UF College of Medicine student organizes Puerto Rico relief initiative, hosts donation drive
Donation drive serves as first event in ongoing effort
Dec. 12, 2017 — Surrounded by balloons, streamers and cupcakes iced to resemble the Puerto Rican flag, Lymaries Velez begins to cry.
The second-year medical student is explaining why she started the Puerto Rico Relief Initiative, a coalition of UF medical students, faculty members and undergraduate students aimed at providing the Puerto Rican people with the supplies and funds they need to rebuild their island in the face of Hurricane Maria’s widespread devastation. Velez’s own family was forced to relocate to the mainland U.S. after Maria destroyed their home.
Velez kicked off Saturday’s Stand With Puerto Rico donation drive at the George T. Harrell, M.D., Medical Education Building – the first in a string of events she’s planning – with a heartfelt appeal to its attendees to give what they can, specifically personal hygiene products, first-aid kits and bug repellent to combat the mosquito-borne illnesses that result from an abundance of standing water.
Dr. David Gonzalo, medical student Lymaries Velez, Dr. Victoria Bird, Dr. Maria Velazquez and Dr. Giuliano De Portu gather at the donation drive Dec. 9.
Photo by Jesse S. Jones
“Puerto Rico is a very small place with a very big heart. We want to get them back on their feet,” she said. “Today is only the first event in creating a sustainable initiative to raise awareness and community involvement for relief in Puerto Rico. This is more than an acute disaster; it’s a rebuild effort that will take a long time. Even if it’s not on the news anymore, it’s still happening for the people of Puerto Rico. I want the UF College of Medicine to be a part of that.”
Velez introduced two third-year students from San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, Elsa Rodriguez and Brian Torres, who recounted their experiences on the island before, during and after Hurricane Maria. The UF College of Medicine is sponsoring the pair’s clinical rotations, allowing them to continue their medical training without delay.
“Things were already difficult before Maria hit because of Hurricane Irma,” Rodriguez said. “There were little supplies anywhere, no way to say, ‘I feel totally prepared.’”
She said the hardest part of the storm was the lack of communication she had with her family in Miami. A few days after the storm, she and Torres took a Royal Caribbean humanitarian cruise ship to Florida. While on board, the pair volunteered with the ship’s medical team, performing health screenings and cleaning wounds for the other passengers.
“It was a great opportunity to see people come together to help others,” Rodriguez said.
Event attendees participate in a salsa lesson at the all-day Stand with Puerto Rico Donation Drive Dec. 9 at the Harrell Medical Education Building.
Photo by Jesse S. Jones
After Rodriguez and Torres spoke, Saturday’s attendees were treated to lunch, followed by Zumba and salsa dance classes. Velez said the event was intended to honor the joy and resiliency of the Puerto Rican people.
“I don’t want Puerto Rico to simply be a sob story,” she said. “I want to celebrate the culture. We’re a resilient people.”
Maria Velazquez, M.D., director of the UF College of Medicine Anaclerio Learning and Assessment Center, assisted Velez in her efforts to begin the Initiative. Velazquez’s mother and four siblings live in Puerto Rico.
“As a Puerto Rican living off the island, I’ve personally felt very guilty for eating warm foods, taking warm showers, even drinking water from the faucet,” she said. “Lymaries and I realized very quickly that we needed to give back something meaningful, supplies they really need.”
Through a series of events over the next few months, the initiative aims to raise enough funds to purchase three DIVVY water filtration systems. One system is capable of creating 2,500-6,000 gallons of clean water each day, enough for an entire community. Each system costs about $7,700, so Velez and Velazquez hope to raise $30,000 for the systems and the supply plane.
Lymaries Velez, a second-year medical student who organized the donation drive to collect much-needed supplies for Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, hopes to continue to provide aid to the island through future events.
Photo by Jesse S. Jones
Mike Lukowski, M.D., a 1977 graduate of the UF College of Medicine and CEO and flight operations director for Gainesville-based airline University Air Center, will fly the supplies the initiative collects to Puerto Rico.
“We’ll bring basic medical supplies that they may not have available to them,” he said. “We want to reestablish basic medical care in the areas that are struggling to get back on their feet.”
Velazquez said global aid efforts like Velez’s Puerto Rico Relief Initiative are an integral part of a modern medical education.
“From day one, we teach the medical students that they are citizens of the world,” Velazquez said.” They’re in this program to help others, especially those without the means or those living in places without access to care. Puerto Rico is one of those places right now. I’m very proud of Lymaries’s efforts.”
Donation boxes are in place now in the atrium of the Harrell Medical Education Building. For more information on how to give, visit http://youcaring.com/puertoricorelieffund or contact Lymaries Velez at lymaries@ufl.edu.
