SOAR On the Move
SOAR Sends Medical Team to Honduras From October 25th until November 2nd of 2008, SOAR volunteers worked in remote and rugged conditions in the mountains of Honduras to provide free medical care to those in need. Families hiked for miles in the mountains to see SOAR Dentist, Tom Uelk . Villagers arrived in pain and left with relief. The team consisted of 10 SOAR volunteers who partnered with 10 Remote Area Medical (RAM) volunteers to provide free medical, dental and eye care in the central mountains of Honduras. The team was based in Sequatepeque, and each day they would take a bus or four wheel drive vehicles out to the surrounding villages to set up clinics. Just prior to the arrival of the team, Honduras was hit by a tropical storm that caused wide spread damage to the entire nation and consequently, SOAR was also caring for some of those affected by the storm. Days were long and muddy for the team. Cold was a constant companion. At one point, all of the trucks were stuck in the mud and the team had to abandon the vehicles and walk to the village if they were going to provide medical care before darkness fell. In the end, this 20 person team cared for over 3000 people who had no other access to doctors or dentists. Many of them had spent months in severe pain before receiving care from the SOAR medical team. SOAR Plans to return to Honduras in the fall of 2009.
Volunteers complete ambitious project May 26, 2008—10 SOAR volunteers working in remote and arduous conditions completed a one of a kind water project that will not only have a positive impact upon the remote Guyana community where it was completed, but implications of the project could have an impact upon developing world. SOAR was asked to assist in the construction of a water system that would provide clean and potable water to the RAM Center located in the remote region of Guyana, South America. The RAM Center will be used by Remote Area Medical (RAM) as hub of activity for their medical, dental, eye and veterinary programs. The engineering design and management for the project was completed by a three person Canadian SOAR team and led by Volunteer Victor Menkal. Upon arrival at the site the engineering team realized that a traditional well would not be feasible due to soil conditions and suggested a system that would pull water directly from the river. To ensure the water was potable, the team then designed a simple device to slowly and steadily deliver a continuous dose of chlorine to the water. The end result was potable water from the tap. Victor and Arthur—Victor Menkal (foreground) and Arthur Mills find creative ways to solve problems. When an end cap for this pipe was not available, they melted the ends down to make it work. In remote areas, creativity is source of success. The project to obtain clean water was completed quickly, but the team remained in place to repair infrastructure to support the RAM Center. Volunteers Tom Kamin and Jim Trimbly led the team during the repairs. Under their direction, the team completed all tasks in a shorter time than expected. So they found new tasks to complete. When the project was complete, 10 of 10 rooms in were repaired in an abandoned bunkhouse. All rooms had running water. All windows were repaired. Screens were placed over windows. A kitchen was installed. Basic medical supplies were assembled. When the team left the RAM Center it was ready to handle a medical team. The RAM Center sign is erected by SOAR Volunteers from left to right, Marc Bacaro, Ricki Sheldon, David Batt and Paul Maresca. The following volunteers worked on this project: • Rene Steinhauer (Director of SOAR) • Victor Menkal • Arthur Mills • Betty Belsher • Tom Kamin • Marc Bacaro • Jim Trimby • Ricki Sheldon • Paul Maresca • David Batt To learn more, read the Blog from this expedition at: http://aidrelief.blogspot.com/.
SOAR provides a free new Disaster Course in the San Francisco Bay Area SOAR is now offering a free course to teach locals what to expect in a catastrophic disaster and how to survive such an event. This course is taught free of charge to any group who requests it. Rene Steinhauer RN and Tina Stephens RN teach this course. Both of these instructors volunteered in Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, Rene Steinhauer has extensive experience disaster management and has responded to numerous disasters including the San Francisco Earthquake and the Tsunami relief of 2004. Tina Stephens is also disaster trained, CERT certified and experienced in risk management assessment. This one-hour course teaches individuals: • What to expect in a disaster • Three steps to surviving an Earthquake • How to make a family disaster plan • How to shut off utilities Basic urban survival skills including obtaining clean water This course is designed for the workplace. Our instructors will come to the worksite at lunchtime or after work to provide this course free of charge to anyone who requests the course. If you would like us to teach this course to your group, send SOAR e-mail at: renesteinhauer@aidrelief.org
SOAR is an entirely volunteer non-profit organization. There are no paid staff members. These volunteers travel anyplace in the country or the world to save lives and improve health. All services provided by SOAR are free of charge.
Our Mission Simply put, SOAR is dedicated to preserving lives and improving health worldwide, at home and abroad.
Organization Profile SOAR is a State of California registered non-profit organization that provides humanitarian aid to those in need. All members of SOAR are volunteers. SOAR provides medical and non-medical volunteers to various humanitarian projects worldwide. These projects include primary health care, disaster response and refugee services. SOAR also works to improve sanitation for refugees and to provide safe water supplies to those who need it.
Mr. Rene Steinhauer RN CFRN, EMMP-P Director, Serving Others Aid Relief, Inc.
Rene Steinhauer has been involved in volunteer service for over 20 years. His first disaster experience was as a volunteer with the American Red Cross during the Northern California Floods of 1986. Since then he has been involved in numerous disasters including the San Francisco Quake of 1989 and the Oakland Hills Fire. Rene Steinhauer's desire to serve others led him to becoming a paramedic in 1991. By 1995, he gained international experience working in Saudi Arabia. Soon he travelled to places such as Bosnia and Rwanda. In 2000, he obtained his nursing degree with honors. In 2001, he was called to active duty with the United States Air Force and served multiple combat tours of duty for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. More recently, Rene Steinhauer provided tsunami relief in Sri Lanka and Hurricane Katrina relief in New Orleans.
Contact Information Mr. Rene Steinhauer RN CFRN, EMP-P Director of Operations 1001 Bridgeway #520 Sausalito, CA 94965 Phone: 415-497-6116 E-mail: renesteinhauer@aidrelief.org www.aidrelief.org
Serving Others Aid Relief is a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization SOAR IRS Tax ID Number: 26-1081029rg
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