Courtesy Photo | Col. Rebecca Young, an advanced nurse practitioner with the Alaska Army National...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — An Alaska Army National Guard member who attended a military nursing exchange in South Korea earlier this month shared her insights on the benefits of international partnerships and how they can help patients around the world.
Col. Rebecca Young, an advanced nurse practitioner with the AKARNG’s Medical Detachment, joined nearly 300 military nursing professionals from throughout the Asia-Pacific at the 8th Asia-Pacific Military Nursing Exchange in Daejeon, Republic of Korea, Sept. 1-5.
“The purpose of the event as a whole is to provide a venue for military nurses from a variety of countries to exchange information in hopes that each country will go back having learned something that they can apply to their practice,” said Maj. Donna Hornberger, an international health specialist with Pacific Air Forces. “This event is primarily focused towards senior nurse leaders and senior enlisted medical technicians from countries throughout the Pacific region.”
The exchange represents a unique opportunity for military nursing professionals to engage on issues of mutual interest, promote excellence in nursing practices, enhance professional relationships and foster healthcare interoperability between Asia-Pacific nations.
“Each year, a delegate from one country or another has commented on how they took something they learned while at the event and applied it to their way of doing business,” Hornberger said.
Hornberger explained that a simple presentation given together by an officer and senior enlisted leader this year encouraged a representative from the Philippines to provide video and photos to her command showing how the enlisted are respected in the U.S. military. The representative is hoping it will help empower the enlisted military, especially in the medical field.
Additional topics focused on medical and clinical research, enlisted force development, military health care delivery systems, and management in force health, trauma and disaster.
“My favorite experience from the exchange was the team building between all the countries present,” Young said. “We worked on ways military and non-military agencies can work together and improve our responses to natural disasters.”
This may have been Young’s first year attending APMNE, but she is no novice to multinational exercises that support interoperability. This July marked her 7th year attending Khaan Quest, a multinational peacekeeping exercise held annually near Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Partnered in 2003, the Alaska National Guard and Mongolian Armed Forces have been forming a relationship and plan to build on this relationship far into the future through the National Guard Bureau's State Partnership Program.
“I hope that State Partnership Programs will be strengthened through the Asia-Pacific Military Nursing Exchange,” explained Young. “While there, I presented different ways we work together as military forces and how civilian augmentation is critical.”
Young was able to share at APMNE how she worked alongside her Mongolian counterparts and international armed forces to provide subject matter expert exchanges as well as preventative medical care to local residents during Khaan Quest. The objective is that after the exercise, Mongolian medical professionals will be able to provide continuity of care for their citizens.
“Getting representation from State Partnership Programs is critical as we are building relationships throughout the Pacific,” Hornberger said. “Col. Young did a great job presenting what Alaska has done as a state partner with Mongolia, and there was a lot of interest in that from other countries.”
Countries with representatives attending the exchange included Australia, Cambodia, China, Korea, Papa New Guinea, Nepal, United States, Thailand, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan.
Young is looking forward to many more experiences with Mongolia and other countries, while simultaneously building relationships amongst the Asia-Pacific forces.
“We as nurses strive to take care of our patients, whether they are civilian or service members,” Young said. “Human life should never be taken for granted. We should embrace our past, engage in our present and envision our future.”
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2014 14:08 |
| Story ID: | 142563 |
| Location: | ANCHORAGE, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 200 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Alaska Guard member uses Asia-Pacific nursing exchange to strengthen State Partnership Program, by Balinda ONeal, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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