Stories from the field
Haiti: "I want to help those who can’t help themselves"
January 17, 2011
Tony St Germain leads a team of 12 Red Cross hygiene promoters. These volunteers travel through Port-au-Prince's many camps, providing residents with information on the practicalities and importance of proper hygiene.
"My job is to ensure that they do their job well. I go out with them and make sure they are giving proper information to the people," he explains.
Hygiene promotion has been underway since the first weeks of the earthquake response, but recently, with the country in the grip of a cholera outbreak, these have been increased and expanded. As well as visiting camps, volunteers like those under the guidance of Tony are now also visiting markets to raise awareness among vendors and their customers about cholera prevention.
"We tell them to wash their hands with soap; to wash their fruit and vegetables properly with clean water; to drink only treated water; and to use the toilets for their needs," he says.
"If they have vomiting or diarrhoea, we tell them to replace their body fluids with liquid and to go straight to the doctor."
"I like helping others. Whether it’s a road accident or a natural disaster, I want to help those who can’t help themselves."
Tony is an experienced paramedic who served as first-aid trainer for over ten years and is also coordinator of the Haitian Red Cross Society emergency service.
"I was sitting on a bench when I felt the earthquake. At first, I thought it was a truck passing by, but then I felt a greater force."
As he lay on the ground, he asked himself: "Should I go home to see about my family or should I go to Red Cross headquarters to help?"
There was no public transport available to get home but, as fate would have it, a Red Cross ambulance passed by and he stopped the driver and together they went to St Catherine Labouré hospital in Cité Soleil.
It wasn’t until the next morning - after a long night helping people who had been injured in the earthquake - that Tony was able to get home and discover that his wife and children were safe and uninjured.
For Tony - like hundreds of Haitian Red Cross volunteers - the hard work had only just begun. He was one of the volunteers that established a makeshift clinic at the mayor’s office in Tabarre, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. Using this site as a base, Red Cross volunteers provided hundreds of people with basic medical assistance.
"In the days after the earthquake, I took my first-aid kit and literally walked the streets to help people who couldn’t get to the clinics."
Red Cross hygiene promotion activities continue unabated in camps across Port-au-Prince.
