Fourteen members from the Republic of Korea's Red Cross College of Nursing attended a two-day customized 'train-the-trainer' program of instruction during a weeklong education and familiarization tour of some of Hawai'i's disaster manage- ment resources in August of last year. Attendees included the school's dean, professors, instructors and administrators, and a representative of Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Center staff members, including on-site staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Army Medical Corps, and adjunct staff from Tripler AMC, the University of Hawai'i and the American Red Cross - Hawai'i State Chapter, provided the instruction. The group was chaperoned by the event's organizers, Janice Koh and Bernice Bowers.

The course represented the first time South Korea had trained health professionals working in disaster situations outside of their national borders. The effort is supported by Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare and is a part of an ongoing plan to improve the country's response to natural disasters. Over one hundred thirty Red Cross nursing colleges operate in South Korea, and the ministry will evaluate this Hawai'i-based course as a common training for the colleges.

Koh and Bowers, international project coordinators, who work under the direction of Dr. Woncheol Cho, director of the Yonsei University Flood & Safety Management selected the Center to furnish the training. Yonsei is undertaking the South-North Korea Floodplain Management and Infrastructure Development Initiative.

Koh and Bowers are two Hawai'i-based business executives who are providing research, analysis and consultation to Republic of Korea officials and who serve as liaisons between officials of Korea and the United States. They began working on the concept in 1998 and have been steadily working towards fulfilling the Korean government's vision of building a world-class disaster mitigation program that will improve their ability to respond to natural weather disasters and serve as a model for other nations.

In May of last year, Koh and Bowers coordinated a landmark agreement between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs to pool efforts in benchmarking the best in disaster management services and technology. They coordinated the launch of the resulting workplan with FEMA's then director James Lee Witt in meetings with South Korea's prime minister

and over 180 ministers and senior government executives in Seoul. A formal request to U. S. Ambassador Stephen Bosworth was made by the South Korean government, supported by U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye to assign the U.S. Military attaché to act as the contact point within the U.S. Embassy on this project. The reason for the request was because of

South Korea's interest in bench-marking U.S. military-civilian coordination in disaster mitigation, flood prevention, and disaster response beginning with the Center of Excellence, Army Corps of Engineers, and other assets that the U.S. government deploys in disasters in coordination with other federal, local, private-sector, and non-governmental agencies.

Koh and Bowers have identified the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance and the Pacific Disaster Center as two Hawai'i-based organizations that can provide specialized services to the Korean government.

 

Behind the Scenes/Pacific
Halfway to Hawai'i
Kevin Neeson reports from Hawai'i

Anyone who has flown to Hawai'i knows all too well the five long hours it takes. To pass the time, on some planes passengers can play the "Halfway to Hawai'i" game, guessing when the flight will reach its midpoint. On a flight from Los Angeles last October, the game was being played when a call came over the plane's intercom asking if there were any medical personnel on board.

LTC (Dr.) Patricia Hastings, deputy director of the Center of Excellence, answered the call. A flight attendant escorted her to the rear of the plane where a seven-year-old boy, who was flying to Hawai'i on vacation, was in a great deal of distress.

"He was pretty sick," Hastings said. "Evidently he had a peanut allergy that he wasn't aware of and was reacting to the almonds cooked in peanut oil that he had eaten." She observed that he had trouble breathing because his throat was swelling shut. His lips were also swollen and he was breaking out in hives. "He had that worried look on his face, like when you're trying to breathe and you realize you can't," Hastings said. "In spite of the trouble he was very brave and did everything needed to help us make him better."

Airlines carry in-flight emergency kits and while the flight attendant obtained the kit, Hastings used her own medical bag to start treatment immediately. She administered a shot of adrenaline and used an asthma inhaler to assist his breathing. Hastings continued to administer the shots every 20 minutes to reduce the effects of the allergic reaction. After an hour had passed, it was clear the boy was not going to stop breathing.

"The family was reassured when I told them I worked at a military institution," Hastings said. "Army hospitals may be portrayed less than optimally in the newspapers, but people trust us. Military medical personnel are trained to act quickly and in this case the training likely saved the life of a young boy suffering from an allergic reaction on the airplane."           

A week following the incident, a "thank you" card arrived from Jordan, the boy who was saved, and his family. They included a gift certificate as a token of their appreciation.      

"Military cannot accept personal gifts for services, so the certificate was given to the Chaplain in Jordan's name," Hastings said. "His letter meant the most to me. He thought I was a "great doctor" and liked learning to surf while in Hawai'i. We sent Jordan a letter to let him know that some kids in Hawai'i are going to have a nicer Christmas thanks to him."             

Hastings said, "If there had been a delay, he might not have done well. It's nice to be recognized, but I just feel lucky to have been there to serve." Hastings was on her way back to Hawai'i from lecturing at the 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Disaster Medicine in Vancouver, British Colombia.