Photo By Tech. Sgt. Kayleigh Phillips | Airmen of the Washington Air National Guard Homeland Response Force work to triage a...... read more read more
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Sept. 11, 2021, the significance of the day is something that most will never forget. Members of the 141st Medical Group took remembrance to a new level by conducting training to maintain readiness for the Homeland Response Force mission at the U.S. Air Force Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape school training facility at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington.
“Our mission when responding to a disaster event is to provide mass casualty triage, patient stabilization, and patient transport to higher level health care,” said Maj. Jeffrey McElroy, 141st Medical Group Detachment 1 Commander. “The medical training we conduct increases our national medical response capabilities.”
The 141st Air Refueling Wing HRF mission is a part of a larger, nearly 600-person force serving FEMA Region 10 which covers Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska. When directed by proper authority — usually the governor — the HRF is alerted and assembles with a response window of 6 to 12 hours. Each HRF can operate on a regional or national level, bridging the gap between National Guard response and Title 10 active-duty capabilities.
The 9/11 training incorporated a full medical element which is a 47-person team. The 141st team has doctors and nurses from an array of different civilian specialties like labor and delivery, pharmacists, emergency medicine and pediatrics to name a few.
The HRF is a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive resource established to support civilian emergency managers in response to natural, man-made or terrorist-initiated CBRNE disasters; not unlike 9/11, the Oso landslide in 2014, or the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re exercising our capabilities and getting ready for our April collective training event in [Fiscal Year] 2022,” said Master Sgt. Adam Brunnemann, 141st Medical Group Detachment 1 medical logistics non-commissioned officer-in-charge.
“The team is setting everything up fully, assigning teams, and going through patient flow scenarios,” Brunnemann said. “Search and extraction are deployed in the hot zone and are pulling out simulated patient mannequins from rubble piles, collapsed structures and vehicles.”
During the training, hot zone triage medics practiced collecting patients, triaging, and decontaminating, all in a simulated environment. Patients were then sorted into ambulatory (responsive or walking) or non-ambulatory (unresponsive), treated and stabilized. In a real-world scenario, after medics treat the patient civilian transportation move all patients to the hospital.
“This is our home mission; this is something that we do for our own people,” said Tech. Sgt. Jason Bruce, 141st Medical Group Detachment 1 aerospace medical technician and lead hot zone triage medic. “I love it because it’s like working with family and taking care of family.”
“Life, Death, and Everything In-between” reads the Detachment 1 patch. HRF members in the 141st MDG train to prepare for any type of event and could deploy for a wide range of assistance encompassing search and extraction; decontamination; medical triage and stabilization; fatality search and recovery; security; and command and control. The sole purpose is to save lives and mitigate human suffering. Recently, many HRF personnel were deployed to assist the community during the coronavirus pandemic -- a true “everything in-between” moment.
“As we have seen over the last year and a half our medical experts can adapt to just about any and all hazard events,” McElroy said.
“The COVID-19 Global Pandemic presented biological challenges that we as a [CBRNE Response Enterprise] haven’t responded to or exercised. Our medical professionals were able to perform more than 66,000 tests and vaccinate more than 255,000 civilians throughout Washington state. Their commitment to service and their communities is absolutely amazing.”
| Date Taken: | 09.30.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 10.03.2021 15:20 |
| Story ID: | 406597 |
| Location: | FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 164 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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