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Today's history lesson

Jan. 20, 2014: UFT nurses help typhoon victims

New York Teacher
UFT Nurses in Philippines

Young people flock to Kati Tannous (center, orange shirt) and Cora-Ann O’Regan (right), both Federation of Nurses/UFT members, who took part in a medical mission to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. 

Two Federation of Nurses/UFT members were selected from among 300 UFT members who responded to the union’s appeal for medical volunteers to help in the relief effort in the Philippines following a devastating typhoon. Cora-Ann O’Regan and Kati Tannous, nurses at what is now NYU Langone Hospital — Brooklyn, arrived in the Philippines on Jan. 20, 2014, less than three months after Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,000 people. Using vacation time for their two-week stay, the pair went to nine villages to work in clinics set up by relief agencies. O’Regan and Tannous saw more than 200 patients a day, treating a variety of ailments from peptic ulcers and high blood pressure to post-traumatic stress. Their journey was funded by the UFT Disaster Relief Fund, which has contributed to relief efforts at home and abroad since 2001.