As we have stayed the course on our own construction projects here at UAMS, our faculty and staff have been busy on another – reaching out to our neighbors to the south to help rebuild lives left in shambles by Hurricane Katrina.

More than $25,000 has been raised through donations from UAMS employees for a Disaster Relief Fund to help buy medications, baby formula, diapers, and other daily necessities for many of the evacuees who have sought our help. Our Area Health Education Centers across the state have been mobilized to provide assistance and teams of physicians and nurses have been dispatched to take care of evacuees at shelters and nursing homes.

Many patients have been seen at our hospital, outpatient center, and clinics throughout campus. Most have faced unimaginable adversity in their journey to us but the  dedication, skill, hard work and caring spirits of our faculty and staff have given them hope. There have been inspiring stories of the care provided by UAMS highlighted in the media. They have included the story of a Louisiana woman who gave birth to twins, of a New Orleans law enforcement officer treated here for injuries suffered while he risked his life rescuing people from rising flood waters, and of Colleen Jordan, UAMS ER nurse, who worked an 18-hour shift providing clothing to patients who came to UAMS shaken and with only the  shirts on their backs.

Our colleges have opened their doors to students and resident physicians from the Gulf area and children displaced in the disaster have found a new beginning in our Head Start programs.

Just as building a new hospital, a new residence hall and other facilities here on campus will take time, so will rebuilding the lives of the hurricane evacuees who continue to seek our help. I am proud of the commitment our faculty and staff have shown to both.