In an informal ceremony at the University of Michigan School of Nursing April 30, students and Dean Kate Potempa presented Ruth Barnard, founder of the Haiti Nursing Foundation, with money they raised. From left are: Christine Renke; Ann Evola; Jess Kramer; Heather Erdmann; Kim Christobal; Kate Potempa, dean of the U-M School of Nursing; Ruth Barnard, professor emeritus and co-founder, Haiti Nursing Foundation; Barbara Campbell, treasurer; Margie Van Meter, co-founder and secretary; Rosemarie Rowney, president.

Courtesy | University of Michigan

University of Michigan nursing students were able to help a nursing school in Haiti make repairs and get supplies to treat more patients after the massive earthquake that hit the island nation earlier this year.

The U-M Student Nurses Association raised $6,000 for the Haiti Nursing Foundation to help fund the Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti.

The money was raised in part with a charity ball in February for students and faculty.

The nursing school, co-founded in 2005 by retired U-M professor of nursing Ruth Barnard, was one of the only buildings left standing in the town of Leogane, Haiti. Within a month of the January earthquake, the nursing school had become a makeshift hospital and hosted a tent city in its yard.

Some students and graduates stayed at the school to help those wounded in the earthquake. At least three of the school's 127 students died during the earthquake in their homes.

The school is also supported financially by an Ann Arbor-based foundation and the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor.

The school was able to reopen for students this month, and grief and trauma counseling have been added to the curriculum, according to a release.

Tina Reed covers health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at tinareed@annarbor.com, call her at 734-623-2535 or find her on Twitter @TreedinAA.