SAN FRANCISCO — The 40th annual San Francisco Fleet Week hosted the annual medical exercise (MEDEX) Oct 7 to enhance the partnerships and cooperation for medical response in the wake of a natural disaster.

The 2021 MEDEX unites the San Francisco Bay Area’s medical and first responder community with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps medical services.

“This is an incredibly important effort”, said Capt. Lynelle Boamah, USN Surgeon, U.S. 3rd Fleet. “San Francisco Fleet Week is one of the best programs the Navy has that partners with the city of San Francisco. When a call comes out, we already know what our roles are, and we are ready to go.”

This year’s exercise explored the long-term impacts of disaster response to include discussions on crisis care management, care rationing, resource constrained environment planning for mass casualties, ethical principles, and scope of practice.

During a crisis state, the demand can exceed the supply of resources of individual hospitals or medical teams. This year’s exercise focused on the development of a just strategy for allocation of scarce resources if hospitals exceed their surge capacity.

“Getting to work collaboratively on the panel with the doctors from University of California San Francisco was really professionally rewarding”, said Boamah. “When a natural disaster occurs, this city will be ready because they work hand in hand with our military to craft and demonstrate their readiness and disaster preparedness.”

The psychological resilience of our first responders and the public has been tested on an unprecedented global scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. For military personnel, the need to sustain psychological resilience over prolonged periods in the midst of uncertainty is not new.

“We are able to form up as a team very quickly around emergencies”, said Boamah. “I found that our health care workers are giving it their all and are deploying, going on missions to help civilians, and taking care of COVID patients. They have gone above and beyond, and I am really proud of our team for what we have contributed to the COVID fight.”

Fleet Week is San Francisco's largest annual civic sponsored event. It's a free event in the Fisherman's Wharf district that features the Navy’s flight demonstration squadron the “Blue Angels”, a full air show over San Francisco and ship tours all weekend long drawing thousands of people into the city.

This year, Fleet Week is Oct. 4 – 11 with most activities and the large air show being held over the weekend of Oct. 8 - 11. The event is in its 40th year and celebrates the rich naval tradition in the Bay area and honors our nation's service members.

For more on San Francisco Fleet Week visit Defense Visual Information Distribution Service at:
https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/SFFW2021

Images are also available on the Navy Region Southwest Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/NavyRegionSouthwest/

For more information on San Francisco Fleet Week visit:
www.fleetweeksf.org