By Lieutenant Scot Cregan (US)

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A major incident can occur any time, anywhere. A large scale accident such as an explosion, flooding, or release of hazardous materials can lead to mass causalities. The skills of assessing mass casualties, triage and responding to these emergencies are vital to the official organization of medical officers in NATO’s Reserve Forces known as CIOMR, the “Confédération Interalliée des Officiers Médicaux de Réserve” (Interallied Confederation of Medical Reserve Officers) .

CIOMR, in cooperation with the Turkish Reserve Officers Association (TESUD), held a Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) workshop July 8 as part of Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers' (CIOR) 61st annual summer congress in Istanbul, Turkey.

Photo: Members of the Interallied Confederation of Medical Reserve Officers  (CIOMR) at the Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) workshop participate in a tabletop exercise simulating a real world NATO challenge of responding to a convoy ambush in a remote village.

MIMMS is a condensed one-day version of the course run at the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany, that provides templates for dealing with civilian incidents, which are also used during Civil Military Cooperation Committee (CIMIC) operations.

The CIOMR members tested their MIMMS expertise while engaging in tabletop exercises simulating real world NATO challenges; simulated triage assessments, command and control security, radio communication procedures, and collective practical skills as physicians, dentists, pharmacists, veterinarians, nurses, technicians and medical service corps officers Course Director Col Walter Henny, (Netherlands Army Reserve) is uniquely qualified for bringing the course to the CIOMR since he is a civilian disaster response coordinator.

Reserve medical officers bring vital civilian experience that is very attractive to NATO, especially since they are deploying as part of operations worldwide. More than ever, under the mounting threats to our collective security, there is a growing demand for the reservist’s flexibility, qualifications, cost efficiency and motivation,” said Col. Henny. “The MIMMS course highlights the applicability of a military approach to the civilian environment. Handling events expeditiously is in our background and the key is training.”

* Lt. Cregan is a public affairs officer in the US Navy Reserve and serves on CIOR's PA Committee