JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
The 633d Medical Group collaborated with the 633d Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department to conduct their annual Comprehensive Medical Readiness training exercise at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, July 28, 2022.
After steering away from a didactic style of training and wanting to incorporate the most realistic training scenario possible, it became obvious to 633d MDG leadership that they needed assistance from the 633d CES Fire Department for emergency management and field application.
“The collaboration with the Fire Department strengthens our relationships by giving us the opportunity to train together for real-world scenarios,” said Jessica Wenninger, 633d Health Care Operations Squadron 4N simulation lab coordinator.
After approximately 90 days of planning, the coordinators of this exercise created a training that consisted of two sessions.
During one session, medical technicians were taught the Rule of 9s, which includes total body surface area and burn area calculations, and the Rule of 10s, including thermal burn fluid resuscitation techniques, such as intravenous and intraosseous placements.
Wenninger expressed that in order to make the training more entertaining, medical personnel did live IV sticks on one another.
The second session of the exercise was an opportunity for the Fire Station and Emergency Room personnel to guide medics through field response lines of communication and mass casualty patient movement techniques, to reflect what may be necessary in a real emergency situation.
“We want to get individuals more engaged and understand why we do what we do,” said Tech. Sgt. Christian Baldwin, 633d Health Care Operations Squadron simulation lab coordinator.
To pull this off, participants who simulated being moulage patients were scattered around a live fire pit, where medics utilized the sort, assess, lifesaving interventions, and treatment/transport, SALT technique, to recover the patients and bring them to the appropriate triage location.
Once in triage, medical technicians reviewed the health charts of each patient and provided the necessary treatments.
“The quicker we get the victims to triage, the quicker they can get to treatment and have their lives saved,” said Jeremy Bayse, 633d CES assistant fire chief.
For the training to be effective, the 633d MDG and 633d CES Fire Department organized 108 medical technicians, surgical technicians, respiratory therapists, registered nurses and physicians, 20 live patients, as well as 11 firefighters, three fire engines and an incident commander to control lines of communication and scene oversight.
“The biggest thing we wanted to emphasize is the quality of training and bring in subject matter experts,” said Baldwin.
Though the training collaboration was planned with quality in mind, executing the exercise was no easy feat.
Despite the various challenges faced by training coordinators and participants, they worked as a team to complete the training.
“We hope joint training sessions like this happen in the future to better serve the base and community,” said Bayse.