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CONVERsations
(Continued from previous page) easy access. In disaster medicine, there is no single country and all countries have an obligation. There should be an umbrella organization like the UN which is capable of coordinating efforts. The UN did do this to some degree. EMpulse: What prepared you for this experience? DF: I am a Buddhist. I belong to a cadre of physicians who are chameleons. We are able to do multiple things in the most stressful of environments with minimum resources. Overall, I don’t think I was prepared. Though my military training kicked in and I went into survival mode, this was more than anything I could have imagined. Pictures are flat and have no emotions. When you see a two year old orphan crying in front of his crumbled house there is no picture that can describe what you feel. EMpulse: What is the best way for people to volunteer in Haiti? DF: The humanitarian effort will be needed for years. Project Medishare (projectmedishare.org) at the University of Miami has short schedules; Project Hope (projecthope.org) needs a three-week commitment while Doctors without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org) and Doctors of the World (dowusa.org) need a threemonth commitment.
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