AF, Navy help Red Cross volunteers reach Haiti

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Brian Bahret
  • Joint Information Bureau Homestead
HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) --  Air Force and Navy personnel helped deliver approximately 70 American Red Cross volunteers to Haiti, Jan. 21, to help improve communications between medical staff on the USNS Comfort and Haitian patients.

The deployment was the largest in the Red Cross' recent history, according an ARC spokesperson.

Air Force personnel at Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., processed the volunteers, palletized their cargo and loaded them and their cargo onto two awaiting Navy C-9 Skytrain aircraft for transportation to the Port-au-Prince airport.

In Haiti, the volunteers will work as translators aboard the USNS Comfort, a medical treatment facility for acute medical and surgical care supported by Marines, Sailors, Airmen and Soldiers.

"This is a fantastic partnership between the military and the American Red Cross," said Peter Marcias, the ARC director of communications. "We were asked if we could recruit about 75 to 100 volunteers who could serve as translators."

More than 1,200 people volunteered to work with the Red Cross and the military supporting Operation Unified Response. After extensive background checks, the Red Cross chose 69 volunteers from seven states. Five Red Cross staffers are accompanying them for the month-long trip.

In preparation for the deployment, volunteers attended a Red Cross orientation, a class on international humanitarian law, and a course on military culture and etiquette, said Dee Swanier, ARC senior director of service delivery.

"We're preparing them to let them know that this is a catastrophic event, she said. "They're going to see some injuries they've never seen before and make sure they're prepared."

The volunteers will work as translators for medical patients receiving medical treatment and the medical staff providing the treatment.

Mr. Marcias added that most of the volunteers have a personal stake in the relief effort.

"Some have family that are still there, some are missing family, and some have family members they haven't heard from," he said. "They have a large stake in getting down there and helping."

Golene Louis, an ARC volunteer, left Haiti in 1991 when she was 15 to live with her father in the U.S. While she and her immediate family live in the U.S., the majority of her extended family lives in Haiti.

With the exception of one cousin, her family is accounted for, she said. The Boynton Beach, Fla., resident said she hopes her cousin will be found.

"I'm a firm believer that she's out there," Ms. Louis said. "I know she's safe, we're just waiting to reunite with her."

While she's never volunteered for a relief effort of this magnitude, she's prepared for the reality of what she may face. "I expect to see wounded people and devastated people, I'm preparing myself mentally to be able to be there to support them and help them."

No matter what the scenario, she's prepared to help the military treat the earthquake victims.

More than 20,000 military service members, including Ms. Louis' cousin in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, are supporting Operation Unified Response. 

I feel the response from all the nations providing assistance is impressive, she said. "I am just so humbled and I want to tell everyone that I appreciate the fact that they're doing that and I'm willing to work with them."

Marc Henry Stelien, a former Army Soldier who still has family in Haiti, feels his military training along with his knowledge of the language will greatly help the relief effort.

Mr. Stelien, who recently returned from a deployment to Iraq as an Army Scout, has seen casualties in a combat environment.

"For people who've never deployed, you don't know what's going to happen when you get there," he explained. "I think my experience will bring a lot of help to the Red Cross. With the training that I have, I think this will be a tremendous help."

Along with Ms. Louis, Mr. Stelien is grateful for the military's efforts.

As of Jan. 21, the United States has delivered 1.4 million bottles of water, 700,000 meals and 22,000 pounds of medical equipment, which are being disbursed among some 100 distribution sites, according to Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, the commander of U.S. Southern Command.

Off the Haitian coast are 20 U.S. ships, with the floating hospital vessel USNS Comfort among them, adding medical capabilities and supplying about 600 medical personnel and 1,000 desperately needed hospital beds. As of Jan. 20, roughly 270 U.S. medical personnel on the ground had treated more than 5,100 people in Haiti.

"I think the military response is a tremendous help," Mr. Steilen said. "I was expecting big (results) from my fellow soldiers."