This week, Janice Babineau and delegates from across the country are participating in an Emergency Response Unit (ERU) training exercise in Victoria, BC. Follow the action on Twitter and Instagram with #CRCeru.
When a team of aid workers including medical personnel, technical and administrative staff are deployed with the Canadian Red Cross field hospital, job titles quickly fall to the wayside in those first critical hours on the ground.
The first priority for the team is to work together to set up the tents and other critical components such as water and sanitation, so they are able to treat patients as quickly as possible.
.jpeg.aspx)
While the technical staff have the know-how, they also rely on the variety of skills from members of the team.
Doctors, nurses and everyone else on the team are busy assembling what will become their workplace for the coming weeks, the tents where they will treat patients and perform surgeries.
Leadership on setting up of the site can come from unlikely sources, as do solutions to problems that are sure to crop up.
.jpeg.aspx?width=600&height=800)
Anesthesiologist James Kim has proven very valuable to the team with skills learned from his DYI home renovation projects.
As a participant in the field hospital, I am discovering that everyone brings in hidden talents, from solving technical problems, to showing leadership or making others laugh.
Doctor Pascale Fouron is putting the final touches on the tent.
