Sask. woman among Canadians aiding country struck by cyclone

A woman from Saskatoon is among a group of 25 Canadians working at a field hospital in Mozambique, which was struck by Cyclone Idai last month.

The storm, which also hit Zimbabwe and Malawi, has killed more than 1,000 people and many more are missing.

Angela Hill told John Gormley on Tuesday that one of the staff’s main priorities at the Canadian Red Cross hospital has been working with local health care services.

“Waterborne illness becomes a significant concern,” Hill said. “Increased cases of malaria. Increased cases of cholera. Increased cases of any other disease that you do find endemic in these kinds of countries but when you get water flowing through everything, the increase in transmission is there.

“We’re providing health care through a cholera treatment centre. We have people providing outreach and there’s organizations doing vaccinations. So there’s a multi-pronged approach to getting health care needs met.”

Hill describes catastrophic damage. Everybody she has met has experienced damage to their homes. Every few days, they get hit with massive rainstorms once again.

“While the flooding water has receded, there still is damage to crops and damage to homes. That is going to take some time for people to get back on their feet,” she said. “The incredible part is you see people working towards it.”

As many as 300,000 people rely on the facility.

With the electrical grid knocked out, she recalled one night where staff had to deliver a baby via C-section. They succeeded using generator power.

“They hooked it up to the surgical unit and they performed this emergency C-section with a single light,” she said. “Having that team and seeing local physicians working literally arm to arm with the Canadian staff is really powerful.”