By Air Force 2^nd Lt. Victoria Brayton, JFSOCC Public Affairs

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Joint Task Force-Haiti medical planners took action Jan. 25 to connect non-governmental organizations and the World Health Organization to facilitate faster, more effective distribution of medical supplies throughout Haiti after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.

Medical supplies such as vaccines, pain management drugs and disinfectants are currently stored in a warehouse in Port-au-Prince managed by the World Health Organization. The supplies, donated by international organizations and governments, are then distributed to hospitals and medical facilities via international relief and non-governmental organizations, said Ian Stein, World Health Organization emergency response team program officer.

The problem, however, was that some of those organizations were unaware that they could get supplies from that warehouse.

The confusion and damage caused by the earthquake created communication challenges between the many organizations assisting in the relief efforts.

“No one could tell us where this warehouse was, what the procedures were or how to access it,” said Simone Winneg, a Humedica International coordinator. “We have doctors, but they are useless without any materials.”

The solution came from Lt. Col. Jose Garcia, JTF-Haiti medical planner. Acting as a liaison, he established contact between the organizations so they could rapidly deliver medical supplies to the people of Haiti.

“All of these organizations are instrumental to the relief effort and linking them up will allow us to accomplish even more,” Garcia said.

Now linked, the relief organizations can request items they need from the warehouse inventory. After the World Health Organization verifies the legitimacy of the organization and the medical facility the organization intends to support, they give the supplies to the organization to distribute to the hospitals.

“Without the aid of the U.S. military, we would not have access to the supplies,” Ms. Winneg said. “It would have been a pity if there were all these supplies waiting and we couldn’t get access. The U.S. military opened up many doors for us.”

Humedica International currently supports three health stations in Haiti, one of which will receive equipment to sterilize materials, thereby allowing for more treatments and operations for the patients.

The German-based non-governmental organization was just the first of many other organizations that are now in contact with the World Health Organization warehouse.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to set up this process of supply distribution for the long term,” Garcia said. “Ultimately that’s why we’re here, to make things better for the Haitian people.”

In addition to linking up the various organizations to get supplies out faster, U.S. military forces have also helped the World Health Organization by offloading bags of cement, setting up tents and clearing land by the warehouse so more containers of supplies could be stored.

“The 82^nd Airborne has been great for us,” Mr. Stein said. “Anything we ask them to do—I’ve been amazed—they’ve been responding immediately in a very admirable way. They’ve set up a really collaborative relationship with us.”