Field hospital gets its orders
By SEAN CHASE
Pembroke Daily Observer
http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2268818 Petawawa's involvement in Canada's rescue mission to earthquake stricken Haiti escalated Tuesday as the 1st Canadian Field Hospital received orders to deploy to the devastated island nation.
The unit will be sending some 100 surgeons, nurses and medics, with the first group leaving as soon as this weekend, to join Operation HESTIA, the Canadian rescue and humanitarian assistance mission in Haiti.
The base is already dispatching 88 soldiers with the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) as the security situation in Haiti deteriorates one week after the 7.0 magnitude quake, which has likely killed tens of thousands.
"The nations of the world are descending on Haiti and are trying to bring order out of that chaos," Lt.-Col. Dyrald Cross, 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group chief of staff, told a briefing for families and soldiers at the base following the announcement of the impending deployment.
Most of the 200-member DART company, which is commanded by Maj. Paul Payne, of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (2RCHA), is already on the ground providing security to the Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince and a Belgian field hospital, while continuing to assist in search and rescue efforts and delivering food, water and supplies.
The Canadian mission will focus on Jacmel, a town of 80,000 about 25 kilometres south west of the capital.
The community has an airstrip where a Canadian Hercules has already landed successfully.
"That will be the centre of our Canadian area of operations," said Lt.-Col. Cross. "Canada is responsible for a chunk of ground and will have the responsibility to aid the people in that chunk of ground."
Once personnel and resources are on the island, the 1st Canadian Field Hospital will be equipped with a hospital complete with intensive care unit and 40 to 50 beds.
It will be manned by two surgical teams each complete with a general surgeon and orthopedic surgeon, operating room nurses and technicians.
Maj. Patrick Brizay, who will be commanding the field hospital in Haiti, said the unit will be ready for all possible medical contingencies.
The unit currently has most of its regular members deployed so it required considerable augmentation from bases across Canada.
In the last few days, those augmentees have been arriving in Petawawa.
"When we got the call to ramp up the mission, the people wanted to contribute and the units stepped up," said Maj. Brizay. "It's pretty amazing."
The hospital will be centrally located with teams of medics being sent to communities within the Canadian area of responsibility.
Military surgeons expect to provide care and relief for severe medical cases such as patients suffering orthopedic injuries from collapsed buildings or other injuries that may require amputations.
They anticipate patients will also suffer from chronic illnesses, infections and dehydration. Lt.-Col. Chris Berger, a military anesthesiologist, said it will be unlike the situation Canadian medics have faced in Afghanistan.
"We' re looking at a less intensive situation but with equally debilitating injuries and a higher volume of patients," said Lt.-Col. Berger.
Lt.-Col. Cross later provided some insight into the chain of events which led to Petawawa's rapid deployment of the DART. While in Fort Irwin, California, where 2,000 local troops are training for Afghanistan, the commanding officer received a warning order last Tuesday around 10:30 p.m. to prepare the DART.
The first member of the DART was on a flight bound for Haiti by 6 a.m. the next morning.
DART personnel from Petawawa include medics from 2 Field Ambulance and the field hospital, force protection soldiers from the 1st and 3rd Battalions, Royal Canadian Regiment and the Royal Canadian Dragoons, and a headquarters from 2RCHA.
The brigade is involved in all four major Canadian Forces operations at the moment. While local soldiers are in California and on the Haiti mission, there is a reconnaissance squadron currently in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
In addition, they are preparing to send troops to provide security at the Vancouver Olympics and the G-8/G-20 Summit.
"It's a significant undertaking," Lt.-Col. Cross added. "I don't think any other base can say that."
Petawawa troops could be in Haiti for up to 60 days, however, Lt.-Col. Cross remarked the length of the deployment will be decided by the federal government.
Mobile hospital ready to deploy to Haiti
By SEAN CHASE, QMI Agency
22 January 2010
http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/haiti/2010/01/22/12576511.htmlCFB PETAWAWA, Ont. - The 1st Canadian Field Hospital is awaiting the final word before deploying to Haiti, to assist with medical relief efforts still desperately needed in the quake-ravaged country.
After Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced Thursday the medical unit will be made available to set up operations in Leogane, a costal community 29 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince, where 90% of the buildings were destroyed, the unit was put on four-hour standby at the base.
On Friday, the field hospital's 112 doctors, nurses, specialists and medics were packing the last of their supplies, preparing to ship out as early as that evening.
The unit already has a two-man advance team in Leogane conducting a reconnaissance of the area.
"We're desperately needed there," said Deputy Commanding Officer Maj. Patrick Brizay, who will be leading the field hospital in Haiti.
The deployed hospital will include an operating room with two surgical teams, two resuscitation beds, two critical-care beds and 100 immediate and minimum-care beds. It will be powered by its own generators, and will have laboratory and diagnostic-imaging capabilities.
The unit will also come with two ambulances.
"Once we're on the ground, we're configured to receive casualties and treat people right away," said Maj. Brizay, adding it will take one day to completely set up the facility, partially constructed out of tents and metal sea containers. "We can do anything a regular hospital can do, except we're under a tent."
The population in Leogane and the surrounding region prior to the Jan. 12 quake was about 200,000. However, relief organizations and the United Nations have estimated the death toll just in this area could be between 20,000 and 30,000. Food and supplies have taken longer to reach Leogane because the main roads were wiped out, a factor Maj. Brizay added may delay their move into the city.
"They don't have anything standing," he explained. "Even if they have the doctors or nurses the hospitals are flattened."
This is the first time the field hospital has deployed as a unit since the 1991 Gulf War. For many of its members, this will be their first disaster assistance operation.
"We're kind of anxious," said Cpl. Stephanie Shaw, a medical technician who has been to Afghanistan twice. "We're trying to think ahead, plan and make sure we have everything."
Surgeons expect to deal with severe medical cases, such as patients with severely broke bones, crushed by collapsed buildings. Many of those injuries, festering since the quake, now require amputations.
"People are suffering so we're looking forward to doing our part to help," said Sgt. Simon Charlebois, a veteran of Bosnia and Afghanistan.
As a lab technician, Sgt. Charlebois will be assisting the physicians in diagnosing ailments and selecting the appropriate treatments. He'll also prepare blood transfusions and monitor patients for side effects.
Able Seaman Greg Cornect, a medical technician, said he was excited about heading out on his first deployment anywhere. While his job will be to assist the nurses in the Intensive Care ward, the sailor said he hopes to help as many of the Haitian people as he can.
"They're devastated by this earthquake," said Able Seaman Cornect. "They're going through the trial of a lifetime."
The base has already sent 88 soldiers with the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) as part of Operation HESTIA, the Canadian humanitarian response in Haiti. A total of 2,000 Canadian Forces personnel have been committed to the rescue mission.
Petawawa troops could be in Haiti for up to 60 days, however the federal government will make the final decision as to the length of their stay.
A-Channel Report on Youtube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyYWSZnU9LA
