MAF in Nepal flies 4,000th passenger
With ongoing funding from DFID in the UK, we have been able to extend our disaster response in Nepal until the end of 2015, continuing to help the Nepali people rebuild their lives after the massive earthquakes in April. Last month, MAF crossed a milestone with our 4,000th passenger.
story by Laura Hibberd
Medecins du Monde rely on helicopter flights
On Thursday, 24 September MAF in Nepal flew our 4,000th passenger in the earthquake relief efforts. Fittingly – our 4,000th passenger was Simon Woolridge, Country Director for Medecins du Monde (MDM). Since the very first weeks of our work in Nepal, MDM has been utilising the MAF coordinated helicopter flights to transport their medical relief teams into remote villages to provide medical care, psychological care, training and medical supplies in areas heavily damaged by the earthquakes.
Woolridge and other key MDM staff members were heading into the village of Chaukati, a 20 minute journey by helicopter, otherwise accessible only by 5 hours driving to the end of the road, followed by 5 hours of hiking along narrow, landslide prone trail. The medical clinic / health post in Chaukati was a pile of rubble – completely destroyed in the earthquake. On this trip, the MDM leadership was assessing the suitability of proposed sites for the building of a new, permanent clinic to continue to meet the medical needs of the region. MDM is working to help rebuild the health posts destroyed by the earthquake. One third of the posts on their list, including this post in Chaukati, they have determined are only accessible by helicopter.
Ongoing psychological trauma
In the midst of the obvious physical damage to Chaukati there is also a more subtle damage as well. Anxiety, panic attacks, and other “unexplainable” physical symptoms have started to appear. The uncertainty and fear caused by the earthquakes has left many suffering from psychological trauma ranging from minor to severe. The MDM health teams are working to train the area leaders (typically the school teachers, local officials, and health volunteers) in emergency preparedness, basic first aid and – a unique and needed element of the work here in Nepal – psychological first aid. The classes teach awareness and symptoms of mental health issues, basic counselling/listening techniques, and information about referrals and where villagers can go if more help is needed. Since the earthquake, MDM has shared these important skills with 400 leaders across 18 VCDs (regions within the districts of Nepal).
MDM provides practical help and training
In addition to training, the MDM mobile clinic teams conduct medical consultations in these rural villages. Two of their mobile teams are dedicated to areas only accessible by helicopter. Since the earthquake, these “air teams” as MDM calls them, have reached their rural destinations exclusively by MAF coordinated helicopter. To date, these “air teams” have conducted 4,361 medical consultations, bringing quality medical care to areas that would be difficult or impossible to reach without the helicopter support.
It is very fitting that the milestone of 4,000 passengers for MAF Nepal was reached while carrying the staff from Medecins du Monde. We are honored to enable the great work MDM is doing in the remote, earthquake damaged areas of Nepal and we look forward to carrying many more passengers for MDM as their “air teams” continue to reach these isolated communities.