Learning to save lives through CLS

Photo By Maj. Margaret St. Pierre | Spc. Jeremiah Robinson, 35th Inf. Div., administers care to fellow CLS student Maj. Jon Bellers during a hands-on training portion of Combat Lifesavers course Aug. 24, 2017. Offered by the medical section of the 35th, the CLS training aimed to teach basic tactical combat casualty care to non-medical personnel and prepare them to respond to medical emergencies under stressful conditions. (Photo by U.S. Army Capt. Margaret Ziffer)  

JORDAN

08.24.2017

Story by Capt. Margaret St. Pierre 

35th Infantry Division

AMMAN, Jordan - There’s not a cloud in the sky as the mid-day sun beats down on soldiers wearing their improved outer tactical vests and helmets as they jog laps around a football field at a base outside of Amman, Jordan Aug. 24.

“Boom!” yells Spc. Nathan Shannon, combat medic with the 35th Infantry Division, indicating to the exhausted soldiers that their location has been hit with an artillery round, and there are now casualties.

This is the last day of Combat Lifesavers course, a 40-hour program that teaches tactical combat casualty care to non-medical personnel. This final exercise was all about giving students a hands-on evaluation of all the skills they learned earlier in the week.

“Often times, this course is delivered “by the book” and includes mostly classroom instruction,” said Shannon. “But we really wanted to do a lot of hands on training.”

So after the classroom portion and the written test, the 35th Inf. Div. medical team set out to simulate the conditions soldiers would face in a combat environment.

As the soldiers run over to their casualties – in this case, other students given simulated wounds using make-up – they are tested on a number of skills they are likely to encounter on a battlefield, such as placing tourniquets, treating chest trauma, maintaining airways, applying pressure dressings, treating for shock and hypothermia and general patient evaluation.

“We want people to think, ‘when I treat a casualty, I’m not necessarily going to be ready for it,’” said Shannon. “It is going to be an unexpected event. I’m going to be tired from running around. So this type of training really gets in into their heads that this is not going to be easy, things may not always happen by the book.”

“We try to emphasize to the students that they are going to stress out, they are going to panic,” said Shannon.

Normally, the ratio of medical professionals to non-medical personnel in any given population is rather high. This is the main reason that CLS training is a critical piece of maintaining unit readiness.

“Less than 5% of normal unit populations are medical professionals,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robin Anderson, medial non-commissioned officer in charge. “So if a medical emergency occurs, there is only a small chance that there is going to be a medic anywhere near them. And by the time the medic arrives, it may be too late.”

Training more people on CLS essentially creates a pool individuals with basic medical skills so that they can act as first responders, should an incident occur when the medical staff isn’t present.

“Having trained combat life savers increases the chances of that casualty surviving their injuries,” said Anderson.

Aside from giving students with the knowledge of basic medical skills, CLS is also an opportunity to familiarize students with standard-issue medical equipment.

“The Individual First Aid Kits that they issue soldiers today are really fancy,” said Anderson. “There’s a lot of life-saving equipment in there. But if people don’t understand how to use it, it doesn’t do any good.”
“I think all of the students are more comfortable with their equipment now and they are better prepared for the stress that is going to accompany a real-life situation,” said Anderson.

Having armed them with the information and training of the CLS curriculum, the medical team hopes their students will feel more confident in their ability to respond in an emergency.

“I hope this training will let people know that we take our jobs very seriously and we want everyone to be safe,” said Shannon. “By teaching CLS to students, they too can be prepared to help potential casualties and save lives.”

• Date Taken: 08.24.2017
• Date Posted: 08.30.2017 04:22
• Story ID: 246507
• Location: JO