Eighty
tonnes of medical material and equipment arrived at the Port-au-Prince
airport last week, and was then shipped by boat, to provide
essential medical assistance to cyclone victims in Gonaïves,
the region in Haiti hardest hit by Hurricane Jeanne.
This material was in fact a joint Canadian-Norwegian ERU (Emergency
Response Unit) field hospital, accompanied by 13 Norwegian technical
and medical staff including a surgeon.
The fully-equipped 100-bed field hospital was sent in response
to the International Federation’s revised floods appeal
for Haiti launched on October 5, 2004 to assist the people in
the northern city of Gonaïves and surrounding communes.
While the basic infrastructure of the only referral hospital,
La Providence, is still in place, it was severely damaged. All
the equipment and furnishings were been destroyed by mud and
flood waters, the generator has been lost and it water sources
(wells) were contaminated.
The Canadian and Norwegian Red Cross Societies will rehabilitate
the hospital. In the meantime, the ERU hospital, headed by local
staff from “La Providence” and supported by expatriate
staff from Canada and Norway, has begun providing essential
primary and secondary health care to the population.
Says Brynjulf Ystgaard, a Norwegian surgeon, member of the ERU
team: “We worked hard to have the hospital and medical
equipment ready to receive the first patients. We will provide
good services to the population based on the level of medical
services which existed before the disaster - this is the only
reasonable way to look at it.”
The hospital provides the typical services of a referral hospital:
general surgery, reanimation, pediatrics, maternity services
and internal medicine with all technical and support services.
Once the local hospital is rehabilitated, the field hospital
will be dismantled and all medical equipment and activities
transferred to La Providence Hospital.
On the ground in Gonaïves, the eight people members of
the Federation-deployed Spanish Red Cross ERU, specialized in
water and sanitation, has worked round the clock in preparation
of the arrival of the hospital to ensure high quality water,
showers and latrines for the hospital and for the staff living
quarters.
The site in Gonaïves where the hospital is set up was made
available by the owners at no cost for a six-month period, thanks
to assistance from the ICRC.
Eleven medical Canadian delegates, including an anesthetist
and five ward nurses, have joined the team, completing the Canadian/Norwegian
partnership. “This is an example of excellent Movement
cooperation with the active involvement of all partners”,
says Charlie Musoka, Canadian Red Cross Emergencies Officer.
“It is the first time that the Canadian Red Cross embarks
on a joint project of such a magnitude, but it will certainly
not be the last. I hope that this project will become an inspiration
for all members of the Red Cross Movement”.
The field hospital is expected to run for six months. Tents
from the hospital and living quarters will be donated to the
Haitian Red Cross to boost the relief stocks of the National
Society, whose material resources have been depleted after having
suffered three consecutive disasters in less than a year.
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Charlie
Musoka from the Canadian Red Cross and Dr Paul Odberg
of the Norwegian Red Cross celebrate the arrival of the
joint Norwegian/ Canadian ERU Hospital (p12111)
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The
impressive "Volga Dnepr" Antonov, the world's
largest carrier airplane, arrived in Port-au-Prince with
the joint Canadian-Norwegian field hospital and 13 Norwegian
technical and medical staff (p12113)
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The
80 tons of equipment were transferred to the sea port
by trucks and then shipped to Gonaives by boat (p12115)
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Federation
logistician Ilir Causahj helps coordinate the unloading
of the plane (p12110)
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While
it took eight hours to load the plane in Oslo, the cargo
was unloaded by the technical personnel and local airport
workers in less than two (p12108)
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