A Return to the Philippines

A Filipino man carries a HHI Ready Relief Box onto a beach on Isla Gigantes, Philippines, after offloading it from a boat.Heart to Heart International has returned to the Philippines – leading a second team of volunteer medical providers to operate makeshift clinics and bring healthcare to people in far-flung regions of the island nation.

This follows the first wave of our Typhoon Relief Operations and the successful deployment of more than two dozen medical volunteers and staff in November/December of 2013 to areas like Tacloban and Ormoc in the wake of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.
You can read about those efforts HERE, HERE and HERE.

This second team is smaller but more mobile, as they travel across the central Philippines by air, by vehicle and by boat in order to reach quite remote locations.  The folks living in these areas, Isla Gigantes for example, were pummeled by Haiyan/Yolanda, yet have seen very little aid – and no medical attention to speak of.

So far, the team – made up of three HHI staff, a doctor, a physician’s assistant (PA) and 4 nurses – has met and treated nearly 400 people in just a couple of days.  From here, the team will travel to the large island of Samar, visiting communities that took the full brunt of the typhoon and are still dealing with the aftermath.

Click on the images below to see more from the Heart to Heart International team in the Philippines…