Photo By Gino Mattorano | Staff Sgt. Francisco Mendez, right, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the EACH...... read more read more
Evans Army Community Hospital has established a training program for medical Soldiers assigned to Fort Carson operational units to help them ensure they are ready to perform their wartime mission when called upon.
The program, a revitalized version of the Medical Skills Readiness (MSR) initiative, provides critical skills training for medical Soldiers in 19 military occupational specialties (MOS).
Every MOS has Individual Critical Task Lists (ICTLs) made up of skills necessary for the maintenance of combat readiness in each military occupational specialty. These lists help leaders determine individual deployment capability.
Medical Soldiers assigned to operational units often rely on exercises or training scenarios to maintain their skills, but medical Non-Commissioned Officers across Fort Carson saw an opportunity to provide real-world training for these Soldiers within the hospital.
“Our medical forces need to be medically prepared to support large scale combat operations and we have the assets here at EACH to train them,” said Master Sgt. Justin Cauthen, the senior clinical NCO for EACH. “Our operational medical units have outstanding training programs, but we have the physical resources and the medical opportunities here to help them hone their skills on live patients in a controlled environment and under the supervision of senior medical personnel.”
According to Cauthen, EACH provides live tissue training experience for over 710 ICTLs.
Cauthen, who is also a 68W Combat Medic, says that until his first deployment, he had only practiced some of his critical life-saving skills on mannequins.
“My training up to that point had been great, but having to put those skills into practice on a live human for the first time in a combat scenario was a very different experience,” he said. “This program helps us ensure that when we send these Soldiers into combat, they (and their commanders) are now confident they can perform these life-saving skills when called upon.”
Sgt. Shelby Rodriguez, an MSR student and a combat medic assigned to the 10th Field Hospital, says that the training has been very beneficial, so far.
“We have been rotating through different areas of the hospital and it’s nice to get hands-on training in different areas,” Rodriguez said. “We have had the opportunity to work with a variety of specialties and range of practice, which helps us to earn a higher level of understanding. Instead of focusing on just the basics of the task, you learn more details about the why of what we are doing.”
Soldiers participating in the MSR program are assigned to the hospital for anywhere from five to eight weeks, depending on MOS, and receive training in the full spectrum of hospital functions.
“Our goal is that at the end of the training, those Soldiers are functioning independently and able to take that training back to their units to teach others or put into practice in the field or on a deployment,” Cauthen said. “We have tens of thousands of Soldiers assigned to Fort Carson, but only a relative handful of those are medical, so it’s vital that they have time to focus on the things that only they can do.”
To date, nearly 70 medical Soldiers from around Fort Carson have participated in the training, and Cauthen says that they hope to expand the training to any medical Soldiers on Fort Carson who need it.
Evans Army Community Hospital invites all organizations on Fort Carson to take advantage of this program. Cauthen and all the instructors promise to give medical Soldiers a greater expertise in healthcare and an improved tactical advantage on the battlefield.
For more information or to sign up for an MSR rotation, please contact the EACH Department of Education at: usarmy.carson.medcom-each.list.hpe@health.mil.
| Date Taken: | 08.29.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.29.2024 16:27 |
| Story ID: | 479816 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 256 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, EACH helps Fort Carson medical Soldiers maintain vital skills, by Gino Mattorano, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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