AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar --
An explosion tears through a small town near a deployed military base resulting in mass casualties.
Within a matter of minutes, several victims arrive at the military medical facility to be treated. Several have marred faces, burns and open wounds. Many scream for help while others lay motionless and silent.
Thankfully it was all an exercise as medical professionals from the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group participated in a mass-casualty operation Nov. 6 at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.
The exercise scenario called for numerous medical teams to act quickly to care for 30 victims of a mock explosion. Lt. Col. John Bruun, 379th EMDG general surgeon and commander for the exercise’s mobile forward surgical team, swiftly directed his medics to care for each patient.
“Today’s training is so we can practice our tactical, operational, and clinical skills with patient care,” Bruun said. “With this exercise we’re focusing on providing patient care and movement, and how to best organize ourselves.”
Training is vital so medical teams know how to work together and are ready for whatever they may experience, Bruun added.
“Situations can be difficult so it’s very important to know what resources are available and how those resources can be best implemented,” Bruun said.
During the exercise victims were greeted by surgical teams who triaged them and ensured each victim was provided with the care they needed. Some were quickly escorted to an operating room while others with less serious wounds were moved to other locations for care.
Next, surgeons and nurses worked to treat each patient before moving them to medical staging facilities where they were prepped for aeromedical evacuation.
Deployed medical teams are in high demand across the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. In the past year, medical professionals from the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing have provided care for and transported more than 900 patients, with a survivability rate of 100 percent during transit.
“We maintain a capability to forward deploy surgical, critical care and patient staging teams to anywhere in Central Command’s area of responsibility,” said Col. David Blocker, Combined Air and Space Operations Center Air Force Forces command surgeon.
“We’ve sent teams to support the Navy, they’ve gone into Jordan and they’ve been deployed to Iraq to support operations,” Blocker said. “Any time we need to flex medical support, either to a large scale incident, exercise or in preparation for a large activity, these teams provide the confidence to our U.S and coalition leadership that they’ll have the medical support they need when and wherever it’s needed.”
This exercise provides those teams with an opportunity to practice and sharpen their skillsets before they’re in harm’s way, Blocker added.
Master Sgt. Robert Poole, 379th EMDG En-Route Patient Staging Facility flight chief, said he’s proud of how each team performed.
“We performed well,” he said. “We were set up within an hour to receive patients and our surgical teams managed to deliver the care needed to every patient.”
However, Poole said there’s always room for improvement, especially since his teams will be called upon to save lives.
“The faster we can get patients to the next echelon of care, the better their chances are at surviving,” Poole said. “The more we train, the better we work as a team.”