Photo By Matthew Lyall | PACIFIC OCEAN (July 20, 2022) Medical personnel from Royal Australian Navy...... read more read more
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PACIFIC OCEAN – It’s a long way from a field hospital in the waters off the coast of Hawaii for New Zealand Army Medical Officer, Major Louise Speedy, who joined HMAS Canberra during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2022.
The ability to integrate members from coalition forces onboard an Australian Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) for RIMPAC highlights one of the successes of the exercise.
Major Louise Speedy is dual-hatted as an anesthetist and intensive care specialist and said as part of the New Zealand Deployable Health Organisation to be at sea in Canberra’s medical facility is an excellent opportunity she was afforded.
“To be onboard Canberra for RIMPAC is fantastic for the five of us who are here from New Zealand,” Speedy said. “The facilities onboard Canberra are excellent and to have access to anesthetic and intensive care equipment onboard for the team is very impressive.”
Along with a physician from the United States, Speedy is joined by a New Zealand medic, nursing officer, dentist and dental assistant colleagues who are onboard for the sea phase of RIMPAC providing training opportunities during the exercise.
“As a whole team we ran a mass casualty exercise which provided great value for everyone involved,” Speedy said. “We know burns are a real threat so we all need to be prepared and ready to manage that which the scenario enabled.”
The exercise also provided an opportunity for the ship’s medical emergency team (SMET) who are usually the first responders to an incident onboard to be a part of the scenario and appreciate the value of their initial assessment and information handover.
Having members from the U.S Navy and New Zealand Defence Force onboard for three weeks has allowed time for the whole team to collectively work through potential challenges they could face today and into the future.
The team have looked at best practices and processes and the rationale behind them, but also areas of improvement learning valuable lessons from each other.
Although the role Speedy is conducting is in an observational and training capacity she said in a future situation it would be easy to embark members from New Zealand to work in Australian ships.
“We have the same qualifications and practices so slotting in would be simple,” Speedy said. “The highlight for me so far would have to be seeing the whole team in motion during the mass casualty exercise, it’s such an impressive range of skills and experience onboard. The integration with the USA has worked well, too, and provided a good opportunity for us to expand on skills and understand where there are gaps and work through how to counter them.”
Australia has two LHD’s both equipped with a PCRF, and Speedy said as impressed as she is with the facilities, the ship itself is also very impressive.
“The culture onboard is clearly by design not chance, I have worked in a range of workplaces both in and out of Defence and it’s obvious how the crew are all looking out for one another which helps improve your time at work but also improves the quality of the function you are providing onboard.
Speedy and her New Zealand and U.S colleagues will continue train with Canberra’s crew for the duration of RIMPAC.
Twenty-six nations, 38 ships, three submarines, more than 170 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 29 to Aug. 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2022 is the 28th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
(Story by Royal Australian Navy Lieutenant Nancy Cotton)
| Date Taken: | 07.20.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.01.2022 20:56 |
| Story ID: | 426192 |
| Location: | PACIFIC OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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