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Army, Navy, Marines Perform Joint Mass Casualty

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100715-03
7/15/2010

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Paul D. Honnick, Navy Public Affairs Support Element West, Det. Hawaii

HONOLULU (NNS) -- Fifty Sailors assigned to the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) were flown to Tripler in Honolulu July 9 after a mock explosion inflicted mass casualties as part of a Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010 exercise.

As a CH-46 Sea Knight landed at Tripler Army Medical Center, Soldiers and medical staff stoodby with stretchers to move the wounded to the hospital's emergency room.

"Today we saw a successful drill, an exercise where we have a joint venture between the Army, Navy and the Marine Corps participating in a mass-casualty exercise where we exercised interoperability," said Lt. Cmdr. Patricia Serrano, deputy surgeon for U.S. 3rd Fleet, who helped plan and execute the joint exercise.

"Interoperability - it's not just working with other countries, it's working within our own agencies, our own units together and this was a success. I'm very happy with the planning, and I'm glad we pulled it off," said Serrano.

When Tripler received the call that patients were inbound, the hospital staff activated their emergency preparedness plan and set up triage, treatment, decontamination sites and a morgue outside of their emergency room.

"For the hospital, it's also a part of their joint accreditation; they have to maintain certain standards. Our option of having a RIMPAC exercise combined with the Army's need to fulfill a requirement for the joint commission is a perfect blend of getting the job done," said Serrano.

After the simulated explosion occurred, the victims were transported to the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), which had medical treatment facilities and staff on board, and were triaged and stabilized.

The role players were then flown over in transport helicopters assigned to Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 268 from the ship, with the most serious injuries being flown to Tripler first.

To make the experience more realistic, the Sailors used various props and make-up to give the appearance of real injuries.

"They were given [fake] blood and all kinds of equipment, and some fake plastic wounds to put on the patients so that it would be more realistic for the providers when they came here so that they could have something to look at and be able to know what type of injury they might be presented with," said Serrano.

The medical staff was able to save most of the victims, but the scenario also included fatalities. Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Jay Staatz, assigned to Lake Erie, was one of the two role players whose simulated burn injuries would prove fatal.

After the medical staff did everything to save his life, Lt. j.g. Regina Pinto-Moura, a Navy chaplain, gave him is last rites.

"I was letting him know that I'm here for him and that he was not alone," said Pinto-Moura. "I believe that we will be well-prepared in case anything happens, but this also gives us an opportunity to understand our roles and exactly what each one of us has to do."

Serrano explained the importance of having chaplains on hand during a real crisis.

"Their role is really important if you're looking at a real event because you're going to have a lot of chaos," said Serrano. "It's really stressful for the providers as well as the family members that are coming here to find out that their loved ones are injured."

Staatz said his role playing contributed to effective training.

"It's important to keep everybody trained and knowledgeable that there are things that can happen, and when it does, not to freak out," said Staatz.

Serrano said the most impressive aspect of the exercise was the effective communication and working relationship shared between the different units and branches of service participating in the exercise.

"What's great about this is we actually get a piece of real life where we get to work the logistics and that becomes real time operations and that's what we're really proud of - being able to show success at that interoperability," said Serrano.