Lilinete Polsunas, a combined Pediatrics/Anesthesiology Resident and a Puerto Rico native, has been working tirelessly since Hurricane Maria to provide much needed medical supplies and funds to her island home. She started by energizing the anesthesiology and pediatric residents to raise $1,440 dollars, which were then matched through a generous gift from Jennifer A. Corbelli, MD, MS, Director of the UPMC Internal Medicine Residency Program. Other physicians and faculty members (listed below) joined the effort to form the medical team “Puerto Rico Rises,” which is providing assistance via connections with the local charities Global Links and Brother’s Brother Foundation to provide medical supplies as well as 200 wheelchairs. Dr. Polsunas personally collected and delivered over 100 pounds of medical supplies gathered by Kyle Arthur and other surgical technicians from the operating room of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC (CHP). Currently, the project has gathered over $300,000 in medical supplies to ship. Dr. Polsunas has been a tremendous champion – raising awareness and money and volunteering her time to collect supplies and clean wheelchairs, all while continuing her duties as an intern! We are so proud of her efforts.
If you would like to help this project, please visit one of the below websites of organizations supported by Puerto Rico Rises for additional details:
Puerto Rico Rises Medical Team
- Graciela Bauza, MD (UPMC Trauma Surgery)
- Belinda Rivera, MD (UPMC Critical Care Medicine)
- Tamara Feliciano, MD (CHP Pediatric Gastroenterology)
- Lilinete Polsunas, MD (Combined Pediatric/Anesthesiology Resident, CHP)
- Maricel Castaner, MD (Radiation Oncology, Allegheny General Hospital)
- Christopher Emond, MD (Tri-State Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, Inc.)
- Viviana Ferrer-Medina, PsyD (Carnegie Mellon University, Psychology)