IMHO in the News

Dozens turn out to support fund-raiser for Asian tsunami victims   The Meadville Tribune,March 11, 2005 Dozens of people filled the Academy Theatre on Thurs-day night for a different kind of show.An “evening out for a good cause” was how Bill Williams of Meadville described the auction for the André Francis tsu-nami relief project that he attended with his wife, Suzie.

News Hits The Georgetown Voice, February 15, 2005 Georgetown Students for Tsunami Relief united over 70 local financial supporters at a fundraising gala last Friday. "Waves of Hope" raised $3,276 for the victims of the tsunami that hit SE Asia on Dec. 26. Students from Georgetown, George Washington, and Johns Hopkins Universities, along with members of the Georgetown community, each donated $25 to attend. The Georgetown University Jazz Band performed, and refreshments were donated by the Pepperidge Farm company.

Please click here to listen to Dr. S. Raguraj, President IMHO interview with NPR NPR,February 13, 2005 Host Jennifer Ludden checks in with Maryland doctor Sinnarajah Raguraj, who has just returned from a mission to help tsunami victims in his native Sri Lanka.

Native doctors return, roll up their sleeves The Post-Standard, February 13, 2005 Oneida doctors Daniel Ratnarajah and Renza Samad arrived at a refugee camp in northeastern Sri Lanka last month and found just a handful of people waiting to be examined.

Where thousands died, some survivors don't want to live Staten Island Advance, February 11, 2005 Unable to cope with the pain of losing her three children to 30-foot-high tsunami waves, one Sri Lankan mother intended to kill herself. But Dr. Rajam Theventhiran was able to admit the woman -- who was two months' pregnant -- to a hospital before she was able to carry out her plan.

The Tsunami's Smallest Victims WBNS-10 TV, February 9, 2005 As I tried to get up and leave the orphanage with 500 children, the little boy that had been sitting on my lap wouldn't get down. When he finally did, he grabbed hold of my khakis with five tiny fingers and started tugging. Can you imagine having to pry yourself away from that image?

Columbus Doctor Treats Tsunami Victims WBNS-10 TV, February 9, 2005 Millions of survivors of southern Asia’s tsunami are still homeless, and hundreds of thousands still need medical care.

A Woman’s View: Tsunami Aid CBS 3, February 7, 2005 PHILADELPHIA (KYW) More than 170,000 people were killed in the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia. Anchor Alycia Lane meets a local medical student who is going to help those in need.

Medical team hopes its mission lives on The News Tribune, February 4th, 2005 The biggest regret of Good Samaritan Hospital’s tsunami team members – who returned safely Sunday from a remote village in Sri Lanka – was that they couldn’t make sure the good work they started would continue. Two doctors and three nurses from the Puyallup hospital set up a rudimentary field hospital in the seaside village of Aliyavalai on the country’s northeast coast. The settlement is reached by dirt roads and has no running water, electricity or regular medical service.

Two Wayne Hospital Staff Fly to Tsunami Torn Region to Aid Victims Tri-State News, February 3, 2005 HONESDALE, Pa- Steven Palmer and Susan Harcke, two Physicians Assistants at Wayne Memorial Hospital (WMH), will leave March 18th for a remote region of Sri Lanka to help tsunami victims.

WMI Responds to South Asia Disaster Water Missions International, February, 2005 On the 27, 4 additional systems left for Sri Lanka through International Medical Health Organization. We are continually assembling and shipping LWTS™ units thanks to the outpouring of support from the area and throughout the United States. Our volunteers and donors are making a tremendous impact on the regions devestated by the tsunami.

Eastside doctor went home to help with tsunami relief Seattle Times, January 27, 2005 Dr. Sumathy Pathy has seen her share of trauma. The Bellevue-based family practitioner endured years of civil war in her home country of Sri Lanka and survived medical school there through bouts of bombings and gunfire. But for some reason, it's the 15-year-old boy from the tsunami she can't get out of her mind now.

