Good People
Project Hope is sending volunteers and supplies to Haiti on the hospital ship USNS Comfort.
I know it's been a few days and most people who plan on donating have probably already donated to some charity or another, but if you do plan on it and haven't decided on which charity yet, consider Project Hope. They're particularly close to my heart because it was in large part the experience of working with nurses from Project Hope after Katrina that made me decide to become an RN (which, incidentally, as of yesterday, I am!). Their competence, compassion, and effectiveness left a deep impression on their patients and made me want to be able to do what they did.
As disaster relief charities (and I have experience with several) go, it's an exceptionally well-designed one. By working with the Navy and basing their efforts off hospital ships, they're able to provide very high levels of care efficiently and safely, serving their patients well and preventing volunteers from becoming victims themselves, as is so possible when well-meaning but underprepared workers enter a disaster area.
Their association with the US Navy also, at least in my experience watching them work, magnifies their authority in the eyes of their patients, giving them an ability to influence stressed people to make good decisions for their own health in a time of crisis. I can't tell you how many people I tried to convince to get tetanus shots after Katrina who blew me off, but bared an arm immediately when a Project Hope RN made the same suggestion. And although I've only worked with them domestically, I imagine their USN association also assists in spreading goodwill internationally towards everyday Americans, which is of course who the Project Hope volunteers are.
If you want your charitable dollars to have a serious impact on the well-being of those afflicted by disaster worldwide, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better charity to support than Project Hope. Someday I'd like to work with them myself, but in the meantime, all I can do is spread the word about just how fantastic a group they really are.
I know it's been a few days and most people who plan on donating have probably already donated to some charity or another, but if you do plan on it and haven't decided on which charity yet, consider Project Hope. They're particularly close to my heart because it was in large part the experience of working with nurses from Project Hope after Katrina that made me decide to become an RN (which, incidentally, as of yesterday, I am!). Their competence, compassion, and effectiveness left a deep impression on their patients and made me want to be able to do what they did.
As disaster relief charities (and I have experience with several) go, it's an exceptionally well-designed one. By working with the Navy and basing their efforts off hospital ships, they're able to provide very high levels of care efficiently and safely, serving their patients well and preventing volunteers from becoming victims themselves, as is so possible when well-meaning but underprepared workers enter a disaster area.
Their association with the US Navy also, at least in my experience watching them work, magnifies their authority in the eyes of their patients, giving them an ability to influence stressed people to make good decisions for their own health in a time of crisis. I can't tell you how many people I tried to convince to get tetanus shots after Katrina who blew me off, but bared an arm immediately when a Project Hope RN made the same suggestion. And although I've only worked with them domestically, I imagine their USN association also assists in spreading goodwill internationally towards everyday Americans, which is of course who the Project Hope volunteers are.
If you want your charitable dollars to have a serious impact on the well-being of those afflicted by disaster worldwide, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better charity to support than Project Hope. Someday I'd like to work with them myself, but in the meantime, all I can do is spread the word about just how fantastic a group they really are.