OKINAWA, Japan - Members of the III Marine Expeditionary Force Medical Simulation Center staff showcased their state-of-the-art training equipment for top military medical officers here May 6.
Rear Adm. Matthew L. Nathan, commander of National Naval Medical Center Bethesda, Md., Master Chief Petty Officer Sherman E. Boss, NNMC Bethesda command master chief, Capt. Russell Gilbert, III Marine Expeditionary Force surgeon, and Capt. Terry J. Moulton, commanding officer of U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, visited the center for a presentation on the advances of combat casualty care and combat life-saving techniques.
“With this state-of-the-art equipment, we are able to teach combat lifesaver and tactical combat casualty care in a realistic environment,” said Mark Kane, program supervisor for the center. “The training conducted is for those Marines who may have to save the life of another service member while filling individual augmentee billets in support of overseas and expeditionary contingency operations.”
The instructors use traditional classroom settings as well as high-tech, hands-on teaching aids to provide students with a unique learning experience.
“With the invention of simulation and more advanced technology, we can cover more material, more thoroughly in a shorter amount of time,” said Kane.
“The platform training room mimics a casualty collection and care point or field hospital,” he said.
The hospital is equipped with dummies, controlled through a wireless internet, that can be commanded to breathe, blink and bleed with the click of a mouse.
Marines treat these casualties after extracting them from the mock battlefield housed in the simulation room.
The simulation room can be altered to resemble multiple scenarios service members might find themselves in, such as a burning building or a battle zone.
“It’s important the Marines make their mistakes here, in a controlled environment, so they know what to do when it counts,” said Kane.
The instructors can also communicate with the students through the mannequins from up to 300 feet away with the wireless connection.
From the computer instructors give dummies arterial bleeds, blocked airways or any number of other combat-related injuries.
“In my years being a corpsman, this is the best, most realistic training available to Marines in garrison,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Adedotun Anjorin, instructor and simulation technician at the Camp Hansen Medical Simulation Center.
Combat casualty care and combat life-saving techniques have come a long way and are greatly helping save the lives of injured service members, said Gilbert.