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    Army Reserve draws teenage crowds with Multiple Amputation Trauma Trainer

    Army Reserve soldiers demonstrate traumatic care to 6th-12th graders

    Photo By Master Sgt. Stanley Maszczak | Spc. Rick Barr, right, and Spc. Timothy Johnson, left, demonstrate combat medic tasks...... read more read more

    GRAND RAPIDS, MI, UNITED STATES

    04.28.2015

    Story by Sgt. 1st Class Stanley Maszczak 

    807th Medical Command (Deployment Support)

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Army Reserve’s 322nd Medical Company (MEDCO) Detachment 1 partnered with Michigan Works!, Spectrum Health and other local civilian healthcare providers to demonstrate its capabilities and opportunities at Career Quest 2015 in downtown Grand Rapids, April 28. This brand new career fair connected almost 6,000 middle and high school students from Kent and Allegan Counties with local employers in healthcare, advanced manufacturing, information technology, and construction.

    The 322nd MEDCO’s Detachment 1, located in Grand Rapids and part of the 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support), assigned soldiers to five different stations within the healthcare area — behavioral health, sleep hygiene, physical and occupational therapy, surgery, and the most popular area: traumatic care.

    “It’s moving — gross!” “Oh my god, what is it?!” “Whoa, cool!”

    Soldiers heard these gasps and statements every few minutes from new groups of students gathering around the traumatic care demonstrations, as soldiers used the new, bloody, fully animatronic Trauma F/X Multiple Amputation Trauma Trainer (MATT).

    “This new sim man is incredible,” explained Spc. Rick Barr, a combat medic with the 322nd. “If you don’t hit the pressure points just right, he’ll keep bleeding — you definitely know if you’re doing it right.”

    About 10 feet away, Capt. Nick Wright, Program Director for the 322nd’s Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), held a computerized, wireless remote that controlled MATT’s leg movement and blood flow. With the click of a button, he could make the animatronic leg move up and down, and make simulated blood spurt and spill out of the amputated leg.

    “It also has a speaker interface,” explained Wright. “I could go into another room and have my voice come out through the Trainer. That helps us simulate what an actual casualty would say.”

    Some of the students knelt down on the floor, near pools of blood-like liquid from MATT’s severed, spurting arteries, and put their hands on different parts of the high-tech dummy.

    “The fake blood was a little like water, but thicker,” said Hector Redmond, a junior at Allandale High School. “It felt real — so did the actual ‘meat’ in the leg, I guess you could say.”

    While MATT and the combat medics drew the biggest crowds in the healthcare section of the fair, soldiers in other medical specialties were able to spend time with the students as well.

    At one of the booths, Capt. Nicole Ware Spencer, a clinical psychologist with 467th Combat Stress Control out of Madison, Wisc., spoke with students about body image.

    “I’m showing them pictures of what celebrities actually look like,” she said, “and then the ‘after’ photo when they’ve been airbrushed and photoshopped — the photos you see on television and in magazines. The media’s depiction of celebrities places unrealistic body expectations on our youth, and it results in many girls having body image issues.”

    Next to the body image booth, Sgt. Victor Del Val, a behavioral health technician with the 322nd, hosted display tables and went through a sleep hygiene test with students to educate them on common behaviors in the bed and bedroom which can negatively impact a person’s sleep and ability to function.

    “One of the biggest things that will hurt your sleep process is reading or looking at your computer or smartphone while in bed,” he explained. “You have to train your brain to know that when you are in your bed, it’s time to sleep. Consistently doing activities other than sleeping in your bed, especially looking at bright screens, will hinder your ability to get good sleep.”

    While some Soldiers and students agreed that the event was educational in practical ways, the primary goal was to educate students on opportunities available not only in the Army Reserve, but in their local communities.

    “I feel like we’ve shown some kids that they have options,” said Staff Sgt. Shaun Betts, a former 322nd MEDCO Soldier currently assigned to the 401st Medical Logistics Company. “You don’t have to have a bachelor’s or associate’s degree if you don’t want to. Just get a skill, pursue a trade, and get a certificate. And then we want to keep that talent right here in the city. You don’t have to go active duty and leave home — you can join the Army Reserve, stay home, and help your community.”

    Educators accompanying youth on the trip voiced satisfaction in seeing their students engaging with industries and career paths they may not have considered pursuing prior to the event. Ed Domke, Career and Technical Education Director at nearby Hastings High School, says people in general do not understand the job opportunities available.

    “I think not only students, but society doesn’t have a clue what’s out there for jobs any more,” said Domke. “They think if you say ‘manufacturing,’ that maybe it’s a dirty place to work. That’s no longer the case — it’s a very clean environment with good pay. That old mindset is not there any more, but people don’t understand that.”

    Amy Lebednick, Business Services Assistant Manager for MichiganWorks!, shared her hopes that the event will stimulate enough interest among youth to provide future skilled workers to these understaffed industries.

    “We are trying to close the supply and demand gap between jobs and workers,” she said. “This is a great way to spark interest in our youth and hopefully start them down a path of filling one of these vital roles.”

    Throughout the day’s success, Lebednick said staffers and volunteers alike were not only noting what aspects worked well, but also things they could do differently for their next Career Quest Event.

    “We’re not sure yet whether we’ll do this every year or every other year -- but we definitely want to do it again,” she said.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 04.28.2015
    Date Posted: 05.02.2015 01:50
    Story ID: 162033
    Location: GRAND RAPIDS, MI, US
    Hometown: GRAND RAPIDS, MI, US

    Web Views: 516
    Downloads: 0

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