Page 26 - QARANC Vol 20 No 1 2022

26 The Gazette QARANC Association
‘Sound effects made everything more real’
In September, JHG N personnel deployed on a week-long teaching exercise to expose personnel to operational scenarios and leadership principles.
The exercise was at Army Medical Services Training Centre (AMSTC) within a structured 2-1-2-12 deployed field hospital figuration.
The week began with departmental familiarisation: Cpl Jones worked in the two-bed intensive care unit training on ventilators, oxygen concentrators and syringe drivers. Pte Hilton worked on the 12-bed ward where the staff were given refresher training on emergency airway tools and discharge procedures.
There was a hospital management cell (HMC), emergency department (ED) and theatres, plus radiography and path lab departments staffed by radiographers and biomedical scientists. We were given the
opportunity to visit these departments to learn more about their capabilities in the deployed setting.
Pte Hilton moved to the front of house (FOH) team who booked in casualties and scanned and sanitised all arrivals into the facility, ensuring they had no weapons on their person.
Broadcasts and sound effects made the scene more immersive which added an extra element. FOH also assisted with transfers and sending bloods to path labs and returning results, plus moving forms and pink slips to HMC.
In the following days, many simulation scenarios came through the facility. Some patients were living, breathing casualties who came with histories from seizures caused by malaria to a venomous snake bite, and those coming to ICU were intubated or deteriorating CAS-sim mannequins
for further management or CCAST Evacuation.
All patient simulations were real time, allowing the departments to follow the process from beginning to end. ICU also provided a critical care outreach team which gave the staff the opportunity to experience a role not available to them normally within the NHS.
The exercise culminated in a mass casualty situation which required the facility to maintain patient flow, leaning on simulated CCAST and AELO to evacuate patients.
Overall, the week was a successful confirmatory exercise with all ranks putting what we experience in the NHS into practice in the military setting and learning skills for the future.
Cpl Jessica Jones (RN(A) and Pte Sarah Hilton (HCA), JHG (N)
Strong woman talk made for
insightful and entertaining day
Gemma Magnusson, the four times Britain’s strongest woman winner, kicked off the annual JHG(N) health fair with an insightful and hilarious talk.
She also addressed the physical, mental and emotional components essential to developing and maintaining health and wellbeing. Called the ‘Magnificent Seven’ this covered: eating, drinking, sleeping, pooping, thinking, moving and talking.
Although many personnel balked at her suggestion to drink eight litres of water per day, her insistence in viewing her audience as ‘elite athletes’ brought some measure of comfort to those still suffering from SSgt Mills’ PT session that morning.
Personnel were then free to browse a variety of stands manned by a mix of military and some local agencies. All were keen to educate, inform and discuss topics ranging from mental health and support services, dental hygiene, sexual health, smoking cessation, and alcohol misuse.
Ms Magnusson produced
some calipers to conduct body measurements on any personnel willing to take a few pinches.
The more competitive were also able to partake in the Watt bike 1 minute best effort challenge – congratulations Maj Davidson!
We are hugely grateful to Cpl McKnight for organising the event, and all those who assisted in making the day a success.
Cpl R Cousins, QARANC RN(A), JHG N