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Camp Lemonier IA Medical Team Passes Torch to GSA Sailors
Nov 21, 2008 (DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS/ContentWorks via COMTEX) --
DJIBOUTI CITY, Djibouti (NNS) -- Expeditionary Medical Facility (EMF) Team 14 assumed all administrative and operational medical duties from EMF Team 13 at Camp Lemonier, Djibouti (CLDJ), Nov. 19, transitioning a full 30-member medical team in and out of the Seth Michaud Medical Facility and ensuring continuity of care.
This full transition signifies the beginning of Michaud hospital's use of global war on terrorism support assignment (GSA) personnel on a deployment as opposed to individual augmentee (IA) assigned personnel.
GSA Sailors have actively coordinated their IA tour into their career path with their detailers as part of a regular permanent change of station (PCS) move. IA Sailors serve their IA tour and return to the command they were stationed at when they were selected for an IA tour.
"The main reason that we are doing a full turn over is because the EMF 14's are now GSA personnel," said Senior Chief Corpsman (EXW/FMF) Shawnta Sampson, EMF 13's senior enlisted leader. "GSA personnel will serve in CLDJ for nine months instead of the six months IA personnel have served, and that will help maintain continuity at the hospital."
Sampson added that because EMF 14 has been working together through the training that is necessary to deploy to CLDJ, they already have the cohesion that is required to "hit the ground running" at the camp.
After receiving their GSA orders, EMF 14 members met in San Diego where they processed and traveled to Fort Jackson, S.C., for Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training (NIACT), which is designed to give Sailors the combat skills necessary to provide combat service support in a forward-operating environment. Following the completion of the two-week training, the EMF team deployed to CLDJ.
"I think that my team is looking forward to learning more about Djibouti and gaining a better understanding of our new environment," said Cmdr. Robert Browning, EMF 14's senior officer. "Medically, I think that we are all looking forward to the challenges of our diverse tasking at Camp Lemonier, which ranges from mass casualty situations to routine daily clinic operations."
Browning also said that he is looking forward to interacting with local and international medical members with whom EMF 13 has already built a strong relationship.
In June of this year, 30 Djiboutian soldiers were seriously wounded during a border dispute with Eritrea. EMF 13 medical personnel traveled to the French medical facility Hospitalier de Bouffard (Central Hospital Armies at Bouffard, Djibouti) and assisted with the treatment, stabilization and care of the Djiboutians.
Cmdr. Tom Nelson, an EMF 13 general surgeon who helped at Bouffard, said it was a great experience and unique in these modern times for a joint U.S. military medical team to work so closely with a French medical team.
Nelson, along with other past and present members of CLDJ's medical facility, also reach out to the local community by assisting doctors at Hopital General Peltier, a local Djibouti City hospital.
"We normally go to Peltier three times a week and assist with anywhere between three and ten different cases during the week," said Nelson. "Part of the whole idea of Commander, Joint Task Force Horn of Africa is building strong relationships in the community, and that is what we are doing. By helping train local medical personnel, we are hoping to bring more medical stability, and in turn create a higher level of health care for all Djiboutians.
Nelson added that since Michaud medical team members started volunteering at Peltier hospital in the fall of last year, they have worked a variety of cases, including: prostate, kidney, bladder, tumor and trauma operations.
"It will be difficult to exceed the work that EMF 13 has done here," said Browning. "They have done an outstanding job in the area of mass casualty; the clinic is top-notch, and the health of the camp couldn't be better."
Browning added his EMF team has wide-range of specialties, and he hopes to use that to build onto relationships EMF 13 has established and further medical stability in the area.
Camp Lemonier has approximately 2,400 personnel from the Army, Navy Air Force, Marine Corps and DoD contactors, including the U.S. Army 218th Field Artillery Regiment, a detachment from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Unit 4, and the Marine 9th Provisional Security Force. Most camp personnel serve six-nine month rotations as individual augmentees (IA). Camp Lemonier is the only enduring U.S. military infrastructure located in Africa and supports U.S. joint military personnel and operations throughout the continent.
For more news from Commander, Navy Region Europe , visit www.navy.mil/local/cnre/.
Story Number: NNS081120-01 - Release Date: 11/20/2008 11:35:00 AM
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