The second deployment of health care volunteers from UNMC and the Nebraska Medical Center will depart for Haiti Feb. 11 or 12. The group is leaving just two weeks after the first group returned from Haiti. Those 13 volunteers spent a week assisting Haitians wounded in the massive Jan. 12 earthquake that rocked the country.

The volunteers – eight nurses, two physicians, one pharmacist and one physician assistant – are expected to leave for Haiti on Thursday on board University of Miami/MediShare Haiti flights.

More than 100 people have volunteered to help in future deployments.

A fund has been created at the University of Nebraska Foundation to accept contributions that support the Medical Center’s efforts. The fund is helping to offset travel and lodging costs, buy supplies such as materials for treating wounds to hopefully reduce amputations, and communication costs.

We thank you for your generous support as UNMC seeks to raise $100,000 to continue to help those in need in Haiti.

Give to the UNMC Haitian Relief Fund now

The UNMC College of Public Health Student Association is also sponsoring an “Adopt a Provider” campaign to support UNMC’s Haitian Relief and Outreach Fund. The association hopes to raise $1,500 for each of the 12 providers deployed in the second group. This funding will support the volunteers’ efforts in Haiti and help offset their travel and living costs.

With the deployment of the first group in Jan., UNMC established itself as a major player in the relief efforts. Several medical center volunteers assumed leadership posts at the hospitals and clinics where they worked. Also Rubens Pamies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNMC, worked with Haitian officials to establish UNMC as a significant partner in long term relief efforts in Haiti. Pamies is a native of Haiti.