Canadian Military sending a further unit to assist in the medical needs of the haitian people. 1 Field Hospital from CFB Petawawa departs over the next few days...TThis unit as indeed all medical components of the Canadian Military has a proud record in the field. From the combat medic in the boonies, to the shipboard Medic and Base hospital staff. Medical personnel are a hard working part of the military. Whether in war zones or on Humanitarian duties.
Medics signing on and checking equipment. for Field Hospital Transportation. Petawawa's Haiti mission escalates as 1st Canadian Field Hospital deploys Base Petawawa is dispatching 100 more troops to earthquake stricken island Petawawa's involvement in Canada's rescue mission to earthquake stricken Haiti escalated Tuesday as the 1st Canadian Field Hospital received orders to deploy to the devastated island nation.
The unit will be sending some 100 surgeons, nurses and medics, with the first group leaving as soon as this weekend, to join Operation HESTIA, the Canadian rescue and humanitarian assistance mission in Haiti.
The nations of the world are descending on Haiti and are trying to bring order out of that chaos, Lt.-Col. Dyrald Cross, 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group chief of staff, told a briefing for families and soldiers at the base Tuesday night announcing the impending deployment.
Most of the 200-member DART company, which is commanded by Maj. Paul Payne, of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (2RCHA), is already on the ground providing security to the Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince and a Belgian field hospital, while continuing to assist in search and rescue efforts and delivering food, water and supplies.
1 Field Hospital, will depart Petawawa, Ont., Saturday for Leogane, near the epicentre of the Jan. 12 quake.
Up to 90 per cent of Leogane was destroyed in the initial quake, and more buildings fell when a magnitude-5.9 aftershock struck on Wednesday. About 200,000 Haitians live in the surrounding area.
The field hospital's team will include 100 doctors, surgeons, and nurses who will augment the medical care that Canadian Forces have already been trying to provide.
The hospital will includes an operating room with two surgical teams, two resuscitation beds, two critical-care beds and 50 immediate- and minimum-care beds. It will be powered by its own generators, and will have laboratory and diagnostic-imaging capabilities.
Cpl. Nicolas Champagne-Leblanc, a medical technician from the 5e Ambulance de Campagne, Valcartier, treats a Haitian women who was injured in the earthquake, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010. (Cpl. Julie Belisle / Department of National Defence)
On the south coast, HMCS Halifax is stationed off Jacmel, about 40 kilometres south of the capital of Port-au-Prince. A 16-member military medical team is already there, working as part of Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team.
They opened up the first hospital in that area, and now that hospital has been populated by NGOs [non-governmental organizations], Cmdr. McDonald said.
Yesterday and today we're moving out of that hospital and are opening up a second facility that's going to really bring some medical assistance that we assess to be the most urgent need.
There are currently 950 Canadian soldiers, sailors and air crew on the ground or off the coast of Haiti. That figure is set to more than double within two weeks.
Meanwhile, an international medical supplies company is working around the clock to ship more supplies to Haiti. Health Partners International of Canada already had an established presence in Haiti before the quake, but is now rushing to fill the need for more supplies to treat medical emergencies.
HPIC is working with NGOs, such as UNICEF Canada and World Vision Canada, sending out what they call Physician Travel Packs. The packs are filled with pain relievers, antiseptic ointments, antibiotics in three or four different forms, rehydration salts and other supplies such as gloves and masks.
Each pack weighs about 50 pounds and can be used to treat up to 600 people.
They've been designed by doctors who have spent years in the field and they're adjusted regularly so that they keep up with the demands. We're quite confident they really help, HPIC's director of operations Wes Robinson told Canada AM from the group's warehouse in Mississauga, Ont.
The beauty of them is they can be carried anywhere and popped open and a doctor can start working with them right away, he said.
He said they've already sent out a few of the packs aboard relief flights to Haiti but he expects the shipments will really ramp up over the next two weeks.
HPIC has been around for 20 years, and gets most of its supplies through donations from pharmaceutical companies.
Their first packs were sent out in 1990 in response to a major earthquake in Iran and their biggest emergency response so far was in 2005, when the group sent $11 million in medicine to Sri Lanka following the tsunami.
But Robinson says the needs in Haiti are huge and customizing the packs for this mission has been probably been the most complex operation they've had yet.
And I think, over time, it will prove to the largest operation, he said. This is absolutely a longer term effort.
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