LENEXA, Kan. — Workers at Lenexa-based Heart to Heart International will leave Saturday for the Marshall Islands to help prevent the spread of coronavirus to the so-far-unaffected islands.
The Marshall Islands sit more than 6,000 miles away in the Pacific Ocean, but one of its nearest neighbors, South Korea, is dealing with an emergency outbreak. There are hundreds of cases and at least seven confirmed deaths in South Korea related to the virus.
Nine Heart to Heart workers will be on the islands for one month following a request from the World Health Organization. Joan Kelly, Heart to Heart International’s disaster response manager, is the team lead for the Marshall Islands project.
"We will bring masks that are medical-grade specific for infection prevention control, gloves so on and so forth," Kelly said. "We're lucky enough to be deploying with fellows from Johns Hopkins, the head of a level 4 bio security lab in Canada… So really a dream team of experts.”
WHO asked Heart to Heart International to help Marshall Islands' medical teams set up procedures and protocols to keep the islands safe.
"It's a very small population, 50,000 or so people in the entire country and a very fragile health system,” said Dan Neal, vice president of operations for Heart to Heart International. “Not a lot of health workers and a lot of health care needs.”
Despite dangers, Heart to Heart International workers said they are prepared.
"I've been doing this for about 15 years,” Kelly said, “and it's an exciting adventure every time we go to a new place and a real opportunity for us to help a new group of people.”
The Marshall Islands have an outbreak of dengue fever, a mosquito borne virus. Hundreds of people are sick, and the Heart to Heart team also will help hospitals and clinics take care of those patients.
