Photo By Senior Airman Ashleigh Pavelek | Registered nurse Shari Windale assists a patient in the Major Care Unit at the MED-1...... read more read more
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GEORGETOWN, S.C. - During its history, South Carolina has at times been prone to hurricanes or other natural disasters that can strike at any time. To prepare for such emergencies, the Mobile Emergency Department and the South Carolina National Guard teamed up March 8, 2015, to treat casualties with simulated injuries during Vigilant Guard South Carolina, a joint multi-state disaster response exercise designed help military responders work seamlessly in support of local authorities.
Local first-responders, based in Charlotte, joined with the SCNG to provide resources in preparation for emergencies and catastrophic events. They can also react to simulated emergencies such as severe weather, or infectious diseases, all with the goal of working together to help citizens.
“The MED-1 integration with the National Guard during Vigilant Guard [South Carolina] allows us to demonstrate joint deployment in the case of a local, regional or national emergency and utilize all facilities at our disposal to best care for the patient population that presents to us,” said Capt. Alan Barrett, assigned to the169th Medical Group at McEntire Joint National Guard Base.
The Vigilant Guard S.C. exercise consists of more than 5,000 Guardsmen, first responders and other participants statewide and is held in various parts of the country. The goal is to test and enhance relationships among civilian, federal and military partners.
The first-of-its-kind in the world, MED-1, operated by Carolinas HealthCare System, is a first-line care giver staffed by physicians and nurses from local hospitals as well as the National Guard. This mobile hospital is complete with its own internet, power source, and functional emergency and operating rooms to stabilize and hold patients with serious injuries. The first-response unit can stabilize critical patients until they can be transported to the nearest hospital, and can also treat less serious injuries on-site.
“The benefits of having MED-1 here with us is that we can integrate their services with our services and be able to care for patients with a higher care from the field,” said Barrett.
“From a domestic response capability, being able to integrate with the Guard is really important because they have helicopters, transport and search and rescue capabilities with local teams,” said Dr. David Callaway, the director of Carolinas MED-1 mobile hospital. “We can provide a large-scale fixed facility to receive, stabilize, and determine where in the region patients need to be transferred.”
The critical care transport unit consists of three treatment areas. The triage tent is for non-critical basic assessment, urgent care offers emergency stabilization and critical care renders operative interventions. Services offered include treatment for asthma, heart attack, stroke and blood transfusion.
Many on the MED-1 team are veterans, so the ability to speak a common language between the various divisions is widespread and enhances their ability to work to together.
“Many of them know how to set a landing zone, load and off-load patients from a helicopter and communicate with the pilot,” Callaway said.
It’s great to be able to work with civilian specialists in the medical field to have more capable and quality level of care in a field setting, Barrett added.
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.09.2015 16:06 |
| Story ID: | 156459 |
| Location: | GEORGETOWN, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 205 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, MED-1 rolls in to support Vigilant Guard South Carolina, by SrA Ashleigh Pavelek, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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