Bridgetown, Barbados, February 11, 2010 (CDEMA) – CARICOM sends a regional eight member team of health personnel to Haiti. The team of specialists from Barbados and Saint Lucia left for Haiti today to begin two weeks of voluntary service. These individuals will provide emergency and specialized health care to earthquake victims and compliment the work of teams from the Sub Regional Focal Point Jamaica.
Ms. Elizabeth Riley, Deputy Executive Director (a.g.), the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, (CDEMA) said “This is the first batch of medical volunteers to be deployed from the broader CARICOM states in support of the region’s emergency efforts for Haiti. The plan was developed by regional experts to assist Haiti’s medium to long term recovery.”
The Deputy Executive Director lauded the efforts of the Sub Regional Focal Point following the event. “In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, Jamaica as the sub-regional focal point spearheaded the medical response. Now, as Haiti moves from Emergency Care to Primary Health Care, support will come from the other CARICOM member states and Associate members.”
The health team arriving on February 12 comprises doctors and nurses in the areas of General Medicine, Orthopaedics, Emergency Care, Anaesthesiology, and Public Health, eight of members are from Barbados and one from Saint Lucia.
These medical volunteer teams will continue to provide and expand on the health care support offered during the emergency response phase by the CARICOM Response Teams at the Centre
Sante Bernard Mevs and a Community Hospital in Freres.
CARICOM response teams have attended to more than 3,000 people injured in Haiti's devastating earthquake
