The Ministry of Health Agriculture and Human Services through its National Health Emergency Management Unit says they are remaining committed to providing a comprehensive approach to health emergency management in response to public health threats including natural and man-made disasters affecting the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The team in a release to RTC news said that they recognize that we have to be in readiness for adequate response. We are not only in the hurricane path, but also have significant air traffic locally and internationally.
Further, TCI is in the flight path for many Trans-Atlantic and Caribbean flights. TCI also has a thriving Cruise Ship Industry with cruise ships docking in Grand Turk nearly every day. We operate ferry services between North Caicos and Providenciales, between South Caicos and Providenciales and between Salt Cay and Grand Turk. We also need to be IHR (International Health Regulations) compliant.
To this end, the Ministry of Health Agriculture and Human Services seeks to strengthen disaster and emergency management responses and build capacity through an intense training in Mass Casualty Management.
In June 2014, a Mass Casualty Management Course was conducted in Providenciales. This year, a Mass Casualty Management Course was conducted in North Caicos, and now the course is being extended to include South Caicos to ensure all communities have personnel who are adequately prepared and trained to respond to mass casualty events.
The facilitators are Mr Delwin Ferguson, and Director of Emergency Medical Services, Dr. Denise Braithwaite- Tennant, Director of Clinical Services at TCI Hospitals and Mrs. Mary Forbes, Health Disaster Coordinator.
The Mass Casualty Management Training will help to increase the TCI’s capacity and ability to respond to any mass casualty event that may occur.
The Mass Casualty Management Course is a didactic, multisectoral training course consisting of lectures, field exercises and role playing, designed to sharpen the response skills of mass casualty responders, to effectively manage events in human and/or other resources-challenged areas. It will culminate in a series of practical field exercises held at night to underscore nocturnal challenges. On successful completion, participants will be eligible for a certificate in Mass Casualty Management.
In this exercise, Thirty four persons are expected to be trained. Participants were drawn from amongst the various response agencies in South Caicos and throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands that would be front line responders in any mass casualty situation.
These include Medical and Nursing personnel, Emergency Medical Services staff, District Administration, Police, Fire, Airport Authority, Ports Authority, Environmental Health, Social Development, Immigration, Customs, Public Works Department, and Shelter Managers.
