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ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – The South Dakota National Guard’s 82nd Civil Support Team put a new twist on a training exercise Jan. 8 at Ellsworth Air Force Base, when instead of responding to a chemical, biological, radiation or nuclear threat, the team used their skills to help determine the cause of death of a local airman.
The 82nd CST partnered with personnel from Ellsworth and the South Dakota State Public Health Laboratory to conduct the exercise. In the training scenario, Ellsworth security forces discovered the body of the deceased Airman in a remote building on base, along with an unknown powder substance. The security team called for the assistance of the 82nd in the event the base Emergency Management Flight is not available.
The 82nd CST’s primary purpose is to advise and assist military or civilian authorities on how to handle intentional or unintentional releases of natural or man-made substances. While members of the 82nd are use to identifying and handling unknown substances, this training scenario was quite different for them.
“Today’s exercise was a little different than what we usually do,” said Sgt. 1st. Class Kerry Slaba, medical noncommissioned officer. “We were informed that the victim had ordered a diet supplement online and had been using it for the past week or so. We also heard the victim complained about having a metallic taste in his mouth and felt like he was coming down with the flu.”
From the information given to the team, they suspected the victim died from heavy metal poisoning, or arsenic, which can be found in diet supplements.
“Research has found that some of the newer natural supplements do have traces of arsenic,” said Slaba. “So prolong use could possibly build up in a person’s system and cause arsenic poisoning. A lot of the supplements are not monitored by the FDA at this time. People make up the mixture and sell it online, you never know what you are going to get.”
Since the CST is not able to detect arsenic with their equipment, they needed to look for possible clues of what may have caused the Airman’s death and withdraw fluids from his body.
For this particular scenario, Slaba, the unit’s medical NCO, did not stay back in the CST’s laboratory. Slaba geared up in a level-A suit with a two-man survey team and went into the building to gather samples.
“We found the supplement bottle on the guy’s desk and a notebook with directions of how he was taking it,” said Slaba. “So we went ahead and got a sample of the powder and the victim, where I performed a catheter stick and simulated urine draw to check for heavy metals.”
Slaba is not used to wearing the level-A suit, a impermeable whole-body garment, worn as protection against hazardous materials, to include a self-contained breathing apparatus weighing nearly 40 pounds.
“It was challenging trying to manipulate a syringe and a catheter,” he said. “It really showed me how difficult it is when you are in that heavy suit and you basically have three pairs of gloves on.”
The team gathered enough material to split the sample in half, to test in their own lab and enough to send to the South Dakota State Public Health Laboratory to confirm their results.
Another reason this mission is different than the CST’s typical training exercise is the involvement of the courier system provided by the state lab, located in Pierre.
“This is the first time the CST utilized the courier system, giving them the opportunity to learn the process of coordinating a courier and seeing how long it takes to get a sample to our lab,” said Mike Smith, director of the state lab. “The purpose of the courier system is to get the samples to us in a timely manner from all four corners of the state.”
Smith looks forward to working with the SDNG because of the unique learning opportunities.
“We learn so much from the experiences we have with the Guard,” said Smith. “This was a great exercise for us because it is the first time the CST sent us something we don’t normally see. We tend to get samples of substances we know how to handle, such as anthrax. Working with an inorganic metal required us to think about the process or brainstorm ideas of how are we going to handle this in a real-world sample.”
| Date Taken: | 01.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 01.15.2014 09:00 |
| Story ID: | 119179 |
| Location: | RAPID CITY, SD, US |
| Web Views: | 209 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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