A group of 12 San Francisco emergency medical professionals are headed to El Salvador to help provide medical care and sports opportunities to individuals and families in need. 

The San Francisco contingent is part of a 70-person volunteer group organized by the Castaneda Kids Foundation to deliver free medical care for people with little or no access to doctors.

The group will also provide sports equipment, form teams and organize games for children in rural communities.

The volunteers include doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians and other medical professionals whose goal is to treat 3,000 patients in five days starting Saturday. 

The San Francisco Fire Department team will be led by EMT Carlos Martinez and includes paramedics Hoi Cheung, Anthony Asercion, Melia Oldman, Jeff Finerman, and Elaine Thompson, as well as EMTs Sarah LoCoco, Nathan Danzinger, Iris Nahm, Kelly Cronander, Angel Olmedo and Guillermo Martinez. 

People can follow the group’s activities via the SFFD Facebook page, which will host daily updates, pictures and videos, according to department officials.

Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.