HNA President Joan Craft urges support for Haitian relief effort

Monday, 18 January 2010 10:40

How you can help:

Jan. 29, 2010. Haitian Red Cross volunteer Ralph Toussaint with Kengo Jean at Camp Simon, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross.

In spite of the poor communications coming out of Haiti it is plain to see how badly the infrastructure and internal aid services have been decimated by the earthquake. The devastation in Haiti has affected at least one-third or more of their population and the death toll is rising with reportedly preventable deaths. Currently thousands of medical personnel from the mainland have volunteered to provide assistance to the area and many of our members are asking how they can help.

The HNA Board of Directors encourages anyone interested in becoming a first responder to pre-register with one of the many disaster registries and response organizations that already exist. These groups provide volunteers with access to suitable training and will be utilized according to the appropriate response plans.

Joan Craft, President of the Hawai’i Nurses’ Association states, “On behalf of HNA Board of Directors, we encourage all HNA Union members to make a contribution to the Haitian relief effort.”
HNA Executive Director Patt A. Gibbs, Esq., reminds HNA Union members wishing to make a monetary donation to contact legitimate relief charities and not fall prey to some that may solicit funds that are not legitimate organizations.
Listed below are the names of some of the legitimate relief charities where donations can be made directly:

American Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/
800-RED-CROSS

US UNICEF
http://www.unicefusa.org
800-FOR-KIDS

Medcorp https://www.imcworldwide.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=878
800-481-4462