62nd Chemical Company provides valuable training

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class David Chapman | Sgt. Deanna Halona, supply sergeant, Headquarters and Headquarters company, 62nd Medical Brigade, chains down a vehicle on a C-17 aircraft, during training at McChord Airfield, Feb. 9. The medical brigade has been tasked as part of the Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear Response Force. During this specialized training, the unit learned how to properly load and tie down vehicles on a C-17 aircraft and provide assistance in the event of an attack anywhere.  

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, UNITED STATES

02.10.2012

Story by Staff Sgt. Lewis Hilburn 

20th Public Affairs Detachment

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Soldiers transported patients from one decontamination station to another. Medical and chemical specialists rushed to treat patients as the number of wounded started to build up. The chemical specialists set up a decontamination area and began the process of decontaminating the patients as they arrived. This scenario played out during a field training exercise for the 56th Multifunctional Medical Battalion.

The 62nd Chemical Company assisted the 56th MMB with their exercise by providing a patient decontamination station, consisting of three zones: a hot zone, a warm zone, and a cold zone. Each one has a specific purpose according to Lt. Col. Kimberlee Aiello, commander of the 56th MMB.

“We have 39 patients coming out of, what we call, the hot zone and some of them are injured and they have to go through a hasty and thorough decontamination followed by treatment,” she said.

The hot zone, also called the isolation zone, is the area directly contaminated by chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agents. Casualties usually undergo immediate decontamination in the hot zone or near it. This was the initial entry point for all of the casualties of the exercise. Soldiers of the 62nd received the casualties and immediately started treating them. After chemical personnel treated patients, they transferred them to the warm zone. To prevent the spread of contamination in this zone, chemical specialists must detect chemical and biological agents.

When contaminated patients arrive in the warm zone, chemical specialists expect low levels of dry, liquid, and vapor contamination.

“Once we received the patients at this station, we used a decontamination solution to clean them,” said Sgt. Kalei Duffey, assistant squad leader for the 62nd Chemical Company.

The patient decontamination station is initially set up in an area free of contamination. It became part of the warm zone once casualties began to arrive. The zone included control points in and out of the patient decontamination area to help contain the spread of contamination. Soldiers from the 62nd removed the contaminated clothing from patients and placed the clothing in a bucket designated for contaminated material. The patients then enter the evacuation corridor, which separates the warm zone from the cold zone. The cold zone is an area free from liquid and vapor contamination.

The patient decontamination stations and medical treatment facilities are initially set up in the cold zone. Chemical personnel handed the decontaminated patients off to the 56th MMB medical soldiers for further treatment after the decontamination process was complete.

“For some individuals this was their first time doing this,” Aiello said.

• Date Taken: 02.10.2012
• Date Posted: 02.10.2012 19:12
• Story ID: 83704
• Location: JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US