By Sarah Maraschky | Communications Associate
Peace Winds is excited to announce a new medical ship, the “Power of Change,” which is expanding the ability of ARROWS, our search-and-rescue team, to provide medical care to disaster survivors. The Power of Change was originally used as a marine research vessel in Malaysia. After undergoing many repairs and a long journey, the ship is ready to serve people in need of medical attention in disaster-stricken areas.
Over the past several months, ARROWS doctors and nurses have been hard at work with a number of disaster preparedness activities. Because medical aid onboard a ship differs from that on land in many ways, the Japanese government requires all seafarers to participate in a special training that meets International Maritime Organization standards. This includes basic knowledge about how to operate a ship and what to do in an emergency.
In September, the Power of Change was used as one of the training sites at Japan’s largest earthquake medical response training. Participants practiced responding to a large-scale earthquake. The simulation mimicked a scenario where communication has been cut off, and responders must transport patients to the ship using helicopters–one of ARROWS’ biggest assets as an airborne search-and-rescue team.
In addition to inaugurating the Power of Change, Peace Winds and ARROWS have launched a medical course for crisis management at Hyogo College of Medicine in Nishinomiya, Japan. Students are learning how to practice medicine during a crisis or disaster, including skills like establishing a field hospital, building a crisis management system based on diagnosis, collaborating with institutions such as local governments and NGOs, and establishing a system for pharmaceutical supplies.
“NGOs and universities can work together,” said ARROWS Doctor Mototaka Inaba. “NGOs like us are part of a field of knowledge. Universities have the power to disseminate that knowledge to the next generation. I think this course serves as a stage for learning how to respond in a number of different crises. We look forward to entering a new era together.”
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser