Search

I am interested in seeing how social ties and networks have been used to cope with (un)natural disasters. My research focus on places under disasters conditions such as Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria, in which social ties have made the difference between life and death. Furthermore, “natural” disaster has been used to approved austerity measures and unjust policies to impoverished communities like in New Orleans after Katrina. These policies were not new, as they are rooted in structures of power to preserve the status quo. Yet, people have resisted, “through a network of branches, cultures, and geographies” that has stimulated a reflective process of looking within for solutions rather than outside. As often this outside solutions are not only detached from community’s reality but can perpetuate social injustices and inequalities.

McKittrick, K., & Woods, C. A. (Eds.). (2007). Black geographies and the politics of place. South End Press.

Bullard, R. D., & Wright, B. (Eds.). (2009). Race, place, and environmental justice after Hurricane Katrina: Struggles to reclaim, rebuild, and revitalize New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Westview Press.

"Among inhabitants of Kyiv and other urban centers, there is a growing consensus that the invalids are "parasites of the state, dam aging the economy, not paying taxes." Many youths who had been evacuated from the zone do not want to be associated with groups of sufferers as this association makes it more difficult for them to find employment.

"Another administrator who authenticated com pensation claims told me illnesses had become a form of currency. "There are a lot of people out of work," he said. "People don't have enough money to eat. The state doesn't give medicines for free anymore. Drug stores are commercialized." He likened his work to that of a bank. "The diagnosis we write is money.""

"Symon Lavrov, was well-regarded internationally for having developed computerized fallout models and calculating population-wide doses in the post-Soviet period. He told me, how ever, that "when a crying mother comes to my laboratory and asks me, Professor Lavrov, 'tell me what's wrong with my child?' I assign her a dose and say nothing more. I double it, as much as I can." The offer of a higher dose increased the likelihood that the mother would be able to secure social protection on account of her potentially sick child.""

Stories are important in medicine. Numbers are important too, but sometimes the stories can tell particular cases of success, where numbers would brush over or fail to show the significance. Stories can tell much more than numbers sometimes, and that must be regocnized and appreciated. Especially in specialties where it is hard to always measure data, quotes, stories, and recollections can be more accurate.

The article was based on answers to questions to the FDNY and NYPD, as well as the report filed by the EMTs.

The mission statement summarizes the aim of the Partners in Health as "to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair". They are available to many of the suffering third-world countries that lack modern medicine. They are aided by the most prominent health care leaders in the world. They want to treat those in need of medical care like family, not just giving, but making them feel like they belong and are deserving of the same level of care.