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Bataan ESG Exercises ERSS Concept

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS070426-09
Release Date: 4/26/2007 4:27:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW) Joanne De Vera, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs

PERSIAN GULF (NNS) -- Personnel from Fleet Surgical Team (FST) 6 aboard USS Bataan (LHD 5) and USS Shreveport (LPD 12) embarked USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) and exercised the Expeditionary Resuscitative Surgical System (ERSS) with a mass casualty drill April 14.

ERSS augments the medical personnel and equipment in an expeditionary strike group (ESG) with additional mobile expeditionary medical teams to provide surgical and critical care that is not usually available. It’s designed to provide a tailored, mission-specific medical capability, close to the point of injury that supports the range of military operations afloat and ashore.

The drill was part of a basic evaluation of ERSS in action.

“The objective was to bring more care to more places, and equalize the standard of care across the ships in a strike group,” said Lt. Josh Keil, medical planner for FST 6. “The ERSS is an attempt for Navy medicine to adapt and meet the needs of naval commanders.”

Typically, an FST deploys with a surgeon, critical care nurse, nurse anesthetist and 12 others providing all surgical and critical care needs for the ESG in an intensive care unit (ICU) setting, while mainly staying aboard an amphibious assault vessel.

An ERSS adds an additional nine people, including another surgeon.

“One of the benefits of an ERSS is flexibility when conducting split ESG operations,” said Keil. “If Bataan was operating in the Persian Gulf and one of the ships of the strike group is operating off the Horn of Africa, that ship would be unable to provide surgical care for all if the need arises. With the ERSS, the Expeditionary Surgical Team (EST) would already be on that ship ready to provide medical care.”

The Bataan ESG is the first ESG to deploy with personnel to test the ERSS concept.

Though Oak Hill’s medical personnel weren’t graded on the level of care they provided, they did show how well they integrated themselves with ERSS members.

“It wasn’t about evaluating Oak Hill’s medical procedures,” said Capt. Steve Temerlin, an emergency medical physician from Naval Hospital Bremerton, Wash., who deployed with the FST to test the concept. “It was about seeing each piece of the ERSS in motion in the early stages of test and validation.”

The drill brought the four different components of the ERSS together. The Shipboard Surgical Team is basically what the FST is now. It integrates with shipboard personnel to provide medical care aboard the ship.

The EST and Expeditionary Trauma Team are mobile units that can operate aboard ships or at improvised medical facilities ashore.

The En Route Care Team provides critical medical care while transporting patients to a hospital or to a Primary Casualty Receiving and Treatment Ship, such as Bataan.

“The test and validation phase is going very well so far,” said Keil. “The ERSS could possibly be the future of Navy medicine, but the Navy can still decide to not implement it. Either way, the Bataan Strike Group is helping pave the way toward the future.”

Bataan, commanded by Capt. Rick Snyder, left its homeport of Norfolk on Jan. 4 for deployment as the flagship of the Bataan ESG, which is comprised of the Bataan Strike Group, commanded by Capt. Donna Looney and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., commanded by Col. Gregg Sturdevant. Bataan ESG includes Amphibious Squadron 2, Bataan, Shreveport, Oak Hill, USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), USS Nitze (DDG 94), USS Underwood (FFG 36), and USS Scranton (SSN 756).