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Medical Professionals Build on Maritime Strategy Core Capability

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS081029-13
Release Date: 10/29/2008 6:01:00 AM

Special Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- More than 100 military and civilian healthcare professionals and planners from across the Pacific Fleet gathered for the 14th biennial Pacific Fleet/Marine Forces Medical Symposium in Pearl Harbor Oct. 22-24 to discuss the future of humanitarian and civic assistance (HCA) missions.

The theme of this year's symposium was "Humanitarian Civic Assistance Into the 21st Century."

As the sixth pillar of the Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower, humanitarian assistance builds on "relationships forged in times of calm" and mitigates "human suffering as the vanguard of interagency and multinational efforts, both in a deliberate, proactive fashion and in response to crises."

The three-day conference combined a unique blend of military and civilian speakers and breakout sessions, challenging the participants to recognize the increasingly complex inter-relationships of military, economic, healthcare, infrastructure, political and diplomatic policies relevant to security issues throughout the Pacific region.

Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, the U.S. Pacific Fleet deputy chief of staff for plans, policies and requirements, welcomed the participants to the symposium and kicked off the discussion of HCA missions.

Mulloy compared past humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions, which often had to ramp up quickly, with today's missions such as Pacific Partnership that involve longer, more detailed planning for sustained success.

"Missions like Pacific Partnership make us better prepared, enhance our Navy/Marine Corps team and make us a better Navy," he said. "Pacific Partnership represents the best of our military planning capability."

Mulloy spoke of the medical community's role in HCA missions, focusing much of his remarks on the recent Pacific Partnership missions aboard USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) in 2008 and USS Peleliu (LHA 5) in 2007 that helped build collaborative relationships in Southeast Asia and Oceania by providing engineering, civic, medical and dental assistance.

To these missions, "you bring resources, you bring heart and you bring respect," he said. "Pacific Partnership personifies planning, compassion, respect and understanding for the local populations."

Mulloy challenged those in attendance to ask the hard questions throughout the symposium about past missions and to look toward continuously improving future missions.

Capt. Scott Flinn, medical commander for Pacific Partnership 2007 (PP07), followed Mulloy, reviewing the lessons learned and best practices from that mission, thus preparing for panel discussions about experiences and strategies. Flinn concluded that PP07 met the mission of a "by, with, through" operation highlighted by Mulloy in his opening remarks.

"What that means is that we were there 'by' invitation of the host nation, working 'with' them side-by-side, 'through' their help and assistance," Flinn said.

Echoing Flinn, Capt. James Rice, medical commander for the 148-day PP08 deployment, emphasized that the HCA missions are "not about us." But instead, "we are there to support our host nations, our partners."

Rice stressed that the U.S. focus must be on furthering host-nation capabilities to move forward with skills, equipment and expertise to further treat their own people. However, the Mercy medical commander also cited specific examples of how treating individuals affected entire villages.

"This mission and the spirit of Pacific Partnership changed people's lives," he said. "We have a picture of a woman with a smile on her face after receiving a pair of glasses. That picture really captures the meaning of Pacific Partnership."

Flinn closed his presentation with a poem by Maya Angelou that he said highlights the essence Navy/Marine Corps HCA missions: "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel."

Capt. Gail Hathway, U.S. Pacific Fleet deputy fleet surgeon and coordinator of the symposium, said that attendees took advantage of the lessons learned, best practices and challenges set forth by the opening speakers. And, for the remainder of the event, the participants actively contributed to panel discussions, breakout sessions and social-networking events.

"It was time we sat down to talk about how to work better and smarter on HCA missions," she said. "We invited Army, Air Force and many others who have done HCAs but do them differently. We shared the best of the best."

Hathway reiterated that the time to plan for HCA missions is now as the days of pick-up operations are gone.

"We are planning sooner, engaging with partners sooner and putting together a planning cycle that isn't rushed," she said. "The time to exchange business cards is now, not during an emergency."

For more news from Pacific Fleet, visit www.navy.mil/local/cpf/.