Photo By Staff Sgt. Anthony Jones | Medics assigned to Oklahoma Medical Detachment, 90th Troop Command, shield a mock...... read more read more
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BRAGGS, Oklahoma – Under the driving winds of an Army helicopter, Oklahoma Guardsmen rushed to load a casualty into the waiting aircraft so it could whisk the Soldier to safety during training at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, June 9.
Luckily for Spc. Roy Bartnick, the Soldier strapped to a stretcher, the medical evacuation was for training rather than a real-life emergency.
Bartnick, an Oklahoma City resident and Enid, Oklahoma native, and other medics from the Oklahoma Medical Detachment, 90th Troop Command, trained on loading and unloading casualties from a UH-60 “Blackhawk” helicopter as part of the unit’s annual training. The medical evacuation training, taught by Soldiers and flight medics assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 249th General Support Aviation Battalion, focused on how to safely approach an active helicopter while carrying patients on a litter, the military term for a stretcher.
“We’re getting ahead of the game,” said Master Sgt. Ed Baker, of Norman, Oklahoma, and the senior non-commissioned officer for the detachment. “Processes are dynamic. We live in a dynamic environment where processes change so our training must be dynamic as well.”
The dynamic environment Baker is referencing is the constant evolution of medical care for wounded Soldiers. He said his medics must continually educate themselves on the most up-to-date procedures to ensure quality care. As an example, the Desert Storm veteran explained when he joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard and deployed as a medic, tourniquets could not be loosened or removed after being applied. However, with the lessons learned through fighting in Afghanistan, Army medics have discovered loosening a tourniquet once applied can help a patient.
Just like his tourniquet example, Baker says this training allows the detachment’s medics to hit the ground running when they deploy with combat units going overseas.
“We don’t deploy as a unit so this type of training is very critical to our Soldiers for when they go out to join units like the [45th] Infantry Brigade,” Baker said.
The training began with medics loading and unloading mock casualties from the helicopter while it sat on a landing pad, engines off. After several dry runs and successful patient loads, the aircrew started the aircraft’s engines and started the blades spinning to create the noise and wind associated with combat conditions. While the helicopter’s blades spun, medics communicated with hand and arm signals when to lift the patient, carry, load and unload from the helicopter.
Once the medics were used to the conditions, the aircraft left, circled the area and landed adding another level to the training’s realism. When the helicopter began its approach, the wind threw rocks, dirt and grass into the air, forcing the medics to shield the patient to keep the debris away.
Sgt. Brandon William, a resident of Norman, Oklahoma, has deployed twice with the medical evacuation helicopters of Company C and was one of the trainers working with the medics on the ground. His experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan allow him to personally relate the training to the Soldiers and give them a sense of the urgency and the need for safety near the aircraft.
“This training is paramount,” said William, who serves as a Blackhawk maintenance specialist in the Oklahoma Army National Guard and works as a B-52 bomber mechanic at Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, Oklahoma. “Everything is about patient care and this gets the medics used to dealing with the wind and heat. If they drop him and the patient is all ready [near death], it won’t be good.”
Bartnick, who was one of the simulated casualties, also was able to help load patients and said he enjoyed the training.
“Mostly we do medical readiness exercises,” said Bartnick, talking about his detachment medically supporting other units’ training or running physical health assessments. “It was nice to break from the mold and practice other skills.”
Bartnick, who deployed overseas as a medic twice, is familiar with needing to keep up with skills. He said he was lucky because through his deployments to Kuwait and Afghanistan he only needed to load a patient onto a helicopter once, but he emphasized the need to stay sharp.
“On deployment you deal with many different systems,” Bartnick said. “You need to learn them for your safety, for the aircraft’s safety and for the patient’s safety.”
The 24-year-old specialist joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard when he was 17 and has served as a medic ever since. He said he wanted to join the military and had friends in the National Guard who he attended a few drills will. He decide the Army National Guard was the right choice for him. However, to join at 17, he needed his parents’ permission and they would only allow him to join if he did something that would benefit him and others, he said.
“Being a medic is fun,” Bartnick said after the training was over. “This is something more than kicking in doors.”
Bartnick is also putting his medical skills to use in his civilian life. He works as an emergency room technician for Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City and is attending Rose State College to earn a nursing degree.
“As a Guard medic, they let me do more than your average ER tech,” Bartnick said. “We are trained for a broader scope than basic EMTs. We are able to intubate and insert chest tubes and more whereas a normal civilian EMT can only give oxygen and transport patients.”
| Date Taken: | 06.09.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.15.2015 13:18 |
| Story ID: | 166496 |
| Location: | OK, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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