Navy, Army Medics Prepare for Mass Casualties During RIMPAC
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS080724-02
Release Date: 7/24/2008 5:44:00 AM
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Paul D. Honnick, Fleet Public Affairs Detachment Hawaii
HONOLULU (NNS) -- A joint team of medical professionals at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu trained ship and shore-based medics July 21 on how to respond to large-scale joint and combined emergency situations as part of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2008 exercise.
"The main point of it is to test our interoperability with the combined forces that are involved in RIMPAC," said Cmdr. Paul C. Miller, deputy surgeon, U.S. 3rd Fleet. "We're going to be operating together in real-world situations, so it's imperative we train together and have exercises such as this."
Service members and medical personnel at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu treated 75 Sailors who simulated injuries during a mass casualty drill.
Early that day a mock explosion occurred due to a mishap aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS O'Kane (DDG 77) in Hawaiian waters, simulating 50 casualties.
"Because the explosion on board the O'Kane took place below decks and in combined closed quarters, we had a lot of large explosive type injuries, a lot of amputations, and a lot of blood force trauma to the face and to the extremities," said Miller. "As far as we know, it was a fuel explosion or an ordinance that exploded, but it was not an incoming missile or anything."
On the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), a rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) overturned in the hanger simulating 25 injuries.
The two most serious "casualties" from O'Kane were flown directly to Tripler. All others were transferred to Bonhomme Richard for first aid.
All of O'Kane and Bonhomme Richard's casualties were then transported together to Tripler in MH-53 Sea Dragons assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362 for medical treatment.
"When [the casualties] landed, the most difficult part was actually getting them off the helicopters in a safe fashion. Once we were able to get them off and away from the prop wash, they were immediately re-triaged by Tripler's Army medics, and once they were triaged, information was relayed to their emergency room and they were brought down in order of priority," said Miller.
When Tripler received the call that helicopters were in-bound, personnel immediately set up triage and decontamination sites outside the emergency room and at the landing pad.
"The hospital has an emergency preparedness plan that we enacted. It can be anywhere from a simple overflow of patients to a full blown [mass casualty], where in this situation we had more than we could handle. We decided to stand up our EPP, which meant recalling our own staff that were off-post or on duty at the time, brought in our own equipment, vehicles, de-con trailer and came up with a plan for the helo pad," said Sgt. 1st Class Cory R. Montague, emergency room non-commissioned officer in charge at Tripler.
Medical personnel treated the casualties for a wide range of blast-related injuries, ranging from minor cuts and burns to serious lacerations, burns, shrapnel and repertory distress from smoke inhalation.
Sailors with minor injuries were treated on site. Those with serious injuries were placed on stretchers and transported to the emergency room for examination and treatment.
"It was a big success overall. We treated people I think faster then we anticipated, and we got a lot of support from the Navy and the Army," said Montague.
RIMPAC is the world's largest multinational exercise and is scheduled biennially by U.S. Pacific Fleet. The exercise is held in the Hawaiian Islands operating area from June 29 to July 31. Participants include Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Netherlands, Peru, Republic of Korea, Singapore, United Kingdom and the U.S.
For more news from Commander, Third Fleet, visit www.news.navy.mil/local/c3f/.
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