MASCAL training provides learning experience

Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Sgt. Natalie Dalimata (right), a troop medical clinic supervisor from San Jose, Calif., along with other 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Soldiers, carry a space blanket wrapped "patient" on a stretcher outside to be evacuated during a mass casualty exercise, here, Dec. 14.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

12.14.2009

Story by Pfc. Kimberly Hackbarth 

4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — Pfc. Tessa Marsh, a combat medic, arrived on the scene where she found five people "injured" from a simulated mortar attack during a mass casualty exercise here, Dec.14.

After checking with a combat life saver qualified Soldier who had already assessed the wounded, Marsh treated the most critically injured person by quickly placing a tourniquet on a man's severed arm, while simultaneously explaining to a fellow Soldier how to tourniquet the man's leg.

As she aided the injured man, Marsh had two things on her mind: her medical skills and communication with those around her.

Because of the limited number of medical staff on site, she worked to do what was best for the patients while communicating with others on scene, in order to provide aid to the most seriously injured, explained Marsh, a Lacrosse, Wisc. native, with the 702nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

Marsh's team evacuated casualties to Riva Ridge Troop Medical Center where Staff Sgt. Charles Ensminger, the medical evacuation platoon sergeant acted as the triage officer, sorting incoming patients into medical categories before sending them to treatment.

Using the DIME method, Ensminger separated the patients into four medical categories: delayed, immediate, minimal, and expectant.

'Delayed' patients can wait more than two hours for treatment without compromising his or her health, while 'immediate' patients require assistance within two hours to preserve life, limb or eyesight. Patients categorized as 'minimum' are walking wounded and do not usually require hospital admission or the services of operating room, and 'expectant' patients are those severely injured and not expected to survive even with treatment.

Ensminger knew that even with outlined standard operating procedures, not everything flows perfectly in stressful environments, especially with his profession.

"With medicine, the book answer is not always the correct answer, sometimes it's just situational," said Ensminger, a Port St. Lucie, Fla. native.

Head trauma, shrapnel injuries, burns and severed limbs were among the many medical situations thrown at the staff during the exercise.

Medical providers and medics treated each patient accordingly and used available assets such X-ray machines and intravenous therapy.

Capt. Christopher Staley, a physician with 702nd BSB, said he believed that the exercise was an overall success because of everything the training offered.

"It gets you mentally prepared to deal with a chaotic event such as a mass casualty," said Staley, a Salem, Ore. native. "It helps you to identify areas that might be weak in the system, areas that need improvement, and areas that are done well."

After aiding more than ten injured Soldiers and civilians with the cooperation of more than 100 civilian firefighters, paramedics, and military medical Soldiers, the exercise ended with an enlightening after action review.

"As [a lower enlisted] medic, I only get to do what's in my lane," said Marsh. "Seeing the big picture and what everyone had to say was educational."

Marsh ended her day by evacuating a real life patient, who wasn't involved in the training, to the casualty cache where she had taken the exercise patients earlier in the day. While it was not as hectic of a trip, she was reminded that if it was, she could handle it, thanks to the practice and training of the day.

• Date Taken: 12.14.2009
• Date Posted: 12.17.2009 01:32
• Story ID: 42863
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