The Canadian Red Cross recently made an announcement that it is sending an Emergency Response Unit (ERU) to Pakistan. But what exactly is an ERU? We asked our Disaster Dude, John Saunders, to explain it to us.
An Emergency Response Unit – or ERU if you are an acronym junkie - is a bit like the Mobile Army Surgical Unit, aka, M*A*S*H. Surely, you remember this TV program with its cast of unusual medics and doctors, such as "Hawkeye" Pierce?
Well, the point of M*A*S*H was to have a mobile health unit that could easily be put up, torn down and moved quickly to a new location to help those who most needed it. The Red Cross ERU is similar to that – only we don’t have a surgical unit.
Instead, the mobile health ERU that has been deployed from Canada to Pakistan is stocked with equipment and specialists that can help treat health problems that are specific to this emergency, such as cholera and other water-borne diseases. This ERU and its team of doctors and nurses aims to help about 100,000 in Shikarpour, located in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
Bringing a clinic to those who urgently need it means people will not have to travel great distances for help and more doctors will be on the scene.
When it’s time to “bug out” because the community has received all the help the ERU can provide, logistical experts could tear down this mobile health clinic within 24 hours and move it to a new location.
This ERU is an indication of the Canadian Red Cross building capacity and expanding our efforts in international aid. In the past, we have collaborated with other Red Cross Societies – for example, in Haiti, we sent a team of ERU personnel to work in a Norwegian Red Cross ERU.
We’ll keep you posted on the success of the Canadian ERU.