For Canadian Red Cross aid worker and volunteer Dr. Hans Cunningham, the Red Cross has always been an important part of his family.
The connection started in 1945 when his mother, Edith, fled from war-stricken Czechoslovakia taking refuge with her grandmother in Austria. The Red Cross helped keep the women alive by delivering regular food care packages.
Having been separated from her father and uncle, Edith also received help from the red Cross to find information on her loved ones. Through this program, which is today known as Restoring Family Links, the Red Cross was able to inform her that her father had been taken to a concentration camp where he died. Her uncle was located in Russia where he was being held as a prisoner of war.
His mother's first job was with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a translator at a refugee camp in Austria.
Hans says his mother, who eventually moved to Canada, shared stories of the Red Cross as he was growing up. He had his own first exposure to the organization while working as a trauma surgeon with the military. Hans was sent on a course with the ICRC in Geneva to advance his skills in war surgery.
After 22 years with the military, Hans took on his current role as chief of surgery for Vancouver Island Health Authority-South Island.
Recently, the 52-year-old father of three took part of an intensive training in preparation to be deployed with the Canadian Red Cross Emergency Response Unit (ERU), also called a field hospital.
When it comes to pressure, Hans says the stressors are very different in the field compared to a Canadian hospital.
"The normal environment in a hospital is all about rules, hours, equipment, and times scheduled,” he said. “In a field hospital, the stressors are the heat, the cold, and the insecurity of the environment. You have to be adaptable or else it won't work."
Hans volunteers with the Red Cross as a disaster management volunteer in Victoria. His wife, Sonja Ruthe, also volunteered for the Red Cross and was recently hired as a regional disaster management coordinator on Vancouver Island.
In this video, Hans gives us a quick tour of the field hospital.