MPH Student Comes through the Tsunami in Sri Lanka Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health, January 27, 2005 On Dec. 26, Dr. Navaratnasamy ("Paranie") Paranietharan, an MPH student at the School since June 2004, was driving with his brother along the harbor road outside his native city of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, when the tsunami hit. Trincomalee, on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka, is the capitol city of the region; it sits on a south-jutting isthmus. There is a bay to the west of this isthmus and the Indian Ocean to its east. Paranietharan, MBBS, tells his story below.

Tsunami Stories Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public health, January 25, 2005 After the tsunamis struck, Abigail Thomas read a story about a physician determined to get relief to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Before New Year's Day, Thomas had signed up with the International Medical Health Organization to come to the town of Kilinochchi. Over the Jan. 22 weekend, she spoke with two newspaper reporters about what she was doing.

Physicians step forward in response to tsunami disaster AMNews, January 24, 2005 Sumathy Pathy, MD, a family physician with a solo practice in Bellevue, Wash., has temporarily closed up shop. In early January, little more than a week after the tsunami in Asia filled news outlets with stories of thousands dead and millions homeless, the doctor traveled to her native country of Sri Lanka to do what she could.

Return to Sri Lanka is mission of mercy THE WASHINGTON TIMES, January 23, 2005 KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka -- The line of sick and injured tsunami victims snakes through the refugee camp's makeshift clinic and up to Dr. Joseph Angelo, who has traveled from Bel Air, Md., to treat his native countrymen.

Md. M.D. struggles for Tamil patients The Baltimore Sun, January 23, 2005 MULLEYAVALAI, Sri Lanka - Compared with the setup Dr. Joseph Angelo has back in Bel Air, Md., the medical office here was unimpressive, just a faded lime-green picnic table of slatted wood and a few small chairs on the bare concrete floor of a schoolroom.

Yale team packs bags for tsunami relief effort in Sri Lanka New Haven Register, January 16, 2005 Thaiyananthan is a Tamil raised in Oklahoma since age 2, and the Tamils have been fighting the Sinhalese government for years.

Tsunami calls to area doc York Daily Record/Sunday News, January 15, 2005 Dr. Vasudevan Tiruchelvam will travel to Sri Lanka soon to create a bridge between South East Asia and York County.

Local doctor helping relatives in Sri Lanka Scranton Times Tribune ,January 14, 2005 CARBONDALE - Marie Lena couldn't save her Sri Lankan cousins who died in the tsunami, but the Carbondale pediatrician is determined to help those still struggling to survive. Dr. Lena is part of the International Medical Health Organization, a group of doctors from Sri Lanka who send medical supplies and help back to their home country. Marian Community Hospital and Sacred Heart Junior Senior High School are now working with Dr. Lena to raise money for the group.

Sri Lankan brings aid to her native land North Jersey Media Group Inc., January 13, 2005 It seems as though everybody is contributing in one way or another to the South Asian tsunami relief effort. Area charities, schools, religious houses and hospitals are collecting bushels of money, supplies and other needed goods to send to the region.St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson is taking an extra step, by having its donated supplies hand-delivered to Sri Lanka.

Good Samaritan medical team brings good name to Sri Lanka The News Tribune, January 12th, 2005 Two doctors and three nurses from Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup will leave Thursday for Sri Lanka to help tsunami survivors. The mission will most likely take them to the Tamil area in the northeast, where political strife has prevented the quick and effective distribution of aid.

Tsunami prompts many at medical center to offer aid Stanford Report, January 12, 2005 The tsunami that devastated Asia has spurred many at the medical center to lend assistance, with Stanford’s two hospitals sending desperately needed medical supplies and physicians volunteering to offer treatment and guidance.

