Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Karen Blankenship | Lance Cpl. Daniel Flaherty has his teeth examined in the dental department aboard the...... read more read more
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MEDITERRANEAN SEA -Before this deployment, I’d only visited the medical department aboard a ship once, after I was stung by a bee in Guam. During this deployment, we’ve all had to make a trip to medical at some point, if for no other reason than to receive a vaccination. I know that when I think of the medical department, I imagine lines of sailors and Marines waiting to receive cold medicine or going in for their yearly medical or dental check ups, but the medical department aboard Kearsarge is capable of so much more.
I was surprised to find out that, outside of USNS Comfort and Mercy, Kearsarge and other Wasp Class LHDs are the largest casualty receiving and treatment ships and have the most medical capability in the Navy.
“As an amphibious ship, we carry Marines to areas of the world where medical facilities are not as available,” said Cmdr. Harold Laroche, senior medical officer aboard Kearsarge. “It is vital for a ship of this crew size to have its own fully staffed medical treatment capability. When we are out in the middle of the ocean half a world away from home, there is often times no one else to rely upon. We are on our own and must be a self-sustaining operation.”
Kearsarge can do just that. The medical department has four operating rooms, four exam rooms, a clinical lab, blood bank, a 15-bed intensive care unit (ICU), a 46-bed general ward, radiology services, a pharmacy, a psychiatrist and, when needed, 598 beds. Kearsarge also has a full dental department, led by Cmdr. Trent Outhouse, that offers full general dentistry services as well as prosthetic, endodontic and surgical services.
But that’s just the beginning.
“With the FST (fleet surgical team) on board, in addition to our primary care responsibilities, we now have the surgical capability that allows us to do so much more from a medical standpoint,” said Laroche. “What the FST does is extend our capabilities such that now we can not only see routine patients, but we can also take on surgical cases. When the FST in on board, we are really a full-fledged mini hospital.”
FST is a small unit, only 17 people, but it brings with it the ability to perform surgery aboard the ship. According to Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Tameeca Williams, a respiratory therapist with FST, their surgeon has already performed two minor surgeries since we’ve been underway.
Kearsarge is the command, or parent, ship to FST, which also deploys on other LHDs and currently has staff aboard San Antonio and Carter Hall.
“We have to depend on each other because we’re so small,” said Williams. “We bounce around from ship to ship and travel as a unit. We work very close together and we have a good working relationship.”
FST also brought a psychiatrist along for the deployment for the first time.
“Deploying mental health professionals on LHDs is something that has been being evaluated over the last few years,” said Lt. Jason Delinsky, Kearsarge’s medical administration officer. “As a result, USS Iwo Jima deployed with a psychologist or social worker last year, and we are fortunate enough to have Lt. Cmdr. Williams, a psychiatrist, deploy with us this year. The hope is that instead of MedEvac-ing mental health patients, we will be able to treat the patient and keep them on board.”
In addition to the FST, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is embarked aboard Kearsarge, also brings with it five medical officers, two emergency room physicians, one critical care nurse, four independent duty corpsmen and more than 100 fleet Marine force corpsmen.
“Our jobs in the MEU’s medical sections are to manage any injured patients who are ashore and bring them to the ship to Kearsarge staff or to the FST,” said Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Marvin Kitchens from the 26th MEU command element. “We have a very small role when it comes to day to day underway medicine except managing our (Marines) sick call and mission needs.”
Should a major casualty happen, Kitchens said that the staff from the MEU is more than ready to help, but their main mission is to accompany the Marines to shore so that they can act quickly should a medical emergency arise.
“The Marine Corps has no medical assets,” said Kitchens. “Navy medical personnel are trained in Marine Corps doctrine and battlefield medicine to prepare for our roles when assigned to any Marine Corps unit. Our unique ability is to function side by side with our Marine Corps brothers and sisters in any environment, manage their injuries and provide expedient evacuation via ground, air or by water, back to an echelon of care where physicians are standing by to provide advanced life saving techniques. When put together with the FST and Kearsarge medical, there just isn’t a better team in place in the world for what we do.”
With so many different units coming together, one can almost assume that there would be some friction or an adjustment period, but everyone I talked to said that was not the case.
“We are all in medical so we look at each other as peers,” said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Courtney King, a corpsman with FST. “There’s no separation.”
As I walked around medical and talked to people in different areas such as the lab, the pharmacy, sick call and dental, the sense of camaraderie was immediately evident throughout the entire department.
“I think the corpsmen are very unique,” said Laroche. “As the SMO, I am very fortunate to have a variety of individuals working for me and that makes my life easier. The corpsmen are very knowledgeable, and they like what they are doing. When you have this combination, I think that’s a combination for success. So far I’ve been very blessed to have them on board with us.”
| Date Taken: | 04.09.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 04.09.2013 07:54 |
| Story ID: | 104848 |
| Location: | MEDITERRANEAN SEA , USAFRICOM, AT SEA |
| Web Views: | 406 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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