A refugee camp in the heart of the city
Irina Ianculescu
The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) Governing Council, along with USC students from occupational therapy, public health, biochemistry and medicine visited "A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City," an outdoor educational exhibit sponsored by Doctors Without Borders.
Students examined typical living quarters and tasted food normally distributed to the refugees at the campsites. After learning about water systems and rationing, the group examined facilities and instruments used to treat the sick, malnourished and mentally ill.
Surgeon George Record and nurse Michele Belletete, who spoke about their own personal experiences working at refugee camps in Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), led the tour.
"I thought this experience was very enlightening" said Roxanne Abrams, an occupational therapy master's degree student. "While I feel it's impossible to really know what's going on in countries suffering from war, poverty, hunger and famine, events like this provide a crack in the door and at least open our eyes to these unfortunate situations."
The most memorable part of this experience for the students was "observing the framed drawings and paintings created by the child refugees during war and disasters," said Sonya Soni, second-year public health master's student and GPSS community service chair. "The mature art pieces, which portrayed guns, death, poverty and war, reminded me how these disasters disallow children to experience their most important virtue of innocence."
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medicine humanitarian organization that delivers aid to people affected by war, epidemics, malnutrition, natural disasters or exclusion from health care in more than 60 countries.
MSF doctors, nurses, logistics experts, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians and mental health professionals provide assistance to people caught in crises around the world. Their services include providing medical attention, feeding malnourished children, constructing wells for clean drinking water and distributing shelter materials.
MSF is also commited to speaking out against the causes of suffering and to raising public awareness of the unfortunate situations in these countries.
"As future health care providers, not only do we have the power to help, but we have a responsibility to get the word out," Abrams said.
Latest stories
- Judy Woodruff: Public Broadcasting Has Changed for the Good February 10, 2012 8:49 AM
- USC Price School Celebrates Naming Gift February 9, 2012 2:45 PM
- George Will Shares His Perspective on Politics February 9, 2012 1:10 PM
-
For Journalists »
-
USC in the News
for 2/8/2012 »-
The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
-
-
Campus News
- Capital Connections
- USC faculty, staff and alumni in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento
- In Print
- New and recent books written or edited by USC faculty and staff
- Family Matters
- Achievements and awards
- Obituaries