Drs. Without Borders.

[existentialist]

I found out last night that my father's physician was already in Haiti as part of an annual one month donation of time when the earthquake struck.

He was unharmed, and it goes without saying that he's been incredibly needed and busy since the quake.

This makes me feel very respectful about Drs. without borders, and about my father's physician in particular.

This also makes me feel a bit better about doctors in general--after this health care debacle I was beginning to feel a bit jaded toward physicians as a group.

[Mimosa]

1. Doctors need supplies NOW: pls. contribute

Existentialist, as a friend of hardworking, generous MDs pls let me tell you there's no reason to feel jaded or bitter about MDs. They have to battle the same system which hurts their patients -US!- every day. Most people do not know MDs are shortchanged by insurance companies as well as Medicare and Medicaid. It is a continuing struggle for family practice and internal medicine MDs to to pay their employees and office expenses because insurance and gov payment schedules do not adequately reimburse them.

The situation for some specialty practices may be slightly better. But NOT for the MDs who treat the elderly and take Medicare and medicaid. MDs are not our enemies.

I have an friend who went to Haiti yesterday. He texted another friend to say the MDs now working in Port au Prince to say they are working without vital supplies including medicines, bandages, cots, et cetera.

Please contribute to Doctors without Borders and similar groups.

* Doctors Without Borders

* International Medical Corps

* International Relief Teams

[Hekate]

2. God bless the man; I'm glad he's okay. Another group to look into is...

Direct Relief International, which sends medical supplies to impoverished and disaster-stricken areas. http://www.directrelief.org/
They are ranked 99% efficient in fundraising, according to Forbes.

Hekate

[barbtries]

3. it's payday

so today i can make a small donation to the effort to help the suffering in Haiti. it's either doctors without borders, or i'm going to try to find a specific orphanage so the money goes directly to them.

[Maeve]

4. These are good people

My donation went to them--low overheard and boots already on the ground.

[stray cat]

5. Doctors w/o borders and Partner's in Health (Farmer's organization) are both excellent