MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- Navy medical personnel from the Southern California region attended a SoCal Medical Planning Symposium aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, March 24 to 25.
This was the third time the I Marine Expeditionary Force Surgeon’s Office has hosted the event with the intent to broaden medical personnel’s basic knowledge of the medical planning process.
“We’re trying to take everybody’s level of knowledge about the Marine Corps planning process and how medical fits into it,” said Navy Capt. Scott Mcclellan, chief of health services, operations and plans with the I MEF Surgeon’s Office. “We get a basic training program called plans, operations and medical intelligence course but that doesn’t fully prepare you for what you encounter as a medical planner.”
In order to better accomplish that goal, the symposium was extended into a two-day course.
“Usually, this is a half-day symposium focused heavily on PowerPoint presentations,” said Navy Lt. Brian Reynolds, a medical planner with the I MEF Surgeon’s Office. “This is the first time we’ve gotten to bring our peers together to actually do some planning practical application and give them a level of comfort and knowledge that allows them to start doing it on their own.”
As a subspecialty, medical planners make up an extremely small percentage of the Navy so it’s essential to build their knowledge on the planning process, according to Reynolds.
“We are building the bench,” said Navy Capt. Scott Mcclellan, chief of health services, operations and plans with the I MEF Surgeon’s Office. “If [Reynolds] or I should have to deploy, someone’s going to have to [replace] me, and my hope is that one of these individuals attending the symposium will be able to step into that job and rise to the occasion.”
Despite their small numbers, medical planners play a vital role in accomplishing the mission of the Marines they serve.
“It’s my job to understand what your mission is going to be, what kind of battle casualties I expect, and then supply you with the proper personnel and skill sets to support that,” said Mcclellan. “I also have to look at the logistics. How does a wounded Marine get from Afghanistan to [Walter Reed National Military Medical Center]? That’s where I come in. We figure out how to do that for you so you don’t have to do it for yourselves.”
According to Mcclellan, the symposium does not qualify attendees as medical planners for the Marine Corps, but it does help them communicate effectively across different units and levels to develop more efficient plans.
“The only way to get better at this job is to do it, so we’re not asking them to be experts,” said Mcclellan. “We’re asking them to get engaged and think about medicine and how we support the Marine Corps when we’re in their uniform.”
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