Minnesotans ready to help, but timing is crucial

[Star Tribune, January 15, 2010] Patty Nelson's phone started ringing at 7 a.m. Thursday. It hasn't stopped since.

On the second day of her effort to get medical supplies to Haiti from her kitchen table in Aitkin, Minn., she kept getting more offers of help for the tens of thousands of victims of the catastrophic earthquake.

Cassandra Hamilton was among the Minnesota nurses who responded to a call by National Nurses United to help the injured in Haiti. Hamilton is a family care nurse who works with children at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids. Read more on startribune.com.