By Duke Medicine News and Communications

The following memo was sent on Sept. 7 to Duke Medicine faculty and staff from Victor J. Dzau, MD, chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO, Duke University Health System:

During the course of the past week, we have all been stunned at the devastation that has overwhelmed the residents along the Gulf Coast. The magnitude of this disaster is hard to comprehend, creating devastation that will take months and perhaps years to repair. I know everyone in the Duke Medicine community is eager to help. We are committed to working with the federal government, regional organizations and other academic health centers to alleviate as much of the pain and suffering as is possible.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the many people who worked tirelessly over the course of the past week, including the holiday weekend, to organize Duke Medicine's multi-faceted initial response. Special thanks to Dr. William J. Fulkerson and Pamela Sutton-Wallace who have coordinated this initiative and to Dr. Peter Kussin who is leading DUHS's field operations. We have sent two teams of doctors, nurses and other clinicians to Mississippi to help provide medical care, Duke Medical School is prepared to work cooperatively with Tulane University under the guidelines of the Association of American Medical Colleges to host medical students if necessary, and we have prepared to accept patients from the affected areas that need medical care. And still, there is much to do.

A tragedy of this size has long-lasting impacts, and takes an enormous amount of collaboration and organization to ensure that our responses are effective. I know that many are frustrated at the lack of immediate opportunity to share their compassion. I assure you, we will continue to communicate ways to help as we discover and organize them.

To help coordinate activities, we are posting information about events and opportunities related to Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts on the Duke University Health System Intranet. We are also working with Duke University to post information on a web page (www.duke.edu/hurricanerelief) to help the entire Duke community stay aware of what is happening and how we can help. Please check these sites regularly for information on how you can get involved in Duke's response.

To help those of us in North Carolina stay in touch with our colleagues in Mississippi, the Medical Center News Office has created a web site that will allow our people on the ground to post messages about how things are progressing. It will also allow Duke faculty, staff, and family members to post messages of encouragement. The web site is at dukemedteams.blogspot.com.

In addition to our coordinated efforts, I encourage members of the Duke Medicine family to do what you can either through personal donations or by volunteering with the many service organizations who are working to help the thousands of people whose lives have been turned upside down by this event.

Again, I want to thank everyone who has helped thus far, and look forward to continuing to offer aid and comfort to Katrina's victims in the coming days, weeks and months.