For experienced Emergency Response aid worker Dave Bateman, the highlight of his deployment to Germany was watching families and friends reunite with joy.
Canmore resident Bateman is a registered nurse and the Director of Clinical Care at the Prostate Cancer Centre in Calgary. He spent a month in a refugee camp in Erding, Germany, assisting the German Red Cross.
Part of his job was psycho-social support, which on this mission, involved assisting with family reunification. He says through that process, “You really see the results of the work everybody is doing.”
Bateman recalls one reunion where a man appeared at the gates of the camp, searching for his wife and two children he hadn’t seen in at least six months. While the man was being processed, Bateman went in search of the man’s family in the shelter. He says when the children saw their father, “The kids flew from their mom and jumped up on their dad.”
Another heartwarming moment was when two young girls joyous reunion with their grandmother. Bateman says his mission was a good experience and “makes you think just how fortunate we are.”
As a nurse, half of Bateman’s time was also clinical. He says the medical staff primarily treated individuals for ailments associated with long arduous travel conditions, stress, and limited access to basic supplies.
He says many refugees suffered from dehydration, colds, coughs, vomiting, as well as sore feet and bodies. The elderly and young children were particularly impacted by the travel conditions.
The camp processed 600 to 1000 new arrivals every day and Bateman describes the mood in Erding as positive. Refugees were happy to be in a safe place and to reunite with family and friends he says, and adds that the German people were very welcoming.
Bateman has previously been deployed as a Red Cross aid worker to Haiti three times, Solomon Island and Zimbabwe.