Viva Air Delivers Medical & Humanitarian Aid To Pandemic-Stricken Leticia, In Colombia’s Amazon

Fundación Viva Air, in alliance with the Antioquia Presente Corporation and other entities have operated a special flight to Leticia, Amazonas to deliver training personnel and 15 tons of food, medical equipment and other vital cargo.

The low-cost airline’s charitable foundation is coordinating efforts based in Medellín and deploying resources to other municipalities in Antioquia, and to other neglected areas of Colombia such as Leticia, in Amazonas and Quibdó, in Chocó. The effort aims to train health personnel, ambulance crews, and hospital support personnel in public and private health centers hardest hit by the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic.

Mónica Gil, CEO of the Viva Air Foundation.

On this humanitarian mission to Leticia, the airline deployed a group of 18 people for training, including doctors, instructors, and nursing assistants. Training efforts included transportation and boarding of critically ill patients in ambulances, biosafety training for the care of infected people, the use of protective equipment and respirator intubation, as well as the management of deceased persons. In addition, personal protection elements and food aid was delivered to the most affected communities.

“Thanks to Viva we arrived in the Amazon to provide support to a place in the country that is difficult to access and at this moment it needs our attention. By coordinating efforts and resources between different institutions, we will be able to strengthen the response capacity of the health sector in this region. Here, we all put, each from his experience, knowledge and purpose to build a country and get ahead of this crisis. We show our solidarity with all indigenous communities and reaching one of the most diverse territories in Colombia, “said Mónica Gil, CEO of the Viva Air Foundation.

“What started as a project to strengthen institutional and hospital capacities to deal with the Covid-19 emergency, is now a reality with its first destination: Amazonas. We join with different institutions, public and private, including Viva Air, to carry out these supports, not only of medical supplies for two hospitals in Leticia and Puerto Nariño, but also real-time training with the latest technology for the treatment of patients and the management of equipment to be donated, ”adds Marcela Ochoa Bernal, executive director of Corporación Antioquia Presente.

Other participants in the humanitarian efforts included BQA Consultoría; Bancolombia; Cooperativa de Hospitales de Antioquia; SENA, Antioquia Society of Anesthesiology; Adventist University – Faculty of Health Sciences, and others.