FTV Sick Bay

Everyone on board is doing quite well! We hit a little bit of weather which caused a few kids to get
a little sea sick, but everyone is becoming acclimated to the ship and the sea. Hopefully, a little bit of sun will make our days even better! 

We are now in the first week of our voyage and it is the time where everyone figures out if they get sea sick or not. I took it upon myself to take a visit to sick bay. With our great team of four
professional medical personnel and our four medical rates (assistants), 1/C Wesley Brown, 1/C Sean Crosby, 1/C Michael Raskin, and 1/C Lukas Pliksnys all available to treat our cadets on board with whatever problems or concerns they may have.



Day by day the team says they see on average 10 to 20 cadets, with either symptoms of having a cold or being sea sick. This is a drastic improvement to what they saw during alongside week, with about 90 to 100 kids with colds and the stomach bug.

Within sick bay the ship can treat any basic surgeries like stitches and small procedures. In the case that someone does need advanced treatment we have a fast rescue boat that the ship can launch and via a winch on the Helo deck. This allows a helicopter to  lower a basket or stretcher down to pick up the patient. 

Sick bay is able to hold 8 people comfortably and 10 if  we include the screening rooms. In addition we have one isolation room with two racks (beds) that we can use to keep cadets who have a sickness that we do not want to spread around the ship.  

To stock this mini hospital on board we loaded and put away about $40,000 worth of supplies!

The daily schedule sick bay is open for sick call from 0730 to 0900, 1130 to 1230, and 1630 to 1730. This is not to say that you can only see a medical staff during these times, there is always someone on call all hours of the day. Whether someone needs to see a professional, a counselor to talk to, or a cadet that they feel more comfortable talking to we have it here on board!

Motion sickness can happen when you are in a car, boat, or plane. It occurs when your brain gets conflicting signals about whether or not you are moving. Often your eyes may signal that you are stationary while sitting. This may contrast with the signals that your inner ears, muscles, and joints get due to the vibrations and swaying of the vehicle. People with motion sickness usually have nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sweating, salivation, shallow breathing, headaches, and / or sleepiness. There are a few things you can do to try to prevent or reduce motion sickness.

To understand how and why we get sea sick read this Hot Topic from the Dive and Discover website.
Try this activity that simulates seasickness, without really getting sick that is.
This activity will make a model of the inner ear
Quick tips for avoiding motion sickness