Haiti: The Development of “Seamless” Assistance from Disaster Relief to UNPKOs

In this chapter, we will examine Japan’s response to a complex crisis in Haiti, in which a natural disaster and civil unrest were compounded. Persistent insecurity and confusion in Haiti, albeit under the presence of an ongoing United Nations Peacekeeping Operation (UNPKO), further deteriorated after the great earthquake in 2010. This challenge unexpectedly propelled Japan’s move toward closer “integration,” since several layers of civil-military cooperation rapidly developed to cope with the complicated emergency in post-earthquake Haiti. First, the Government of Japan (GoJ) deployed a civilian medical team and the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) emergency medical assistance unit (hereafter, the SDF medical unit) under the Japan Disaster Relief (JDR) Act. Following the SDF medical unit’s JDR work, the Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) carried on with medical assistance. Second, once emergency medical support ended, an SDF contingent was dispatched under the Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) Act. The Japan Engineering Groups’ (JEG’s) engagement in reconstruction served as a useful opportunity for the GoJ to refine the “All Japan” approach, further encouraging Japan’s inclination toward “integration.” Meanwhile, the experience in Haiti shed light on the gap in the legal assumptions between the JDR Act and the PKO Act, since neither of them anticipated the protection of civil JDR teams in insecurity.

Using virtual reality technologies to practice the algorithm of emergency medical care

The use of computer-based virtual reality (VR) technologies in the educational process is continuously increasing for a variety of professional activities. Medical education is one of the examples, where such efforts are particularly visible. Today’s VR products provide the maximum immersion into a virtual environment and active interaction with their components. These VR products are becoming increasingly more popular, even in comparison with pseudo-3D simulators. VR facilitates the development of the abilities for precision work as much as mechanical skills. In emergency medical care, it is particularly important to practice the skills requiring specialized knowledge and abilities. In this work, we discuss VR-simulators built to practice the algorithm of emergency medical assistance in a maximally realistic environment.

CONCEPT OF THE SYSTEM OF MARINE MOBILE MEDICAL COMPLEXES

The modern strategy for the development of health care includes as one of the priorities maximum approach of medical services to the consumer. To solve this problem in the conditions of the Navy, it is advisable to create mobile medical complexes placed on specially equipped vessels. For the full and operational medical support of the fleet forces in specified areas of the world’s ocean at different distances from the main base sites, a system of marine mobile medical complexes should be created. In peacetime the system should include hospital ships, multipurpose vessels with a hospital on board, mobile polyclinic mobile complexes and high-speed ambulance boats. During the period of danger, the possibility should be provided for the rapid re-equipment of hospital and multifunctional vessels, as well as polyclinic complexes with an increase in evacuation capacity and an increase in the volume of medical care. For medical support of an amphibious assault operation on universal amphibious ships, a quick re-equipment of the premises specially allocated during the design process to medical facilities for emergency medical assistance and evacuation of the wounded to coastal medical institutions should be provided. In wartime, for the provision of medical care and evacuation of the wounded, vessels of various purposes must be used, the projects of which contain the capabilities and algorithms for their quick conversion into sanitary transports. Variants of the main tactical and technical characteristics of vessels of various classes intended for medical support of the fleet forces are proposed. A significant problem in the operation of medical vessels is their low patient load in the inter-transit period, which leads to the disqualification of full-time medical staff and reduces the quality of the maintenance of the vessel. When forming the operational-tactical model of operation of medical vessels, special attention should be paid to the staffing algorithms and ensuring that the courts are always ready to perform their tasks.

ISSUES IN PROVIDING EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TO SERVICEMEN WITH COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA IN THE ARCTIC ZONE OF RUSSIA

The article highlights the features of medical evacuations of servicemen with pneumonia in the Arctic zone; provides data on the time spent on medical evacuations of servicemen with community-acquired pneumonia from remote garrisons of the Arctic, as well as factors affecting this indicator. It is proposed to use the inventory for antibacterial therapy of complicated community-acquired pneumonia in case of impossibility of patient evacuation.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNIQUE COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

The fulfillment of one of the conditions on the road to admission to the European family by establishing a communication and information system with the only European emergency number E-112 in the Republic of North Macedonia is a conceptual solution for the citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia and for all foreign citizens which will be found on the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia. Whether there is a fire, emergency medical assistance, police intervention or a traffic accident or other accident with seriously injured persons, Macedonian citizens and all foreign nationals will soon be able to report such incidents to a single hotline number for emergency cases - 112 . In any unwanted and unpredictable situation where citizens need help, a quick phone call to an emergency service can save a lot of lives and material goods. By implementing the communication and information system, the emergency numbers to the police 192, the fire brigade 193, emergency medical assistance 194 and the Crisis Management Center 195 will be replaced with the single European emergency number E-112. Thus, citizens will have to remember only one number instead of the previous four, which will significantly facilitate the request for assistance in situations that seriously threaten one's life or property. In the Republic of North Macedonia, the Crisis Management Center is a competent entity for the integration of existing subsystems for emergency assistance in a modern system for receiving all calls for emergency assistance, redirecting to the relevant services and coordinating the response in emergency situations, as well as providing modern, reliable and secure communication systems with citizens in case of disasters.The Crisis Management Center has the legal obligation to establish and maintain a "unique communication and information system with a unique number", in order to carry out the responsibilities related to maintaining permanent communications, exchange of information, cooperation and coordination with all entities in the crisis management system on call-in case of risks, dangers and other accidents, on the entire territory of the Republic of North Macedonia.The establishment of a communication and information system and the unique number for emergency calls is determined by the provisions of the Crisis ManagementLaw and the Electronic CommunicationsLaw, and its implementation is an obligation arising from the Universal Service Directive and the rights of users in relation to electronic communications networks and services (2002/22 / EC), by which EU Member States are required to implement the single European Emergency Call number.The Crisis Management Center has a plan for deploying three emergency call centers, which will co-ordinate with the police, emergency medical assistance, fire brigades and emergency response and rescue teams. Each operating center will be able to receive calls from any point on the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia.