On June 28, 2018, The World Health Organization (WHO) visited Team Rubicon’s National Operation Center in Dallas, Texas and certified Team Rubicon as the first NGO in North America to be verified as an EMT Type-1 Mobile Team (the 18th Emergency Medical Team in the world).
For the past two and a half years, we have worked tirelessly with all stakeholders to drive the professionalization of our medical capability which has resulted in Team Rubicon receiving this verification.
Team Rubicon was born out of bias toward action during the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010. That attitude has not wavered in the eight years since. Neither has the drive to build a world-class disaster response organization. The WHO EMT Type-1 Mobile designation expands engagement opportunities. It will allow us opportunities to provide medical assistance to communities on their worst days.
The Team Rubicon EMT Type–1 Mobile Teams will deploy rapidly with temporary shelters, a robust medication cache, and best in class technological support. Each EMT Type–1 Mobile Team is comprised of two separate mobile units that can support distinct outpatient clinics—each with the ability to evaluate and care for 50 patients in a 12-hour period for a minimum of 14 days. The mobile clinics will provide triage, clinic areas, basic laboratory and pharmacy capabilities, and be connected to the broader response system. Our teams will seek to push this capability into the most difficult to access post-disaster communities.
The WHO EMT Initiative was launched after experiences in the 2010 Haiti earthquake response. The initiative aims to professionalize and standardize the delivery of health services in sudden onset disaster response. It also seeks to build national health systems capacity to lead the activation and coordination in the immediate aftermath of a rapid-onset disaster. The initiative will improve coordination during disasters through the EMT coordination cell. This will ensure that critical, life-saving aid is delivered where it is needed most and that these efforts are not duplicated or wasted.
A special thank you to the World Health Organization and everyone who made this possible.
Are you a medical professional interested in serving with Team Rubicon? Start here.
