CMAT preparing to depart Sunday afternoon for Pakistan – Assessment team to evaluate medical assistance needs in devastated areas.
Displaced children play on a makeshift surface, after being displaced due to flood waters.
TORONTO, September 3, 2010 – Canadian Medical Assistance Teams (CMAT) is deploying its initial disaster assessment team to Pakistan, scheduled to leave Sunday afternoon from Toronto’s Pearson Airport. Over 20 million people in the flood-affected country have been displaced, and hundreds of thousands are now at risk of acquiring infectious diseases. CMAT’s team assessment will survey the health needs of displaced flood victims in order to prepare for the deployment of CMAT’s inflatable field hospital and rotations of medical teams.
Two Photo/Interview Opportunities
1. Supplies, equipment and the field hospital structure will be gathered Saturday at CMAT’s donated warehouse space in preparation for deployment.
- Date: Saturday September 4, 2010
- Time: 13:00 EST
- Where: Mississauga, ON.
High water levels makes delivery of relief goods a difficult challengeWhere: Mississauga, ON.
2. A meet and greet will take place at Pearson Airport just prior to the team’s departure on Sunday
Please contact [email protected] for more information
- Date: Sunday September 5, 2010
- Time: 13:00 EST
- Where: Pearson International Airport
The CMAT assessment team members who will be departing for Karachi, Pakistan on Sunday afternoon include:
- Martin Metz, Paramedic and Assessment Team Leader from Comox, BC
- Yasmeen Jabbar, Registered Nurse from London, ON
- Dr. Omar Elahi, Medical Resident, from Brampton, ON.
On arrival in Pakistan, CMAT will acquire two additional team members from its American affiliate, International Medical Assistance Team (IMAT):
- Paul Williams, Paramedic from Phoenix, AZ.
- Jessica Bennett, Paramedic from Seattle, WA.
The organization continues to make an emergency appeal for donations to help the people in Pakistan as 20% of the country has sustained the worst flooding in living memory.
Canadian Medical Assistance Teams (CMAT) is a Canadian-based grassroots disaster relief organization made up of health professionals and other volunteers who selflessly give their time and resources to assist and provide relief aid to the victims of natural and man-made disasters around the world. CMAT teams have responded to numerous crisis situations most recently in Léogâne, Haïti. CMAT has accumulated a database of over one thousand skilled health care professionals from across Canada. All volunteers are responsible for their own travel costs.
