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Natasha Osmond, a perioperative nurse from Halifax, recently returned from Dhunche, a rural community in Nepal, where she worked at the Red Cross field hospital. On this, her first overseas assignment, Natasha was responsible for patient safety, legal aspects of nursing, and management of nursing activities related to surgery. 

Cela fait trois mois qu’a eu lieu le premier des deux tremblements de terre qui, avec plus de 100 répliques sismiques, ont dévasté le Népal. Bon nombre de personnes ont perdu la vie, leur foyer ou leurs moyens de subsistance. Les séismes ont touché 5,6 millions de Népalais et endommagé ou détruit plus de 853 000 habitations.

According to Kassahun Shambo, an emigrant from Ethiopia, being a newcomer to Manitoba can be a frustrating experience. Shambo remembers walking with a friend, another newcomer to Canada, who slipped and injured himself on a patch of ice. The men didn’t know what to do, so they went to a local shopping mall and asked people where they could get medical help.

Today marks three months since the first of two earthquakes devastated Nepal. With more than 100 aftershocks, many people have lost their lives, homes and livelihoods. The earthquakes impacted 5.6 million Nepalese with more than 853,000 homes damaged or destroyed.

Gary Tinker did not know what to expect when he arrived at the Evraz shelter on July 1. He and his family had just spent nine hours on a bus ride from Pinehouse, Saskatchewan. Like the 1,500 residents from his community, he was given little time pack before leaving.

Fabrice Vanhoutte, un bénévole de la Croix-Rouge, adore faire sourire les enfants. Et il a plus d’un tour dans son sac pour amuser les jeunes qui sont présentement logés dans un centre d’hébergement à Saskatoon.

Red Cross volunteer Fabrice Vanhoutte loves putting a smile on children’s faces. So, he has plenty of tricks up his sleeve for the young people in a Saskatoon shelter.
 
“If I see a kid who is upset, I don’t necessarily go right up to them but I stay nearby and play my mouth organ or start showing a card trick,” says Vanhoutte.
 

It’s an exciting time for some of the people evacuated by the Saskatchewan wildfires who get to return to their communities. There are plenty of smiles as they board buses on their way back home. Most have mentioned looking forward to sleeping in their own beds; others are excited to see their pets.