Sébastien Jouffroy is a humanitarian worker for the Canadian Red Cross. He was deployed to the Philippines for one year and sent updates on his experiences throughout the mission. This is Sébastien’s latest blog post about finalizing the project in the Philippines. You can read his previous post here.
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My first impression of Philippine Red Cross staff and volunteers when I arrived straight after Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 was of dedicated and hardworking people who deeply believe in the mission and ideals of the Red Cross.
They never shy away from harsh and difficult conditions to ensure that assistance is delivered to those who truly need it, when they need it. This dedication to the mission of Red Cross is impressive and truly unique when combined with the disaster response experience the organisation has acquired over many years while responding to a great many disasters.
My work with Philippine Red Cross has entailed supporting them to respond to humanitarian emergencies in their own country, regardless of what external assistance and resources they may get from other countries. When disaster strikes, the Philippine Red Cross is the first one there, and the one who will consistently and repeatedly respond. No matter how big the disaster, at the end of the day it’s their community that’s affected and they do something about it.
For me, working on the Emergency Field Hospital project has been a great adventure. Canadian Red
Cross developed its capacity to deploy emergency field hospitals in July 2010. Since then, we have conducted handovers after every deployment, but this time the handover is a two-year process, with the aim of ensuring its sustainability. Before then, much of the onus was on the receiving National Red Cross Society. The Japanese Red Cross has also been providing support to the equipment they donated.
Philippine Red Cross staff and volunteers take part in training before the handover of the Canadian Red Cross emergency field hospital.
As far as I know, it’s the first time a National Society with an Emergency Response Unit has expanded the concept of handing over and providing assistance to the receiving National Society as part of recovery programming. This will ensure the transfer of equipment is followed by a comprehensive transfer of capacity.
Being an ‘embedded’ delegate within the Health Services department gave me a great insight into and a better understanding of the Philippine Red Cross. Working year round with people whose responsibility will be maintaining and deploying the Emergency Field Hospital has been a very rewarding and enriching experience.
I am convinced it will be put to good use in the Philippines and will end up saving many lives, something that we can all be proud of. I know the staff and volunteers have the skills, knowledge and will to pursue this commitment and keep the field hospital ready as a major disaster response tool.
