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The two 14-person teams flew from RAAF base Amberley to provide support to AusAID following the April 2 tsunami. Team leader Maj Jocelyn King said Gizo became the hub for the western province relief effort. “We formed flyaway teams of 5-7 members including New Zealand security detachments, flying in RAMSI helicopters and later US helicopters, to remote health clinics,” Maj King said. “We effectively spent ten working days on the ground and in that time flew 30 missions to five different islands.” Arriving on Guadalcanal by RAAF C-130J, the teams were transported to devastated Gizo by a police patrol boat. “The end of the island to the south was completely destroyed, with houses completely flattened, including the accommodation areas of the Gizo Hospital,” Maj King said. In addition to providing treatment for numerous infections from untreated wounds, and assisting with the prevention of diseases such as dysentery, a major role of the teams was to assess the conditions of the remote clinics and provide a comprehensive report to the Solomon Islands Department of Health. “We actually had three tasks from the Department of Health,” Maj King said. “The first was to take in relief supplies. Secondly we had to check the physical condition of the clinics and finally offer general medical assistance while we were there. “In most cases that entailed treating old wounds and one of the nursing officers even delivered a baby.” In the wash up Maj King said it was a very rewarding deployment and that had the crew been told they were to stay a further few weeks, it would have had immediate acceptance. |
