Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with National Critical Care and Trauma Centre Executive Director Len Notaras

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Katie Woolf spoke with National Critical Care and Trauma Centre Executive Director Len Notaras · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Mix one O four point nine dot com dot you
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  Speaker 1: for all the latest news and information. Now three sixty
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  Speaker 1: with Katie Wolf. Everyone is listening Mix one oh four
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  Speaker 1: point nine one hundred percent NT.
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  Speaker 2: The OZMAT team and the National Critical Care and Trauma
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  Speaker 2: Response Center Executive Director lennataris well. He leads a phenomenal
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  Speaker 2: group of people who obviously work in some of those
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  Speaker 2: really intense and difficult situations. And we know that the
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  Speaker 2: forward team of OZMAT health specialists with an emergency vaccine
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  Speaker 2: supply has touchdown, as I understand it, in Papua New
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  Speaker 2: Guinea's capital of Port Moresby, in an effort to help
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  Speaker 2: those local health authorities to deal with what's been described
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  Speaker 2: as a spiraling coronavirus crisis.
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  Speaker 3: There.
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  Speaker 2: Now to talk more about this is lennataris the head
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  Speaker 2: of the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Center, which
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  Speaker 2: is of course responsible for OZMAT. Good morning to you, Len.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. And they are wonderful people, the best
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  Speaker 3: of the best.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely they are mate. What is the current situation in
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  Speaker 2: Papua New Guinea And how's that team going?
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  Speaker 3: Look, the team set down up there. The boots were
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  Speaker 3: on the ground on Tuesday afternoon, and they're up there
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  Speaker 3: at this stage for the purpose of assessment and support.
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  Speaker 3: They're providing support for through the head of Mission up
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  Speaker 3: there out of Australian Head of Mission a High Commission,
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  Speaker 3: and they're supplying support for the PNNG government, the Prime
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  Speaker 3: Minister and indeed the Health Department. Now we were activated
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  Speaker 3: by DEEPA, that's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and
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  Speaker 3: working very closely. We're part of Federal Health, working closely
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  Speaker 3: with Federal Health and indeed Emergency Management Australia. We got
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  Speaker 3: those first three up there. That's a great team. And
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  Speaker 3: the interesting part of this OKAT is that we're up
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  Speaker 3: there August September of last year doing helping them to
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  Speaker 3: prepare for the potential of an outbreak, and they had
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  Speaker 3: a small outbreak at that particular time which we helped
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  Speaker 3: them in containing up there for around about four weeks
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  Speaker 3: for six weeks. And at that stage the same folk
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  Speaker 3: who were up who went up at that time have
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  Speaker 3: gone back up now as the lead team or the
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  Speaker 3: support team, and that will be followed by whatever they
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  Speaker 3: consider and indeed the PNG government and Health Australian Deeper
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  Speaker 3: consider necessary.
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  Speaker 2: Lenn how many how many Aussies have headed across and
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  Speaker 2: have we got territories as part of that team.
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  Speaker 3: At this stage it's three and they're pretty all well,
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  Speaker 3: all off our ozmat Queensland database. Mark Little, who is
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  Speaker 3: a doctor, is the team leader and who happens to
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  Speaker 3: be his wife is a pretty senior this as well,
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  Speaker 3: and they're up there there now and the other doctor.
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  Speaker 3: The three of them are all from Queensland. Now quite
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  Speaker 3: possibly well quite possibly very likely as we send larger
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  Speaker 3: stisions up. The primary source of logistics support, which is
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  Speaker 3: critically the backbone of a lot of what we do,
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  Speaker 3: come from here in Darwin. They work primarily in the
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  Speaker 3: Fire Service, but we have a very close association with
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  Speaker 3: Police Foreign Emergency and as appropriately they are released and
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  Speaker 3: provide our logistics support. So we will see Territorians going
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  Speaker 3: up there as appropriate and as required. We'll also see
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  Speaker 3: as required our equipment, whether it be the negative pressure
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  Speaker 3: ice to us, whether it's laboratory equipment or whatever else.
