Team Rubicon members are serving across the world, providing medical aid and training as well as learning how we can support those affected by wildfires. Below is an update on our international responses:
Canada – Operation Pay Dirt
Since May 1, wildfires have destroyed over 18,500 acres and 1,600 structures in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Working with our Canadian partners, Team Rubicon deployed a recon team to learn how we can best support residents and we launched Operation Pay Dirt to provide incident, volunteer, and debris management in coordination with local authorities.
Greece – Operation Hermes
For the last 12 months, thousands of Syrian refugees have been making their way to Europe, via Iraq and Turkey, as a result of the ongoing civil war and instability in Syria. This has placed a tremendous burden on Greece and other European countries, overloading public assistance programs and temporary housing accommodations while putting refugees at a high risk of injury, illness, or death.
Two Team Rubicon members are currently conducting emergency medical operations in and around Idomeni and northern Greece to help alleviate suffering and prevent further injury to the refugee population.
USMC veteran Breaux Burns treating a 10-month-old Syrian refugee with a respiratory infection in Greece.
Sierra Leone – Operation Sweet Bo
The Ebola crisis has devastated the already small health work force in Sierra Leone. As health system reconstruction efforts begin now that the crisis has subsided, members of the Sierra Leonean Diaspora, ASCOVIME, The Michael & Mauritia Patcha Foundation and School of Community Health Sciences, and Njala University in partnership with International Medical Corps, are initiating the project “Diaspora Surgical and Training Network.”
Two Team Rubicon personnel are deployed to help train local pre-hospital care providers in caring for sick and injured patients as well as building and managing an efficient pre-hospital care system, in the wake of the Ebola epidemic.
Support our efforts at teamrubiconusa.org/donate or learn what it takes to serve on the international response team.
