By
Leesha Furse
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Aerial
view of the Air Transportable Hospital during its visit
to Singleton.
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SQNLDR
Paul Summers, CPL Matt Chifley, ACW Erin Frow, FLTLT Andrew
Huang and FLGOFF Simone Nussio leap into action.
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WGCDR
Greg Norman and SQNLDR Robert Turnbull perform an operation.
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LACW
Erin Swenson, SQNLDR Angus McDonell and LACW Alex Plummer
treat a patient.
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Packing
up.
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Photos
by Bill Cunneen
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THE
climate-controlled and self-sufficient tents of the Air Transportable
Hospital have passed their first awe-inspiring operational test
outside of RAAF Base Richmond.
About 35 personnel from No. 3 Air Transportable Hospital and a
similar number of personnel from No. 395 Expeditionary Combat
Support Wing provided medical support to the Army’s School of
Infantry at Singleton throughout most of August.
They finished setting up on August 9 and closed on August 25,
taking on the regimental aid post’s normal sick parade, supplemented
with an inpatients ward, dental, pathology, radiology and minor
surgery.
Singleton was chosen because it is not far from Richmond and,
being a training base, it has a steady supply of outpatients and
inpatients that tested the ATH’s unique functionality and engineering.
3ATH saw 440 outpatients and 21 inpatients over the three weeks.
Dr William Pollock, who works at the regimental aid post at Singleton,
was “very impressed” with ATH’s set up.
“It seems like an enormous logistics exercise to get it up and
running,” Dr Pollock said.
“It’s quite mind blowing. It’s like a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle.”
CO Wing Commander Greg Norman said ATH had its own water treatment,
sewerage treatment plant, electrical reticulation generators,
shower and ablution blocks.
“The facility could be established anywhere, either within Australia
or overseas, and from an infrastructure point of view the ATH
is self-sufficient,” WGCDR Norman said.
“We
need a lot of people from ECSS but from an engineering perspective
we have all the equipment.” He said that despite some initial
anticipated problems with the electrical and water systems, the
infrastructure worked very well.
“Before the airconditioning and heating [were working] it was
one degree in the tents, which is obviously not good as our pathology
equipment can’t operate when it’s that cold.
“If we were in the tropics and it was 40 or 50 degrees outside
it would be about 60 degrees in the tent which would also pose
problems. The AFENG component have excelled themselves in getting
us operational.” WGCDR Norman said personnel had seen patients
with coughs and colds, orthopaedic injuries and even some facial
injuries.
One of the patients was the Chief Clerk School of Infantry Warrant
Officer 2 John Callcott, who had two wisdom teeth out. “The staff
were wonderful,” WO2 Callcott said.
“They were very professional and thorough with their clinical
duties. I left with the same smile I arrived with, less two back
teeth. I thanked the dentist for the ‘almost’ painless experience
and was happy to shake hands with him and his staff.”
3ATH personnel also took part in a mass casualty simulation in
the last few days of operating.
WGCDR
Norman said the ATH capability has been around in principle for
some time. “It [the ATH] has been set up at Richmond at the edge
of the airfield but this is the first time it has been set up
and run outside of Richmond,” he said.
“We’ve got a different set of walls, however the quality of health
care delivered is no different to what we provide on a day-to-day
basis at Richmond.”
Major Peter Ham, 2IC SOI, said ATH had provided an excellent medical
support throughout the deployment.
“It also allowed trainees at the School of Infantry to remain
in the area while receiving medical and dental treatment and thereby
to return to training as soon possible thereafter,” MAJ Ham said.
“Keeping a casualty as close as possible to the front while receiving
appropriate treatment is a key tenet of casualty evacuation and
assists in the maintenance of morale of the casualty.”
