Sailors save Afghan stab victim in mobile ER

Photo By Cpl. Kenneth Jasik | Sailors with the Shock Trauma Platoon, 1st Maintenance Battalion (-) Reinforced, 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward), begin surgery on a stab wound victim, April 6, 2012. The sailors did an exploratory surgery to ensure his internal organs were not damaged.  

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELARAM II, AFGHANISTAN

04.06.2012

Story by Cpl. Kenneth Jasik 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELARAM II, Afghanistan – Sailors with shock trauma platoon, 1st Maintenance Battalion (-) Reinforced, 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward), provided life-saving care to an Afghan man who was stabbed in the abdomen by a thief, April 6.

When coalition forces, Afghan National Security Forces or civilians get hurt in the local area the STP takes action. Within minutes of receiving a call they begin to treat the patients.

“When we have stab wounds come in, the general surgeon who’s here has to make a call as far as how he’s going to manage (the patient),” said Lt. Cmdr. Michael A. Burt, officer in charge, STP, 1st Maint. Bn. (-) Rein.

The STP is designed to be a stand-alone mobile emergency room. This gives sailors the option of moving the STP wherever their help could be more effective. However, this mobility also means doctors don’t always have all the equipment they would have in the United States.

Sometimes their options are limited.

This was the case with the stab victim. Stateside, care for an injury like this might start with a CT scan. Here, doctors had to do an exploratory surgery to assess the injury.

“The primary means of caring for that patient [here] is doing exploratory laparotomy, where you go in and look to see if anything is injured,” said Burt, 38, from Rochester, Minn. “If anything is injured, you repair it.”

Since deploying to Afghanistan nearly two months ago, members of the STP have cared for dozens of seriously wounded patients across the battle space. The most common injuries are from knives, bullets and improvised explosive devices.

“At the STP, we receive casualties from the field or local nationals from out in town,” said Seaman Apprentice Jake A. Jones, a corpsman with the STP. “We stabilize them until we can send them to a higher echelon of care.”

The sailors say they enjoy working at the STP and saving lives.

“We know we make a difference,” said Burt. “All of us look at this as a privilege to be out here.”

• Date Taken: 04.06.2012
• Date Posted: 04.08.2012 13:05
• Story ID: 86460
• Location: FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELARAM II, AF