Photo By molly m reque | Maj. Jeon Hyungki, a doctor from the Republic of Korea, examines a patient at the...... read more read more
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FIVE HILLS TRAINING AREA, Mongolia – U.S. Army medical providers teamed up with their counterparts from Canada, France, India, Republic of Korea, as well as with Mongolian Armed Forces medical personnel and local healthcare providers during the Khaan Quest 2014 Cooperative Health Engagement (CHE) in the Songinokhairkhan District of Ulaanbaatar, June 21-27.
Khaan Quest is a regularly scheduled, multinational exercise co-sponsored this year by U.S. Army, Pacific, and hosted annually by Mongolian Armed Forces. KQ14 is the latest in a continuing series of exercises designed to promote regional peace and security. This year marks the 12th iteration of this training event.
This humanitarian civic action program provides local residents preventative medical and dental care, while affording exercise participants the opportunity for subject matter expert exchanges.
“The CHE provides a platform for interoperability with our allies while providing medical care to an underserved area,” said Maj. Phil Laird, a base surgeon at the Canadian Forces Health Services Center [Atlantic]. “We have medical professionals from five different countries, all with very different approaches to medicine, with varying equipment and procedures.”
The CHE affords partner nations’ militaries and medical personnel the opportunity to gain skills and exchange expertise, while providing tangible assistance to the local community.
“We are gaining so much from the experience of working side-by-side with our allies and working under controlled circumstances,” explained Laird. “This (exercise) prepares medical personnel for an acute crisis where there isn’t the luxury of time to set up a clinic. When we do have to respond in a real-world mission, we will be able to pull it together more quickly.”
In addition to providing primary medicine, the CHE offers local residents access to other specialties including women’s health, physiology, neurology, optometry, dental, as well as a pharmacy and a lab that provides blood work. The clinic also has an electrical echocardiogram and a portable ultrasound.
“It is far better to provide services to our people under the auspices of service rather than conflict,” said Brig. Gen. Mike Bridges, Alaska Army National Guard commander. “Khaan Quest is a shining example of bringing our respective military teams and members together to give back to our communities via our training, special equipments and depth of experience, while learning from each other how better to serve the civilian populations we come from.”
Despite seeing more than 800 patients a day at the clinic, this year, medical personnel have taken on the additional task of providing outreach to local residents through house visits. They are scheduled to visit four homes per day.
“We hope to continue the great and ever improving partnerships, training and development of our common national goals of peace, stability and quality of life improvements for our respective citizens who look to the capabilities of their various military personnel in support of their nations,” added Bridges.
| Date Taken: | 06.23.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2014 05:08 |
| Story ID: | 134320 |
| Location: | FIVE HILLS TRAINING AREA, MN |
| Web Views: | 229 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Countries learn from each other during Khaan Quest 2014 Cooperative Health Engagement, by Balinda ONeal, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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