Development and expansion was slow and steady until we hooked up with Dr. Patrick Storey, Associate Dean of International Medical Affairs for Penn. Dr. Storey and his assistants, Terry and Alison, helped find new avenues of expansion for our still-fledgling program. Likewise, they helped us form a partnership with Drexel University students and faculty to send supplies to victims of the huge earthquake that struck there, in 1999. Most recently, Dr. Storey has been working with us to establish a permanent pipeline of supplies to Penn's sister hospitals in Russia. First, Ian Hoffman and Lisa Chang, Penn students and Remedy at CHOP volunteers, adapted the CHOP protocol for Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Collection is currently underway as a pilot expansion program.
Second, Dr. Thomas Langfitt introduced our program to Ian Rawson, from the Hospital of Albert Schweitzer, in Haiti. Our subsequent meetings have produced a permanent affiliation with the hospital, and we look forward to making our first shipment of medical supplies shortly. Finally, the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization in Center City, Philadelphia, has been working with us to distribute medical supplies and equipment. In fact, they have their own strong contacts in Haiti, and we look forward to teaming with them to make sure as much of our supplies get there as possible. That's where we are today.