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Medical Exercise Helps CNE-C6F Strengthen Ties With Ghana

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS061031-04
Release Date: 10/31/2006 3:13:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class(SW) Eric Brown, Commander Naval Forces Europe/6th Fleet Public Affairs

NAPLES, Italy (NNS) -- The medical training exercise MEDFLAG 06, designed to exercise the host nations’ disaster response programs and plans, concluded its Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe/Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet (CNE-C6F) portion in Ghana in early October.

This Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed exercise greatly enhanced CNE-C6F’s Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) initiatives in the West Africa Gulf of Guinea region that included other MEDFLAG 06 participant nations Benin, Nigeria and Senegal.

“Our Health Service Support (HSS) staff has been working with the government of Ghana to help them enhance their navy’s and armed forces’ medical capabilities to improve their ability to manage their coastal security,” said CNE-C6F Force Surgeon Capt. Alton Stocks. “This ties in with the commander’s strategic priority of strengthening our emerging partnerships with West African countries.”

According to CNE-C6F HSS participant Lt. Cmdr. Paul Pruden, in Ghana, MEDFLAG 06 had two phases in September and October, with the activities in the final month targeted toward TSC.

“Our focus is maritime safety and security, and that requires host nation personnel being able to respond to incidents on their vessels if they are out at sea,” Pruden explained. “If we can prepare them with technical advice and help them decide what equipment they need and how to prepare their personnel, both their medical experts and regular crew members, that will help them sustain themselves at sea.”

Pruden was in Ghana for two days in June, and again from Sept. 30 to Oct. 5, when he was on hand to observe shipboard medical familiarization procedures aboard USS Elrod (FFG 55).

During this medical training aboard the frigate while docked at Tema Naval Base, an Afloat Training Group Mobile Training Team (ATG MTT) worked with 28 Ghanaian military auxiliary nurses.

“I felt very good about the visit,” Pruden said. “The students were very receptive, very eager to learn, and they jumped right in and participated in drills orchestrated by the ATG MTT."

“Additionally, the ATG MTT personnel assessed from their interaction with and observation of the Ghanaian armed forces personnel that the topics were quite appropriate to their level of competency.”

Also during this six-day visit, Pruden had the opportunity to visit medical facilities in Tema and the nation’s capital Accra, where he was able to learn firsthand about Ghana’s state of medical readiness.

“They take health care very seriously, especially in the military,” he noted. “The 37th Military Hospital in Accra is a national triage facility and is becoming the premier facility in Ghana treating both military and civilians. The facility also serves as a teaching hospital for interns, residents, nurses and orderlies (auxiliary nurses). Their preventive medicine program is very well developed and in fact, is run by their senior Navy physician. However, Ghanaian armed forces medical leaders have identified operational navy medicine as an area they desire CNE-C6F cooperation to improve.”

A comprehensive assessment of Ghana’s medical state of readiness would take years to accomplish, Pruden said, but this is far less important than working with them to determine their own desired end state.

“The intent is to work closely with them to provide and/or facilitate the development of their programs, personnel and procedures that will help them to achieve the state of operational navy medicine they desire,” he said.

Stocks and Pruden agreed that the ease in working with the Ghanaians - due to the lack of a language barrier, as well as the country’s relatively advanced technology - make the lessons learned from MEDFLAG 06 there an ideal template for sharing knowledge with other nations.

“Our intent is to use this as a model to help other countries build their navy and armed forces medical communities throughout the rest of Africa,” Stocks elaborated.

“The thinking is that if we can be successful in Ghana, because the process is easier up-front, then we will have a much better developed program to offer other countries as we engage with them,” Pruden added.