Photo By Sgt. Paul Peterson | A portable 3000-watt generator and distribution system stands near a Forward...... read more read more
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CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — It’s a refuge of life-saving medical equipment for troops in the fight, where surviving traumatic injuries is a race against time.
The injured come into the Forward Resuscitative Surgical System with dirt from the battlefield fresh on their boots. Advanced medical technology waits for the wounded, but the facility needs power to make the difference between life and death.
That requirement left the team from Medical Supply Company, 2nd Marine Logistics Group sure of one thing after their FRSS energy study here, Aug. 13 to 17.
They need more power.
“The Marine Corps’ intention is to keep the surgical capabilities that are up close to the fight as modern as possible,” said Navy Lt. Darren Pierce, commanding officer for Medical Logistics Company. “As the equipment has advanced over the last 10 years, and as new things have been added, the power requirements have increased. However, the source of power has not changed, and we’re overloading the [system].”
Proximity to remote locations makes the FRSS a critical factor in saving lives, but it deprives the facility of traditional power sources.
Injured Marines and sailors have access to surgical personnel, portable oxygen generators, infusion pumps, anesthesia equipment and body-warming devices in less than sixty minutes after their injury, said Pierce. Corpsmen treat injured troops at the scene, but the surgeons and other medical staff at the FRSS have the ability to stabilize casualties until they can be moved to higher medical facilities.
Approximately six medical professionals operate out of the facility, which can be packed up and moved to fit the needs of the combat area. That mobility requires a portable energy source capable of functioning in rigorous environments.
“There were only helicopters and sporadic convoys where we were in Afghanistan,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Clark, a surgical technician with 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd MLG, who worked in a FRSS on his deployment last year. Clark found that the isolation often made resupplying the FRSS difficult and felt an improved power source would be a great addition.
The team at Camp Lejeune set up their own FRSS, complete with two 3000-watt generators that paralleled the ones Clark used in Afghanistan. They analyzed each piece of equipment for its power requirements and then tested the entire facility’s collective power demands.
The results showed a clear need to improve upon their mobile power source in order to support the latest equipment.
“We found out that the generators we have cannot carry the load,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Edward Rogers, an advanced bio-medical technician with 2nd Supply Bn. “This is the first step. Once our generators are up to date, it takes two people a max of about one hour to get this facility up and ready to treat patients.”
The study will help make the medical facility an even more reliable asset on the battlefield, said Pierce. FRSS units have saved lives in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. The addition of an improved power source will help it continue to serve in future conflicts.
| Date Taken: | 08.17.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.17.2012 13:00 |
| Story ID: | 93414 |
| Location: | CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 69 |
| Downloads: | 4 |
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