MEDICS IN PNG - Royal New Zealand Navy

LEADERSHIP
MC 07-0286-02
Photo: USN
Photo: USN
WEMED Lee Matravers
at the Navy Hospital
before his deployment
Photo: USN
ABOVE LEFT: USS PELELIU. LEFT: WOMED Lee Matravers administers an immunization
shot at Bunabun Health Center in Madang. ABOVE: AMED Toni Simmonds is
interviewed by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jennifer Hudson, from
USS PELELIU during a community relations project at Madang Technical School.
There will be clinics ashore to identify
people who are suitable for surgery and we
have people on the ground there already to
try and pre-arrange this. We will transfer
the patients here by chopper and by boat
where we have 4 operating theatres, a 16
bed ICU/ Recovery area and a very large
ward, where we will care for them until they
return to the mainland. We have embarked
shoes and warm clothes as the local PNG
folk are likely to find the airconditioning on
board here a little chilly! The US Navy Ophthalmologist
embarked is hoping to get as
many cataracts lined up as he can operate
on in the time available to him.
The dentists will be doing a lot of dental
work, while the Public Health and Environmental
Health personnel will be doing
projects like clean water and other environmental
health issues.
There are four major engineering projects.
The PELELIU is great as it has landing craft
that can land heavy machinery and we have
bulldozers, graders, diggers and trucks and
all manner of engineering equipment embarked.
We also have the ‘Sea Bees’ [from
LMED Gill meets a feathered
friend ashore in PNG
Photo: USN
Construction Battalions] the US Navy construction
engineers who have projects to
do. They are going to repair the Maik Health
Clinic, Josephstaal Health Clinic, Panmin
School and there is also a roading project.
These have been pre-organised and the
health clinics and hospitals involved are still
in use but are in a state of disrepair and will
benefit hugely from this work.
Communications will be difficult as this is
very remote and so we will be using satellite
phones. In remote areas we will be going
inland for some of the Medcaps and we will
be staying overnight, which I am sure will
be interesting!
I will be on the Medcaps and doing local
clinics. The RNZN Medics will be coming
ashore with the Medcaps to help with vaccination
programs, or assisting in the OR
and helping look after patients aboard.
NEARLY THERE
Sunday night [5 August] and we have just
crossed the equator - we are still steaming
on (and yes, we are a steam ship and
have steam turbines to power us through
the water).
Tuesday is to be our first day in PNG and
although we have had a long transit from
Singapore it has been very valuable. I have
had time to meet and talk to the US Ship
command, the US Medical command and
all the NGO and partner nations.
Today was a “Steel Beach” where there
was a bbq (aka grill) in the hangar bay, with
volleyball, a bouncy castle, basket ball and
a huge meal, it ran from 1030-1830. As you
can imagine the hangar bay is a large space
indeed. It was Sunday and so although we
had to have breakfast in rig we could wear
PT rig for the rest of the day (of course no
beer!)
The Medics have been helping with packing
of medical supplies, meeting the other
Medics and USN medical staff from the
PELELIU and also the embarked NGO and
US Forces medical staff. We have US Air
Force and US Army medical staff on board
as well.
The Medics all have Medcaps to do and
will be primarily vaccinating. Vaccinations
are very important over here and although
there is a good vaccination program running,
the level of full immunisation is low. Twenty
percent of children are not immunised, and
many of the immunised children have not
fully completed their vaccinations. So we
will be vaccinating as part of the national
vaccination program, giving boosters that
are due (or overdue) and initiating vaccination
in unvaccinated people. Of course we will
be filling out their vaccination booklets and
then organising the follow-up vaccinations
with the local health infrastructure.
There is still a lot of tetanus and other
diseases in PNG that cause significant
morbidity and mortality so vaccination offers
a huge and ongoing benefit to the local
population.
There has been huge attention to maintaining
the ‘cold chain’ in order to ensure the
vaccinations’ effectiveness. For the whole
voyage there will be over a million dollars
worth of vaccinations given (not solely in
PNG) which gives an idea as to the scope
of the vaccination program.
On arrival Tuesday [7 August], there will
be a formal reception for the ship and the
medical team. I will be going as the RNZN
representative - in coveralls and not whites
(as getting into and out of the chopper and
then transport to the reception I think the
chance of keeping the whites white would
be minimal!) Then the Medcaps and the like
will start. Next month: Medcap Diary.
PACIFIC
PARTNERSHIP
Total Medical Personnel 188
US Military 136
Partner Nations 26
NGOs 26
Military Partner
Nations
NZ 7
Australia 5
India 6
Canada 3
Vietnam 3
Japan 1
Korea 1
NGO
Project Hope 20
Aloha Medical Mission 3
UCSD Pre-dental Society 3
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