Dear Colleagues:

The team of experts that lent its clinical excellence and public health knowledge to the hurricane response displays the breadth of talent and expertise at BWH. Within days of the nationwide call for volunteers, BWH sent physicians to Washington, D.C. to assist the American Red Cross (ARC) map out its response and sent physicians to Baton Rouge and Montgomery to provide response assessments in the field.

Drs. Mike VanRooyen, Jennifer Leaning, Hilarie Cranmer and Greg Greenough, a new addition to our Department of Emergency Medicine, went to the ARC Operations Center in Washington, D.C., and planned one of the largest health care responses to a natural disaster in our country's history. Cranmer and colleague Christian Arbelaez led teams in the field to assess shelters and monitor for outbreaks of infectious diseases. Susan Bartels, Malini Singh and Jennifer Chan, a senior resident, also responded straight to the disaster area, and Tom Stair deployed to the Gulf with IMSURT, the International Medical Surgical Response Team. Drs. Dan Mudrick, Jason Block, Louise Schneider and Lynn Lawry, all from BWH's Department of Medicine, helped in various roles in the region, as did nurses Corrine Miler-Foster and Rhonda Martin.

Back at home, Rich Zane maintained direct communication with local officials to prepare for the tentative arrival in Boston of patients from the Gulf region.

Our response has been a complete team effort, indicative of the cooperation and cohesiveness displayed by physicians and others on a daily basis at BWH.

Sincerely yours,

Steven Seltzer, MD
BWPO Chairman