti’s earthquake left thousands of people trapped in the rubble of collapsed homes, schools and places of business and countless others without access to food, shelter or basic medical care. In the hours following the disaster, Massachusetts General Hospital mobilized a large-scale relief effort to bring aid to victims in Haiti and stem a death toll rapidly climbing toward tens of thousands.

Heroes at Home

For many staff and patients at the hospital, the earthquake in Haiti hit close to home. The greater Boston area has the third-largest Haitian community in the nation following Miami and New York City. More than 400 Mass General staff members hail from Haiti and spent weeks anxiously awaiting news of loved ones back home.

Turning the Tide

In terms of killer diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria tend to share the media spotlight as the major public health threats in the world’s low-income countries. Philanthropists and aid agencies follow suit with concern and dollars. But diarrheal diseases like cholera and dysentery — mainly attributable to contaminated water and food — kill and incapacitate more people than any of those other diseases. In fact, diarrheal disease is the third-leading cause of death among adults in the developing world, and the second-leading cause of death among children under five years of age, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Mass General Sends Disaster Relief Team to Haiti, Opens Fund to Support its Efforts

In the late afternoon on Tuesday, Jan. 12, the world’s attention was riveted by news of unanticipated catastrophe in the Caribbean. The island republic of Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, was struck by a massive earthquake — measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale — which devastated the city of Port-au-Prince, reducing much of the capital to ruin. As reports from the shaken country detailed the magnitude of Haiti’s woes and estimates of the death toll reached into the tens of thousands, the Massachusetts General Hospital community moved swiftly to join the effort to bring aid to victims of the disaster.