The Military Treatment Facility COVID-19 Response in an Isolated Rural Environment: Challenges and Lessons Learned

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remains an extraordinary event that continues to strain healthcare systems worldwide. Unlike the military treatment facilities (MTFs) in the USA, which have ready access to tertiary care facilities, those MTFs in foreign countries confront a host of c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Military Medicine 2021-09, Vol.186 (Supplement_2), p.44-49
Main Authors: Gillis, Breslin T, Murray, William O, Brown, William J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 Nurses Supplement
Military health care
Pandemics
Rural areas
Rural health care
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Summary:The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remains an extraordinary event that continues to strain healthcare systems worldwide. Unlike the military treatment facilities (MTFs) in the USA, which have ready access to tertiary care facilities, those MTFs in foreign countries confront a host of challenges in meeting mission requirements. In this article, we discuss the MTFs’ COVID-19 response in the rural environment of Bavaria, Germany. Relevant factors including regional and clinic response, force health protection, and contingency planning, which influenced the MTFs response, are identified. These factors are further analyzed from a “lessons learned” perspective, and recommendations to shape the future response to a pandemic are provided. This current crisis portends a future where pandemics may remain an omnipresent threat.
ISSN:0026-4075
1930-613X
DOI:10.1093/milmed/usab105