Photo By Master Sgt. Jerilyn Quintanilla | U.S. Air Force Airmen transport two simulated critical patients onboard a C-130J Super...... read more read more
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From November 2010 to January 2011, Queensland, Australia endured a series of floods killing 37 people and causing more than $2 billion in damages. In November 2013, one of the deadliest typhoons on record, Typhoon Haiyan, devastated the Philippines claiming more than 6,300 lives. And in March 2011, the Northeast region of Japan was rocked by the strongest earthquake it had seen in more than a century, triggering a tsunami that took over the city. An estimated 20,000 men, women and children lost their lives.
Cope North 21, which kicked off Feb. 3, 2021, brought U.S., Japanese and Australian forces together to hone their humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) procedures to prepare for the next natural disaster.
For the first time in Cope North history, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, or Koku-Jieitai, took the lead. At the helm is Col. Shinobu Yamamoto, the HA/DR exercise director, and Lt. Col. Akihiro Namme, the Koku-Jieitai HA/DR lead planner.
“We didn’t have the knowledge or experience before this, so it was very difficult to plan the HA/DR exercise,” said Namme. “It is very complicated because we have a lot of functions and personnel, and I have to ensure as best I can that we achieve all objectives.”
The HA/DR training started with academics, followed by basic familiarization and hands-on training, capped off with a field training exercise. Out in the field 21 medical personnel from the Koku-Jieitai, U.S. Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) worked side-by-side as they were put through the ringer.
“We are staged here at Northwest Field, and we’re simulating operations on a small island in the Pacific that has just experienced a typhoon,” said RAAF WGCDR Joleen Darby, an Australian Exchange Senior Flight Surgeon serving as a HA/DR whiteforce member. “Our doctors and medical technicians set up a field hospital, and we have simulated patients constantly rolling in.”
Simulated patient conditions included heat illness, mosquito-borne illnesses, injuries sustained in a vehicle rollover accident, and suspected COVID symptoms.
“The main training objectives are to execute the mission the way we would in a real-world situation, ensure everyone is familiar and integrating with one another and across services, and of course, we must do all this while keeping everyone COVID safe,” Darby said.
The wide range of patients was deliberately designed to test the team’s ability to respond to every possible situation they may encounter in a real-world HA/DR emergency. And they rose to the challenge, as one team.
“The most beneficial part was to learn how to work with medical teams from Japan and Australia and establishing those relationships” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jhosselin Alonzo, a 36th Medical Group independent duty medical technician-paramedic. “It was an amazing experience working with SSGT Sasaki from Koku-Jieitai; his scope of practice in Japan is very similar to mine so despite the language barrier we both understood medicine.”
Despite being separated by hundreds of miles of water the three nations remain committed partners in the Indo-Pacific region now more than ever.
“It is important for our three countries to have a united presence here in this region,” said Namme. “And even under the COVID environment, we are here on Guam conducting this exercise as a tri-nation.”
| Date Taken: | 02.11.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.10.2021 21:54 |
| Story ID: | 388824 |
| Location: | GUAM, US |
| Web Views: | 406 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
This work, Pacific nations hone HA/DR capabilities at Cope North 21, by MSgt Jerilyn Quintanilla, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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