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  Speaker 3: We've got all that on standby at the request of
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  Speaker 3: Foreign Affairs in Australian government, and indeed the P and
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  Speaker 3: G government will deploy that again working very closely with
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  Speaker 3: Defense in that case.
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  Speaker 2: And then my understanding is that you know, the situation
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  Speaker 2: in Papua New Guineas is a very serious one, not
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  Speaker 2: only of course for Papua New Guineans, but also for
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  Speaker 2: our North Queensland. As we know that we had just
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  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago there was quite a few
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  Speaker 2: cases sort of coming across due to that close proximity
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  Speaker 2: to Cans and arriving in North Queensland, obviously in hotel quarantine.
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  Speaker 2: But you know it's important that we try our best
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  Speaker 2: that we can really to try and help Papua New
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  Speaker 2: Guinea to control this situation.
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  Speaker 3: That's absolutely right, O, Katie, and those your listeners will
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  Speaker 3: realize that some of our northern irelands off Queensland you
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  Speaker 3: can actually see the islands of PNNG on a clear day.
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  Speaker 3: So the proximity between the far northern parts of Queensland
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  Speaker 3: and indeed the south of southeast of the and g
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  Speaker 3: are very close to each other. We have seen people
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  Speaker 3: coming down already and there's been a very high level
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  Speaker 3: of positive rates in those who have come down and
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  Speaker 3: they have been managed in a tremendously solid way by Queensland.
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  Speaker 3: Queensland is also taking medical evacuations out of and these
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  Speaker 3: are not necessarily COVID related. These could be kids who
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  Speaker 3: have had an accident or adults who need you know,
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  Speaker 3: sort of intensive treatment and Queensland are very very good
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  Speaker 3: with that particular relationship. But right now we're assessing the situation.
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  Speaker 3: For us. It will be vital that everybody that we
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  Speaker 3: send up there has had their two doses of vaccine
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  Speaker 3: and also we send security personnel up to ensure that
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  Speaker 3: the security of our members is sort of absolutely observed.
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  Speaker 3: But we'll also be looking at the needs what P
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  Speaker 3: and G sees its particular needs, whether that's further advice,
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  Speaker 3: whether that's surge capacity in other words, providing additional staff
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  Speaker 3: for some of them. Is they're doing very good job
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  Speaker 3: from a vaccination point of view and will continue to
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  Speaker 3: do that. But there are some eight four hundred vaccines
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  Speaker 3: going up in Australia. Will be providing it and they
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  Speaker 3: will go to frontline P and G practitioners with their clinicians.
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  Speaker 2: Or support start well, which is so incredibly important. Lenn
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  Speaker 2: I had seen it reported that you know, in some
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  Speaker 2: cases with you every day Papua New Guineas. At the moment,
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  Speaker 2: some of them there's been a bit of a pushback
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  Speaker 2: to that vaccine due to some of the scare mongering
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  Speaker 2: I guess from anti vaxes.
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  Speaker 3: You're quite right. We saw something not dissimilar to this
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  Speaker 3: back in twenty nineteen. The end of twenty nineteen, as
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  Speaker 3: you recall, we went up to Samoa not with COVID
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  Speaker 3: but rather with vaccine for the measles, and that combination
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  Speaker 3: of a lack of confidence in the the vaccines and
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  Speaker 3: anti vax is. Now the vaccines for measles that tremendous.
