Monday, March 6, 2006
"Shukriya" — thank you — was the first Urdu word she learned. a fitting phrase for Cpl. Micheline Lafontaine, a medical technician, deployed with the Canadian Forces' Disaster assistance Response Team (DaRT) to Pakistan.
Fully operational since Oct. 23, the 216-member DaRT now calls Gahri Dopatta, 15 km southeast of Muzaffarabad, home. In a forested valley, the city has been devastated by the effects of the earthquake which struck on Oct. 8.
For Cpl. Lafontaine, part of the 46-member medical platoon serving on Operation PLaTEaU, this is her very first deployment. Joining the CF at the age of 38, she has been serving for just six years. Even with a delay and static over the phone line to Pakistan, her voice is tinged with enthusiasm and some apprehension.
Her enthusiasm is for her many patients. On average, she and the rest of the mobile medical team see between 60 and 120 patients per day. The apprehension is reserved for the roads they must travel to reach the villages where they work. Travelling up to 14 km away, she describes them as narrow and steep. "It's very scary," she says. "It took me about three days to get used to it."
Cpl. Lafontaine says the people are very much in need of treatment. She says the DaRT medical teams have encountered almost every kind of illness, from broken bones to burns, gangrene and even amputations.
Cultural norms in Pakistan often dictate that male doctors cannot see female patients. as a woman, Cpl. Lafontaine can treat other women, children and even men. In this situation, she explains, being female is a very good thing.
She characterizes her experience as, "very rewarding." a young boy she treated just days ago could barely move. She saw him shortly after, sitting by the side of the road, waving.
Cpl. Mark Cortens is one of four Reservists deployed as part of the DaRT. a signals operator with the 737 Communications Squadron in Saskatoon, this is also his first deployment. He admits he wondered if his job — receiving and passing incoming messages, while also running the satellite phone system — was making a real difference to the local population. "I have realized," he says, "that my job is to help people. Because without the signals, people don't get helped."
Warrant Officer andré Lafontaine, from 2 Service Battalion at CFB Petawawa, is the warrant officer for the logistics cell. He says he was struck by the utter destruction in the area, and the sight of people foraging for any tiny piece of clothing they could find to dress themselves or their family.
Charged with co-ordinating the supply of goods to the camp, he says sometimes there are needs the planners could never have anticipated. For those, WO Lafontaine either goes through a buyer in Islamabad or contacts Canadian authorities to determine the best way to procure an item. His most recent purchase? Breast pumps. "Mothers need to feed their babies," he explains. "But it's really hard to find breast pumps in the region." His buyer in Islamabad eventually tracked a few down.
If I don't have the goods here on the ground …to provide to the medics or the engineers," he says, "they will not be able to help [the local population]. I'm doing something good here."
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