PIH Executive Director Ophelia Dahl featured in Boston magazine
Posted on Jul 30, 2010
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Ophelia Dahl |
"When I was a teenager, I still didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life," says PIH Executive Director Ophelia Dahl in the August issue of Boston magazine. "I knew I wanted to do volunteer work, but I had no concept of where that would be."
"When I first saw Haiti, I was 18 years old and I was rightly knocked for six, as they say in England: I was blown away by everything," Ophelia tells journalist Paige Williams. "It was a real assault on your senses and the way you think the world works, even if you have a good imagination."
Read more from this piece on Boston's website, or pick up a copy of the issue on newstands.
Boston magazine's website also features a special extended interview with Ophelia, where she discusses PIH's response to the Haiti earthquake:
We had a situation room here [at the Commonwealth Avenue headquarters in Boston] where we were moving magnets around to say, “Here’s an offer of a plane, here’s an offer of supplies, here’s a team from Partners Healthcare, from Children’s Hospital, from the Brigham, and they’ve got 10 days that they can all go.” We put it all together to make sure they had a landing slot.
The interview also touches on PIH's work with HIV patients in Boston through its PACT (Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment) project:
PACT was begun in the ’90s and was based on the model in Haiti, using community health workers. We realized what HIV patients needed was accompaniment — they couldn’t get to the hospital, or they came home with 12 sets of pills and didn’t take them. [PACT] workers now go visit every day, to help address those things that get in the way of healthcare. It’s a great model for other chronic diseases — diabetes, mental illness, anything that needs some kind of daily accompaniment. We think it’s a fantastic model for this country. It’s something Boston should be very proud of.
Throughout August, Boston magazine will donate 20 percent of the proceeds from all new or renewed subscriptions received online to PIH. To subscribe, click here.
