Photo By Sgt. Breanne Pye | Pfc. Michael A. Alexander, combat medic assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters...... read more read more
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FORT CARSON, Colo. – Health care specialists, regardless of their skill identifier, must train to build their expertise and preparedness in providing first aid to ensure their soldiers make it home safe.
Combat medics of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, recently conducted realistic training to ensure they remain proficient in their life-saving skills on and off the battlefield.
Twenty “Regulars” medics assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, completed their annual recertification at the Mountain Post Medical Simulation Center, Feb. 27-28.
“This training was incredibly innovative, as it involved honor students from a local cosmetology school who came in each morning to apply very realistic theatrical makeup to our senior medics, who simulated casualties during the course,” said Sgt. David Haugh, combat medic assigned to HHC.
Haugh, a native of Houston, said the addition of the moulage, the art of applying make-up to replicate realistic wounds, and using role-players to simulate live casualties added a level of intensity to the course, creating a baseline for the stress combat medics may encounter during missions.
Throughout the course, soldiers paired up in teams to run through Combat Casualty Care training lanes and simulation rooms, demonstrating their medical skills in dark, foggy rooms while working on role-playing casualties.
“My favorite part of the course was the simulation rooms because they added a level of realism and stress that were really accurate and hard to work through,” said Spc. James Derozario, combat medic assigned to HHC.
Derozario, a 20-year-old native of Denver, recently returned from a combat deployment to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he served as a combat medic for Regulars soldiers.
“Even though I’ve been deployed before, this certification process really helped me identify the skills I need more training on, and it gave me an opportunity to work and communicate with some of our newer team members,” he said.
One of those new team members, Derozario’s partner throughout the course, 19-year-old combat medic, Pfc. Michael Alexander, graduated from advanced individual training the first week of February.
“This course was absolutely crazy compared to the training I received in AIT,” said Alexander, a native of Moncks Corner, S.C. “I loved that the simulated casualties were real people instead of the mannequins we worked with in AIT.”
Alexander said the training was a completely different experience, treating role players who simulated signs of panic and disorientation, and could actually talk to the medics as they provided treatment, as opposed to a “stiff chunk of plastic.”
Although the majority of training used role-playing patients, trainers employed strict safety measures. When medics transported a casualty on a litter through the CCC lanes, they used a mannequin to simulate the patient.
“Overall, the lanes were physically and mentally exhausting,” said Derozario.
According to Haugh, that is exactly what the CCC lanes are meant to do. The lanes required medics to transport their “patient” through a stressful series of challenging physical obstacles, including tunnels, walls and long pits covered with barbed-wire.
“Medical skills are considered perishable, which means they need to be regularly practiced in order for a medic to remain proficient,” said Haugh. “While we are stateside, we are constantly training on how to provide different aspects of care for different kinds of casualties.”
Haugh explained that combat medics treat a completely different set of injuries and illnesses at home, compared to those they treat during deployment, requiring each medic to frequently learn and use new skills.
“It is our job as medics to become combat multipliers, which means our training is never really complete,” said Haugh. “After training, we return to our units as subject matter experts to train other soldiers.
“In the big picture, that means every soldier in (Regulars) Battalion will be able to assist with medical treatment and possibly save lives, whether they are at home, or deployed.”
| Date Taken: | 02.27.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.11.2012 18:43 |
| Story ID: | 86585 |
| Location: | COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 34 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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