Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T18:42:00.667Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Airborne Field Hospital in Disaster Area: Lessons from Armenia (1988) and Rwanda (1994)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Samuel N. Heyman ,
Arie Eldad  and
Michael Wiener
Samuel N. Heyman*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Hadassah Hospital, Mt. Scopus,The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem
Arie Eldad
Affiliation:
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Medical Corps
Michael Wiener
Affiliation:
The Directorate of Kupat Holim Klalit HMO, Israel
*
Department of Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital, Mt. Scopus, P.O. Box 24035, Jerusalem 91240Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The outcome of survivors within disaster areas largely depends upon the quick reallocation and operation of logistic and medical support systems. Enthusiastic media equipped with advanced communication systems, reveal mass human suffering in real time. But, the response period required for the organization of rescue systems is much slower and is most frustrating. In this article, we present our experience in quick deployment and operation of airborne field hospitals gained following the earthquake disaster in Armenia in 1988 and the civil war in Rwanda in 1994.

Deployment of improvised, volunteer-based, military field hospitals was feasible within 24 hours after the decision was made. A multi-disciplinary structure enabled an effective, flexible mode of operation and reduced the dependency on meticulous, time-consuming assessments of requirements prior to deployment.

These missions are a paradigm for the successful incorporation and integration within the capabilities of military infrastructure of volunteer professionals drafted from civil medical facilities. Such field hospitals could provide backup for primary care medical systems in disaster areas and substitute or take some pressure off of local hospitals, particularly when evacuation systems are insufficient.

Keywords

Armeniadisastercholeradysenteryearthquakefield-hospitalMedical Systemmeningitisrelief operationRwanda
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , March 1998 , pp. 14 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Wallenfels, M: Workshop on humanitarian assistance and disaster preparedness: Strategy and implementation, Bochum, Germany, 3–4 March, 1994. Disasters 1994; 18:292–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Ninth World Congress on Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel. 28 May–1 June, 1995.Google Scholar
3. Gaydos, JC, Luz, GA: Military participation in emergency humanitarian assistance. Disasters 1994;18:48–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Goma Epidemiology Group: Public health impact of Rwandan refugee crisis: What happened in Goma, Zaire in July, 1994? Lancet 1995;345:339–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Humanitarian Olympics: Solferino to Goma. Lancet 1995;345:529–530. (Editorial).Google Scholar
6. Harding, T: Crisis in humanitarian action assessed. Lancet 1995;345:576–577.Google Scholar
7. Carballo, M, Vuori, H: Humanitarian action reassessed. Lancet 1995;346:54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Van Damme, W: Do refugees belong to camps? Experiences from Goma and Guinea. Lancet 1995;346:360–362.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9. Pretto, EA, Safar, P: National medical response to mass disasters in the United States. Are we ready? JAMA 1991;266:1259–1262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Sharp, TW, Yip, R, Malone, JD: US Military Forces and emergency international humanitarian assistance. Observations and recommendations from three recent missions. JAMA 1994;272:386–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Heyman, SN, Nehama, H, Horovitz, J et al. : Sudden death during fluid resuscitation: Lesson from Rwanda. Lancet 1994;344:1509–1510.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12. Maayan, S, Marks, N, Viterbo, A et al. : HIV prevalence and susceptibility to epidemic infections among Rwandan refugees treated at the Israeli Hospital, Goma, Zaire, August 1994. Int J Infect Dis 1997;1:300–303.Google Scholar
13. Tokars, JT, Marcus, R, Culver, DH et al. : Surveillance of HIV infection and zidovudine use among health care workers after occupational exposure to HIV-infected blood. The CDC Cooperative Needlestick Surveillance Group. Ann Int Med 1993;118:913–919.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14. Siddique, AK, Salam, A, Islam, MS et al. : Why treatment centers failed to prevent cholera deaths among Rwandan refugees in Goma, Zaire. Lancet 1995;345:359–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15. Bennish, ML, Harris, JR, Wojtyniak, BJ, Struelens, M: Death in shigellosis: Incidence and risk factors in hospitalized patients. J Infect Dis 1990;161:500–506.Google Scholar
16. Pinner, RW, Onyango, F, Perkins, BA et al. : Epidemic meningococcal disease in Nairobi, Kenia, 1989. The Kenia/Centers for Disease Control (CDC): Meningitis Study Group. J Infect Dis 1992:166:359–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17. Heyman, SN, Ginosar, Y, Shapiro, M et al. : Diarrheal epidemics among Rwandan refugees, 1994: Management and outcome in a field hospital. J Clin Gastroenterol 1997;25:595–601CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Heyman, SN, Ginosar, Y, Niel, L et al. : Meningococcal meningitis among Rwandan refugees: Diagnosis, management and outcome in a field hospital. Int J Infect Dis 1335;12:137–142.Google Scholar
19. Waeckerle, JF: Disaster planning and response. N Engl J Med 1994;324:815–821.Google Scholar