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LOCAL
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Saturday, January 12, 2i
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN RTZHUGH/SUN HERALD
Penn takes on Hancock
Students to tackle recovery
If you go
financier who sits on the school’s Board of Overseers.
By KAT BERGERON
kbergeron@sunherald.com
The first of several Penn invasions is under way in Hancock County this week, with invaders armed with water-testing chemicals, listening ears, knowledge of physical and mental health and even a hot-off-the-presses pamphlet to help Katrina-ravaged residents maneuver a maze of social services help. Gelles
This invasion of 32 enthusiastic volunteers from the University of Pennsylvania is cehtered in Pearlington, but in the next three years, other Penn students, staff and faculty will fan across the rural coastal county that was Hurricane Katrina’s bull’s-eye. Pearlington, as one example, has lost about one-third of its residents and slow recovery impedes redevelopment
Throughout the week, students and_staff from the dental, nursing and social policy schools have canvassed door to door to learn what the community still needs. The highlight of this visit is a free Saturday health fair that combines the basics — dental, physical and mental health screenings — with such fun things as a chili cook-off, prizes and £ive-aways.
“We are holding this in the Pearlington Recovery Center, but we . won’t turn away anyone,” said Connie Hoe, Penn’s project coordinator. “We chose to start at Pearlington, because it is basically a forgotten community in the Katrina disaster. They didn’t have much to begin with and Katrina only exacerbated that.
“When I first came to Pearl-
experiences in their chosen professions and pursuits for human rights.”
This is Hoe’s sixth visit, her first occurring when she was a master’s student in Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice, or SP2. After graduation, she was chosen to oversee the “Penn in the Gulf: The SP2 Feldman Initiative,” the. university’s com- ■ mitmerrt fo Hancock *-County.
For this visit, the engineering students are testing water sources for contamination, and students from the dental school will also attend the Mississippi Dental School Conference in Biloxi, coincidentally the same week as their health fair visit.
For the Saturday fair, Penn has partnered with the University of Southern Mississippi’s social work and nursing school,
Hancock Medical Center and the Pearlington Recovery Center. A dozen other agencies from Coastal Family Health and Gulf Coast Mental Health to the Red Cross, Gulf Coast Community Action and FEMA will also be there.
“This Penn Initiative tells the nation that there are still people willing to come down
What: “Take Care of Yourself: Healthy Options,” a free health fair in Hancock County that is part of the Penn in the Gulf-SP2 Feldman Initiative of the University of Pennsylvania.
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today.
Where: Pearlington Recovery Center (Exit 2 off 1-10; south about 3/4 mile on Hwy. 607, then right on Hwy. 604; go 4 miles to a sign that reads Charles B. Murphy Elementary School and Pearlington Recovery Center. Take a left at the sign.)
Who: Numerous local agencies and health care professionals are partnering with Penn for the health fair, including the University of Southern Mississippi, Hancock Medical Center and the Pearlington Recovery Center.
Details on the health fair: 228-533-0101
Details on Feldman Initiative: 215-898-4820, Penn’s communication office
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Arfien Hall of Pearlington shows University of Pennsylvania students Annie Funke, left, and Stephanie Ng his surgical scar on Monday during their survey interview. Students are gathering information on the physical and mental health needs of residents of Hancock County.
and wanted to do something right away, including our students,” said Richard Gelles, dean of the SP2 school. “I knew the half-life of disasters is short, so I said let’s wait and when concern has lessened go down to see what needs to be done.”
A chance meeting with the
Program convinced Gelles that Hancock County needed help the most. The Pennsylvania-based Bucks-Mont volunteers arrived early and continue to help with such recovery steps as a new child care center.
The project was named the Feldman Initiative after lead-
Jan T. Goff, M.l
Adult Psychiatry
2112 Bienville Blvd., Suite G Ocean Springs, MS 39564
Monday-Friday • 9:30 - 5:00 No Referral Needed
(228)875-4727
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