OCIO connects IT and logistics to support recent Haiti relief efforts
Within minutes of hearing about the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12, the Military Health System medical logistics team sprang into action. Members of the Defense Health Services Systems Medical Logistics Division are accustomed to moving quickly, especially when health information technology equipment can help save lives.
Working in tandem with Army Col. Chris Harrington, DHSS Medical Logistics Deputy Program Manager’s team, Army Col. Marsha Langlois alerted her team to begin rapidly restocking the U.S. Navy Ship Comfort, a medical treatment facility in port at Baltimore, Md. Langlois leads the Medical Operations Directorate at the Supply Center Philadelphia. Langlois and staff members from the Joint Medical Logistics Functional Development Center in Fort Detrick, Md. assisted in installing security patches and upgrades to the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support server on the Comfort before it departed the Port of Baltimore on Jan. 16. The Comfort then made supply stops in Norfolk, Va. and Jacksonville, Fla., to collect more crew, fuel, medical supplies, water and food. The teams worked tirelessly until the USNS Comfort returned from Haiti on March 19.
“For us (medical logisticians) it’s like hitting a moving target,” said Harrington, DHSS Medical Logistics Deputy Program Manager. “The Navy developed and has used this method of stocking its ships since the 1770s, and it’s vital to the rapid work required to help the Navy help those urgently needing medical assistance in Haiti.”
Harrington said as a result, vital medical supplies were researched, sourced and ordered for delivery to the Comfort in less than 48 hours. The teams used existing Prime Vendor contracts and the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support Customer Assistance Module, the Contingency Automation Application, Medical Product Databank and eCatalog applications. These medical logistics IT applications helped ensure the most rapid re-stocking of medical supplies on the Comfort in recent history.
“In fact, many of the ordered supplies and pharmaceuticals were delivered to the Comfort within this 48-hour window,” he said. “While in port, the Comfort maintains a minimal crew with limited supplies. Typically, it can take up to five days to restock the 1,000-bed USNS Comfort.”
As operations continued, the DHSS Medical Logistics staff at the JMLFDC at Fort Detrick, conducted daily teleconferences with medical logistics staff at the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the U.S. Southern Command to assist in developing the medical concept of operations and supporting information technology requirements for the Theater Lead Agent for Medical Materiel in support of the Comfort and field operations in Haiti. A Theater Lead Agent for Medical Material serves as the supporting hub for theater medical materiel distribution and supply chain administration and provides oversight and management of medical merchandise. The Air Force has been assigned to provide TLAMM support to SOUTHCOM for supplies being shipped to Haiti from Kelly USA in San Antonio.
Harrington said that an additional challenge these teams faced was low or no connectivity for the medical logistics information technology systems used to order and manage medical supplies.
“In this type of emergency, the bandwidth of the ship or the units on the ground in Haiti can quickly become a significant constraint,” he said. “Our medical logistics IT systems are very responsive and flexible and are built to work despite low or no Internet connectivity to ensure our Service medical treatment teams get the supplies they need.”
The logistics teams here in the United States provided 24-hour support to deliver equipment, bandages and medicines to the military medical teams in Haiti. Those teams worked even harder as described in the following e-mail from onboard the Comfort:
“I watch in silent amazement at the efforts of all the personnel working in the Casualty Receiving area of the Comfort,” said Navy Cmdr. Lawrence G. Coleman. “Most have been working for hours and hours in hot conditions with only a short break here and there. We send up food for them to eat right there next to their work; amazing dedication. As patients are stabilized and prepared to go to surgery, it all seems like a whirl of motion. As soon as a patient is wheeled out to the operating room that space is prepped for the next patient coming in.
Everyone keeps reminding each other that this isn’t a 100-yard dash, it’s a marathon with the goal to pace yourself for the long haul,“ he said. “All seven of my roommates in my stateroom are doctors and nurses and they come and go for a few hours sleep then back to duty. My hat is off to all of them.”
Dr. Dan Magee, Defense Health Services Systems
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