2017 - FIP Seoul

A little sleep in today. The only thing we HAD to do was hold an extraordinary Board meeting so we were not in any particular hurry. After a leisurely breakfast, we convened at 9:30am and the meeting was concluded by 12pm. After lunch, I stayed behind and caught up on admin whilst the others went shopping in the city. We all met in the lobby at 6pm for pre-dinner drinks at the German beer place we found last night that serves Korean beer "Kloud" for KRW1000 for happy hour until 7pm. It was then off to the Korean BBQ place we found on Sunday - the night of the Opening ceremony. They took quite a while to serve us so we were there a while, and quite hungry. Because Jane and Ann were leaving before breakfast tomorrow, we said goodbye to them before heading to our rooms for the night. It is always sad to say goodbye knowing that it will be at least another 12 months until we all meet again. I wasn't tired so whilst doing some MEPS work I drank the beer I discovered in my ...

We had to be at the departure point at 8am so it was another early breakfast and a leisurely stroll to meet the bus. For once, all the members were on time and we left a few minutes early. MEPS visited the Korean Armed Forces Medical Emergency Operation Centre (MEOC) in Seoul, where we were shown a short video introducing the Armed Forces Medical Command (AFMC) which commands the individual services (Army, Navy, Air Force) and controls 14 military hospitals. We were then given a brief about the MEOC which is basically a 'one-stop-shop' for medical support for the Korean military. Medical support can be requested in a number of ways including via a smart phone app. They currently have six dedicated medical evacuation helicopters, with a further eight to come online in 2019/20. The helicopters have decreased the evacuation time from four hours to just over one hour, thereby increasing the chance of survival. The MEOC also provides a very comprehensive telemedicine service. The Ce...