A CQU-led team of expert nurses has been selected to deliver a 10-day combat casualty training program for army nurses in the Philippines during April (1-16).

Participants in the Military Health Skills Training Project had pre-tour orientation session in Rockhampton this week.

Dr Lorna Moxham (standing) with L-R Duncan Bray, Jennifer Anastasi, Marc Broadbent, Lydia Mainey, Major Eraine La Galle and Wendy Maitland

CQU's Centre for Professional Health Education, within the College of Health & Human Services, has attracted funding from Australia's Defence Department to deliver specialist training to nurses in the Philippines Armed Forces.

The initiative is funded as part of the Defence Cooperation Program between the 2 countries.

A team of expert nurses selected to deliver the training comprises project leaders Dr Lorna Moxham and Jenny Anastasi, CQU academic staff Marc Broadbent and Lydia Mainey, expert British Registered Nurse Duncan Bray (recently returned from Iraq), Major Eraine La Galle (Chief Nurse Training Officer with the Australian Army) and Philippine Training Officer Colonel Edmundo Gammad. CQU academic Wendy Maitland has also been integral in the planning and development of the training program but is unable to undertake the trip to Manila at this stage.

The team will be deployed to provide intensive combat casualty training to 30-40 registered nurses in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

L-R Lydia Mainey, Jennifer Anastasi, Marc Broadbent, Wendy Maitland, Major Eraine La Galle, Dr Lorna Moxham and Duncan Bray

The training program will include:

- frontline combat casualty triage and stabilisation;

- primary management of complex casualties;

- search and rescue training;

- acute mental health in field conditions;

- and emergency response to nuclear, chemical or biological warfare injury.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines are currently engaged in significant and ongoing fighting in the south of the Philippines against rebel insurgents.

The fighting has escalated over the past 2 years and military casualties are high.  Nursing staff need to be trained in front-line management of combat casualties and this training program has been designed to address these specialised needs. 

In February, Jenny Anastasi, Dr Lorna Moxham and Major Eraine LaGalle (Australian Army) took part in a week-long scoping visit to Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo in Manila, the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to finalise the teaching program with the Chief Nurse of the AFP Colonel Nelia Buenaflor, and to review the training facilities that will be available for the teaching team in April.