Under the leadership of Claude Dugas, we have three sub-teams working:
- Supplies and procurement
- Transportation
- Medical
Each day the team will coordinate a driver with a vehicle with the correct plates with three additional passengers, each of whom represents a family in need of supplies (food and medication). The group will be permitted to leave the community for shopping, and is encouraged to shop as locally as possible. They are also encouraged to maintain a safe distance of six feet between them and any others in order to prevent the transmission of any potential virus from another individual they may encounter while shopping. The team will be developing a list of reliable sources of supplies to which these cars can be sent to obtain supplies.
Fuel
We all need fuel to keep our generators running. We are using a combination of commercial taxi services and individual vehicle owners to ensure we have enough vehicles with the right licence plates to travel the roads each day. There is a limit of four gas canisters per vehicle for refueling, so there will need to be multiple purchase runs daily.
Cash
We are aware this is Ecuador and cash is the only method of payment. If you are running short of cash, the finance committee has developed a process to provide you with a loan of cash from the emergency fund. Please only request the money absolutely necessary to buy your essential supplies. Our community has been generous in providing that cash but it remains a very limited resource until we establish and implement the process of moving money from people in Canada to bank accounts in Ecuador. That is coming very soon.
Medical
We have Barb Law and other medical professionals onsite fully engaged in planning and providing expert advice to the crisis operations team to ensure we are taking every precaution possible to avoid any potential transmission of the coronavirus. Barb Law is the direct medical advisor to the director of the crisis operations and we have full confidence in her. If you have any medical issues, require medications or anything at all, let us know.
If you can help with any of this, contact Claude Dugas.