A Lancashire nurse is flying out to Afghanistan to provide first class medical care to soldiers on the battlefield.
Major Maia Pelgrom, Practise Development Sister at Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, combines her health service duties with serving in a Territorial Army field hospital.
Maia is Officer Commanding G Squadron of 207 field Hospital which trains in Bury. It is a role which mirrors her NHS career and enhances her development and management skills.
Maia, who will head to Afghanistan in September, said: “I am in charge of up to 30 personnel, looking after their professional career development and welfare.
“I combine my ‘civvy street’ health service duties with an ‘extra-curricular commitment of serving in a Territorial Army field hospital. The Field Hospital Volunteers is an army unit largely staffed by like-minded medical professionals who give up of their spare time to train as military medics. In the military hospital I work on the wards, medical or surgical, but I also oversee any paediatric care should we have children brought in.
“In Afghanistan, there are a lot of local children brought in for medical treatment. The plan is for me, as the only paediatric nurse in the unit, to be the paediatric lead and follow the injured child through from the Emergency Department to Intensive Therapy Unit and the ward, to eventually being discharged home.
“A field hospital is kitted out to be able to provide all the functions and facilities of a UK based NHS hospital. The only difference is that the field hospital operates close to the front line. All hospitals are equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment and are set up wherever the British military operates, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. The TA soldiers provide the expertise and medical know how needed in treating injured soldiers and saving many lives.
“The army trains us to cope with the dangers and hardships of any situation. They encourage and support me in becoming physically fit and competent in any harsh environment.”
Mother-of-one Maia has previously served a tour of duty in Iraq, in 2004. She said: “That was a challenging but good experience. I was impressed with the medical facilities we had out there in a hospital that was only made of tents.
"It was every bit as good as a fully operational NHS hospital, from Primary Care through to theatres and ITU. It was an opportunity to use my nursing skills in a totally different environment.”
Major Pelgrom is originally from Luton in Bedfordshire but came to Blackpool in 1988. She joined the army in 2002 and has been serving for eight years. Maia was previously with the Royal Air Force where she worked for a couple of years.
The TA is an integral part of the British Army, representing over a quarter of its total manpower. TA soldiers serve on a paid, part-time basis, usually training evenings or weekends. Since 2003, almost 2,000 TA soldiers from the North West region alone have been deployed on operational tours of Iraq, Afghanistan or the Balkans.
Manchester 207 Field Hospital has its HQ in Stretford and additional training locations in Ashton-under-Lyne, Stockport, Stretford and Blackburn. The unit is looking to recruit new members. For more information call 0161 232 4985 or email 207HOSP-RHQ-RECRUITING@mod.uk
Rino Greco, Italy around 1 year, 2 months ago