321st EMEDS treats, evacuates blast victims

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq – Col. Nabil Habib, 321st Expeditionary Medical Squadron general surgeon, left, and a special forces medical sergeant operate on a civilian patient brought to the base hospital May 19. Reports indicate 20 people were killed and nearly 80 people were injured when improvised explosive devices detonated near the police station in Kirkuk. The 321st EMEDS volunteered to help care for the wounded when civilian facilities were overwhelmed. (Courtesy photo)

321st EMEDS treats, evacuates blast victims

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq – Medical teams with the 321st Expeditionary Medical Squadron remove shrapnel from a civilian patient brought to the base hospital May 19. Reports indicate 20 people were killed and nearly 80 people were injured when improvised explosive devices detonated near the police station in Kirkuk. The 321st EMEDS volunteered to help care for the wounded when civilian facilities were overwhelmed. (Courtesy photo)

321st EMEDS treats, evacuates blast victims

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq – A surgeon with the 321st Expeditionary Medical Squadron shows off a piece of shrapnel pulled from a a civilian patient brought to the base hospital May 19. Reports indicate 20 people were killed and nearly 80 people were injured when improvised explosive devices detonated near the police station in Kirkuk. The 321st EMEDS volunteered to help care for the wounded when civilian facilities were overwhelmed. (Courtesy photo)

321st EMEDS treats, evacuates blast victims

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq – Medical crews prepare to load patients onto a Turkish C-130 after they were cared for by the medical staff at the 321st Expeditionary Medical Squadron. Reports indicate 20 people were killed and nearly 80 people were injured when improvised explosive devices detonated near the police station in Kirkuk. The 321st EMEDS volunteered to help care for the wounded when civilian facilities were overwhelmed. (Courtesy photo)

321st EMEDS treats, evacuates blast victims

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq – A medical crew with the 321st Expeditionary Medical Squadron loads a patient onto a Turkish C-130 May 20 after he was deemed stable enough for travel. Reports indicate 20 people were killed and nearly 80 people were injured when improvised explosive devices detonated near the police station in Kirkuk. The 321st EMEDS volunteered to help care for the wounded when civilian facilities were overwhelmed. (Courtesy photo)

321st EMEDS treats, evacuates blast victims

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq – Col. Nabil Habib, 321st Expeditionary Medical Squadron general surgeon, left, discusses long-term care concerns with a family member of a victim of improvised explosive devices which detonated near the police station in Kirkuk May 19. Reports indicate 20 people were killed and nearly 80 people were injured. The 321st EMEDS coordinated medical airlift to Turkey when the patients were stable enough to move. (Courtesy photo)

321st EMEDS treats, evacuates blast victims

Published June 9, 2011
By Tech. Sgt. Randy Redman
321st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

KIRKUK, Iraq -- When local medical facilities were overwhelmed by patients suffering from blast wounds from improvised explosive devices near the police headquarters in Kirkuk recently, the 321st Expeditionary Medical Squadron picked up the overflow.

Lt. Col. Lynn Harris, 321st EMEDs commander, said injuries were caused by the explosion of two IEDs at roughly 9 a.m. on May 19. The first explosion was from a small, magnetic IED followed by a larger, vehicle-borne IED targeted at those who immediately responded to the incident; a tactic being more commonly seen in Iraq.

Colonel Harris said reports indicated there were 20 killed and nearly 80 wounded. Two critical patients were transported from local hospital to Kirkuk Regional Air Base's 321st EMEDs via mine-resistant, ambush-protected ambulances operated by the U.S. Army's 101st Brigade Support Battalion, Charlie Company.

Only two critical patients were stable enough to be transferred for treatment at KRAB. However, the 321st EMEDS treated patients with less serious wounds as well.

"Local hospitals requested help... due to their medical capacity being overwhelmed because of the large number of casualties," said Colonel Harris. "As practiced during our frequent mass casualty exercises, medics were divided into disaster teams; triage, delayed, immediate, minimal and expectant. When the two patients arrived, they were evaluated and resuscitated in the emergency room. Both patients underwent urgent surgery within hours of arriving."

Lt. Col. Robert Redding, 321st Air Expeditionary Advisory Group deputy commander, said the EMEDS personnel did an incredible job with the whole situation, to include handling patient treatment and family concerns.

"One of his doctors, who is of Lebanese decent and can speak Arabic, greatly facilitated the [treatment] of the two patients from our EMEDS and 16 additional patients from off-base hospitals," said Colonel Redding. "He was able to speak directly with the attending physicians who accompanied the off-base patients."

That doctor would be Col. Nabil Habib, 321st EMEDS general surgeon, who said the patients' injuries were quite severe. He said the most severely injured patient required four separate procedures to remove shrapnel, repair tissue damage, set broken bones and treat spinal cord trauma.

"I think it was overwhelmingly a good response here. We had a lot of volunteers from the base who helped who weren't medically trained, but they were able to deal with other concerns," said Colonel Habib regarding the outpouring of concern by military personnel for the Iraqi patients. "The patients were stabilized and their injuries were well taken care of."

The patients were stable enough to be moved within 24 hours, and were then transferred to a tertiary-care hospital in Turkey via Turkish Aeromedical evacuation. Colonel Harris said the first patient remained critically ill and on a ventilator, while the second critical patient was stable when he was relocated on the same flight.

"We are really pleased that we were able to help the Iraqis and that we were able to get them the long-term care they needed," said Colonel Habib, adding that the patients will probably need several months of rehabilitation and physical therapy.

The 321st EMEDS in Kirkuk is the primary surgical hospital for American forces in northern Iraq, which means the facility is equipped to handle severe trauma. 321st EMEDS is well prepared for just about any injury its personnel may have to treat. There is a helicopter pad just outside to expedite the arrival of patients, and the emergency room has four beds to handle trauma patients for several days, if needed.