Medics of 210th Field Artillery Brigade Integrate with Flight Medics to Practice Medical Evacuation

Photo By Cpl. Kihyun Kwon | Camp Casey, South Korea -- Medics of 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery, 210th Field Artillery Brigade practice loading off a patient from a helicopter during Medical Evacuation training, Nov.8, at Helipad-252 on Camp Casey. The training provided soldiers an opportunity to link up with flight medics and learn safety rules applied when loading patients.  

DONGDUCHEON, 41, SOUTH KOREA

11.16.2016

Story by Pfc. Kihyun Kwon 

210th Field Artillery Brigade

CAMP CASEY, South Korea – While many Soldiers serve in critical mission roles throughout the peninsula, few occupations in the military handle the life-and-death situations that medics face daily. To be prepared to handle such situations, medics have to continuously train to treat and transfer casualties.

Soldiers of Alpha Battery, 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment participated in Medical Evacuation training with flight medics from Charlie Company, 3rd General Support Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment, at Helipad-252 on Camp Casey, Nov. 8.

“The purpose of MEDEVAC training was to show us how to properly load patients on and off the helicopter, integrating us and the MEDEVAC crew,” said Pfc. Patrick Hogan, a Kansas, Missouri native and a Health Care Specialist assigned to 6th Bn, 37th FA Regt., 210th Field Artillery Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division/ROK-U.S. Combined Division.

The flight medics started the training by explaining how helicopters work and what they carry. They then explained the steps of loading patients, proper hand signals and things medics should be cautious about when approaching the helicopter.

After the medics were taught background knowledge and the flight medics answered questions, they began the patient transport exercise.

“One of the medics laid down and we practiced correctly strapping him to the litter not to make a patient fall off,” said Hogan. “Then we all got down, waiting for the signal to come over.”

The medics received the signal after a flight medic came over and got the patient’s history from them, then they carried the litter and loaded it on the helicopter. For the next step they came back to the start point, took a knee, and went back to the helicopter to off load the patient.

Performing tasks that are essential to saving lives requires ground medics to be able to work quickly and efficiently with flight medics to get casualties to locations to receive the necessary care they need.

“What I never knew before the training happened is the proper way to approach the helicopter,” said Hogan. “Now I know that there is a certain angle when approaching it, and that I cannot go to the nose of it because the blades come down.”

“It’s not that the training was necessarily challenging, but we always had to be aware of where the blades of the helicopters were,” said Hogan. “Safety was the most important part.”

For many of the ground crew medics, the training was the first time they were exposed to training with flight medics. The training provided a more relaxed setting to practice and rehearse the skills they will use in a high-stress setting.

“Because we medics never had much time to work with helicopters, the training helped us a lot to acquire the ability to fight tonight,” said Hogan.

The Soldiers could practice everything they need to successfully transport patients, from what to prepare for evacuation to the process of getting patients out of the helicopter to the hospital.

“I think it is super important to integrate our medics and flight medics because we can only do so much on the ground,” Hogan said. “We really have to understand what we or they can do for the patients since it is the goal to give the patients the best care as fast as possible to save lives.”

“Now I feel like we can definitely fight tonight.” said Hogan.

• Date Taken: 11.16.2016
• Date Posted: 01.09.2017 20:10
• Story ID: 219786
• Location: DONGDUCHEON, 41, KR
• Hometown: KANSAS CITY, MO, US