President Penelope W. Kyle has authorized the use of RU Family Health Clinic mobile unit to aid in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in Gulfport, Mississippi.

The mobile unit left campus on Thursday, September 8, for a two-week stay.  Mobile unit driver and clinic assistant Michael Walker is making the trip and those wishing to help defray Walker’s food, water and supply expenses can donate cash in Waldron Hall at the RU Clinics’ front desk or in the Dean’s Office.  Extra money not needed to cover Walker’s basic expenses will be applied directly for relief assistance in Gulfport.

(IN THE PHOTO: President Kyle with Michael Walker as he prepares to leave Thursday.)

Walker is joining a caravan that includes a busload of third year medical students from Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) and National Guard troops. 

Dr. Edwin Polverino, formerly affiliated with RU Health Clinics, and now a faculty member at VCOM, has requested the mobile unit in a joint effort to provide health care to victims of Katrina. Dr. Polverino has colleagues operating a radiology clinic that was unscathed in the storm (no other medical facilities were spared in the area). The two radiologists at the clinic are attempting to provide care for residents in the area, but the radiology clinic is not designed for primary care service delivery. The mobile unit will be of great assistance in recovery efforts.