Active Duty chaplains from Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC), along with chaplains from the Reserve, Navy, Tripler Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Intern program candidates from 9th Mission Support Command, and the Combined Joint Task Force, joined efforts in Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2014 Mass Casualty (MASCAL) exercise July 11, 2014.
The Specialized Medical Command Response Capability for Pastoral Care (SMRC-PC) team members provided spiritual triage to victims of a simulated hurricane scenario at Ford Island as well as at TAMC's helipad, Emergency Department, and the Family Information Center (FIC).
"Each team then nurtured the living, cared for the wounded, and honored the dead during the disaster response exercise utilizing a color coded system indicating a patients request for spiritual support," stated Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Chris Morris, Senior Chaplain Clinician, Department of Ministry and Pastoral Care, TAMC.
"If a card had a red sticker, pastoral care was not needed. Green stickers meant that religious support was provided, and yellow indicated those who needed further assistance," Morris said.
As a vital part of the healing process, Chaplains link arms with other caregivers to support those in need of medical, mental and ministerial care.
TAMC staff member, Chaplain (Maj.) Gabe Cotton says this is the first time he's participated in an exercise of this magnitude. "This was the best training exercise of my military career. It was a privilege to support the immense capability of our Navy, our coalition partners and civilian relief agencies."
The SMRC-PC team also embedded with a Japanese led multi-national Combined Joint Task Force comprised of Australian, Chinese, Canadian and New Zealand forces and civilian relief agencies such as host nation, German and Canadian Red Cross, and NATO to provide simulated spiritual triage.
SMRC-PC is a worldwide deployable capability that is fully qualified to adapt to remote locations and support disaster relief anywhere they are deployed.
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