Expeditionary Medical Unit Increases Capabilities
Navy Newsstand
Story Number: NNS031118-10
Release Date: 11/18/2003 11:56:00 PM
By Sgt. Matthew B. Roberson, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa Public Affairs
CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti (NNS) -- The Navy's first Expeditionary Medical Unit (EMU), along with the Forward Resuscitative Surgical System (FRSS), tested their abilities to handle casualties in a forward deployed environment during an exercise held here Oct. 29.
The purpose of the exercise was to test the ability of the FRSS to treat and stabilize casualties, as well as test the ability of the EMU to receive those casualties for follow-on treatment.
"The exercise acted as a final evaluation of the FRSS team here," said Cmdr. William M. Hall, senior EMU officer. "It was their field exercise to test their rapid deployment and rapid set-up capabilities."
Hall said that the FRSS conducting an exercise provided a good opportunity for him to test the ability of the EMU, as well.
"The nice thing about this exercise was it allowed everybody to play together," Hall said. "The FRSS team was able to simulate initial receipt of casualties, and then the air assets were stretched in terms of airborne care of simulated causalities. Then here at Lemonier, the EMU was able to participate in terms of receiving the casualties on the flight line and then providing definitive follow-on care."
The exercise started with the FRSS convoying to Arta Plage and establishing a place to setup their forward resuscitative surgical site. They were timed and evaluated on their ability and efficiency in setting up the site.
While the FRSS was setting up their site, Hall and selected casualties were back on Camp Lemonier going over injuries and applying wounds that the FRSS would have to treat.
"In a very short time after setup, the FRSS received a number of critically injured mock-casualties," Hall said. "The casualties were suffering from injuries intended to stress the FRSS as much as possible in terms of movement, treatment and rapid response to message traffic."
Each casualty was unique and varied in conditions, ranging from dislocated shoulders to abdomen and burn wounds.
Lt. Cmdr. Michael E. Compeggie, senior FRSS medical officer, said he was pleased with the performance of his staff and contributed their success to the experience they gained while being deployed in a situation similar to this in Iraq.
"During the exercise, we took on five casualties, which is probably about what we could do in a real-world situation," Compeggie said. "You never have a steady flow of patients working in an environment like this. You have a group of causalities that usually all show up at the same time."
"Half of the FRSS have been in a forward deployed mission like this before so they know what to do," Compeggie continued. "We also have some key personnel that have been added since we were in Iraq, and I think they contributed significantly to our ability to treat the mock casualties.
"We learned a lot of small things we need to work out, but overall, we could have setup and treated patients with no problem," Compeggie added.
After the FRSS treated and stabilized the patients, CH-53 helicopters transported the patients back to Camp Lemonier. On the way, medics with the aircrew were able to treat injuries as they evolved into more serious conditions.
"An interesting feature of the injuries we had were all of the patients had an evolving series of injuries that challenged each team and required intervention from all of the parties involved," Hall said. "We had things go wrong so the next echelon of care would be stressed and required to perform treatment. This was nice, because it kept the EMU and the aircrews from getting pre-packaged casualties that were done. It allowed them to act as more than just a bus service for the patients."
Hall said this was important because it adds to the realism of the exercise. Patients usually change over the course of being transported, and smaller injuries can easily lead to larger ones.
"Injuries are very fluid, and things go wrong," Hall said. "Things are missed, and tubes fall out. Whatever the case may be, it requires continually reassessment of injuries."
The exercise ended with the EMU receiving casualties on the flight line and transporting them back to the hospital for follow-on care.
"I think the exercise went very smoothly overall," he said. "Much credit to the FRSS's training and sense of fair play. They got going very quickly, and their preparations were superb and lengthy. They set-up quickly, and within minutes, they were able to treat casualties, and they did it extremely well. We were able to get air assets in quick, and transport the patients rapidly to the next echelon of care.
"I was very pleased with the exercise and hope to conduct more training like this in the future," Hall added.
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