Disaster Blog December 3rd, 2013 Roxas City, Philippines. Yesterday ended up in a very successful day. The two teams in the field saw nearly 500 patients. Additionally, I met with the Provincial Health Department and they gave me the approval for the helicopter missions into three villages over the next few weeks. I spoke with the Canadian military and they agreed to provide a helicopter for tomorrow. Actually they will send two helicopters that can take a total of 10 people and the military combat camera man who will video the mission. The team is excited about tomorrow. However, we still need to send two ground teams into the field and it will be Deb’s job to build the teams both for the ground and the air. I do not envy her. Almost everyone wants to do this flight. One person who will not be on the flight is Dr. Sean. He was picked by the UN to do a medical assessment of the affected areas today. He will be flying in a helicopter all day. He will lead one of the ground teams tomorrow. He is excited to be using some of the skills he has been reading about in his fellowship training. After some discussion with Deb and some of the other team members, I have asked to be put on the helicopter mission tomorrow. Paul Maresca arrived today to take over as country director, and I would like to spend a day in the field. It does not appear that anyone is too upset about me taking one of the seats. I guess that every now and then I should get to spoil myself with a fun mission. In addition to finding helicopters and an appropriate mission for the team, I also have found us a used refrigerator for the team. New, it would cost 14,000 pesos. Used they are asking 4,200 pesos. I have offered 3000 pesos. The team has already said they would cover the cost. Tonight I should know if we have a refrigerator at my cost or the original cost. Regardless the deal is too go to turn down. A chance meeting yesterday also lead to the introduction of myself to a team, Rescue Global. This NGO is made up of ex SAS (UK special forces) guys who specialize in accessing the most difficult areas of the world and return critical intelligence about the environment. They are well funded and have lots of high tech toys such as google glasses with satellite uplinks to doctors in the civilized world. They have the ability to parachute into a disaster zone just like the RAM Airborne team. They have a King Air airplane that they flew from the UK to the Philippines to support their mission. The team was working on getting assistance for a remote group of islands that was hit by the hurricane and had not yet received assistance. They evaluated current reports as well as investigating the island themselves. What they learned was that food and resources were scheduled to arrive in two weeks, but that the locals were out of food and medicine and the situation was grim. They were preparing to access the islands and were considering food drops. We discussed the option of using streamers instead of cargo parachutes for this operation since they did not have any cargo parachutes. However, as we started working to see if there was an operation that we might work together one, they received word that based upon the reports that they sent directly to the Air Marshal in the UK, a British warship was immediately diverted to care for the thousands of people who have been lost in the system. Their job was done. With that completed, they prepared to return to their base in Cebu. However they said they would try to return. They are now looking for another remote location where the need is great. If needed, they will parachute into the location. They are also willing to have RAM medical join them on the parachute mission as their guys have a basic SAS combat medical training, but they do not have nurses or doctors available. It is a long shot, but who knows, it just may work out. This morning, Paul Mauresca arrived to take over as the country director for the disaster. I have to admit, I am ready to have him take over. Last night, I seemed to hit the wall and really did not want to even think about the operations. Today, I am happy to be in the command center and tomorrow, I am excited to be on the helicopter again. Paul has been a long time RAM volunteer since Hurricane Katrina. He is an EMT basic and park ranger. He is an expert in the outdoors and in high angle rescue. He is very fit and thin. He’s got a good sense of humor and always travels with his lifelong companion, Grover. Grover is a blue Sesame Street stuffed animal that travels with Paul. Grover is mentioned in e-mails by Stan Brock. Grover is part of the Airborne team and the only member of the airborne team to arrive on scene via a cargo parachute. I have seen Grover in New Orleans, Haiti, Guyana, California and Tennessee. It is just a matter of time before Grover gets his own Facebook page. Today, I will be orienting Paul to the operations center and introducing him to the key leadership people. In addition to introducing himself to the team today, he also brought t-shirts and hats. Now that is the way to make friends with volunteers. All I had to over was cold showers and long days. As Paul takes over, the disaster continue to evolve. It is difficult to know what the next few weeks or months will lead. Most certainly there is a population with need for medical care. RAM is always willing to provide care where needed. How that care is delivered and how our operation develops over the next few weeks will be the challenge for Paul. As for me, I will go into the field tomorrow and I will probably head to Manila for some training for a few days. During that time I will have to determine if I can continue to volunteer out here or if it is time for me to return home.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 03:12:06 +0000
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