Dr. Chaitanya Rojulpote captured this photo of a man standing before the ruins of a building in the Hatay Province of Turkey while he was in the country on a humanitarian mission in February. The Wright Center is accepting donations in support of International Medical Relief, a nongovernmental organization that provides health care to vulnerable and underserved populations.
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Rojulpote
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Dr. Chaitanya Rojulpote is making a presentation about recovery efforts in Turkey on Tuesday, April 11 at 5 p.m.
Submitted photo
Dr. Chaitanya Rojulpote is making a presentation about recovery efforts in Turkey on Tuesday, April 11 at 5 p.m.
Submitted photo
SCRANTON — Shortly after February’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey, Dr. Chaitanya Rojulpote purchased airfare to Istanbul.
His efforts to provide humanitarian relief there will be the topic of a presentation next month in the auditorium of The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice.
The April 11 gathering also is designed to raise awareness and funds for relief efforts. It is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the practice, 501 South Washington Ave.
The Powerpoint presentation is free to the public and will feature videos and photographs following the Turkey earthquakes and heartfelt messages from Turkish residents.
Rojulpote is PGY-3 internal medicine resident and chief resident of research and scholarly activity.
The quakes killed tens of thousands of people in Turkey and left untold damage to their infrastructure. Entire cities were reduced to rubble due to 7.8 and 7.3 earthquakes and more than 10,000 aftershocks.
Rojulpote will share information about the devastation and raise funding for the nongovernmental medical relief organization that is providing medical care to Turkish residents.
From Istanbul he caught a connecting flight to Adana, Turkey.
From there, Rojulpote drove 4 ½ hours to the earthquake site so he could volunteer his medical services with International Medical Relief, an international nongovernmental organization that provides health care to vulnerable and underserved populations by recruiting healthcare professionals and doctors.
Rojulpote and other volunteers provided care to the citizens of Turkey on the ground floor of a local hospital. While he was there, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit the region and compromised its structural integrity, requiring the team to move their care to a medical camp.
Rojulpote was 12 minutes from the epicenter of this earthquake, which caused buildings in the area to collapse. He treated trauma acute and chronic medical conditions and trauma cases.
The Hatay Province, where he was based, also straddled the border with war-torn Syria.
Volunteers and residents in Turkey could hear the far-off military activity from the neighboring country.
Rojulpote has been a part of recovery efforts on more than one occasion. When refugees from Ukraine poured into the border town of Medyka, Poland, in April 2022 seeking safe haven from Russia’s invasion of their country, he flew overseas to render aid in makeshift medical tents.
From there, he addressed the medical concerns of young and old alike, often offering caring reassurances while tending to their medical needs.
To donate, visit TheWrightCenter.org/donations-for-turkey. Donations also will be accepted at the door before and after the presentation.