Australian and United States personnel involved in PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP 2015 onboard hospital ship USNS Mercy have exercised their cooperative response to a notional disaster as part of their training for the real thing.
United States Naval Ship Mercy, a 300-bed hospital ship which can expand capacity to 1,000 beds if required, is currently deployed to the south-west pacific and South East Asia, where it is visiting Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Commander of the Australian contingent onboard is Medical Administrator Commander Ken Walters.
“Beside the massive amount of real world medical and engineering assistance to needy communities that the PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP mission delivers, we believe that it is vital to prepare for unexpected disasters as well,” Commander Walters said.
Good disaster preparedness requires that all major hospitals have a comprehensive disaster plan which is regularly reviewed and exercised.
More than 650 medical personnel, including 21 Australians, are embarked in Mercy, ensuring the ship is well equipped for the humanitarian role it is tasked with.
The humanitarian role is not the only one it must be prepared for, as Mercy could be redirected at any time to respond to a disaster in a nearby country.
Royal Australian Navy doctor, Commander Darren Delaney, and the US Navy’s Commander Lisa Kelty, designed and ran a mass casualty exercise which tested all facets involved in responding to a situation that might be typical of one Mercy could be tasked to respond to.
“The scenario involved a notional explosion on a vessel 30 miles from Mercy, resulting in 16 injured ‘patients’ being transferred to the ship,” said Commander Delaney .
“After the initial request, and the establishment of command and control arrangements, ‘patients’ were brought to Mercy by the ship’s helicopters,” he added.
“On arrival, the ‘patients’ were managed from initial triage through stabilisation, initial diagnostics and treatment, to final disposition.”
Commander Walters and another experienced disaster response evaluator, Australian Navy Captain Andy Robertson, assessed the exercise and provided guidance on areas for improvement for the next exercise or any future disaster response.
The US and Australian contingents are now planning for the next exercise, expected during the transit from Papua New Guinea to the Philippines, which should test the ship’s mass casualty response capability even further.