Photo By Cynthia Griggs | Airmen from the 75th Medical Group remove a simulated patient from the decontamination...... read more read more
Subscribe
Twelve members of Hill’s 75th Medical Group participated in an intense patient decontamination course on base recently, offered by the professionals at DECON LLC who train members from all military service branches and at civilian hospitals in the Washington D.C. area.
Throughout the course, Air Force medical first receivers learned and practiced lifesaving skills, for victims who have contacted chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and hazardous materials.
Students went through a series of lectures and then used equipment the Med Group has on-hand for managing contaminated casualties.
“It’s imperative that our team knows how to use our equipment efficiently and correctly in the event of a CBRN incident,” said Senior Airman Raymond Gutierrez, 75th Medical Group commander’s support staff. “Not only to protect our patients, but to protect our providers who treat them.”
On an operations level, students learned about the potential contaminants terrorists use and ways to identify them.
“The gloves came off in 2013 in Syria and the world isn’t getting and safer,” said Tom Bocek, Training Manager for DECON, LLC. “Chemical and biological agents are a part of modern warfare so it’s vitally important to be efficient in this training.”
During the final timed exercise, students wore protective equipment and worked as a team to decontaminate mock casualties resulting from a weapon of mass destruction terrorist attack.
When deploying a decontamination unit, the Air Force standard is to be mission capable in 15 minutes. The Hill team was up and running in less than half that time.
“This team at Hill, led by Senior Airman Gutierrez was impressive,” Bocek said. “They were mission capable and ready to accept medical patients in 6 minutes and 47 seconds. That says a lot about the dedication of the team and Gutierrez as a leader.”
Gutierrez said the professionalism and real-life experience shared by the DECON instructors made a difference in their overall success.
“Keeping our team up to date on the latest training ensures that we can successfully decontaminate any patients, so they are safe for the providers and medical staff to treat,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 07.17.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2024 12:01 |
| Story ID: | 476510 |
| Location: | HILL AIR FORCE BASE, UTAH, US |
| Web Views: | 46 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Lifesaving skills perfected during decontamination training, by Donovan Potter, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
