Get emergency help to injury victims in Bangladesh

On July 2, 2016, Bangladesh suffered a terrible tragedy when armed terrorist stormed a bakery in the diplomatic zone of Dhaka, injuring and killing dozens of police, innocent citizens, and foreigners.  Although CriticaLink lost a very good friend and supporter in the attack, we are grateful that all of our staff, board members, and volunteers are safe.

While this event has hung like a dark cloud over Dhaka over the last few months, it has given all of us at CriticaLink extra motivation to continue our work, recognizing that the need for emergency medical response in Bangladesh is more important than ever.  Our programs are continuing, and we're organizing new training sessions that focus on how to respond to mass disasters and terrorist attacks, while also working diligently to put protocols in place to protect our volunteers and keep them safe. We look forward to working more closely with the police so that together we can respond safely and effectively to emergencies in Bangladesh.

But all is not grim! We also have a lot of uplifting updates to share from the last few months, including some exciting news: CriticaLink has officially received our 501c3 tax-exempt status in the USA!

First Responders Saving Lives in Dhaka and Helping Flood Victims in Rural Bangladesh

Over the last year, CriticaLink volunteers have take care of over 600 patients in Bangaldesh. We are so proud of the work our First Responders are doing out in the street, saving lives in the city regularly. However, this August severe flooding in rural areas left lots of Bangladeshi people displaced from their homes and in immediate medical need.  In order to serve these people, CriticaLink sent a team of volunteers, including First Responders and doctors, to see sick and injured patients and distribute important health necessities like oral rehydration salts and water purification tablets. In addition to providing basic medical care, CriticaLink volunteers also did educational outreach about how to stay safe during floods, methods for purifying water for safe drinking, and recognizing and responding to drowning.  We will continue to send teams to assist during floods and will also host free medical screenings in Dhaka starting from next month.

CriticaLink App: United Nations World Summit Award Winner

In 2015, CriticaLink won the Bangladesh National App Award for Health. As a National winner, the CriticaLink app was entered into the United Nation's international award competition with entries from over 178 countries worldwide. In July 2016, CriticaLink founders Jennifer and Rahat went to Singapore to present CriticaLink at the United Nations World Summit on Digital Innovation and was recognized as Winner of the World Summit Award in Health! It was the first time an entry from Bangladesh has ever been awarded at the international level in the 12 years of this competition. In addition, Jennifer and Rahat met a lot of amazing digital entrepreneurs from around the world, opening the door to future collaborations.

Launch of CriticaLink's New Office and Training Center

In June 2016, CriticaLink finally opened the doors to its own office and Training Center. The office, which is located in Dhaka features a large classroom where we can hold training sessions any time. In addition, there are offices for full-time employees, and a volunteer office for team leaders and volunteers to have meetings, brainstorm, and spend time together. There is additional space for visiting guests and interns to stay, so come and visit us in Dhaka and we welcome you to stay in our guest rooms!

To celebrate the opening of our new office and Training Center, CriticaLink hosted our very first Iftar party which was attended by over 100 volunteers. It was a humble affair, with everyone sitting together on the floor, but we were happy to bring everyone together to share a meal in our new home during Ramadan.

Basic training, Advanced training, and Infant/Child Specialized Training

Over the last three months, CriticaLink has been hard at work making use of the new office and training center. In order to fulfill our mission of training people and recruiting volunteer First Responders, we've been running training sessions on a weekly basis. Since June we've conducted:

• Four (4) Basic First Responder Training Sessions
• Two (2) Advanced Training Sessions focusing on head trauma and other physical signs of serious internal injuries
• Two (2) Infant and Child CPR and First Sessions focusing on special techniques for babies and children
• Six (6) review sessions and exams for volunteers who've undergone training to practice and pass certification
• Number of newly certified First Responders from June-August: 72
  
  

Community Outreach, Women's Self-Defense and Junior First Responders

In addition to training volunteer Emergency First Responders, which is a major component of our programming, CriticaLink also held some new events this summer and participated in several community events. In June, founder Jennifer was a keynote speaker talking about the importance of digital innovations with social impact for both the Bangladesh Youth Fest and at the 2016 Make-A-Thon at the Edward Kennedy Center reaching over 300 young people.

Program Director Rahat also spoke to crowds of young entrepreneurs about CriticaLink as a participant in the SPARK Impact Accelerator in June, and then again as a speaker for Impact Talk: Changing Lives Bangladesh in July. CriticaLink aims to encourage young entrepreneurs to consider how technology can be used as a tool for social good.

In August, CriticaLink hosted our second Women's Self-Defense workshop for our female volunteers. Our goal through these workshops is to empower our female volunteers and encourage more woman to participate as CriticaLink First Responders and leaders. These workshops teach practical skills that we hope will protect our volunteers when they are helping injured people in the street, but we also hope to build their confidence so they will take on more leadership roles in the organization.

Finally, we are excited to be launching our newest program for Junior First Responders! This program, which has now started at the International School of Dhaka (ISD) is an opportunity for middle and high school students to get involved. We now have over twenty junior First Responders who will be trained in First Aid and CPR, but will also work to promote the app, do community education and outreach about CriticaLink services. We will be pairing Junior Responders with senior mentors who we hope will encourage them to continue a life of community service.

New Team Leaders and University Leaders

In August of this year, after two years of excellent service our first batch of CriticaLink volunteer Executive Committee members and team leaders stepped down and a new group of 14 leaders stepped up to fill their shoes. In addition to running various aspects of our programs and leading teams of volunteers in different districts, we also have elected five new University Team Leaders with the goal of reaching 15 universities throughout the fall:

• Team Leaders in 8 districts
• Officers responsible for: Volunteer Communication, Media and Marketing, Public Relations, Event Management, Creative Design, Photography, Disaster Management, Volunteer Engagement, Team Leader Oversight, Community Outreach, Logistics, and Finance

We welcome all of our new leadership and look forward to fresh energy and ideas to drive us forward as we expand our services into more universities, more areas of Dhaka, and in other cities.

Welcome to new members of our Board of Directors

Finally, CriticaLink is excited to announce our new Board of Directors for 2016-2017! Our board members come from all different backgrounds and each of them have an extraordinary passion for our vision and mission. More details on them later, but they are:

• Rebecca (President): A lawyer by training with extensive experience working with non-profits, both as an Executive Director and a board member. She is currently the founder of Maven Women, a sustainable fashion brand for women.
• Dany (Vice President): A physician and health consultant with McKinsey who trained as a research fellow at Johns Hopkins who has extensive experience doing global health outreach.
• Raja (Treasurer): A consultant with an MBA from INSEAD with extensive experience working with international non-profits. He specializes in international development and social entrepreneurship.
• Katherine (Secretary): The program coordinator for Duke University's Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, she specializes in helping social start-ups grow and scale for maximum social impact.
• Anita:  A lawyer and founder of The Legal Circle law firm in Dhaka and an appointee to the Bangladesh Supreme Court. She specializes in corporate law but also works extensively with non-profits and youth organizations in Bangladesh and mentors young entrepreneurs.
• Taro: Founder and CEO of Banglatrac-Miaki VAS, a tech and telecommunications company based in Dhaka but now running operations in several other countries. He is an expert in the telecom industry and specializes in helping small tech start-ups reach scalability. He was also a volunteer police officer and First Responder in Columbia.
• Shaveena: A community organizer and youth activist in Bangladesh who brings several years of experience working with major youth organizations to bring positive social change through programs and events focused on education, leadership development, community-building, and gender equality.