Three medical professionals from Alberta are in the east African national of Mozambique to assist with the aid effort following Cyclone Idai.

“We have been in the country now for a week,” explained Jennifer Hewitt, a nurse from Calgary, in a telephone interview with CTV. “We spent the first couple days talking with all the local people around here to decide exactly would be the best way to help the community out here.”

“Now we’ve ended up in a small town called Nhamatanda where we have set up a cholera treatment centre.”

There have been more than 1,400 confirmed cases of cholera in the weeks following the deadly storm that hit the area on March 14 and that number is expected to grow. The cyclone has also contributed to more than 1,000 deaths.

Hewitt is participating in the mission alongside two of her fellow Albertans; Patricia Connick, an OPD doctor from Calgary, as well as Wendy Fougere, an OT nurse from Leduc.  The group has encountered an increasing number of cholera patients in their first week in Mozambique.

“We have seen quite a few people here after the cyclone which was fairly bad and there was subsequently fairly severe flooding around here,” said Hewitt. “A lot of people have been displaced, people do not have their homes anymore. The fear has been the spread of cholera would increase because of what has been happening. We’ve been seeing people now, all day, coming in with cholera as well as other problems like malaria.”

“It is really, really important that it’s treated quite quickly with large amounts of fluid.”

Cholera outbreaks are endemic to the African nations and families who have previously experienced firsthand the effects of the infectious disease have been quick to seek help at the treatment centre.

The 36-bed, emergency field hospital the group is working out of is open around the clock and is situated near a small rural hospital that was damaged by the cyclone and remains without running water.

Hewitt says she was given less than a day’s notice before she boarded a flight out of Calgary to take part in the first rotation in Mozambique, in what is her third mission with the Red Cross. She says she is working alongside a great team of ex-pats and local medical professionals, and the Mozambicans have already made for a rewarding experience.

“The people around are lovely. We’ve really enjoyed getting to know and getting to work with the local population,” said Hewitt. “It is very, very rewarding work to be able to come to another country where people have suffered a lot of losses and to be able to help them out and have the satisfaction of, especially in the case of cholera, the pretty immediate results from giving people the treatment.”

Hewitt says her rotation is scheduled to last four weeks and she expects to return to Calgary by the end of April.