GRAFENWOEHR, Germany. -- It was a sunny spring mid morning in upper Bavaria, a pleasant Saturday with bright blue skies when the call came in: A training accident had occurred minutes before. Casualties were on their way from the range to the health clinic on Tower Barracks, the military community at the northern end of the huge Grafenwoehr Training Area.
Seven minutes after notification call a 113 Mechanized Medical Evacuation Vehicle pulled up to the side entrance of the clinic and the alerted medics began a first hand assessment of the injuries, moving the casualties into the clinic for treatment, stabilization and triage.
Clearly, from first reports and upon arrival of the casualties the medics knew the injuries required medical evacuation to the larger partner hospital facilities on the German economy in Amberg, 25 miles away. This was a situation that they had trained and drilled for, and the call went out to C Company, 2-12th Combat Aviation Brigade for emergency helicopter pick-up of wounded at the Grafenwoehr Clinic. C Company immediately alerted the St. Marien Klinikum in Amberg to prepare for arrival of the injured by HH-60 helicopter to their recently completed helipad alongside and connected directly to their facilities.
This was the opening of phase one of the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity Bavaria Grafenwoehr Health Clinic's Multinational Trauma Life Support and Emergency Medical Evacuation (MEDEVAC) training exercise conducted 6 May on Tower Barracks.
The overall intent of the training was to provide a two-part realistic scenario where U.S. military medical personnel and their German civilian counterparts can together assess a patient's injuries, resuscitate and stabilize them, determine if the Grafenwoehr Health Clinic can meet their needs and in the event they need to be transferred to the clinic's host-nation partner in Amberg, it can be communicated and accomplished effectively, efficiently and quickly.
"We take training very seriously at the clinic and to be located next to the best OCONUS training area was something I wanted to take full advantage of." said 1st Lt. Ryan Hollist, who conceived and coordinated the exercise. "When speaking with all of the people who collaborated with us on this exercise I kept emphasizing the importance of realism, that this training has to be relevant to what could actually occur in real life. And everyone was very much into that, they were just terrific. We had great support. So there were curve balls tossed in to our regularly drilled procedures here at the clinic, surprises and difficulties popping up out of the blue so that our medics had to improvise and overcome unforeseen problems. There were people who played roles that just got in the way of our work -- because that's what happens in real life.
Hollist, who deployed and served twice in Iraq and encountered mass casualty situations of heavily injured Soldiers before, had drawn on his experiences there to add realism and surprise to the training scenario. "For instance, when the injured arrive the room can fill up with people fast, they're coming and going, many are there out of concern -- a unit of Soldiers in a combat zone is like a family - but they can get in the way of our work, saving lives. Some are in a state of shock, there's blood and gruesome injuries all around them, and they just don't know where to go once they bring the Soldier in. It's not enough that our medics are ready and instantly know what to do; there has to be order, especially in a situation where emotions are running high and people are unsure." said Hollist. "Training like this is about learning and improvising, as well as reinforcing what we are already doing right."
"If done right, everything we do here will pays off and will benefit that casualty, whether in the in the field or elsewhere who relies on the quick response of a trained Medic or medical team to save their life." said Hollist.
Taking part in the training besides C Co., 2-12th Combat Aviation Brigade was the 1-66 Infantry Reg., 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Div., the International SOS (ISOS), and the Klinikum St. Marien, Amberg.
"We realized how important this training could be to improve our military - civilian interoperability. We have a long-standing and excellent relationship with our medical partners at Klinikum St. Marien Amberg, and they were involved and collaborating with us on this exercise from the start." said Grafenwoehr Clinic Commander, Lt. Col. Shannon Shaw. "For the first phase of the training, five representatives from the Klinikum were observers for the pre-hospital care we provided the casualties. For the second phase, they granted our team full access to their outstanding facilities and people in Amberg during their trauma assessment and treatment. The entire exercise demonstrated a seamless integration of our two capabilities. Our patients and our military community should feel confident that they have access to the most responsive and best quality medical care possible" said Shaw.
On hand throughout the exercise were the Amberg St Marien Klinikum's three top administrators, Dr. Harald Hollnberger, Dr. Robert Bauer and Mr. Marc Bigalke.
"It's an honor to work with our partners, the Soldiers at the U.S. Clinic in Grafenwoehr. I really congratulate them on this exercise because it gives us even better insight into our shared systems, our shared methods and procedures, even the equipment we use. It allows us to improve an already solid, close relationship because we get a first-hand picture of how our teams work separately, and together." said Bigalke.
The second phase of the training took place once the evacuated casualties arrived at the Amberg St. Marien Klinikum for further treatment.
"Regularly conducted exercises such as this allow all stakeholders to learn, test, improvise and build greater, closer interoperability between all participants." said Col. Andrew Powell, acting Commander U.S. Army Medical Department Activity, Bavaria, on site as an observer during the exercise. " Training side-by-side as we demonstrated today fosters trust and confidence between not just our institutions but between individuals, where it really counts. We feel very, very fortunate to such host nation health care partners such as those at the Amberg St. Marien Klinikum," he said. "in Bavaria, we at BMEDDAC, and the Soldiers and family members we care for, could not have better friends than the German healthcare colleagues I saw at work today. Despite any language or cultural differences, every medical professional understands the universal mission -- to take care of the sick, injured and wounded."
To learn more about the people and facilities of the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity Bavaria (BMEDDAC) and the clinics they support in Ansbach, Grafenwoehr, Hohenfels, Stuttgart and Vilseck visit the BMEDDAC website at rhce.amedd.army.mil/bavaria
Related Links:
U.S. Army Medical Department Activity Bavaria
U.S. Army Regional Health Command Europe
Social Sharing