Refugee crisis spurs Doctors Without Borders recruiting in Halifax
Dr. Joni Guptill wants to convince more Nova Scotians to drop everything and volunteer overseas.
Guptill is the Atlantic coordinator for the non-profit group Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, which holds recruitment sessions in Halifax twice a year.
This year, the room was packed with potential applicants.
Guptill says the refugee crisis in Europe is increasing demand for medial professionals to volunteer overseas, but she's also hoping it will draw more people to apply.
"It may trigger people to want to give financially but we're hoping that it will also tweak people to want to come and work with our organization," Guptill says.
Doctors Without Borders is involved in more than 300 missions around the world, including running a rescue ship on the Mediterranean Sea to pick up migrants and take them to Italy.
The non-profit has been working for the last two months to rescue between 600 and 1,500 people a day.
Nova Scotia native Mark Horrelt worked as a project coordinator on three separate missions with Doctors Without Borders.
He says the experience is worth the challenge.
"You're their only hope. So I'd ... describe it as very meaningful, significant work," says Horrelt.
Doctors Without Borders says it's not only looking for medical professionals. There are openings for engineers, logistics personnel, pharmacists, and construction workers.
