Page 7 - QARANC Vol 16 No 1 2018

THE GAZETTE QARANC 5
Op Trenton – United Nations Mission in South Sudan
As part of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), 33 Field Hospital (33FH) has deployed a Role 2 Hospital facility providing medical care to UK and UN personnel. 33 Field Hospital is based in Bentiu, and is here on a humanitarian mission alongside the 32 Engineer Regiment led Task Force who are building infrastructure to support the UN’s mission of protecting the 150,000 displaced personnel currently living here.
Prior to deploying, 33FH underwent a series of training exercises. The main exercises took place at the Army Medical Services Training Centre (AMSTC), Exercise TRENTON SERPENT. During this training, we exercised the Role 2 Hospital capability which includes two resus bays, two ITU beds, 20 ward beds, one theatre bed, Role 1, CCAST, labs, radiology and supporting departments. The AMSTC staff validated our capability and skills by running scenarios that were expected during the deployment. As this is a new deployment for UK troops, and 16 Medical Regiment were yet to deploy, the types of patients expected through the facility were not known entirely. We had additional training
Medical staff deployed on Operation TRENTON in South Sudan. They are staffing the UK built Role 2 Hospital in Bentiu which is providing medical care for the 1800 UN personnel working in the mission.
including; SERE B, ARB, DRASH, tropical medicine, sexual violence and female mutilation education.
TravellingtoSouthSudanconsisted of numerous stages. We flew from RAF Brize Norton to Nairobi, where we were based until flying to Juba and then on to Bentiu. The prospect of deploying to a country that many will not have visited, was exciting.
We have been deployed on Op TRENTON for three weeks, and our facility is running at full capability. We have had the opportunity to look after a variety of patients, including UN personnel and also our own UK force troops. We have treated a variety of cases such as; malaria, undifferentiated febrile illness, heat injuries and many gastrointestinal diseases.
We have had the opportunity to mix with other troop contributing countries that are based out here, including the Mongolians, Ghanaians and Indians. Some of our team have even had the opportunity to visit the Level 1 facilities based in the Protection of Civilians (POC) camp. We have settled into the hospital routine and transferring our everyday nursing skills into a different environment has started smoothly and not even the rainy season can stop us from our daily work routine.
Captain Rowena Illing
The wet season in South Sudan provides some interesting challenges to the staff working in the Role 2 Hospital in Bentiu.