Members of the public will have an opportunity to tour the Barbados Defence Force’s Field Medical Facility (BDF FMF) and have health checks as part of the activities being held during its two-week camp.
The camp gets underway from Sunday, August 20, to Monday, September 4, at the National Stadium, Waterford, St. Michael, when a Type 2 general hospital facility will be erected. Persons living in the area will see a large number of tents being erected as part of the exercise.
They will also have an opportunity to sign up and become volunteers with the only accredited Field Medical Facility in the region.
Head of the Team, Major David Clarke, explained the camp will be multifaceted in nature, featuring training for members of the FMF, a weekend disaster exercise, community engagement and outreach.
He explained that in the first instance, approximately 75 members of the facility from a range of professions including health care, engineering, logistics and administration, will engage in a training exercise to enhance and sharpen their skills in operating in a field environment.
These skills will be pressed into action during the weekend disaster exercise, which will be held on Saturday, August 26, and Sunday, August 27.
Young people from the island’s Cadet Corps, the Barbados Youth Advance Corps and the Red Cross, will play the role of casualties as the team’s response to the medical needs of the “injured” is tested.
On Tuesday, August 29, and Wednesday, August 30, members of the public will have an opportunity to get a first-hand look at inside a field medical facility from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily.
Then, on Thursday, August 31, Friday, September 1, and Saturday, September 2, members of the BDF FMF and partner agencies, will engage members of the public through a community engagement exercise in the form of a health fair, as part of the effort to reduce the occurrence of chronic non-communicable diseases.
Persons 18 years and over attending the tours and or community engagement sessions are also invited to sign-up and become volunteers with the BDF FMF, regardless of their educational level.
“We are currently accredited as a type one facility, which in effect is a polyclinic, and are seeking to reach our type two accreditation which is a general hospital,” Major Clarke said. The BDF FMF was established in 2018, and is a unique body, encompassing regular and reserve members of the BDF and civilian volunteers working together to provide health care in emergency situations.