Page 27 - QARANC Vol 18 No 2 2020

Be Careful What You Wish For
Operation Broadshare
16 Medical Regiment Medical Support Team – Falkland Islands March – July 2020
Picture the scene, a quiet Wednesday afternoon, with the Coronavirus storm beginning to whip up around the world, a Skype call with the CO as we get used to new ways of working. I express my frustration at being a qualified nurse for nearly 30 years, much of that time spent in critical care, four years as Specialist Nurse Advisor, watching the world of critical care go into overdrive whilst I’m sitting filling out a spreadsheet or two. Lieutenant Colonel Woodward- Court’s sage advice was, whilst he understood my frustration, to ‘be careful what you wish for’.
Fast forward two days, I’m covering the Operations Desk in 16 Medical Regiment RHQ, diligently populating spreadsheets with details of personnel sitting at home with temperatures, persistent coughs, sore throats and/ or other family members in the same condition. An email drops in; a team is required to deploy to the Falklands to support the Island’s only hospital, King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Stanley, (KEMH - a place with which many readers will be familiar) as part of the British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI) response to COVID-19.
A monumental effort from across the Regiment through the weekend, against the background of minimum manning
Major Andy Robinson and Captain Marie Llewellyn at KEMH May 2020
as the workforce dispersed, saw the kit prepared, packed, manifested and dispatched to RAF Brize Norton by mid-morning on Sunday. The team consisting of myself, Captain Marie Llewellyn, Warrant Officer 1 Phil Attridge and Sergeant Brett Harker, Operating Department Practitioners, and Staff Sergeant Ryan O’Grady and Lance Corporal Jakob Ricketts, both Combat Medical Technicians, left on Monday 30 March, 72 hours after formal activation.
We arrived in the Falklands at the end of a mammoth 23 hour journey, 96 hours after the initial email, having transited thorough Dakar, Senegal. We were met by Commander British Forces South Atlantic Islands and I had the surreal experience of having a Brigadier push my baggage trolley! The reality of the last few days began to sink in; a bespoke team, selected, prepared, equipped and transported 8000 plus miles in 96 hours, the embodiment of the 16 Air Assault Brigade ethos, at least the Ready and Versatile, we had yet to prove the Formidable, and in truth I hoped we would not have to.
An anomaly of this deployment was the fact that normally it’s us that go to the dangerous places, leaving family and friends in relative safety; not so now, with arguably those at home more at risk than we were.
Two weeks quarantine was conducted at Hillside Camp, Stanley, normally the Joint Services Adventure Training Centre. Whilst the requirement for quarantine was an opportunity to catch our breath, we remained mindful that at any point, if the situation deteriorated, we could be used at any time. Although media releases had preceded us (over 500 likes, many positive comments, and re-tweeted by the Royal Household no less!), it was with some apprehension, I must admit, that we made our way down to the Hospital that first day out of quarantine. We were not quite sure of the reception we would get, conscious that we may be seen as having been imposed upon them by the military, and careful not to
Channelling my inner Florence during the Stanley Nightingale exercise June 2020.
be seen as ‘the cavalry coming over the hill to save the day’.
As it turned out our anxiety was unfounded. They too had seen the modelling, and our presence was gratefully received, and we were soon talking the common language of healthcare. Of particular mention are Doctor Becky Edwards, Chief Medical Officer, Mandy Heathman, Chief Nursing Officer, Janice Dent, Ward Manager, whose war stories put ours truly into perspective.
Those readers who have served at KEMH in the days when there was a permanent military presence will know that the issues they face at the best of times. Remote medicine, extended and fragile logistic and evacuation chains would have been challenged by the added effects of the Coronavirus pandemic - either directly through increased clinical COVID-19 activity, corresponding decrease in routine clinical capability, the effect on evacuation options, and the fragility of the South Atlantic Air Bridge.
Fortunately, thanks to some fantastic acceptance and adherence to control measures by the Falkland Islands population and BFSAI personnel
The Gazette QARANC Association 25