October 6, 2014
The Government of Canada is delivering its first shipment of personal protective equipment (PPE) to help protect healthcare workers on the front line of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. The first shipment consists of 128,000 face shields which left Trenton, Ontario on a Department of National Defence Hercules Aircraft at 8 am this morning.
The Public Health Agency of Canada recently offered to donate a range of personal protective equipment to the World Health Organization (WHO) to help with the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Following this offer, the WHO requested 300,000 face shields be delivered as soon as possible. The next shipment of face shields will be sent within the next week. More personal protective equipment will be sent, with priority given to what the WHO indicates is most urgently needed, both by air and by sea.
The Public Health Agency of Canada reminds Canadians that the risk of Ebola to Canadians remains very low. The Public Health Agency of Canada is more than ready to respond should a case of Ebola reach Canada. Canada is at the forefront of the Ebola response, and we are contributing funds, expertise, and equipment to the international efforts to fight this outbreak. We have also deployed two teams of medical experts on the ground working in our mobile lab in Sierra Leone.
The Government of Canada continues to work with domestic and international partners to coordinate the shipment of remaining equipment offered from PHAC and Health Canada stockpiles. We will also continue to work with our provincial and territorial colleagues to provide further personal protective equipment to the WHO from provincial supplies and to prioritize the delivery of items that are most urgently required.
Photo 1 caption: Members of 8 Wing Trenton load boxes of faceshields onto a 436(T) Squadron CC130J Hercules aircraft bound for Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) is tranpsorting supplies on behalf of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to the west african nation. The aircraft departed 8 Wing Trenton the morning of 06 October 2014.
Photo 2 caption: Pallets of supplies are loaded onto a 436(T) Squadron CC130J Hercules aircraft bound for Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) is tranpsorting supplies on behalf of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to the west african nation. The aircraft departed 8 Wing Trenton the morning of 06 October 2014.
Photos by Master Corporal (MCpl) Roy MacLellan, 8 Wing Trenton
