FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 21, 2010
Carlsbad, California
Contact: Andrea Stone
Tel: 760-930-9089
Cell: 619-991-3669
Email: andrea@rescuetaskforce.org
SAVING LIVES – MISSION ONE: ACCOMPLISHED
RESCUE TASK FORCE TEAM DELIVERS LIFE SAVING MEDICINE
Rescue Task Force (RTF) team has delivered urgently needed medicine to the US embassy, Port-au-Prince, for immediate dispersal to medical personnel. Four hundred doses of life saving calcium chloride, used for crush syndrome victims was one of the key medicines delivered. The RTF team was flown yesterday, after their arrival in the Dominican Republic, by military Black Hawk helicopter to the embassy for delivery of the medicine.
RTF got into the country quickly and began immediately assisting people in need by working with Global Reach and the Civil-Military Fusion Centre (www.cimicweb.org) in response to the Haiti earthquake.
The RTF Team has grown to eight members with the addition of two US military personnel. These additional personnel will help create a safe zone in which the RTF team will operate.
Because of the extraordinary efforts in getting these valuable medicines to Haiti, RTF was the only humanitarian allowed to set up a base camp for the night on embassy grounds.
The next mission is critical: Reach the Good Samaritan School compound where an initial 150 children being fed by a member of our family group of charities, World Emergency Relief – UK, has grown to over 2,000 people. They are in desperate need of food and other essential humanitarian supplies.
Via satellite phone, Darryl Hall, Team Leader, just in: “We spent last night in tents on the embassy grounds. We are not staying in structures – too unstable. The sleeping conditions are as expected: Huge mosquitoes and chilly at night. The faces, so many faces with concern and despair on them – it’s hard to explain. The entire city is running out of food. We have yet to find an open market. Long days and short nights. We plan to get supplies to Good Samaritan School and then head to the border. International Faith Mission has asked us to reestablish electricity for their headquarters. They are in need of medical supplies for their mobile medical clinics. We do not rest much – every minute is the difference between life and death. We are needed and welcomed wherever we go. I have never seen so many with pain in their eyes. Will they have food tomorrow? Next week? We are working – working so hard for everyone.”
Andrea Stone, Rescue Task Force’s Executive Officer, related, “In the fire department, a STRIKE FORCE is when one calls units that are the same i.e., a strike force of six ladder trucks would be six ladder trucks responding. A TASK FORCE is when one calls on six different units to respond i.e. one ladder, one engine, one water tanker, etc. Rescue Task Force is just that -rescue by simultaneous but different means of delivery. A Rescue Task Force team is one in which each member brings his own individual strength, expertise, compassion, experience and skill and then, in conjunction with the other team members, is able to bring these assets together to work toward set objectives. Our Rescue Task Force team on the ground in Haiti continues to make us proud.
It’s hard to sleep at night knowing there are many in pain. As they work tireless hours we in Carlsbad (headquarters) are also keeping the supplies and relief moving. We have 16,000 bottles of hand sanitizer on the way and we are working on several more containers of various supplies – depending on what is available for immediate shipping. We ask for your prayers for our team and our staff to stay strong as they continue our relief efforts.”
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Your prayers and donations are needed, now!
It is as simple as that. The response to this tragedy cannot wait. Please help. Your help will alleviate suffering and save lives.
Haiti desperately needs us right now. The Haitian people are in so much pain. 80,000 have already been buried in mass graves. 200,000 is the expected death toll and this number continues to climb. Please help.
Please keep our team in prayer.
Online donations may be made at http://www.wer-us.org/haiti-RFT-donation.html or
Send checks to:
Rescue Task Force
2270 Camino Vida Roble
Suite K
Carlsbad, CA 92011
Follow up to the minute details on our team at:
Twitter.com/RescueTaskForce
Twitter.com/MorrowChris
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Many organizations are responding to and seeking support for the Haiti disaster. Rescue Task Force’s experience of providing emergency disaster relief “Around the World, Around the Clock” for over 20 years means that victims will receive essential aid quickly.
Rescue Task Force is in the World Emergency Relief family of Charities.
