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Medical Staff for the International Police Task Force
As written by Ron A. Smith, EMT-P
Ron Smith, EMT-P with Assistant Secretary of State James A.
Kelly
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I serve as the medical staff assigned to support 80 U.S. CivPols in East
Timor. In addition to the CivPol Officers, we have an additional 15 DynCorp
employees assigned to other programs in East Timor.
The United States Department of State (DoS) oversees the International
Police Programs, which includes the International Police Task Force. The
International Police Task Force (IPTF) was created to fulfil the United
States commitment to provide civilian police officers to the United Nations
for deployment to UN mission areas around the world.
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DynCorp International is contracted by the DoS to hire experienced
professional police officers to serve a one-year mission as an International
Police Officer. Currently, there are United Nations missions in Bosnia,
Kosovo and East Timor utilizing approximately 880 U.S. civilian police
officers. DynCorp supports the U.S. Civilian Police (CivPol) in each
mission area with administrative, logistical and medical staff.
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East Timor is located nine degrees south of the equator in the Eastern
Indonesian Archipelago, approximately 325 miles northwest of Darwin,
Australia. It includes the Island of Atauro and the Enclave of Oecussi.
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My normal workweek is 8 + hours Monday through Saturday and I am on-call
after hours and on Sundays. Each weekday begins with Sick Call at our
office in Dili. Then on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I depart Dili at
0900 hours and travel to the various districts and sub-districts where our
CivPol are stationed. In addition to addressing any medical needs, I
transport personal mail, packages, books, movies (cassettes) and other
items to our CivPols. I visit each station where U.S. CivPols are assigned
once every two weeks. I travel approximately 1,000 kilometers each week
over very poor roads, averaging 40 kilometers per hour.
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I volunteer time at the Bario Pitie Clinic. This is a small clinic with
some in-patient care including obstetrics, seeing up to 700 patients per
day. It is operated by an American physician, Dan Murphy and staffed with
6 medical students, 2 midwives, 5 nurses, 2 lab technicians and 2 pharmacy
technicians. My work there primarily consists of wound care.
Ron Smith, EMT-P
DynCorp International
Oregon certified since 1977
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