Healing in the path of destruction YSM news and information, January 8, 2005 A team of Yale physicians and health workers see the tsunami's devastation first-hand as they treat survivors in Sri Lanka and formulate a long-term plan for aid. On December 26, the waves came that would kill 30,000 people in coastal areas of Sri Lanka and destroy hundreds of towns and villages. Five days later, a group of seven doctors and health professionals from Yale-New Haven and other area hospitals were on a plane bound for the capital city of Colombo.

Missions of mercy King County Journal, January 6, 2005 Renton's David York, a 1990 Kentridge High grad who went on to a career in nursing, is now on the staff at Puyallup's Good Samaritan Hospital. At 33, he's also a man on a mission. ``I've made it a personal goal to go out and just kind of help the world in different places,'' he said.

City doctor goes to Sri Lanka for sake of sick, hurt children t he cannon.ca, January 6, 2005 He loves children, he loves helping people and although he's lived in North America since he was a teen, Dr. Nileshwa Senthe never forgot his homeland of Sri Lanka.

Scourge is more deadly than war The Star Ledger, January 6, 2005 Cranbury physician Sri-Sujanthy Rajaram visited her native war-torn nation of Sri Lanka in August to treat war victims and train doctors, and felt good about the progress she made there.

Perfectly matched medical team heads to Sri Lanka KING 5 News,January 5, 2005 PUYALLUP, Wash. - A perfectly matched medical team from Puyallup, Wash., is heading to help devastated areas of Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan native, Dr. Senthil Nadaraja, used to vacation in the very communities now washed out to sea. He fears many friends may be lost as well.

Surgeon begins relief effort for native land The Cincinnati Post, January 5, 2005 University of Cincinnati Medical Center transplant specialist Dr. Thav Thambi-Pillai says things were bad enough in his native Sri Lanka before a tsunami killed thousands of people Dec. 26.

JHM Response to Tsunami Crisis Johns Hopkins Medicine, January 5, 2005 Numerous members of the Johns Hopkins community are involved in coming to the aid of the tsunami survivors, both as individuals and as members of relief teams.

Local doctor to provide medical aid in Sri Lanka Reported by ABC7 News, Tuesday, January 04, 2005 FORT MYERS— In some places, the horror of survival, hunger and disease, may be worse than death itself. For the victims, relief can't come fast enough. A Fort Myers doctor and his family will go to their native Sri Lanka and help out.

Please click here to listen to Dr. S. Raguraj, President IMHO interview with NPR NPR,January 1, 2005

NPR's Jennifer Ludden visits a fund raiser in Bethesda, Md., where groups of professionals of Sri Lankan heritage make plans to send aid to help tsunami victims. Their main concern is for the people in the mostly Tamil northeast region of Sri Lanka, where decades of civil war have left the residents weak and malnourished.

Local doctor feels tsunami’s impact on his native land The Meadville Tribune, January 1, 2005 When Meadville psychiatrist Gerard Francis sees the carnage caused by the tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, he does more than sympathize with the victims.

Tamils in need after tsunami The Times News, January 1, 2005 MEADVILLE — Gerard Francis, a psychiatrist at Meadville Medical Center, can't describe his relief at hearing his father's voice on the phone. His 71-year-old father, Leo Francis, lives about a mile and a half from the eastern shore of Sri Lanka and witnessed firsthand the devastation of Sunday's tsunami that killed more than 121,000 people in southern Asia and Africa.

Md. Docs To Help Sri Lankan Tsunami Victims WBAL-TV 11 News, 4:15 pm EST December 29, 2004 BALTIMORE -- The frantic cell phone calls came quickly to Dr. Sinnarajah Raguraj, a Bel Air resident who was visiting friends in New York when the devastating tsunamis struck his native country.

Sri Lankan emigres pool skills, money Chigago Tribune (From the Baltimore Sun), December 29, 2004 Dr. Sinnarajah Raguraj was visiting friends in New York on Sunday, enjoying a leisurely breakfast, when he began to get frantic cell phone calls from all over the country.