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September 6,
2005
UIC RESPONDS TO KATRINA DISASTER
The University of Illinois
at Chicago is responding to the Katrina disaster by sending emergency
response personnel, offering continuing study opportunities to displaced
students -- and in the case of one UIC physician, providing hands-on medical
care in the center of the disaster zone.
Dr. Maximo Brito, assistant professor of medicine at UIC and an infectious
disease specialist, was attending a medical meeting in the French Quarter
when the hurricane struck. He has set up a triage center in the Ritz-Carlton
Hotel lobby. He has phoned out a few times but is not in regular contact
with the outside world.
Seven staff instructors of the UIC Disaster Emergency Medicine Readiness
Training Center have deployed in support of Katrina rescue operations.
Five center staff were dispatched to the field hospital at Baton Rouge,
while two others are backfilling at Illinois locations to help free-up
Illinois Medical Emergency Response Teams to go to the delta. The training
center, headquartered at the UIC College of Dentistry, is also working
in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the American
Medical Association’s Center for Public Health Preparedness and
Disaster Response to provide supplies, equipment and administrative support
to the EMS professionals who have deployed in support of the disaster
response.
The UIC School of Public Health is working with the Association of Schools
of Public Health to assist their colleagues at the Tulane University School
of Public Health. UIC has offered to take Tulane students for the fall
semester as "exchange students" and to open online courses to
Tulane students. Longer term, the UIC School of Public Health has offered
to help replace of books and journals and provide other assistance with
getting the school back up and running.
The University of Illinois announced today that it will accommodate Illinois
students who attend college in the devastated area and allow them to minimize
the impact of the disaster on their education. Displaced students will
be allowed to attend any one of the three U. of I. campuses for up to
one year as non-degree students so that their educational plans can remain
as close to on-track as possible.
At UIC, as of early Thursday afternoon, 83 students had contacted the
admissions office for special admission.
Students may come in to the office, located in the Student Services Building,
1200 W. Harrison St., and fill out a non-degree student application on
the spot. The application fee is waived. They will meet with a registration
counselor and look for available space in thecourses they need for their
regular programs. Evidence of acceptance at an affected college is required.
Last night UIC Chancellor Sylvia Manning issued a statement to the campus.
"We hope that the rescue efforts now underway will save those still
in harm’s way and that the recovery efforts will bring relief to
residents of the stricken areas in the weeks to come," Manning said.
The Counseling Center will provide immediate counseling for UIC students
and will provide consultations to faculty, staff and students impacted
in any way by the hurricane and its aftermath. The Counseling Center is
located in the Student Services Building, Room 2010, phone (312) 996-3490.
- UIC -
NOTE: Please refer to the institution as the University of Illinois at
Chicago on first reference and UIC on second reference."University
of Illinois" and "U. of I." are often assumed to refer
to our sister campus in Urbana-Champaign.
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