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  Speaker 3: They are tried and true, but because a couple of
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  Speaker 3: untoward Penser the killed in Samoa the year before or
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  Speaker 3: earlier that year, there was a downturn in the willingness
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  Speaker 3: for people to get vaccines, get vaccinated. I'm sorry. Now. Similarly,
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  Speaker 3: there is some misinformation up there in P and G
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  Speaker 3: which we will be helping to dispel. The health authorities
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  Speaker 3: up there are tremendous and I'm proud to say that
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  Speaker 3: we've been working with them over a long period of
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  Speaker 3: time from an osmat and and NCCTRC perspective. A number
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  Speaker 3: of them have been here to Darwin to train with
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  Speaker 3: our various courses. So that relationship is very, very solid
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  Speaker 3: and it's a sustained one. You'll remember in twenty eighteen,
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  Speaker 3: I sent up several teams to the p Andng earthquake
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  Speaker 3: in the Nandi and the Highlands. So yeah, they're very
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  Speaker 3: familiar and we will be doing all we can to
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  Speaker 3: dispel that terrible and life threatening myths of some of
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  Speaker 3: those people who are sort of espousing the anti vacks cause.
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  Speaker 2: Len any idea at this point in time, how long
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  Speaker 2: your OSMAT team are going to be over there in
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  Speaker 2: Papua New Guinea.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I would expect anything from very short four weeks
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  Speaker 3: or conversely could be up to three months. At this
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  Speaker 3: particular moment, I would say anything between four to eight,
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  Speaker 3: possibly twelve weeks, and we will see not just the
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  Speaker 3: one team, but we'll see a number of teams deployed.
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  Speaker 3: In other words, we go up with this first team,
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  Speaker 3: which is an Alpha team, then we'll see a Bravo
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  Speaker 3: and Charlie. In the last time around, we were there
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  Speaker 3: for four to six weeks, and we have two teams,
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  Speaker 3: an Alpha and a Brava. One will roll in after
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  Speaker 3: the other and they'll have handovers and so on. So
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  Speaker 3: we're preparing. We've stood up right nation because p Andng
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  Speaker 3: is near and dear to us. They have been part
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  Speaker 3: of the nation basically an independent, of course nation, but
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  Speaker 3: they are our brothers and sisters up there as well,
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  Speaker 3: so very important to us.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Lenn, I hope you don't mind a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a question without notice. I was just wondering how things
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  Speaker 2: are going back here on home soil in terms of
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  Speaker 2: that transitioning out at Howard Springs.
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  Speaker 3: I look very very well. There's a high degree of
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  Speaker 3: collegial collaboration and indeed there's lots of lessons learned and
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  Speaker 3: learnings that can be transferred. Clearly, our team, the ncct
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  Speaker 3: S os MAP team that there are still there and
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  Speaker 3: will continue. As I've said previous to this, I'll continue
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  Speaker 3: to be there as long as is appropriate, and there
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  Speaker 3: is considerable work going on by the MTG team that
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  Speaker 3: will be taking it over to ensure that recruitment and
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  Speaker 3: retention are observed and the right people are recruited. We're
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  Speaker 3: already in the process to get comfort to yourself and
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  Speaker 3: indeed listeners of handing over some of the success stories
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  Speaker 3: we've had over their argument's sake. Our telehealth telly well
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  Speaker 3: being a service one of a better word which also
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  Speaker 3: takes in telehospitality. It will be handed over and a
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  Speaker 3: number of that stuff will actually go across to the facility. Now,
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  Speaker 3: then those people, while they have very solid backgrounds, are
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  Speaker 3: not necessarily our osmotars, but they're people who have made
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  Speaker 3: this tick over time. Similarly, some of our logistic round
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  Speaker 3: of people and others who if they so desire, and
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  Speaker 3: some of them will I'll go across and work not
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  Speaker 3: as OSMAT but rather as MTGP. So it is going well,
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  Speaker 3: and I'm very I'm very confident that that transition will
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  Speaker 3: continue to go well into the future. And Sovid's with
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  Speaker 3: us for a long while. Yet, as we're seen occurring
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  Speaker 3: over there in Queensland right now with Sadly a community case,
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  Speaker 3: you've been very well identified and very quickly identified. Only
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  Speaker 3: say sadly because you know, these things pop up and
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  Speaker 3: people have to respond to them.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. So then at this point, no sort of clear
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  Speaker 2: set date as to exactly when your team will move
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  Speaker 2: out of Howard Springs.
