UCSD Healthcare Staff Come to Aid of Tsunami Victims

By Paul Mueller | January 24, 2005

Dr. Bronwen Anders, of UCSD’s Division of Community Pediatrics, and her husband, Dr. Eric Anders

As the deadly waters of the recent tsunamis receded, exposing the wreckage of communities and lives in India, Indonesia, Thailand and elsewhere, humanitarian aid from countries and organizations around the world rushed in. Among those at UCSD who have responded quickly and generously are the university's health-care providers, several of whom are traveling as unpaid volunteers to the stricken areas.

Dr. Bronwen Anders, of UCSD's Division of Community Pediatrics, and her husband, Dr. Eric Anders, were able to leave - on very short notice - for Banda Aceh, Indonesia, to help provide much-needed medical assistance.

Other health-care teams responded with equal alacrity.

Dr. Holly Salzman, the medical director of UCSD Scripps Ranch Family Medicine, has traveled with pharmacists Wendy Fung and Susan Leung, and registered nurses Pat Smith and Ruth Getz, to the Bay of Bengal, where they are treating more than 3,000 patients in devastated fishing villages.

According to Fung, she, Salzman, Leung and Getz used vacation or unpaid leave, and paid their own way, to join a 61-person medical-relief team. "We're part of a nonprofit group called Project Compassion whose home base is in Rancho Bernardo," said Fung. "We've taken more than two tons of pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies, paid for entirely by donations."

Linda S. Beach, R.N., and triage coordinator for UCSD Internal Medicine, said that the Anders wasted no time in contacting the International Medical Corps when the scope of the tsunami became known. She notes that the Anders endured a 40-hour series of flights through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Jakarta before a 10-hour bus ride to their destination of Medan in Indonesia.

"Bronwen Anders is a tireless advocate for access to health care for children worldwide," says Beach. "Her husband, Eric, is a retired psychiatrist with experience in post-trauma counseling and support, so they could be immediately useful on the scene."

The compassion and sacrifice demonstrated by these UCSD Healthcare professionals typifies the university's tradition of service to the less fortunate, and emphasizes yet again the borderless nature of both higher education and the medical community.