Corps’ senior medical officer visits Okinawa

Photo By Sgt. Michael Iams | Rear Adm. Michael H. Anderson, middle, medical officer to the Marine Corps, with Headquarters Marine Corps' Health Services, examines a trauma mannequin at III Marine Expeditionary Force's Tactical Medical Simulations Center on Camp Hansen Oct. 5.  

CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JAPAN

10.13.2011

Story by Lance Cpl. Michael Iams 

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

CAMP HANSEN, Japan - Rear Adm. Michael H. Anderson, medical officer to the Marine Corps, with Headquarters Marine Corps’ Health Services, visited the Tactical Medical Simulation Center to assess the quality of health care being delivered by the medical personnel of III Marine Expeditionary Force Oct. 5.

“The medical simulation center is the place for Marines and sailors to become trained in medical courses and be ready for tactical and combat environments,” said Anderson. “It provides just-in-time training to Marines, and corpsmen to hone their combat lifesaver and tactical combat critical care skills, which have been proven to consistently save lives on the battlefield.”

Mark Kane, program supervisor with III MEF’s TMSC, explained the classes and equipment used to train Marines and sailors to Anderson.

“Some of the equipment we had on display were the basic equipment sets,” said Joseph S. Groves, a chief instructor with the III MEF’s TMSC. “We have the [individual first aid kits], the combat lifesaver bag, and the corpsman assault pack.”

“The equipment used in the medical simulation center consists of high quality, state of the art reproductions of human anatomy that provide the student an opportunity to learn critical life saving trauma skills, while eliminating the risk of loss of life should an unintentional error occur,” said Anderson.

Kane also discussed future plans for the center.

“On our slideshow, we presented an atmospheric which is like a Hollywood set,” said Kane. “For example, say we have Marines who are deploying to the Philippians, we can make a set which resembles that environment and train the Marines in them.”

The center’s goal is to have a standardized curriculum to train students in health service support and tactical combat causality care, explained Groves.

“We are still in the working stages of making a curriculum to teach to a standardized audience,” said Kane. “We want to have a criteria so we can also teach those who work behind a desk.”

During the tour, Anderson compared the center to other medical training facilities he had visited.

“Mr. Kane’s vision for future improvements represents an exceptional commitment to not only the students that use the center for personal enrichment but to all Marines and sailors who might one day benefit from the life saving skills taught within its walls,” said Anderson. “He has done an exceptional job with the Medical Simulation Center and has the potential to becoming an outstanding training facility like the Fleet Medical Training Branch [in Camp Lejeune, N.C.]”

The center is trying to become a program of record the I MEF and the II MEF would also emulate and try to be a part of the well-known medical training facilities, Kane explained.

“[Kane’s] commitment to making the medical simulation center as realistic as possible will ensure that future improvements recreate those initial response medical scenarios most likely to be
encountered by deployed III MEF personnel,” Anderson said.

TMSC not only trains Marines’ and sailors’ medical skills but also how to apply these skills in a combat environment, said Groves.

“There are guys and girls, who are not confident in what they are doing, and I have the ability to make them more confident,” said Kane “The lives that can be saved, I want them saved.”

• Date Taken: 10.13.2011
• Date Posted: 10.13.2011 01:05
• Story ID: 78406
• Location: CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JP