{"id":51512,"date":"2014-12-11T16:47:09","date_gmt":"2014-12-11T16:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=18eb14f0104802552969f880ea619e2d"},"modified":"2014-12-11T16:47:09","modified_gmt":"2014-12-11T16:47:09","slug":"news-story-british-reservists-prepare-to-join-fight-against-ebola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=51512","title":{"rendered":"News story: British reservists prepare to join fight against Ebola"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Both regular and reserve personnel from across the 3 services are undergoing their final preparations before they deploy to Sierra Leone on 20 December.<\/p>\n<p>The 9-day, mission-specific training took place at the Army Medical Services Training Centre at Strensall Barracks near York. It is designed to test and develop clinical and organisational procedures. <\/p>\n<p>Personnel undergoing the training carried out parts of the exercise in protective equipment, in a hangar converted into a mock-up field hospital treating simulated casualties. <\/p>\n<p>UK military personnel were joined by members of the Canadian military and Danish healthcare workers.<\/p>\n<p>Minister for the Armed Forces, Mark Francois, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Our armed forces have already played a leading role supporting the UK\u2019s efforts to tackle Ebola and I welcome the deployment of reservist personnel to continue that crucial work.<\/p>\n<p>During my visit to Sierra Leone last month, I witnessed the impressive contribution the military has provided to the fight against Ebola thus far; by treating infected healthcare workers, providing protective equipment training at the Ebola Training Academy, assisting in the build of 6 treatment units and providing logistical support across our operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Our personnel are doing very important work \u2013 for which they deserve our grateful thanks.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A soldier training Army reservists on how to don personal protective equipment \" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/34411\/ArmyPressNE-2014-006-064.jpg\"><\/div><figcaption>A soldier training Army reservists on how to don personal protective equipment in the fight against Ebola [Picture: Sergeant Si Longworth RLC, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The personnel will deploy to Sierra Leone next week where they will take over from clinicians attached to <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.army.mod.uk\/medical-services\/29922.aspx\">22 Field Hospital<\/a>, who have been in country since October, manning the 12 bed facility reserved to treat healthcare workers with Ebola.  <\/p>\n<p>The number of military personnel in country remains steady at around 800. <\/p>\n<p>This contribution is made up of logisticians, planners and engineers, who are overseeing the final stages of construction on the UK facilities across Sierra Leone, providing the infrastructure for a total of 700 beds. <\/p>\n<p>Military personnel in Sierra Leone include the crew of <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.royalnavy.mod.uk\/our-organisation\/the-fighting-arms\/royal-fleet-auxiliary\/casualty-ship\/rfa-argus\">RFA Argus<\/a> which remains offshore, providing aviation support to the region. <\/p>\n<p>Last weekend saw the Merlin helicopters help to lift 220 tonnes of supplies for the World Food Program to a remote part of Sierra Leone, unreachable by road.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first UK reserves are joining nearly 100 regulars as they prepare to travel to Sierra Leone to help tackle the Ebola outbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}