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C.A.T. Also Spells E.M.T.

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080815-17
Release Date: 8/15/2008 3:48:00 PM

By Engineering Aide 2nd Class (SCW) Keith Casey, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 Public Affairs

REPUBLIC OF PALAU (NNS) -- Civic Action Team (CAT) 133-24, a detachment from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 133, continues to break new ground in Palau - except in this case, the 'Runnin' Roos' are not building, but teaching.

Through a collaboration between the CAT, Palau's Ministry of Health (MoH) and Palau Community College (PCC), instructors from the CAT and MoH began offering an emergency medical technician (EMT) course July 8, to fire and rescue crews from the Ministry of Justice.

The course, the first of its kind in Micronesia, fills a long-recognized gap in Palau's health care system. Upon completing the course, all students receive a certificate from PCC, thus qualifying them to apply to the MoH for an emergency medical technician license.

"The Republic of Palau has a pretty good public health system, but the biggest problem that has been facing Palau is the distance of some of the outlying villages and the patients receiving some health care within the critical 'Golden Hour,'" said James Corbin, a physician's assistant with the MoH and one of the instructors for the course.

Due to the persistent efforts of Corbin and Hospitalman 1st Class Montoya Gunn, the other course instructor and independent duty corpsman for CAT 133-24, the idea finally made the leap from discussion to classroom reality.

The 12-week course of instruction as developed by Corbin and Gunn is designed to fill in the gaps in the Responders' knowledge, and ensure they have a basic understanding of the entire spectrum of emergency care.

"The skill level of the emergency medical services (EMS) personnel from the Ministry of Justice is already quite good," says Gunn. "Our goal here is two-fold: first, we want to help raise that skill level even higher, and second, give the EMS crews tools and techniques that they don't yet have."

According to Ronny Ngiarachergnag, assistant fire chief and one of the students, the students are learning quickly and take pride in their professional development.

"The class has been very successful at pulling the students' experience together," said Ngiarachergnag.

Corbin added that the course will improve the skills of the EMT's to a level such that they are able to treat patients and communicate effectively with the hospital emergency room staffs, thus increasing patient survival.

The partnership between the MoH, PCC, and the CAT is considered an unqualified success by all parties. As a result, there are plans for future civic action teams to continue offering the EMT-certification course to anyone in the local community who is interested in receiving the training.

"Medical outreach has always been an important part of the civic action team mission in Palau," says Lt. Junior Grade Riley Smith, officer-in-charge of the CAT, "By partnering with the Ministry of Health and PCC to provide an EMT course, we are simply carrying out our mandate to help the people of Palau any way we can."

For more news from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, visit www.navy.mil/local/nmcb133/.