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ravaged residents
maneuver.,,a maze, of social services help.
This invasion of 32 enthusiastic volunteers from the University of Pennsylvania is cehtered in Pearlington, but in thb 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 giveaways.
“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 Pearlington I said, Wow, I can’t believe a place like this exists in the United States.’ So many services are needed but the people remain incredibly friendly. This is the kind of project where we can make a difference and at the same time our students gain real-life
the. university’s com-, ■ mitment to Hancock -County.
Gelles	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 and help us,” said Larry Randall, director of the Pearlington Recovery Center.
Another spring Penn contingent will concentrate on Waveland and Bay St. Louis.
“Everybody around the country who saw the after-math of Katrina felt frustrated
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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.
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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 Bucks-Mont Katrina Relief
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 leading donor Steven Feldman, a
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