Joint Health - Australian Defence Force

18/10/2026

🔥 Training to save lives when every second counts.

Severe burns present unique challenges on the battlefield, particularly in austere environments where specialist care and evacuation may be limited.

The ADF’s new Emergency Management of Severe Burns (EMSB) course is strengthening the skills and confidence of our Defence health professionals to assess, stabilise and manage burns casualties in operational settings.

Led by COL Keith Towsey from 2nd Health Brigade, the training brings together medics, nursing officers and doctors for realistic, scenario-based learning that reflects the demands of military operations.

By combining clinical expertise with practical field training, we’re building a more capable, adaptable and operationally ready health workforce.

Better training. Stronger teams. Lifesaving care.

📸 CAPT Chris Wade

https://news.defence.gov.au/army/activity/2026-10-09/army-health-experts-prepare-heat-battle

16/10/2026

Ready to deliver surgical care where it matters most.

Exercise Surging Forward 26 demonstrated the vital contribution of Army reservists to our deployable health capability.

With a team comprising almost entirely reservist personnel, the exercise validated forward surgical capability, tested emerging systems and strengthened readiness to deliver critical surgical care in challenging operational environments.

An important step in ensuring our health teams are equipped, integrated and ready to support the force.

13/10/2026

Stronger partnerships. Better health outcomes.

🇦🇺🤝🇫🇯🇳🇿

Great to see ADF health personnel training alongside our Fiji and New Zealand partners to strengthen aeromedical evacuation capability.

Building interoperability and clinical readiness ensures we can deliver quality health care wherever and whenever it’s needed.

02/10/2026

Ready to provide care wherever the mission takes them. 🩺

Recently medical personnel from 2nd Health Battalion treated simulated battle casualties at a forward treatment facility during Exercise Pozieres Run in Queensland’s Shoalwater Bay Training Area.

The exercise is the annual Warfighter event for the 1st (Australian) Division. It gave 2nd Health Brigade the opportunity to deploy a range of health capabilities, practise care in a field setting and add realism to the training.

This is how ADF health teams build the skills and coordination needed to care for Australian troops when and where they need it.

📸 CAPT Chris Wade

01/10/2026

What does it take to provide health care aboard a 230-metre Landing Helicopter Dock? A team that can respond to the everyday and the unexpected. ⚓

Below decks on HMAS Canberra, health personnel care for the ship’s company while working in a maritime environment. That might mean treating seasickness, a cold or a training injury. If an emergency occurs, the ship’s medical emergency team provides immediate care before moving a patient to the health centre.

With operating theatres, a critical care unit and inpatient beds, the health centre brings different clinical specialties together. Regular training helps the team coordinate its response and build the skills needed at sea.

It’s a clear example of how multidisciplinary health care supports a ship’s company and strengthens the way ADF health personnel work together.



📸 Australian Army pharmacist Captain Jonathan Seib handles drugs on board HMAS Canberra during a deployment to Wellington in 2025, New Zealand. Photo: Petty Officer Jarrod Mulvihill

30/09/2026

Former Army reservist Dr Jake Parker was first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma shortly after his 21st birthday. Now 43, he is facing cancer for a third time and may need a stem cell transplant. No matching donor has yet been found for him in Australia or overseas.

Jake’s brother Ben, who works in Defence, is encouraging more people to join the stem cell donor registry. Eligible Australians can sign up online and return a cheek swab by mail, or register when they next donate blood.

“You can make an extraordinary difference to a family like ours,” Ben said.

If you’re eligible, learn how to join the registry through Stem Cell Donors Australia, even if you cannot register, sharing the message can help someone find their match.

The Defence Blood Drive is the longest-running blood drive in Australia.

📝 Michelle H***e

https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2026-09-23/call-stem-cell-donors

Former Army reservist Dr Jake Parker is seeking a stem cell donor match after his third cancer diagnosis.

29/09/2026

Being a health clinician in the ADF means adding new skills to your résumé, and they’re not all clinical!

For members of the 3rd Health Battalion, supporting tandem parachute jump training meant stepping well outside their usual workplace. Experiences like this build confidence, strengthen teams and create stories you’ll be telling for years.

One of the great things about an ADF career is where it can take you. Well done to everyone who took the leap! 🪂

28/09/2026

14/09/2026

Health partnerships extend beyond the clinical setting. 🩺⚓🌏

After three months supporting Exercise Pacific Partnership, HMAS Choules has returned home following a deployment focused on humanitarian assistance, disaster preparedness and strengthening regional interoperability.

Embarked Maritime Operational Health Unit member LEUT Elliot Heeney reflected on the opportunity to contribute to communities across the Indo-Pacific.

“As a medical professional, going out into the Pacific region to help our neighbours was a big part of the reason why I joined up in the first place,” LEUT Heeney said.

Whether delivering healthcare, sharing expertise or supporting activities ashore, our health personnel help build the trusted relationships and collective capability needed to respond together when disaster strikes.

Welcome home, Choules.

📸 ABIS Taylor Johnson

12/09/2026

Health support in action during Exercise Yama Sakura 91. 🩺🇦🇺🇺🇸🇯🇵

Australian and United States personnel assigned to the Medical Support Team conduct a routine shift change at Camp Higashi-Chitose, Japan.

Working side by side, multinational health teams perform a vital role in protecting the health, readiness and resilience of the force throughout the exercise.

📸 U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Sherald McAulay and Sgt. Keyra Moolenaar