For the past two weeks, a number of Canadian Red Cross staff and three Canadian Red Cross delegates joined 54 participants from over 30 National Societies at the Americas Field School training in Pedro Santana, Dominican Republic. This field school training brings together regional responders in a mission like setting where participants interact with real people, assess community needs, and deliver services to communities.
Since this training is not simulation based, it prepares those involved to better respond to emergencies as they have been exposed to some of the real challenges they will face when responding in the field. This is the first ever field school training that has brought together countries in the region and it provides the opportunity to increase regional response capacity in the area of water and sanitation, health, shelter and relief. It also provides staff and delegates from National Societies the opportunity to come together and learn from each other’s daily experiences of working with the Red Cross, as well as responding to emergency operations.
Since this training is not simulation based, it prepares those involved to better respond to emergencies as they have been exposed to some of the real challenges they will face when responding in the field. This is the first ever field school training that has brought together countries in the region and it provides the opportunity to increase regional response capacity in the area of water and sanitation, health, shelter and relief. It also provides staff and delegates from National Societies the opportunity to come together and learn from each other’s daily experiences of working with the Red Cross, as well as responding to emergency operations.
“Each of us is confronting the challenges of a real emergency situation, from contact with local authorities to real needs assessments in communities and distributions of emergency items; including the long and sometimes difficult set up of a base camp from more than 100 people” - Antoine Belair, Canadian Red Cross delegate and participant at the Americas Field School
The Canadian Red Cross has provided significant support to the Americas regional response program under the First Responder Initiative and will continue to do so in the years to come.
