SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, Feb. 23 International Medical Corps has teamed with Agility, one of the biggest global logistics firms, to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. The two organizations have joined international efforts to expedite food, medicine and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of people affected by the January 12 disaster, which claimed the lives of about 200,000 people and left some one million others homeless.
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International Medical Corps was on the ground in Haiti within 22 hours of the quake, and is serving as the lead agency operating out of the University hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince, as well as running mobile medical units at 15 sites in hard-hit outlying areas. Reaching a target population of approximately 450,000, Emergency Response Teams are treating 1,000 patients per day, providing services including primary health care, maternal/child care, and mental health care, along with nutrition and water/sanitation/hygiene.
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International Medical Corps' disaster response operations require significant global logistics support in an area that has seen massive structural devastation, including damaged roads, bridges, port facilities and airports.
This partnership dates back several years and allows International Medical Corps to request pro-bono logistics support services from Agility during times of natural disasters. In response, Agility has the opportunity to send highly skilled and experienced logistics personnel, equipment or other resources to the field to support the emergency operations.
"By helping International Medical Corps ensure medicines and other supplies reach people affected by the earthquake, Agility is playing a lead role in helping both its partner and the larger humanitarian community to save lives," said Rabih Torbay, International Medical Corps' Vice President for International Operations. "The expertise and resources Agility is providing are invaluable. Agility's team integrates well within our humanitarian logistics system, and provides requested services quickly and effectively. The joint operations are a great success and serve as a model for how responsible companies can assist humanitarian organizations during times of natural disaster."
For its Haiti operations, International Medical Corps has established a logistics operations and central distribution point out of the Dominican Republic. The relief pipeline flows from Santo Domingo to over ten distribution operations locations throughout Haiti. International Medical Corps supplies are flown and shipped into Santo Domingo, consolidated and then distributed by land, air and boat into earthquake-affected areas in Haiti.
In support of International Medical Corps, Agility has deployed senior operations manager Mike Bezares to the Dominican Republic to work on all aspects of logistics and supply chain management, including management of procurement, subcontractors, transportation, warehouses and overall logistics operations.
"Mike has taken a leadership role in the logistics operations. He hit the ground running and has added a lot of value to our team," said Marin Tomas, who heads International Medical Corps logistics in Haiti. "His experience and knowledge have allowed us to lower supply chain and logistics resource costs, and that allows us to get more assistance, faster, to those in need. Due to his experience, he will represent us at senior level, multi-national and multi-organizational logistics planning meetings. By having a person who can liaise here with other relief agencies, Agility is giving us an opportunity to save a fortune on logistics and transport costs from Santo Domingo to Haiti."
In addition to dispatching trained personnel to International Medical Corps operations, Agility has offered donations of warehouse and transportation assets. The combined technical expertise of the two organizations has enabled medical and food assistance to quickly reach the disaster area and those in need.
About International Medical Corps
Since its inception nearly 25 years ago, International Medical Corps' mission has been consistent: relieve the suffering of those impacted by war, natural disaster and disease, by delivering vital health care services that focus on training. This approach of helping people help themselves is critical to returning devastated populations to self-reliance. For more information visit our website at www.imcworldwide.org.
SOURCE International Medical Corps
