The Navy’s Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy held a hospital corpsmen academy that had its roots in San Diego, where the ship is home-ported.
The vision for such an academy was shared by Capt. Lynn Wheeler, Mercy’s executive officer, and clinical directors assigned to the ship before Mercy left to participate in RIMPAC, or the Rim of the Pacific exercise, held last week.
Organizers based the academy on the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery instruction, according to a statement, to train hospital corpsmen to better serve Marines and sailors in need of care.
“Mercy’s clinical directors came up with this program for corpsmen specifically working in non-clinical settings, because corpsmen assigned to food services, supply or administration don’t get to perform their clinical training,” said Lt. Cmdr. Ressurreccion Macaspac, Mercy’s education and training officer.
Lessons included suturing, intravenous therapy, a code blue drill, electrocardiogram reading, tourniquet use and provision of medications. About 60 hospital corpsmen aboard Mercy don’t regularly offer care for those who are ailing.
When “you don’t have hands-on training aboard Mercy, the hospital corpsmen academy is definitely helpful because it serves as a refresher for skills I don’t get to practice everyday,” said Hospitalman Tyler Dawsey, assigned to Mercy’s directorate for administration.
The hospital academy ended Saturday.
Hospital ships were part of RIMPAC for the first time; 49 ships and submarines from 22 countries, along with more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel, will continue to be part of the exercise, which began June 26 to Aug. 1, and concludes Friday.
RIMPAC takes place along the California coast and Hawaiian Islands.
