Scientology Volunteer Minister Ayal Lindeman is carrying out his 6th humanitarian mission to Haiti since the January 2010 earthquake. Since arriving May 14, he has trained more than 1,100 community health personnel, families and first-responders in simple skills that save lives.
Lindeman, a 20-year veteran emergency medical technician and licensed practical nurse, trained some 400 people the first week there, and teamed up with Archangel Airborne May 22 for a series of training sessions and clinics for persons with little or no medical training. These sessions were organized by Archangel Founder and President Stuart Hirsch.
Each of the workshops cover basic medical and first-aid skills for coping with disasters and epidemics. Lindeman incorporates techniques from The Scientology Handbook for the relief of trauma and confusion and provides practical know-how learned over the past decade through service in ten major disasters including the January 2010 Haiti earthquake.
As cholera has killed more than 7,000 Haitians and sickened more than 531,000 since the epidemic began in October 2010, Lindeman’s workshops feature training on how to cope with and prevent the spread of cholera: what the disease is, a very inexpensive and simple way to make safe drinking water, and an oral rehydration formula to assist those who do contract the illness to survive.
Workshops also include how to deal with life-threatening injuries and conditions in the harshest of circumstances; basic first-aid including bleeding control, injury stabilization and spinal protection despite lack of supplies; and transporting of patients using material easily found even in a disaster zone.
Archangel Airborne is a nonprofit organization of aviators, clinicians and multidisciplinary specialists whose mission is to provide medical, logistical and consultative support to areas in need of restabilization. The team utilizes aircraft to transport clinicians, advisors, supplies and equipment to underserved areas.
The Scientology Volunteer Minister program was initiated by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1976. Scientology Volunteer Ministers have trained and partnered with more than 1,100 organizations, including the Red Cross, FEMA, National Guard, Salvation Army, Mexico’s International Rescue Brigade, Boy Scouts, and hundreds of local, regional and national groups and organizations, giving freely of their skills, their care and compassion. They have provided physical and spiritual relief at more than 200 disaster sites.