Lt. Kyle Rowland, a native of Jackson, Tennessee, deployed as part of the U.S. Navy’s first En-Route Care System (ERCS) medical expeditionary capability aboard the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (IKECSG) during a regularly scheduled deployment, Oct. 14.
Rowland, who is assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Camp Lejeune, is a part of a 2-person ERCS team with an integrated intensive care mobile unit that supports medical care for up to two critically injured or ill patients for up to eight hours during transport.
Rowland graduated from Southside High School in 2012 and joined the Navy four years ago. Today, he serves as a critical care nurse.
“I was a critical care nurse for four years before I joined,” he said. “For me, the Navy was a calling; it was just something that I had to do. It has been a phenomenal four years.”
The ERCS will be a component of the overall skills and readiness within the medical department aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69).
"We are excited to expand the strike group's medical response capabilities with the addition of ERCS," said Cmdr. Jason Condino, the IKECSG senior medical officer. "This allows us the ability to evacuate critically ill patients while maintaining full medical capabilities back on the ship. Implementation of this team aboard IKE aligns with long-term plans to meet fleet-wide requirements in support of distributed maritime operations.”
The ERCS provides patient assessment and treatment, ventilation support, physiological monitoring, intravenous therapy, medication administration, supplemental oxygen therapy, airway maintenance, head and limb immobilization, and resuscitation and hemorrhage control.
“We are here to provide care so that no matter where, if someone gets hurt, we have the capability to not only assist and treat and monitor them, but to also get them to the next level of care,” Rowland explained. “And we will be able to do that from the point of injury to where they need to go.”
As Rowland and other sailors continue to train and perform missions, they take pride in serving their country in the Navy.
“It means a lot to me, and that I am very proud of,” reflected Rowland. “This will be my second time on a ship and my third deployment. I enjoy being operational and getting to do something that is new and different. I’m glad to be here and have these opportunities.”
The Navy’s ERCS program has achieved its initial operating capacity and provides a ready, rapidly deployable and combat effective medical force to improve survivability across the full spectrum of care, regardless of environment.
Navy Medicine — comprised of approximately 44,000 highly-trained military and civilian health care professionals — provides enduring expeditionary medical support to the warfighter on, below, and above the sea, and ashore.
Date Taken: | 10.16.2023 |
Date Posted: | 10.16.2023 14:06 |
Story ID: | 455869 |
Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
Hometown: | JACKSON, TENNESSEE, US |
Web Views: | 430 |
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