Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Kim Harris | Lt. Cmdr. Ronald Fancher, instructs his crew during Mass Casualty Drill, Life Support...... read more read more
KUWAIT - Emergency response preparedness has become the most important tool utilized to combat unexpected attacks.
By having a readiness plan in place, mass casualties of life and property can be minimized.
Life Support Area-Kuwait, regularly conducts mass casualty drills to simulate real world events. The purpose for the drill is to access the camps ability to respond to major attacks.
During a recent exercise, a coalition of forces from the Navy Troop Medical Clinic, Army emergency medical technicians from the 437th Medical Company, Navy Customs Medical Department from the Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group Forward India, the Air Force 386th Expeditionary Wing and Australians with Force Support Unit — One, worked together to complete a mass casualty drill.
The first responder on the scene was Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Sadiarin Jr., the scene incident commander. Sadiarin is the non-commissioned officer in charge for Force Protection on LSA and this was his first time being in charge of an incident scene.
"For me, it was exciting," said Sadiarin.
As the acting eyes and ears for the command cell, he reported back to Maj. Tyson Tahara at the Emergency Operations Center. His input was vital to ensuring the scene was safe for rescue workers and securing reinforcements for the victims.
After making sure that the scene was secure, it was time to send in the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team. They swept the area and cleared it for the Aid and Litter team, Emergency Medical Technicians and the Fire Department.
Key players for the Troop Medical Clinic included Lt. Cmdr Ronald Francher and Petty Officer 1st Class Melanio Rivera. Francher coordinated medical operations, while Rivera was the Triage officer. Rivera admitted that he has experienced in conducting Mass Casualty Drills, but some of the junior enlisted had never experienced this type of drill.
"It will test the abilities of the crew," said Rivera who also expressed that the exercise was good practical hands on training for them.
The drill included 12 casualties, but the clinic was not equipped to handle this volume of victims, so they relied on the additional skills and abilities of the Navy Customs Medical Department. This team of 11 Navy Hospital Corpsman is a highly experienced and trained group of individuals.
"I have worked in an Emergency Room; this is similar to that," said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Sandra McNeely.
During the enactment, she and Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Fernando Fusterio worked diligently to address injured victims.
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Richard Coolman and his crew of the 386th EMG, were also on hand to evaluate the situation so they could coordinate efforts in the event his group would need to air lift victims to a local hospital.
Many of the participants have not worked with one another before, but all of the participants immediately sprang into action as a cohesive team, going to work on casualties at the scene and as they arrived at the TMC. The teams handled injuries ranging from bruises and severed limbs, to victims that where pronounced dead on arrival.
The goal for the training exercise was to, "make sure all the pieces work together as they should," said Fancher.
Everything fell into place and all the pieces did work together. The drill resulted in success because of the cooperative efforts of all the groups.
| Date Taken: | 07.13.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 07.13.2009 05:26 |
| Story ID: | 36295 |
| Location: | KW |
| Web Views: | 599 |
| Downloads: | 500 |
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