Medics participate in mass casualty exercise

Photo By Monica Guthrie | Spc. Rocky Blair, Headquarter and Support Company 603rd Aviation Support Battalion, gives instructions to combat live saver soldiers on how to transport the first casualty during a mass-casualty exercise. The exercise evaluated the efficiency of the troop medical clinic during a mass-casualty event.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

06.21.2007

Story by Spc. Monica Guthrie 

Multi-National Division-Central

By Pfc. Monica K. Smith

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – Medics working at the Camp Striker main troop medical center participated in an exercise Saturday designed to evaluate their efficiency during a mass casualty event.

"We need to practice and get good at this while we can," said Maj. Scott McCellan, brigade surgeon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. "We have to be prepared to provide for the camp of 9,000 people. There is a lot of responsibility and I want to make sure we're squared away should the worst happen."

The exercise was a scenario involving a mortar-round striking the north Morale Welfare Recreation center at Camp Striker while many people were exercising in the gym. Chaos was simulated and the medical workers, in addition to several combat life savers, were assessed on reaction time and their capability to treat the 14 casualties.

"This was a mini walk-through to catch problem areas," said Lt. Shawn Sheets, Headquarters and Support Company, 603rd Aviation Support Battalion, from Beckley W.Va. "We have a list of where everyone sleeps and we have runners, so we see how long the runners take to get all the doctors here."

Each month a combat life saver class is given. Soldiers taking the class were incorporated into the training to provide additional help. Units tasked Soldiers to act as casualties for the 18 enlisted medics and eight medical officers participating in the exercise. The exercise also incorporated multiple staff sections including the chaplain, a representative from mortuary affairs and from the brigade's personnel office.

"We just tried to get as many people involved as we could," said McClellan, who is from Easthampton, Mass. The next exercise will include all the battalions, the mayor's cell, the ADOC, which is the area defense operations center, it's like the base police, as well as the fire department and Kellogg, Brown and Root employees, McClellan said.

"Prior planning prevents poor performance," said McClellan. "We want to have an exercise four or five times while we're here, so every three months. We also have a clinic at the flight line and we plan on doing something similar for them."

Each patient must be tracked from the moment they arrive at the troop medical clinic until they either recover or they are transported to another medical clinic or hospital, said Sheets.

"We had [the personnel office], mortuary affairs and the chaplain providing input that we did not initially fit into our plan on how to handle patients and how to track patients that go to other hospitals and clinics in the area," said McClellan. "We learned a lot about our capabilities and changes we need to make in order to provide more efficient help. I think, in the end, it brought a lot of people together, we got a lot of good feedback on how to improve and get better and better each time we do it. You know what they say, practice makes perfect, you never know what's going to happen and we absolutely have to be prepared for the worst. "

• Date Taken: 06.21.2007
• Date Posted: 06.22.2007 08:33
• Story ID: 10927
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