BDF Increases Capacity to Respond to
Disasters and Mass Casualty Events
Colonel Glyne Grannum, Chief of Staff Barbados Defence Force | 27 APR 18
Photography credit: Olav A Saltbones, Norwegian Red Cross, 2010
Corporal Maynard D
Set against the background of more active hurricane seasons, severe weather events and other environmental threats, the Barbados Defence Force has been increasing its capacity to respond to disasters and mass casualty causing incidents through the development of a field-mobile hospital company.
Based on the long-standing strong partnership with Pan-American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation and national stakeholders, the Force is due to benefit from on-going training activities on logistics and technical subjects related to increasing this capacity. The effort is a part of the Force’s modernisation strategy. It is envisioned that the field-mobile hospital company will support the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and be accredited as a Field Emergency Medical Facility (Type 2) within the PAHO/WHO system.
While the BDF has long had some mass casualty and field hospital capability, the need for re-equipping and an increase in operational capacity continues to receive attention. Such an operational capacity has local applications and beyond, in the Eastern Caribbean under the auspices of the Regional Security System and the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency where disaster management scenarios associated with climate change continue to present significant challenges.
Speaking during an interview with the Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS) on the Fond Cole, Woodbridge Bay Port in Dominica, Colonel Grannum said the delivery of supplies was being accelerated, even as efforts were ongoing to clear a clogged road network to get aid into the most impacted communities.
BDF Soldier delivering supplies during hurricane relief efforts
Outside a Haiti field hospital after 18 January aftershock
Most recently the Force facilitated a public lecture and technical engagement forum.
Colonel Gustavo Alonzo (a retired Argentinian Colonel who managed the Field Hospital in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake) visited Barbados between 24 – 27 April 2018. As a subject matter expert/adviser on the matter of field hospitals and their deployment in disasters, Colonel Alonzo presented valuable insights, knowledge, experience and guidance on related subjects. During his visit he met with BDF’s medical and mass casualty leadership and some technical service persons from across the local medical response community in order to discuss and advise on the subject.
PAHO/WHO is also committed to the donation of some medical tents and equipment that can help with the setting up of a Field Emergency Medical Facility (Type 2). The BDF will seek to further develop and exercise the capacity to deploy a field emergency medical facility in the coming months leading up to the 2018 hurricane season.
Commodore (Cdre) Errington Shurland enlisted in the Barbados Defence Force in February 1984.
Colonel Glyne Grannum joined the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) on 18 October 1985 and underwent career development training at the Canadian Forces Officer Candidate School, Chilliwack and the Combat Training Centre, Gagetown New Brunswick, Canada. He subsequently attended the Infantry Training Centre and the Signal Wing in Warminster, UK (PCBC and RSO Courses respectively), the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy; the Lester Pearson Canadian Peacekeeping Centre, the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College, Kingston, the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College, Toronto, the National Defence University of the People’s Liberation Army People’s Republic of China and the Centre for Hemispheric Defence Studies, National Defence University, Washington. He also attended a Defence Resources Management programme at National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa, Canada. In addition to being a qualified infantry officer, Col Grannum is a qualified Regimental Signals Officer and a former Operations Officer and Finance Officer of the BDF.
Colonel Banfield joined the Barbados Battalion of the South Caribbean Force in 1941 having just left the Cadet Corps at Combermere School, and was granted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in 1942. He was a Platoon Commander and a Company Commander during the war and served in Barbados, Dominica (as part of the Gale Force), St Lucia and St Vincent.
Warrant Officer Class 1 Colin Marshall is a graduate of the St Michael, and was born on the 5 November 1969 and enlisted in the Barbados Defence Force on 16 August 1994. He was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal in August 1997, Corporal in 1999, Sergeant in 2007, Color Sergeant in 2014, Warrant Officer Class Two in 2017 and Warrant Officer Class One in 2020. He was Most Outstanding Student on Junior Leadership Course in 1998, the Most Outstanding Student on Junior Non Commissioned Officer Cadre in Jamaica in 2000, best at Leadership on the Search Adviser Course in Jamaica in 2007 and the Most Outstanding Student on the Warrant Officer Course in Jamaica in 2015.
