Solar COVID Responders: Minneapolis Non-Profit Deploying to Matamoros Refugee Camp to Power COVID Medical Clinic

MINNEAPOLIS - March 25, 2020 - PRLog -- Footprint Project (FP) - www.footprintproject.org - is powering 3,500 asylum seekers and refugees stuck at the border in Matamoros, Mexico with rapidly deployable, clean energy systems.

As coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, Footprint Project's partner Global Response Management (https://www.global-response.org/) is launching an official COVID-19 response plan for residents of the camp who rely on them for healthcare at the U.S/Mexico border.

The residents of the Matamoros camp are dependent on communal showers, kitchens and bathrooms, and continue to be confined to small, overcrowded tents. Efforts to recommend tent spacing and quarantine measures failed. GRM estimates that 50% or more of the camp could become ill with COVID-19. Approximately 25% of adults living in the camp have a comorbid condition. There are only 10 ventilators and 40 ICU beds available in the entire Matamoros Health System, covering a total population of 500,000.

In partnership Rent.Solar, Footprint Project will deploy one of their solar trailers containing a solar shelter, as well as GRM medical clinic equipment, then caravan across the border to set up the first Solar COVID clinic for refugees.

Providing clean, quiet solar power for this clinic will:

1. Eliminate generator fumes and localized air pollution next to patients in respiratory distress:
1. Estimated Carbon Avoidance: 20,000 lbs/CO² in one month
2. Reduce GRM fuel costs, allowing them to extend their mission:
1. Estimated Fuel Savings: $2,000 in one month

About Us
Footprint Project's mission is to help communities build back greener after environmental disasters. Footprint Project (FP) mobilizes pools of distributed clean energy assets to support disaster first responders and meet emergency power needs. We help relief groups integrate sustainable technologies into their missions through hands-on training, design, and deployment support. In 2019, FP deployed mobile solar stations to 5 environmental disasters, distributed over 1,200 solar panels, donated 2 solar trailers to first responders, and launched our Solar Energy Rapid Response Team (SERRT). Since Jan 2020, we've dispatched ten mobile solar stations to environmental disasters in Puerto Rico and Tennessee, providing direct access to emergency solar recharging for over 12,500 people during grid outages.