168th Medical Group Airmen train at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center

Photo By Capt. Francine St Laurent | Master Sgt. Wendy Duran segments blood samples from donated blood before conducting blood type tests Oct. 6, 2014, in the blood bank lab at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. “The blood bank is the most important place in any lab because you’re giving somebody somebody else’s blood.” (Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Francine St. Laurent)  

LANDSTUHL, GERMANY

10.10.2014

Courtesy Story

Alaska National Guard Public Affairs   

By Senior Airman Francine St. Laurent

LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Germany - Airmen from the Alaska National Guard’s 168th Medical Group spent two weeks at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany gaining real-world experience and training to support the Air National Guard mission.

In addition to being prepared to deploy, Alaska Air National Guard units have the ability to provide natural disaster relief in times of earthquakes, hurricanes, fires and floods. The training provided at LRMC ensures medical Airmen are knowledgeable and experienced.

LRMC is the largest American hospital outside of the U.S. and provides care and treatment to more than 217,000 U.S. military personnel and their families. It serves as the evacuation and treatment center for injured service members, civilians and members of coalition forces serving in Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa Command, Central Command and European Command.

Among the 168th MG Airmen who traveled to Germany were medical technicians, medical administrators, dental technicians, a dentist, a physician assistant, a family doctor, a medical laboratory technician and an education and training representative. They rotated between the emergency room, post-anesthesia care unit, patient administration, pulmonary unit and other departments.

“We want to make the training as broad as possible so the Airmen who never work on these things can get a bigger picture of a whole patient concept,” said Master Sgt. Barb Maglaqui, 168th MG medical technician. “If you understand the whole person and each step of care, not just one task such as taking blood pressure, it contributes to better bedside manner and patient care.”

Master Sgt. Wendy Duran, 168th MG medical laboratory technician, performed bench work in the LRMC lab while developing management skills.

The lab is the primary military lab facility in Europe and receives samples from across Europe, the desert and Djibouti. She learned about sending and receiving samples and spent time segmenting blood samples from donated blood to conduct blood type tests.

Senior Airman Tab Key, 168th MG medical technician, spent two weeks working in the LMRC emergency room caring for patients ailments ranging from chest pains, a palm-sized cyst, dislocated joints and a broken forearm.

Though Key is an emergency medical technician in his civilian job, the fast-paced, large number of patients at LRMC gave him valuable experience.

“At home, we don’t do any trauma care, it’s mainly our annual physicals because our people go to the civilian side if they are injured or hurt,” Key said. “So the actual trauma care is awesome to keep up with our skills because, if we get deployed, we’re going to need the experience.”

Dental technicians were able to build on their knowledge at the Dental Clinic on Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where they conducted dental exams and treated patients.

“This is the first time we are actually doing treatment, fillings and different things,” said Staff Sgt. Vanessa Campbell, 168th MG dental technician.

On Eielson Air Force Base, 168th dental technicians perform X-rays and complete records. The large clinic at Ramstein provided opportunities to learn from departments ranging from orthodontics to surgery.

“There are not many places where we can learn and experience such a variety,” Campbell said.

For three health services management specialists, the time at Landstuhl was an invaluable opportunity to learn how to in-process and out-process patients in electronic record systems, said Staff Sgt. Shamika Bertero, 168th MG health services management specialist.

“When we do our exercises, a lot of it’s paper and pen,” Bertero said. “But there’s actually systems that are developed to do what we do on a smaller scale. Here, we’re actually able to see it played out on a bigger scale.”

The Airmen used TRACES, an electronic system used to track patients routed for air evacuation, Bertero said. Airmen are unable to train on the program on Eielson where it is not used but, in a deployed location, they would need to be comfortable and proficient using it.

In Alaska, 168th MG Airmen focus on readiness; preparing the wing’s Airmen for potential deployment. At Landstuhl, they learned how to process patients — both military and dependents — who receive care at the facility.

“It’s nice to see the overall picture,” said Master Sgt. Sarah Felton. “Obviously, we’re not the experts in each area, but to see it all come together full circle from the patient coming in to seeing them being transferred in a hospital that offers everything.”

“We don’t get to fix people every day like maintainers get to fix planes,” Maglaqui said. “We need this training.”

If the need arises, 168th Medical Group Airmen are prepared to respond and care for Alaskan residents and military members at home and abroad.

• Date Taken: 10.10.2014
• Date Posted: 10.10.2014 13:01
• Story ID: 144865
• Location: LANDSTUHL, DE