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August 14, 2021 – CMAT is actively monitoring the tragic 7.2 earthquake that hit Haiti this morning. Partners are conducting rapid assessments now and we expect to have more information soon when our rapid assessment team arrives.

Interested medical, logistic and administrative volunteers should ensure their profiles are up to date so you are deployment-ready should we be called on to respond.

Not yet a volunteer? Submit or update your application on our website through the link below.

CMAT Assessment Team Leader Kate Auger, and Director Dr. Pat San Agustin await instructions in the UN Compound near Kathmandu Airport - April 29, 2015.

CMAT Assessment Team Leader Kate Auger, and Director Dr. Pat San Agustin await instructions in the UN Compound near Kathmandu Airport – April 29, 2015.

 

Saturday May 2, 2015: The CMAT Assessment team conducted an assessment of the devastated region of Gorkha early Saturday morning, and completed a survey of the city, as well as several rural villages in the environs.

A car is crushed in a rockslide after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal April 25, 2015

A car is crushed in a rockslide after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal April 25, 2015

The devastation in the region was nearly total, as homes and businesses could not withstand the power of the magnitude 7.9 tremor the region experienced on April 25th.  Buildings had collapsed, rockslides blocked roads, and the community has moved to sleeping in the open, terrified of what the next aftershock might bring.

On instruction from the World Health Organization (WHO), the team visited several health facilities, birthing centres and community health centres to get a better picture of the needs of the population, and to report back their findings to the UN Health cluster.  CMAT is to date, the only NGO assigned to this area. The popuulation of the village is about 2500 ppl, and it has a number of outlying communities which can be accessed to do small mobile clinics. This is a key location as it is 25km from the epicentre of the earthquake.

“The biggest concerns are ensuring we monitor for pneumonia and diarrhea, as they pose the greatest outbreak risk at this time,” says Kate Auger, NP, Vice-Chair of CMAT and Team Leader of the assessment team.   “CMAT was the first team on the ground in this location in the very early days after the earthquake.”

Though the trip to Gorkha normally takes only 4-5 hours from Kathmandu, beyond that the team will be travelling through steep mountainous terrain. The road conditions from Kathmandu to Gorkha are excellent, but the passage to the selected site  beyond Gorkha will be much slower as the roads are much more affected.

CMAT Medical Team 1 Departs for Nepal

Nepal Team 1 YVR

CMAT Medical Team 1 gathers at Vancouver International Airport awaiting their flight to Nepal.

CMAT Team 1 was assembled over the past few days, and together with the field hospital, medical equipment and supplies, as well as medications supplied by Health Partners International Canada (HPIC) .  Team members departed from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, and Vancouver International Airport, and will be greeted in Kathmandu by the assessment team in the late evening on Sunday May 3, 2015.

CMAT Team 1 Members are:

  • Teresa Berdusco, RN (Team Leader) Edmonton, AB.
  • Lucia Chu, RN from Vancouver, BC
  • Tanya Correa, NP from Toronto, ON
  • Carolyn Davies, NP from Amherstburg, ON
  • Dr. Angela Derksen, MD from Winnipeg, MB
  • Dr. Mark Gallow, MD from Windsor, ON
  • Dr. Brad Granberg, MD from Calgary, AB

    IMG_7861

    CMAT Team 1 Members setting off from Toronto.

  • Joshua Henshaw, PCP from Victoria, BC
  • Hanna Kabzems, RN from Edmonton, AB
  • Edward Peters, ACP from Burnaby, BC
  • Scott Ryder, PCP, from Surrey, BC
  • Katherine Scott, RN from Canmore, AB
  • Jason Stevens, ACP from Cumberland, BC
  • Kevin Swalwell, Logistics from London, ON
  • Jenette Ziegler, ACP from Burnaby, BC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Thanks!

Nepal Sponsors

CMAT Director of Communications Lesley Eltom accepts a cheque from Arbor Memorial Foundation for CMAT’s relief efforts in Nepal.

CMAT would never be able to get off the ground without the generous help of our sponsors, supporters and donors.  In the first week alone, our fundraising campaign on CanadaHelps.org raised over $40,000!

In addition to our individual donors, CMAT would like to thank the following supporters for their generous support:

Financial

Goods-in-kind

Services

Canadian Medical Assistance Teams is proud to announce it is an official 2013 partner in Giving Tuesday Canada!

Giving TuesdayMost people know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday  …now #GivingTuesdayCa is coming to Canada on December 3, 2013.

It is a new Canadian movement for giving and volunteering, taking place each year after Cyber Monday. The “Opening day of the giving season,” it is a day where charities, companies and individuals join together to share commitments, rally for favourite causes and think about others. it is a day where charities, companies and individuals join together to share commitments, rally for favourite causes and think about others. In the same way that retail stores take part in Black Friday, we want the giving community to come together for GivingTuesday. We ask that partners create and commit to a project for GivingTuesday and then help spread the word to their networks.

“We have two days that are good for the economy. Now we have a day that is good for the community too.”

GivingTuesday is all about charity! It’s about creating a national movement for giving at the start of the annual holiday season. It celebrates and encourages donations and volunteering activities that support any and all charities and non-profit organizations.

Over 2,500 partners came together for the inaugural GivingTuesday in the US in 2012. The movement gained national awareness, recognition and endorsements from The White House, Bill Gates and the Clinton Foundation. Online giving increased 50% year-on-year, based on data from Blackbaud, Network for Good, and DonorPerfect. The movement was heralded as the “Social Innovation of the Year” by Bloomberg.com and “One of Five Philanthropy High Points in 2012” by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Not too shabby, right? Find out more about the US initiative at GivingTuesday.org

For more information about Giving Tuesday Canada, visit: http://www.givingtuesday.ca

 

 

CMAT assessment photo of devastation in Sichuan, China.

CMAT assessment photo of devastation in Sichuan, China.

Thursday May 22, 2008 – TORONTO/ VANCOUVER: Canadian Medical Assessment Team (CMAT) Response Coordinators established contact early yesterday morning by satellite phone with the CMAT assessment team in earthquake-affected Sichuan, China. The assessment team advised that the Chinese government, military and local Red Cross have done a commendable job in the rescue and recovery effort. At present, there are 100,000+ Chinese Military and over 1000 medical staff in the region, and most seriously injured citizens have already been evacuated to larger centres.

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