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'CHARTing' a Humanitarian Course
in Yokosuka 12 June 2003 Experts say that keeping the peace has become as challenging as winning a war. Nations, militaries, and non-governmental organizations must often work together to provide a safe environment for civilian populations in the wake of conflict, natural disasters, or social change. That's the key message of the CHART Course held June 9-13 in Yokosuka, Japan, sponsored by Commander, Naval Forces Japan; U.S. Naval Hospital, Yokosuka; and the Medical Clinic at Camp Zama. CHART - Combined Humanitarian Assistance Response Training - was presented to a diverse international audience here. Healthcare providers from the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy (from both fleet and shore commands) attended with colleagues from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. Instructor Lt. Col. Patricia Hastings, Deputy Commander for Clinical Services at Irwin Community Hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas, was pleased to reach a multicultural group. "This is an international audience here and it's very good. We have to work together with our partners," said Hastings. "If we learn a common language, have common goals, and put together a coordinated response, we're going to do better." The course shows how different groups - military, civilian non-governmental, or host nation agencies - can work as a team in providing humanitarian assistance. According to Capt. Mark Llewellyn, Fleet Surgeon for Commander U.S. Seventh Fleet, "Obviously here, working and training together with our Japanese hosts is something we're doing more and more - in this situation under the leadership of Capt. Robinson, CO of the Hospital, and Capt. Norcross, Medical Director." During the course Capt. Adam M. Robinson, Jr., Commanding Officer of U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka, presented a riveting account of his own humanitarian mission to Haiti in 1999, as CO of Fleet Hospital Jacksonville during Operation New Horizon/Uphold Democracy. According to senior instructor Dr. Thomas Ditzler, Director of Research for the Department of Psychiatry at Tripler Army Medical Center, "Not all emergencies are bloody and dramatic. Unfortunately a fair number of them are." The CHART course includes a focus on prevention of human misery in a changing world. "Part of what we need to do is plan for the future," said Ditzler, "not simply to respond to horrific problems, but hopefully to establish social systems and cultural institutions that will mitigate the effects of change in ways that will prevent, if we're lucky, some of the sadder chapters in our history." U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka trains frequently to be ready to respond to any medical contingency, including natural disasters. "I'm hoping we won't have to be using any of the information that's being put out today," said Lt. Eric Acoba, Physical Therapist of USS Kitty Hawk, "but, if nothing else, it gives us a bigger picture of our different roles. Obviously in military medicine we play multiple roles." For more information about humanitarian assistance efforts, visit the website of the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance at http://coe-dmha.org. The Center fosters relationships between the U.S. military and responder agencies on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense. Photos &
Captions
ar0101-01.jpg CHART - Hospital Corpsmen of Yokosuka's Color Guard participate in the opening ceremony for Yokosuka's CHART Course -- Combined Humanitarian Assistance Response Training. HM3 Stephanie White, HM3 Derek Collins, and HN Marisol Fernandez are members of the elite ceremonial unit for the base, made up entirely of Hospital Corpsmen. The five-day CHART Course was presented to a diverse international audience here. Healthcare providers from the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy (from both fleet and shore commands) attended with colleagues from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka provides healthcare services to beneficiaries throughout the western Pacific.
ar0101-02.jpg CHART - CAPT Adam M. Robinson, Jr., Commanding Officer here gives a talk at Yokosuka's recent CHART Course -- Combined Humanitarian Assistance Response Training. The five-day CHART Course was presented to a diverse international audience here. Healthcare providers from the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy (from both fleet and shore commands) attended with colleagues from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka provides healthcare services to beneficiaries throughout the western Pacific.
ar0101-03.jpg
and ar0101-04.jpg CHART - Instructor Lt. Col. Patricia Hastings leads discussion at Yokosuka's recent CHART Course -- Combined Humanitarian Assistance Response Training. The five-day CHART Course was presented to a diverse international audience here. Healthcare providers from the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy (from both fleet and shore commands) attended with colleagues from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. Hastings is Deputy Commander for Clinical Services at Irwin Army Community Hospital, Fort Riley, Kansas.
ar0101-05.jpg Hospital Medical Director Capt Murray Norcross and USS Kitty Hawk Senior Medical Officer Cmdr. Kris Belland take CHART instructors for a tour to the USS Kitty Hawk while the forward-deployed aircraft carrier is in drydock. CHART (Combined Humanitarian Assistance Response Training) instructors took the lunchtime tour of the ship's medical department, bridge, and flight deck, then went into the drydock. The five-day CHART Course was presented to a diverse international audience here. Healthcare providers from the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy (from both fleet and shore commands) attended with colleagues from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. USS Kitty Hawk's Medical Department is seeing patients at the Naval Hospital while the ship is in drydock.
ar0101-06.jpg CHART instructors walk beneath USS Kitty Hawk
while the forward-deployed aircraft carrier is in drydock. CHART
(Combined Humanitarian Assistance Response Training) instructors
took the lunchtime tour of the ship's medical department, bridge,
and flight deck, and then went into the drydock. The five-day CHART
Course was presented to a diverse international audience here. Healthcare
providers from the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy (from both fleet
and shore commands) attended with colleagues from the Japanese Maritime
Self Defense Force. |
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Photos by Tom Watanabe |
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Center of Excellence DMHA All rights reserved