Join us for a discussion with the Tigard-based humanitarian relief agency Medical Teams International– an organization known internationally and locally for their dedication to refugee health care, disaster relief, and mobile dental programs. Threading connections between care for the world and the need for resources in our own background, Betsy Baldwin (Director of the Humanitarian Response Team), Cindy Breilh (Executive Director of U.S. Programs), and Joe DiCarlo (Global Ambassador and member of WorldOregon’s Board of Advisors), share how Medical Teams International has pivoted with the rise of COVID-19 to address innovative approaches to rural public health in Oregon and Washington and across the globe in places like Bangladesh and Guatemala, among other locales. 

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Betsy Baldwin is the Director of the Humanitarian Response Team at Medical Teams International. She joined Medical Teams in June of 2018, amidst the Rohingya Refugee response in Bangladesh where Medical Teams was providing clinical and community health support in the Kutapalong Refugee camp through 5 clinics. Her and her team of seven staff lead Medical Teams analysis, preparation, planning and response to humanitarian crisis globally.  Betsy has been working in the humanitarian field since 2007 when she started as an intern in the Darfur region of Sudan. Following that assignment she has spent 6.5 years in the field delivering humanitarian aid programs in Afghanistan, Haiti, South Sudan, Iraq and DRC. Between these assignments she has spent four and a half years in Program Management roles in the US at World Vision and Salvation Army, supporting responses in Somalia, Sri Lanka, Mali, Japan, and Philippines.  Prior to working at Medical Teams she was the Response Director for Tearfund in Iraq, providing assistance to those displaced from Mosul between 2016 and 2018.  Betsy has a Bachelors and Masters in Civil Engineering, with a focus on water treatment and lives in Washington, D.C. 

Cindy Breilh is the Executive Director of U.S. Programs and began her career as a nurse entrepreneur, owning a small nursing education business and working in clinical research for a medical device software start-up.  She has years of experience working with non-profits,  building high functioning teams, fundraising, developing strategies and supporting processes and systems. Cindy joined Medical Teams in 2015 as Director of Advancement, leading the Philanthropy Team supporting both US and Global Programs. Cindy brings this rare combination of health care, management and fundraising to help lead our US-based Mobile Clinic Program into the future.  Having lived in Africa and having worked for several international organizations in relief and development, Cindy has developed a deep passion for serving vulnerable populations. In her new role, Cindy brings all this experience to the U.S. Programs in addressing dental and other health care needs of people in our own communities.

Joe DiCarlo is Medical Teams International's Global Ambassador. When Hurricane Mitch barreled through Central America in 1998, Joe mobilized a team of medical professionals to help suffering families recover. This was his first assignment – responding to the second-deadliest hurricane in recorded history. Over the course of his 20 years at Medical Teams International, Joe’s led dozens of disaster responses. Seeing the suffering on a mother’s face is what drives him to help Medical Teams International implement programs that provide for the whole person. He currently serves as Medical Teams’ Global Ambassador, where he builds faith partnerships both domestically and internationally and provides duty of care services for the staff.