Reserve aeromedical teams test readiness skills at Calamityville

by Lt. Col. Denise Kerr
445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

9/30/2014 - FAIRBORN, Ohio -- The 445th Airlift Wing honed its medical readiness skills during a wing-wide training exercise Sept. 13 - 14 at the state-of-the-art Calamityville facility at the National Center for Medical Readiness here.

Approximately 400 members took part in this year's scenario-driven disaster response exercise designed to test first responders and medical personnel in treating, receiving and transporting patients.

"We are very used to practicing for wartime missions, so we started three years ago practicing for peacetime local disasters," said Master Sgt. Glenda Marck, 89th Airlift Squadron first sergeant. "The exercise started with a local explosion from a domestic terrorist, and the scenarios played out from there to convoy crashes, vehicle rollovers, and building collapses."

The 445th Aerospace Medicine, Aeromedical Staging and Aeromedical Evacuation Squadrons conducted the exercise with support from civil engineer, force support, safety, communications, chaplain, logistics and other wing personnel.  Wright State University's Emergency Medicine Residency Simulation Unit equipped with state-of-the-art Laerdal mannequins was deployed to assist with emergency simulations.

Like its name, "Calamityville" streets were littered with victims exhibiting injuries from a bullet wound to severed body parts, compliments of Medical Laboratory Technician Master Sgt. Julie Turner's team from the 445th Aerospace Medicine Squadron. "We first put silicon on the patient, added the 3D effect with cotton balls and made shrapnel wounds with bullets sticking out of them," said Turner. 

The realism of the victims brought the visual impact of what different injuries may be present in an actual catastrophe.

"It is important for us to practice and be proficient in our skills and our response before there is a real-world event we need to respond to," said Marck.

The Calamityville Tactical Laboratory is an expansive area with abandoned buildings, a hangar, tents and several classrooms.  The hub of the exercise was orchestrated out of an emergency operation center to execute eight disaster scenarios.

"Once we heard a call for a fire, we responded and checked patients' vital signs," said Airman 1st Class Steven Brown, 445th Civil Engineer Squadron, firefighter. "We found a deceased victim, transported him to the medics en route and conducted secondary searches." 

Patients were triaged in the field, brought to the casualty collection point and sent to the expeditionary medical support, which is like a patient hospital, or processed for transportation to a hospital. 

"We treat and stabilize the patients in tent one and use tents two and three for hold. This would be like Bagram and we are sending them to Germany," said Tech. Sgt. David Cherolis, 445th AMDS medical technician.

The medical personnel in the en-route patient staging area coordinated incoming and outgoing patient movements and a flight surgeon cleared patients for the C-17 flight. 

"If they are supposed to be transported on the C-17 aircraft, they come to our en-route patient staging system unit and we will take care of them until we are ready to load them onto the ambulance bus," said Lt. Col. Jennifer Wedel, 445th Aeromedical Staging Squadron director of training and readiness flight.

Administrative staff tracked patients in the aeromedical evacuation or tracer system, while Services personnel simulated search and recovery of human remains and forwarded them to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.