A lifelong desire to give to others leads Thomas Hayes to travel to many of the world's most troubled countries to provide assistance.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published September 17, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - What man would willingly pack a stuffed, yellow and black duck, its tongue flapping, to keep him company on a posting to Iraq? Albania? Anywhere?
Thomas Hayes Jr., an international health care specialist, likes a touch of the whimsy. But he also has a commitment to "make a difference" in troubled spots around the world.
He had a heart attack in 1997 and was back doing the work he loves in three weeks.
"I got a second chance," he said.
Two weeks ago Hayes, 61, returned from Iraq, where he worked for six weeks preparing a report for the United Nations about how to take care of Iraqi refugees from Iran. The job that took him from his comfortable, antique-filled Old Northeast home meant enduring scorching heat, water too hot for showers, unreliable electricity, monotonous meals and just plain fear.
"I think the thing that hit you right away was it was still a military environment. The security issues became severe, especially after the United Nations was attacked. We heard gunfire almost every night. Sometimes it was directed at us," he said.
"Did you know that when the bullet comes close to you, you can hear it cracking?"
One night, as Hayes spoke to his wife, Maggie, by cell phone, gunfire erupted and he hastened to assure her that he was safe behind a stone wall. Thousands of miles back in St. Petersburg, she had been enjoying a glass of wine.
It was in early July that Hayes, who speaks Arabic, got a call from the American Refugee Committee, asking him to go to Iraq. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had asked the organization to conduct an assessment of Iraqi refugees who had fled to nearby Iran. Hayes jumped at the chance and left in mid July for Al-Amarah, a city that is about 120 miles north of Basra and 180 miles south of Baghdad.
Helping Iraqi refugees will be no easy task, Hayes concluded in his report. Back in his St. Petersburg living room decorated with art work and evidence of his travels, Hayes said the word refugee is probably an incorrect term for those who escaped Saddam Hussein's rule and established lives in Iran.
Better to call them returnees, he said. And providing them with services will be impossible until a system is established to issue identity papers and ration cards and even certify marriages.
There's also the problem of what to do when refugees demand or seek compensation for the homes they had to leave behind.
"There are so many things that have to be done before they can return," Hayes said.
Basic civil controls must be established, he said, along with jobs, health care programs and schools. It will be a multiyear task.
Hayes, who has been on humanitarian missions to Ethiopia, Albania, Egypt and Indonesia among other nations, was in Iraq during the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad in August. The frustration of the Iraqi people and their distrust of anyone or anything American meant that even humanitarian missions are not safe from violence, he said.
His team hired local militias for protection when traveling, Hayes said, adding that on one occasion, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired in front of the pickup truck in which he was traveling.
He also told of happier moments. There was the long abandoned church where he encountered Muslims praying. They told him that they regarded it as a holy place. He remembered the smiles of the children and an unexpected treat of smoked salmon, fresh lemons and capers.
Hayes traces his love of helping others to his Jesuit education. When he was 16, his Irish-Catholic parents died within two months of each other. The priests at the Jesuit school he attended said his parents had paid for him to finish his schooling. To this day, Hayes said, he doesn't know if that was true.
After high school he went on to Fordham University, where he graduated with a degree in pharmacy. He also received a master's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He worked initially as a clinical pharmacist in Trenton, N.J., and also directed the New Jersey Poison Control Center. He taught pharmacology at two schools of nursing and later became a hospital administrator.
For the past 25 years, he has worked as an international health care specialist, traveling to France, Nigeria, Tanzania and several other countries.
Hayes, who is paid well for some jobs and barely anything for others, says he is obligated to help others.
"Part of it is you feel you have to give back," he said.
Hayes has two children from his first marriage and two grandchildren. About five years ago, he married Marjorie "Maggie" Hansen, vice president of human resources for a long-term care company.
He has been away from home for four of their five wedding anniversaries, but his wife has a sense of humor. She hid the stuffed duck in his duffel bag when he was leaving for Albania.
Today Duck appears in photographs of Hayes' travels and is the subject of missives home. Their next trip is to Tanzania. They leave in about a month.
