Blog Archives - Page 16 of 57 - Canadian Medical Assistance Teams

Sphere Minimum Standards – Vancouver, BC – October 2014!

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!!

Course Schedule
Saturday October 25 – Sphere Orientation: 08:30 – 16:30
Sunday October 26 – Sphere Orientation: 08:30 – 16:30

* participants are required to complete the Sphere e-learning webinar prior to participation. Please bring the certificate of completion to the course.

Location:

Justice Institute of British Columbia

715 McBride Avenue,

New Westminster, British Columbia Canada

Course Fee*:

Non-CMAT member – $500
CMAT Member – $300 (completed online volunteer profile prior to Oct 1, 2014 but has no field experience with CMAT)
CMAT Alumnus – $250 (Alumni must have had at least 1 recorded field experience with CMAT)

(payment accepted using PayPal, Interac e-transfer, Visa and Mastercard. Cheques accepted only until October 17th, 2014)

*participants will receive a charitable tax receipt for 75% of the course fee.

Course Fee includes: Sphere Handbook and refreshments.

CMAT Cancellation policy: A full refund less a 15% admin fee applies until 7 days prior to the course start date, after which cancellations will only receive a 50% refund.

Space is limited – interested individuals are urged to register early to avoid disappointment.

For more information, or to register, please email: [email protected] or call 416-305-0290.

CMAT 2014 Annual General Meeting – Board Reports and Onling Voting

Board of Directors, News

Unfortunately we hit some technical glitches with Sunday’s online AGM, so the board has come together to deliver our reports in writing. Please find the individual directors’ report to the AGM, as well as the 2013 financial statements. Please don’t hesitate to email [email protected] should you have any questions.

Acting Chair Report – Kathy Harms

Executive Director Report – Valerie Rzepka

Secretary/ Treasurer Report and 2013 Financial Statements– Deb Exelby

Director of Communications Report – Kate Auger

Director of Response Coordination – Rashad Chin

MEMBERSHIP VOTING

A crucial discussion piece is around the changes to the Not-For-Profit organizational structure, as mandated by the Canadian Government. These changes need to be reviewed and voted upon by registered CMAT members. These proposed changed can be reviewed by clicking the following links:

CMAT Bylaws

Form 4031-e

Only registered members of CMAT would have received a seperate email with a time-sensitive link in order to place their votes online. Voting will remain open until 23:59 on Friday September 12,2014. Please don’t hesitate to email [email protected] should you have any questions.

Save the Date! CMAT Annual General Meeting on Sept 7, 2014!

Board of Directors

Please Save the Date on your calendar to join us for the AGM on 7 Sept, 2014 in the evening:

16:00 hrs PST, 17:00 hrs MT and 19:00 hrs EST.

The AGM will be hosted online.

CMAT AGM viewing instructions

After testing a variety of online conferencing tools, the CMAT Board has chosen to broadcast the September 7, 2014 AGM on Youtube via Google Hangout on Air. Our test run with the tool went very well, and we think it will be the best FREE conferencing solution for this event. Here’s how it will work:

The Board will initiate the video conference in Google Hangout on Air, which we will link to Youtube.
A unique URL is generated, that we will post on our webpage, at 3:45pm PST on September 7, 2015.
Click on the link to view the Youtube broadcast
Enter your questions for the Board into the comments area below the video, a Board member will be picking up the questions for the panel to answer as we go.

It’s that easy. One detail to note is that there is approximately a 2 minute delay between what is being recorded in Google, and what is being broadcast on Youtube. With this in mind, we are structuring the agenda to include a report or presentation, followed by a question and answer period, before moving on to the next report. Answering questions in the middle of reports or presentations may be a bit choppy and out of sequence with the delay. Feel free to ask questions as soon as you think of them, just be aware we will wait to the end of a report to respond to them.

Our goal is to be as inclusive and interactive as we can. The Google/Youtube platform is the most effective we have found, that doesn’t require each participant to sign up for anything, or download any add-ons or other software. If, for the future, you have suggestions for other FREE video conferencing solutions for this sort of online event, please share them with us!

CMAT to collaborate with Oplan Kalusugan in The Philippines

2013 - Philippines Super Typhoon Haiyan

CMAT Executive Director Valerie Rzepka (left), and Director of Communications Kate Auger (right) about to board Phillippine Airlines flight from Toronto to Manila.

May 11, 2014 – Toronto, ON.

Earlier today, CMAT Executive Director Valerie Rzepka, and Director of Communications Kate Auger boarded a Philippine Airlines flight bound for Manila. After reviewing a project proposal called Oplan Kalusugan, submitted by a group of volunteers who have run other projects in the region, Valerie and Kate hope to collaborate on two, week-long medical projects in typhoon-affected areas of Leyte and Samar, with the view of potentially developing a longer-term relationship to provide assistance in the region.

The same group organized “Oplan Kabuhayan” and “Oplan Hatid”, which helped to provide livelihood for people in Haiyan-affected areas.

Coordinating with volunteer doctors from the Philippine Children’s Medical Center in Manila, the team will be focusing their efforts on Tacbloban City, and Guiuan, Eastern Samar, and their environs.

From our fundraising efforts last fall for typhoon victims, CMAT will contribute $34,000 CAD to for this particular project, which aims to provide free medical, dental and basic surgical services to more than 10,000 people living in areas severely affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

CMAT wishes to extend our sincerest thanks to Philippine Airlines for its ongoing support of CMAT’s work in the Philippines, and to Innovatek Medical for its donation of point-of-care testing kits for this project!