ARTICLE - KINGSTON - TRAINING PARAMEDICS

KINGSTON-BASED NONPROFIT HELPING TRAIN HAITI'S FIRST PARAMEDICS
(Kitsap Sun) - By Amy Phan; www.empactnorthwest.org

KINGSTON — Haiti may have its first trained paramedics this fall, thanks in part to help from a Kingston-based nonprofit volunteer organization.

Beginning in July, 20 Empact Northwest volunteer paramedics from the Puget Sound area will train 18 Haitian civilians in a 12-week emergency response course. The course will include patient trauma training, said Armadeous Davidson, Haiti project manager for Empact.

Empact Northwest's goal in Haiti is to establish an emergency medical service through paramedic training sessions, he said. The organization plans to continue sending Empact Northwest paramedic volunteers to operate the ambulance service for the next two years.

"It's a big undertaking to have a national EMS system with working ambulances and central communication system. But even if we help 10 Haitians, it's worth it. They may go on to save 100 or 1,000 Haitians," the 34-year-old Gig Harbor firefighter said.

The Miami Beach Fire Department donated two ambulances to the nonprofit, and they will be Haiti's first emergency transportation vehicles.

Empact Northwest was established as an "impromptu team" a few weeks after the magnitude-7 earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010.

"We knew we had the skills they needed down there," said Davidson.

Joining Davidson in starting the organization were five other firefighters from Kitsap, Pierce and Grays Harbor counties.

The organization has grown to roughly 250 volunteers and has made about 30 deployments to Haiti.

"The best thing about what we are doing is knowing we are providing more than immediate aid. We are helping (Haitians) create a system that has a lasting effect on the nation and may lead to other things like employment opportunities," said Empact Northwest President Jake Gillanders, a firefighter for the Poulsbo Fire Department.

The emergency medical service is much needed, Davidson said, especially since the earthquake destroyed much of the country's hospital capabilities.

Davidson has visited Haiti eight to 10 times since the earthquake and returned from a seven-day Haiti trip last week.

"Every time I go, I work in remote areas and we need transportation to critical hospitals. So we end up putting people on IV bags, on makeshift stretchers, using shoes to hold their heads up. Then we ride for an hour and a half on bumpy roads to get to the hospital," said Davidson.

Davidson described the few remaining general hospitals in Haiti as "Los Angeles county hospital meets zombie apocalypse."

"You walk in and on the hospital floor there's dead people, then the people with gunshot wounds. You have to walk over the dead to help anyone else," said Davidson.

Empact Northwest is teaming up with the University of Miami's Project Medishare, a nonprofit organization that established Haiti's only trauma hospital, in Port-au-Prince.

Enrique Ginzburg, the international medical director for Project Medishare, said Empact Northwest's desire to help Haiti was "noble."

"They are training the first-generation paramedic and EMT in the country on their own time without any compensation. The training they provide is difficult for us to do without funding," said Ginzburg, who also is a critical-care surgeon.

The nonprofit's organizers hope to expand their efforts by recruiting more volunteers.

"We won't turn anybody away. We will accept anybody who is capable and willing to help," said Davidson.