Disasters and calamities, whether natural or man-made, are unpredictable. They can happen anytime, anywhere and to anyone. Anticipation and Prevention is the name of the game when it comes to Emergency because, “When you prepare for an Emergency, the Emergency ceases to exist.”

The PSG Station Hospital (PSGSH) conducted the PSG Basic First Responder Seminar with the theme “Ang Tugon ng Grupo sa Sakuna” last 24 0800H – 1700H September 2010. This was an eight (8) hour didactic program with practical exercises on the initial approach to basic response for the first responding PSG personnel with or without extensive medical background, to critical incidents and disaster that includes mass casualty incident (MCI) like bombing incident in crowded areas, multiple vehicular accidents, and other similar situations. It aims to train the PSG personnel on general approach to initial medical response and triage. The participants learned the simple and effective method of managing an MCI using proven methods that were easy to understand and retained. The concepts were based on universally accepted methods and procedures making it applicable here and abroad.

Forty-seven (47) participants were composed of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police’s (PNP) personnel. Further breakdown of the participants yielded the following statistics:

UNIFORMED Personnel         

Nurse Corps (8%)

Philippine Army (45%)                   

Philippine Navy & Marines (11%)

Philippine Air Force (21%)

Philippine National Police (4%)

CIVILIAN Personnel (11%)

Based on concrete and actual evidence from participant’s evaluation, both participants and technical working group recognized the importance of this training for the PSG personnel and recommended further implementation of trainings. Much emphasis on the extension of time, especially the practical exercises, was the immediate concern. As a result, the next proposed and approved quarterly program of instruction for CY 2011 is going to be for two days.