Emergency (Page 16)

Susan Smith’s laughter is infectious. Over the past two years, she has had to be remarkably resilient, yet she’s kept her winning sense of humour through incredible hardship. In 2017, wildfires swept through Boston Flats, a community just outside of Cache Creek, B.C. Susan’s home, along with many others, were completely destroyed. 

Canadian aid worker Jean-Baptiste Lacombe shares how we are working with local communities to rebuild a hospital in Nhamatanda, Mozambique after Cyclone Idai devastated much of the region.

Volunteer Tammy Saunders joined the Canadian Red Cross in the spring of 2012. A self-employed commercial fisher, Tammy says the seasonal nature of her work gives her portions of the year that she likes to fill with volunteering.
 

The Red Cross field hospital in Mozambique has opened a specialized malaria treatment centre to support people affected by Cyclone Idai. This is in addition to the existing cholera treatment unit that has been operating at the Nhamatanda rural hospital since early April.

In the spring of 2018, Bessie Froud and her husband Ray had to evacuate as flood waters inundated their home. Having no place to go, it was the Canadian Red Cross that arranged accommodation during the three weeks they were evacuated.
 

At the Rigaud public library, a dozen people impacted by the floods have come to meet Red Cross volunteers in order to register and receive emergency assistance. In the waiting room, the mood is unpredictable. Laughter can quickly give way to sorrow, and for good reason. This is the second flood in three years for most of the residents here.

A generator delivered in a wheelbarrow is just one of the pieces of equipment that recently helped save the life of a mother and baby during a power outage at Nhamatanda hospital in central Mozambique.

Elizabeth (Liz) McMahon has a big job at the Red Cross field hospital in Mozambique – she makes sure the doctors and nurses have all the medicines and medical equipment they need. It’s busy​ from the moment she, and the 3,000 various medical items associated with the field hospital, arrive in country.