Symposium unites nurses in the Asia-Pacific region

  • Published
  • By by Lt. Col. Rebekah F. Friday
  • 51st Medical Group
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  More than 200 Military Nurses from 14 Asian Pacific countries gathered at the Melia Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, for the Third Annual Asian Pacific Military Nursing Symposium August 3-7. 

The U.S. military sent 45 Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard medical personnel to participate in the symposium to include six delegates from Osan. 

Serving as Senior Leadership for the symposium was Col. Vu Quoc Binh, vice director of the military medical department for the People's Army of Vietnam and Brig. Gen. Catherine Lutz, the U.S. Air National Guard assistant to the assistant surgeon general nursing services. 

The symposium's theme, "Promoting Global Military Nursing Cooperation" highlighted nursing education, career development, global pandemic preparedness and disaster management. 

For the U.S. delegates the symposium provided the opportunity to share the impact of nursing care and collaborate and network with other nations in the region. 

The five-day agenda included presentations by three of the six Osan delegates. Lt. Col. Michele Baxter briefed on Aeromedical Evacuation in the Pacific theater; Lt. Col. Rebekah Friday briefed on Individual Medical Readiness; and Maj K. C. Vo briefed on the Aeromedical Evacuation process. 

All delegates were also invited to visit Vietnamese Military Hospital 103, which specializes in infectious diseases and provides care for military personnel and civilians.
 
Hospital 103 is a recipient of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief, which authorized up to $25 billion more than five years ago to combat global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. 

Previous Asia-Pacific nurses' symposiums were hosted in Hawaii in 2007 and the Republic of Korea in 2008. 

This year's symposium was a phenomenal success thanks to the 13th Air Force international health specialist team, which included Maj. Chung Lee and Master Sgt. Enrique Ferreira. 

As a result of their attention to detail the attendance doubled from last year's symposiums and plans are in progress for future symposiums.