Volume 48, No. 19, October 19, 2006
By Andrew Stackpool
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TOP: Medical Assistant LACW Samantha Melville from 2ATHS was one of eight personnel deployed on Operation Ramp to help evacuate people from war-torn Lebanon.
Photo by LACW Sonja Inderwisch.
MIDDLE: SQNLDR David Mitchell carries a young girl with cerebral palsy up the gangway of the San Gwann.
BOTTOM: LACW Vanessa Brown and AC Aaron Cant load luggage on to the San Gwann as evacuees board the ship. Photos by SGT Katrina Johnson
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AIR FORCE health personnel have once again placed their own lives on the line as they sought to bring help to people in distress.
Eight Air Force health personnel were part of the ADF’s 120-strong joint task force that deployed between July 19 and 21 to Beirut, Cyprus and Turkey as a part of Australia’s evacuation effort of Australian nationals from war-torn Lebanon. The deployment was called Operation Ramp.
The health personnel deployed in two groups, the on-call Medical Assessment Element (MAE), which deployed to Beirut, and a health element at Cyprus.
The MAE initially comprised OC HSW GPCAPT Tracy Smart as the OIC, and HSW medical officer SQNLDR Dave Taplin as the Environmental Health Officer.
The Cyprus unit (Expeditionary Health Facility 1, which deployed with the Air Force Evacuation Handling Centre [EHC]) comprised SQNLDR David Mitchell, the senior medical officer at 2ATHS who was the OIC, nursing officers FLGOFFs William Wickham and Jenelle Kerr, and medical assistant LACW Samantha Melville. FLGOFF Kerr transferred to the MAE in Beirut shortly after arriving in Cyprus.
SQNLDR Mitchell said the team made three trips into Lebanon (two to Beirut and one to Tyre) and processed patients at the Lanarka port and airport and at various hotels around Cyprus. Approximately 3000 individuals were handled through the Cyprus EHC, and a medical element remained in the area until the end of the operation in late August.
GPCAPT Smart said that her team flew into Beirut on July 21, firstly by civil air to Cyprus via Athens and then by RAF Chinook to Beirut.
“We deployed to provide assistance to the embassy as part of Australia’s whole-of-government effort,” she said.
While the primary role of the MAE was collection and analysis of health intelligence, the situation on the ground ensured it became multi-tasked very quickly.
Liaison, reconnaissance, assessment, reporting, advising and planning became paralleled by pure health care for both deployed staff and evacuees.
She said that while most evacuees came to Beirut under their own steam, the team had made two trips into the war-torn southern area of Lebanon to rescue evacuees (one to Sidon and one to Tyre). After arriving, they sent taxis into the outlying villages where Australian nationals were believed to be and then brought them by bus back to Beirut. They also made two trips to the border with Syria to assess the feasibility of road evacuations if the war continued.
She described the deployment as very rewarding. “It was a privilege to serve our country in this way and I think we shall all look back on it as a great life experience,” she said.
Op Ramp facts:
The team included a C-130 taking evacuees from Cyprus to Turkey, and personnel from RAAF Base Edinburgh, 382ECSS, 386ECSS, 1ATS, 1CLS, 37SQN, 1AFDS and 3AFDS;
About 4000 evacuees were processed, many given medication for motion sickness, particularly those leaving by ship;
The team made two trips into the war-torn south, one to Sidon and one to Tyre;
The MAE treated gastro-enteritis, shrapnel and infected wounds, stress and chronic conditions. It arranged surgery for a broken hip and rehab afterwards, moving the patient to Cyprus;
The MAE also provided care for DFAT and local government staff.