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  Speaker 3: No, Look, the transition as always from my own perspective,
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  Speaker 3: and I'll insist on it. I know, I know that
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  Speaker 3: the Chief and indeed the Health Minister and indeed the
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  Speaker 3: federal Health Minister, everybody wants this to be an orderly
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  Speaker 3: transition and one that has safety of everybody in mind
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  Speaker 3: and indeed the integrity the community. So we've got a
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  Speaker 3: fabulous record out there on both sides of the pence
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  Speaker 3: for one of the better word, and that fabulous record
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  Speaker 3: is being emulated right across the world, right across this country,
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  Speaker 3: and we want to maintain that, not one, but we
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  Speaker 3: will maintain it. And it's really not for negotiation that
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  Speaker 3: we go otherwise, because we're territorians, a lot of us,
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  Speaker 3: and we want to make sure that you know, sort
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  Speaker 3: of our territorians are safe, but also that Australians get home.
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  Speaker 3: What one of the little boasts I guess about Howard
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  Speaker 3: Springs is that we're over six thousand that we've returned
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  Speaker 3: now since the twenty third of October, and the original
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  Speaker 3: agreement was to bring five thousand back by the thirty
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  Speaker 3: first of March, and thirty first of March is still
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  Speaker 3: almost a week away, and we're well and truly exceeded
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  Speaker 3: that with a fabulous record. Touch would you know. I
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  Speaker 3: don't want to be too too boastful, but we can
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  Speaker 3: be proud of the job that has been done there. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 3: I mean to anticipate will p and g have an impact.
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  Speaker 3: Will we be drawing, No, we won't. I've said that
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  Speaker 3: since the very beginning, with any deployment that we might have,
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  Speaker 3: whether it's there or whether it's somewhere else. Our recommitment
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  Speaker 3: to the Howard Springs set of national resilience is very
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  Speaker 3: firm and very considered, and it will continue to be
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  Speaker 3: until such time as we're confident that that's it. That confidence,
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  Speaker 3: i should say, Katie, is not a reflection on any
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  Speaker 3: doubt that our other colleagues are not exceptionally good at
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  Speaker 3: what they do. They are, of course, and we just
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  Speaker 3: want to make sure that we meld all the good
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  Speaker 3: things together. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely well. Lenda Taris, of course, the National Critical Care
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  Speaker 2: and Trauma Response and OSNAT executive director. We always love
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  Speaker 2: chatting with you. Thank you so very much for your
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  Speaker 2: time today.
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  Speaker 3: And thank you the listeners for your support.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thanks Lenn and that number this morning. If
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  Speaker 2: you would like to get in contact with US eight
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  Speaker 2: nine four one one O four nine and GE. They
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  Speaker 2: do a phenomenal job, you know when you talk about
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  Speaker 2: this OSMAT team then going across to Papua New Guinea.
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  Speaker 2: By the sounds of it, only three of them at
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  Speaker 2: this point in time, but they are anticipating that there's
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  Speaker 2: going to be those team changeovers, and you think about
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  Speaker 2: the way that they're you know, helping other countries and
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  Speaker 2: indeed the job that they've done out at Howard Springs,
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  Speaker 2: it is quite phenomenal. Hats off to you know, to
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  Speaker 2: all of them involved, and as Lena's pointed out as well,
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  Speaker 2: you know, our wonderful health staff and everybody that's working
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  Speaker 2: out there at the Howard Springs facility at the moment
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  Speaker 2: doing a tremendous job by the sounds of it, you know,
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  Speaker 2: whether you're talking about our teams from our from the
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  Speaker 2: Department of Health, whether you're talking about the police, you know,
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  Speaker 2: right to the security guards and those out there working
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  Speaker 2: doing a tremendous job.