Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Hernandez | U.S. Army Reserve Capt. Teresa Watson, a perioperative nurse assigned to the 7457th...... read more read more
BELCOURT, N.D. -- Army Reserve Soldiers assigned to the 7457th Medical Operational Readiness Unit and 7361st Veterinary Detachment, both out of Richmond, Virginia; as well as the 7250th Medical Support Unit and 7417th Troop Medical Clinic, both out of Alexandria, Virginia, took part in the July 18th simulated mass casualty incident and emergency preparedness exercise here during Innovative Readiness Training - Operation Walking Shield in Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation.
Lieutenant Col. Jason Williams, an emergency room nurse for the 7457th Medical Operational Readiness Unit out of Richmond, Virginia, and the officer-in-charge of clinical operations for the IRT here, said that the reservation is reminiscent of his hometown on a personal level.
"Being a part of this exercise has been very exciting," said Williams. "I myself come from a small farming community very similar to this, so I have some professional intimacy with the area here."
The lieutenant colonel said the exercise was a joint collaboration between the Army Reserve Medical Command-based units, local emergency medical services and other local and state agencies.
"We conducted a community incident preparedness exercise, and involved many different entities in the community; from fire, rescue, 911, EMS, police and not only the Quentin Burdick Memorial Hospital where we are conducting our IRT exercise, but we also involved other community partners, to include Rolla and Saint Kateri Hospital, in this exercise," he said.
The Woodbridge, Virginia native said the concept came to fruition when he and other Soldiers in his unit went to Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation to conduct a site survey and coordinated with leadership of the Quentin N. Burdick Memorial Hospital.
"We discussed developing a plan for doing some sort of training exercise," said Williams. "As we conducted in-progress reviews and conferences for the past seven to eight months, we started developing relationships that have not been there for several years."
It has been a great collaboration, he said.
"So the leg forward to this continued process in the future is to get all parties involved in identifying ways to improve their emergency response in this area," said Williams.
Afterward, it was determined that an MCI, or MASCAL (mass casualty event), simulated event is the best measure to test the joint capabilities of the local and state departments, he said.
"We discovered a dire need that the hospital needed to conduct a MASCAL exercise; they haven't done one in quite some time," said Williams. "During the initial planning phases, we decided to build that into the community. There hasn't been one done in many years."
Cody Mattson, emergency management director for Rolette County, said that the scenario was designed around potential hazards with agricultural chemicals that the local farmers frequently transport and use within the Turtle Mountain region.
"We usually have to do one exercise a year, so for something like this, we try to do it as many times as we can, especially for hazardous materials," Mattson said. "We have this huge agricultural community, so we see this kind of chemical in our cities all the time - anhydrous ammonia - so farmers and ranchers use it and put them on the ground to let crops grow."
Mattson said the partnership between the North Dakota agencies and Army Reserve Medical Command was spectacular.
"It's a big benefit," Mattson said. "We don't have these kinds of resources locally here at Rolette County. Usually in this case, we probably reach out to our state emergency operation center, and our state North Dakota Department of Emergency Services for those kinds of resources, so to see the U.S. Army here at our doorstep is pretty awesome."
The lieutenant colonel said that he and his team were pleased with the results.
"It's a beautiful orchestration of community efforts," said Williams. "I'm seeing all of those entities come together in a collaborative and well-orchestrated effort."
The exercise was conducive to everyone involved in both the planning and execution phase, he said.
"Everyone did a phenomenal job with discussions, planning and communication with each other to execute a well-planned exercise that was very beneficial from the key leaders down to the first responders that were on the scene," Williams said.
"It was very beneficial for us to provide this exercise to the community."
| Date Taken: | 07.18.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.26.2024 14:03 |
| Story ID: | 477113 |
| Location: | BELCOURT, NORTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 56 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 'Warrior Medics,' N.D. emergency agencies stage mass casualty training event, by SFC Christopher Hernandez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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