Navy, JMSDF Medical Teams Train Together During Mass Casualty Drill
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS061117-16
Release Date: 11/17/2006 4:21:00 PM
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Chantel M. Clayton, Fleet Public Affairs Center Pacific, Det. Japan
AZUMA ISLAND, Japan (NNS) -- U.S. Naval Hospital (USNH) Yokosuka, Japan, along with personnel from Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF), Commander, Naval Forces Japan (CNFJ) Fire Department, and Fleet and Industrial Supply Center (FISC), conducted a mass casualty drill at Hakozai Fuel Terminal on Azuma Island, Nov. 15.
The drill simulated casualties that could happen on the island, should a fuel tank catch fire and explode. Simulated casualties included a major fuel spill, deaths, and wounded personnel involving both U.S. and Japanese employees.
The focus of the drill was training for USNH Yokosuka’s Special Medical Operations Response Team (SMORT), along with their medical counterparts from the JMSDF.
“The purpose of this drill is to demonstrate our capabilities to work with casualties,” said Lt. Cmdr. Roger Lankhee Jr., head of Staff Education and Training at USNH Yokosuka, Japan. “This is a combined joint force, with American and Japanese casualties. We also want to identify the problems we would run into if this thing [fuel farm] were to really blow up. How long will it take for us to get out here? How long before we become responsive? We are going to identify our flaws,” he added.
USNH Yokosuka’s SMORT team, along with their Japanese counterparts, provided medical coverage to simulated casualties.
“Our main objective is to work together with our JMSDF counterparts. They have their version of a SMORT team,” said Lt. Laurie Christensen, the Preventive Medicine department head at USNH Yokosuka.
According to Christensen, this was the first extensive joint drill of this kind. They plan to do drills more frequently, and train together with the JMSDF about once a quarter, added Christensen.
Simulated casualties were stabilized on color-coded tarps at the scene.
“Color-coded tarps represent different triage categories, depending on emergent need for care,” explained Christensen.
Once patients were stabilized, those needing more treatment were evacuated by boat to local hospitals. Japanese casualties were taken to a local Japanese hospital, and Americans were taken to USNH Yokosuka.
Keeping track of all patients was a critical role in the mass casualty drill.
“It gives the command an idea of what type of scenario they have out here,” stated Lt. Elmer Jimenez, who works in the Quality Management department of the hospital, and the senior medical regulator during the drill. “The receiving end, which is the hospital, needs to know how many patients they are getting so they are prepared,” added Jimenez.
USNH Yokosuka and JMSDF were not the only medical representatives present during the drill. U.S. 7th Fleet also sent an observer.
“My hope is that in the future, as I represent the waterfront, waterfront medical may also participate in the drill,” said Capt. Michael McCarten, 7th Fleet surgeon, and observer during the drill. “If there were a mass casualty in Yokosuka, I fully expect that the doctors and corpsmen assigned to the ships would participate in the response. I’m here to observe and see how we can fit in.”
In addition to seeing how well the various commands worked with each other, the drill helped give the medical personnel a view of what injuries to possibly expect in similar circumstances.
“We can expect to treat all kinds of trauma - burns, blunt trauma, fractures, anything,” said Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Sarai Bradford, a surgical technician in the hospital’s emergency room, and a SMORT team member. “I learned that we have to make sure our gear is ready, so we are prepared for any type of injury.”
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