Blog Posts tagged with "health care"

The military is occasionally called upon to provide life saving assistance in times of disaster. I’ve blogged over the past few years about our involvement in fires, floods and earthquakes. These disasters, and the military’s role in them, receive much attention. But the military is also routinely involved in capacity building projects which often do not get the same level of coverage.

The team at U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) has collaborated on several projects throughout the region to help increase capacity in the sectors of disaster response and medical readiness. Because of these quiet, long-term projects, we’ll collectively be better prepared to respond to real crises. Let me give you some examples and highlight the many partners:

Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7 Seabees (L), U.S. Ambassador Judith Garber (C-L), Capt. Guntars Vilguts, commanding officer of the 46th Latvian army national guard (C-R), and Ventspils firefighters (R) stand together for a group photo May 26, 2010 in Ventspils, Latvia.

In Latvia, the U.S. Embassy indentified disaster response as concentrated interest item. They see a fully operational and effective state fire and rescue service as crucial for Latvia’s ability to respond to disasters and crises, protect the country’s infrastructure from terrorist or other threats, and directly improve the safety and basic living conditions of Latvian citizens. In response, USEUCOM has funded several projects to renovate fire watch towers throughout the country. Additionally, several fire stations underwent renovation to better facilitate fire and rescue operations.

In Georgia, USEUCOM will provide support to the renovation of part of the government owned Republican Hospital. In a real example of complimentary public-private partnership, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, is partnering with the government to form the first nursing school in the Republic of Georgia. The immediate goal is to significantly improve the competencies of currently practicing nurses. This will be done through an intensive training program. At the end of the training period, each hospital will have in-place a team of nurses trained with skill devoted towards in-service education and management. This project will ultimately serve to improve social and health care services in Georgia.

Sailors offload two pallets of donated personal hygiene supplies as part of Project Handclasp to Clinic #14. The clinic is located in the port city of Durres, Albania.

In Albania, the Departments of State and Education, in collaboration with USAID, have initiated a project to improve health care delivery in the Balkans. The project aims to establish a telemedicine capability at the fourteen regional hospitals in Albania. EUCOM has only a small role to play, but a significant one, nonetheless. We are supporting the renovation of the spaces within each hospital in which the telemedicine equipment will be installed. USAID will fund necessary training for hospital personnel in the use of this equipment. This new infrastructure and medical and technical leadership will provide a solid foundation for positive changes in health care in Albania. Moreover, this program will create new opportunities for partnerships of medical institutions and individual experts from Albania with many renowned institutions worldwide.

All of these projects are formulated in partnership with the Embassy country team, which defines the project objectives in their country strategies. Once possible activities are identified, they are closely coordinated and executed with the national government of the host country. Even the smallest projects demand lots of consultation, collaboration, and partnership. The projects may seem humble, but this sort of work performed over years and across nations adds up to real progress. I’m awfully proud of our folks executing this work, and I trust you are too.

There are countless examples of our military doing work such as that described above. I’d welcome any additional examples and experiences you might like to share.

Adm. James Stavridis
Commander, U.S. European Command and
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe