Scientology-Sponsored Charter Flight Brings Medical and Spiritual Aid to Haiti

NEW YORK, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- A charter flight organized by the Church of Scientology carried 126 doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians and Scientology Volunteer Ministers to Port-au-Prince where the group arrived Sunday. Assisted by Homeland Security, the plane left JFK International Airport Saturday to provide urgently needed help in Haiti in the wake of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the island on January 12.

The effort brought together medical doctors and nurses from the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad (Association des Medecins Haitiens a l'Etranger), paramedics and emergency medical technicians from New York City and New Jersey led by the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and Scientology Volunteer Ministers from New York, Tampa and elsewhere.

Upon arrival in Port-au-Prince Sunday, the group received official escort to the designated non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and relief organizations headquarters and coordination center to conference with fellow relief organizations and coordinate their efforts to bring reinforcements to the greatly overtaxed medical teams. The Volunteer Ministers will also provide spiritual first aide to traumatized earthquake victims and relief workers.

Teams of Scientology Volunteer Ministers from throughout the U.S., Mexico, Europe and elsewhere continue to arrive and will provide administrative and organizational support to the medical teams, distribute supplies and provide trauma relief and grief counseling to the victims and their families.

"We had to reach out to provide substantial and meaningful help to the victims of this disaster," said Pat Harney, a spokesperson for the Scientology Volunteer Ministers who is heading up the team in Haiti. "We have an outpouring of support from Scientologists and others around the world and we are underway in getting much-needed aid to the people of Port-au-Prince."

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps is an embracive program of the Church of Scientology to provide community service, disaster relief and emergency response. Created more than 30 years ago by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the program has expanded to 203,000 Volunteer Ministers worldwide who have served at 145 worst-case disaster sites, including Ground Zero after 9/11, the Southeast Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

SOURCE Church of Scientology