Scientology Responds to Haiti Volunteer Ministers Story

Scientology's spokesman, Tommy Davis, responds to a story in Catholic Online regarding their involvement in the Haiti disaster.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - [Editor's Note: On Tuesday I received a phone call from Tommy Davis, the official spokesman for Scientology, regarding the article we had run on the work of Volunteer Ministers in Haiti.

In part, he took issue with section from "Just Bill" in the story that stated, "The Church of Scientology provides no money towards the victims in Haiti. None. Not one penny. The church supplies no food, no water, no medicine, no building materials, no personnel, no expertise, nothing for Haiti.

"But they claim, in their press releases, that their Volunteer Ministers are "a major relief agency" helping in Haiti. If they do nothing, how can they claim this?

In response to that claim, Davis forwarded their report on Scientology's involvement in the recent disaster. That information follows.

Highlights January 16-February 4, 2010
STATS
- Volunteer Ministers who have served or are currently serving in Haiti: 146
- Doctors, nurses and EMTs transported to Haiti since January 16: 394
- Doctors, nurses and EMTs on waiting list for next VM flight: 100
- Approximate individuals directly helped by Volunteer Ministers: 41,000
- Approximate meals served to patients, refugees and medical teams: 6,000
- Tons of food and supplies transported to Haiti since January 16: 20
- Tons of food and supplies distributed with World Food Program: 420

Other Volunteer Minister actions:

Seven MDs and two Volunteer Ministers gave tetanus shots and delivered hygiene supplies to 175 villagers in a remote area cut off from supply lines.

Volunteer Ministers organized four planeloads of medical supplies flown to Jacmel for doctors with no medical supplies and cut off from regular support lines.

Volunteer Ministers delivered hundreds of cases of MREs (meals ready to eat) and other food to a remote community and built kitchens for 1,000 people.

Volunteer Ministers transported a sanitation team to Haiti that took on cleanup around the hospital, including trash disposal and draining of a waste-filled pond near the hospital tents.

Volunteer Ministers were assigned as personal assistants to the hospital director and hospital coordinator at a Port-au-Prince hospital and set up supply and logistics lines in the hospital which greatly increased organization and production soon after the earthquake.

At the University of Miami Hospital, Volunteer Ministers manned the food distribution lines, including to outlying communities and refugee camps.

Volunteer Ministers were assigned to organize and inventory all medical supplies, which greatly increased the ability of the doctors and nurses to deliver medical care. The VMs organized local Haitians to participate in these functions which empowered the local residents.

Volunteer Ministers delivered several tons of food, water and medical supplies to three orphanages destroyed in the earthquake and procured and erected tents for the children to live in.

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