In the aftermath of devastating wildfires that consumed approximately 80% of homes in Penco municipality’s Chinatown district of Lirquen, a specialized medical brigade has established critical healthcare operations. Coordinated by Cindy Alvarez, the team consists of physicians who graduated from Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) and now operate under the NGO ELAM-Chile.
Dr. Mario Gomez Mannarelli, speaking to Prensa Latina, detailed their comprehensive approach: ‘Beyond operating stationary health posts, our teams conduct mobile medical visits to residents physically unable to leave destroyed properties due to cleanup obligations.’ The physicians employ systematic triage protocols, initially assessing pediatric and adult populations for chronic conditions and instability before distributing necessary medications.
The medical professionals, self-funding their deployment to the Biobío region and supplying their own pharmaceutical inventories, represent what Dr. Mannarelli terms the ‘White Coat Army.’ He emphasized their disaster response methodology stems directly from Cuban medical training: ‘This operational framework—assessing, stabilizing, and medicating—constitutes our standard disaster protocol acquired through ELAM and Henry Reeve Brigade training.’
The initiative demonstrates transnational medical solidarity, with Cuban-educated Chilean physicians implementing Caribbean-developed disaster medicine methodologies to address catastrophic wildfires in South American communities.