Sharing knowledge in disaster preparedness in the Philippines

Sebastien Jouffroy is a humanitarian worker for the Canadian Red Cross. He was deployed to the Philippines for one year and will send updates on his experiences throughout the mission. This is Sebastien’s most recent blog post from the Philippines. You can read his previous post here.

It has already been two months since the project to set up a Red Cross field hospital in the Philippines began. I am here as a technical advisor to my Filipino colleagues, working to share my knowledge and experience on setting up and operating a field hospital, so that they will be able to provide healthcare services in any future disaster.

While it is my job to share my knowledge and experience, the first thing I have to do, in fact, is to engage in a learning process: getting to know what conditions are like in this country, getting to know my colleagues, and seeing how the organization operates. In many respects, my assignment in the Philippines involves more than just a change of country: it is a completely new kind of work, with all the adjustments that entails. The learning process will doubtless continue throughout the year I will be spending here.

Van Allen Bustos, National Field Representative, Philippine Red Cross (Sidney, BC),during the Canadian Red Cross field hospital training course

I am not the only one who is learning on the job: the Canadian Red Cross had the privilege of hosting two of the people working with me in Manila. In early October, the CRC hosted a course in British Columbia during which 40 professionals – doctors, nurses, technicians and administrative staff – learned how to set up and run a disaster-response field hospital. Those attending included two representatives of the Philippines Red Cross.

Through the project I am involved in, other members of the Philippine Red Cross will have an opportunity to take the course, which is offered both in the Philippines and elsewhere around the world, in order to improve their readiness to cope with the future disasters that are bound to occur.

Left, Ryan J. Jopia, Manager, Health Services, Philippine Red Cross (Sidney, BC), during the Canadian Red Cross training field hospital training course