Local paramedics en route to Japan | Community Spirit

Tacoma resident Paul Cretella is no stranger to flying into the unknown. He spent 10 years in the military in England, and now works as a firefighter and paramedic for Snohomish County Fire District 1. 

But even so, there was a slight edge of nervousness as he and the rest of the International Medical Assistance Team made their way to quake-ravaged Japan this week.

"There’s a level of apprehension, just the 'What are we going to find?'” he said Monday evening, speaking via cell phone from a Hawaiian airport.

IMAT is a grassroots, non-governmental organization that was founded by Snohomish County Paramedic Chris Tompkins after the earthquake in Haiti last year, to provide on-the-ground medical assistance to areas in need.

Once the group lands in Japan, the plan is to push north to regions that are not getting assistance at this point, and to stay avoid potential radiological threats.

Four members of IMAT (including several more Tacoma residents) are already on the ground, assessing the situation and relaying information back to Cretella and two others.

"We’re in the assessment stage right now. I just spoke with some of the guys that are actually on the ground in Japan. Transportation is a big issue right now," he said.

The team is mostly made up of paramedics. One teammate is not a paramedic, but speaks fluent Japanese and lived in the affected area for six years.

Last year Cretella was in Haiti with IMAT one week after the earthquake. The group teamed up with the Canadian Medical Assistance Teams, working out of a rudimentary camp near a small village that had not seen assistance of any kind. The groups operated on a woman who'd been suffering with a fractured pelvis for a week, and rode to the tent in the middle of a field in the back of a pick-up truck for help.

"It’s grown to the point where the organization has literally put hundreds of volunteers into Haiti," Cretella said.

"Since [the initial response] we have processed hundreds of volunteers and have maintained a perpetual state of deployment in Haiti. Where we have cared for tens of thousands of people in desperate need and contributed/distributed thousands of pounds of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals as well as provided administrative and logistical support to other organizations. Transitioning from disaster response to disaster relief and ultimately to a sustainable humanitarian effort," reads the IMAT website. 

"Through this experience we have come to realize that a sustainable humanitarian effort in Haiti and humanitarian efforts around the world will help us to maintain a high state of readiness for international disaster response."

Since then, IMAT has provided aid in Pakistan, Chile and Guatemala, and made many friends and contacts in the process.

One of those contacts donated the group's flights to Japan on Hawaiian Airlines, and that is how the group plans to return to Washington as well.

To help Cretella and the team, visit the IMAT website and sign up to volunteer or simply donate.

"Any donation is a huge help," says Cretella. "It helps us put boots on the ground, and with some medical expertise that can really make an impact."