Dominica’s Trade & Investment Commissioner, Frances Delsol and Consuls General from Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines joined with over thirty (30) volunteers from GlobalMedic, Air Canada workers, Community group members from Dominica & Grenada at the Air Canada’s Brampton location to pack hurricane relief supplies as the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season is set to begin on June 1.
“It is important that we get these relief supplies into the islands early and before the hurricane season get into full gear”, said Jeff Edwards, General Manager, Cargo Network Control, Air Canada. “We have an interest in not only flying people to the islands, we also have a responsibly to assist these islands we serve especially in times of disaster. We have employees in the island and we are like family so we have a keen interest in making sure we can assist with hurricane preparedness
GlobalMedic and Air Canada have been working together since 2016 to assist Caribbean countries with hurricane relief supplies.
GlobalMedic is responsible for getting the supplies through donations and sponsorship and Air Canada is responsible for shipping the relief supplies to the islands to which they operate.
Rahul Singh, Executive Director at GlobalMedic for twenty-one (21) years is excited about these early preparations for the 2019 hurricane season. GlobalMedic has performed relief operations in Grenada and Dominica in the past after the islands were hit by Hurricanes Ivan and Maria in 2004 and 2017 respectively.
“GlobalMedic could not have done this work without donors like Proctor and Gamble, our volunteers and our partner Air Canada. We will make available over 4000 kits to be shared among the islands. Dominica is slated to receive 500 kits. Each kit costs approximately US$120 and will be donated free of cost to the countries. This kit is essentially a hygiene kit that is ideally suitable for a family of five. It contains a water purification kit, toothpaste, soap and toothbrushes. From experience we know that we have to protect health and well-being of families if displaced by a disaster: We will also be working on preparing an Emergency Food and Disaster Kit as well”, said Singh.
Trade Commissioner Delsol, who joined the assembly line to assist with packing the supplies, expressed his gratitude to Air Canada and GlobalMedic. She said “The Government and people of Dominica are extremely grateful for the hurricane kits. We understand the need for preparedness, while we hope this hurricane season will prove to be uneventful. We are taking a more pro-active stance with regards to disaster response and we hope our early preparedness will bring a sense of comfort to our folks in Dominica.
Ms. Delsol also mentioned the imminent launch of the Dominica Disaster Preparedness Group (SAFE-D) which she heads, that will address preparation and response for Dominica from Canada in the event of future natural disasters.
GlobalMedic is the operational arm of the David Mc Antony Gibson Foundation (DMGF). We operate as a registered Canadian charity, and our mandate is to save lives by providing short-term, rapid response in the wake of disasters and crisis, both at home and abroad
The key word is rapid, as you might expect from an agency that was founded by paramedics. GlobalMedic is often the first team, and many times the only one, to get critical interventions to people in life-threatening situations following a disaster. This is what we are known for in the world of humanitarian disaster response.
This article is copyright © 2019 DOM767
