Five members of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force visited the Wisconsin National Guard in early June as part of the Defense Department’s State Partnership Program, administered by the National Guard Bureau.
According to Major Jessica Kelly, the Wisconsin National Guard’s State Partnership Program coordinator, the visit was “amazing.”
“The intent of this visit was to build upon the medical introductory exchange that took place in the fiscal year 2022,” Kelly said.
In March 2022, Wisconsin National Guard members travelled to Papua New Guinea to observe how the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) medical services operated.
This year, medical officers from the PNGDF visited the 135th Medical Company Area Support in Waukesha, the Wisconsin Military Academy at Fort McCoy, and the 115th Medical Group at Truax Field in Madison.
“This exchange was unique in its ability to incorporate both Army and Air National Guard representation,” Kelly said.
The PNG medical officers presented a variety of experiences and disciplines. Maj. Louisa Wanma is the PNGDF military hospital’s second-in-command and a medical lab scientific officer. Capt. Philomena Marai is a registered nursing officer serving at Lombrum Naval Base on the island of Manus.
Capt. Ryan Manzin is the commanding officer of the PNGDF preventative health platoon and an environmental health officer. Lt. Job Barnabas is a mental health nurse, and Warrant Officer Jerry Aihi is an experienced community health worker and the officer in charge of combat medical training for soldiers and recruits at the PNGDF Goldie River Training Depot.
During their visit to Wisconsin, the PNGDF officers learned and exchanged practices and techniques on the fundamentals of medical training, suicide prevention, behavioural health, medical readiness, combat medic resiliency training, tactical trauma assessment, massive hemorrhage control, wound management, shock recognition, fractures, care under fire, and preventative medicine.
“We’ve learned a lot of things, I will say, we don’t have in our country or don’t do,” Wanma said. “We’re understanding how your National Guard operates here.
There are some things we learned on Sunday on how we do our business, and some of the things we learned can be helpful to us.”