Land Warfare: Deployable medical facility impresses | ADM Oct 2009
The first iteration of the ADF Deployable Medical Facility that is being acquired under Phase 2B of JP2060 made a strong debut on EX Talisman Saber 09.
The prime contractor for this Block 1 component of the system, Canadian firm Weatherhaven, is now awaiting the source selection for Block 2 following an earlier RFT.
This year the company's local subsidiary, Nowra-based Weatherhaven Australia, delivered the first tranche of the Controlled Environment Soft Shelter (CESS) variant of the Deployable Medical Facility to its new owner, the Army's 1 Health Support Battalion at Holsworthy, NSW.
This was deployed for the first time on EX Talisman Saber 09, supporting troops at Shoalwater Bay Training Area, immediately impressing users and patients.
The CESS system employs Weatherhaven's Modular Tentage System (MTS), a family of interlocking soft-skinned shelters which combine to form a single extended suite of interconnected shelters with insulated walls and air conditioning systems.
It is designed to provide a mobile, clean environment for emergency and primary medical support for a deployed force.
The individual tent and air conditioning elements break down into individual loads which are man-packable if necessary.
For EX Talisman Saber 09 1 HSB deployed a 180-strong contingent to support all US and Australian exercise participants - a Brigade-plus commitment - with the full range of medical capabilities: dental, psychology, physiotherapy, pharmacy, x-ray and ultrasound, Accident & Emergency and pathology.
The 57-bed field hospital included 30 low-dependency beds, 20 medium-dependency, five isolation beds and a two-bed Intensive Care Unit.
The CESS will replace the ADF medical community's current mix of separate canvas tents and Trelleborg air beam inflatable shelters; the new system provides a "monumental leap forward in capability," according to LTCOL Lachlan Sinclair, CO of 1 HSB, who told ADM it provides a cleaner, more sterile environment with much better working conditions thanks to its light-coloured internal walls and thermal efficiency, which also reduces the power demands for things like air conditioning.
Keeping your cool
Adelaide-based Hill Defence provides the air conditioning system and the CESS's critical High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter.
The company has provided 116 air conditioning units, two for each MTS unit; these are largely identical to the air conditioning units it had already delivered to the RAAF for its mobile telecommunications cabins.
The company also designed and manufactured the housing, booster fan and ducting for the HEPA filter, which is a COTS item.
The hospital-grade HEPA filter is designed to be positioned above an operating table.
It takes in cooled air and filters out particles down to 0.3 microns in size; the clean air is then released into the sterile space and gently displaces warmer, non-sterile air by a process of convection.
This is the first use of a HEPA filter in a mobile field hospital and "is the closest you'll find in a field environment to a civilian hospital," Sinclair says.
Visitors and users were universally impressed by the new facility, he added: "The US casualties were thrilled to be bits by the accommodation and the care they received," he said, "One Australian casualty couldn't believe he was in an Australian facility, despite all the Australian uniforms."
The Block 1 deliverables under this Phase of JP2060 include the CESS, digital dental and medical imaging systems, portable dental equipment and forensic identification kits.
The first tranche was delivered in time for 1 HSB to deploy them on EX Talisman Saber and the remainder will be rolled out to 2 HSB at Enoggera, 3 HSB in Adelaide and other Army and RAAF medical units.
"All credit to Weatherhaven and Hill," said LTCOL Sinclair.
"They were very proactive, they did their best to make sure we had this capability in time for Talisman Saber."
Block 2 of JP2060 Ph.2B includes an aeromedical evacuation capability along with the Controlled Environment Hard Shelters (CEHS) component of the Deployable Medical Facility, based on ISO shipping containers, for which a source selection was imminent at the time of writing.
The CEHS will equip 1 and 2 HSB.
The concept of operations for the CESS and CEHS is that in any short notice contingency the former will be deployed first to establish an initial medical capability in-theatre, and then augmented by the CEHS and more CESS modules to create a comprehensive, static hospital facility.
Weatherhaven submitted an RFT response for the Block 2 CEHS in partnership with Hill Equipment.
This is based on the Canadian firm's Mobile Expandable Container Configuration (MECC) and is designed for several applications, including medical.
The ADF has already ordered a number of MECCs for various non-medical applications.