Texas team teaches expeditionary medical techniques in Hawaii

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Tom Czerwinski
  • Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs
KONA, Hawaii (AFPN) --  The Republic of Moku is a fictitious Pacific island chain, but during exercise Pacific Lifeline it is home to real-world training as more than 90 medical Airmen assigned to Pacific Air Forces practice how to deploy and provide critical services following a natural disaster.

Assisting them is a 14-person Expeditionary Medical Support Training Team currently deployed to Kona, Hawaii, from Brooks City-Base, Texas, to train, evaluate and add realism to exercise scenarios.

"Our mission here at Pacific Lifeline is to teach humanitarian relief operations concepts to the EMEDS on location," said Tech. Sgt. Shalien Edmondson, an Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine EMEDS instructor. "The training is to prepare for a natural disaster situation and taught in a field operating environment." 

The sites for EMEDS training are always in field conditions and test and evaluate setting up and operating out of a medical facility. "We teach an EMEDS team to go from ground zero to construct a fully functional 10-bed field hospital that is self sustainable for 30 days," Sergeant Edmonson said.

The instructors are not strangers to field conditions as they train and evaluate as many as 26 EMEDS groups per year and deploy in support contingencies.

"Not only do we train and evaluate EMEDS groups, our training teams get called for real-world situations and we also go to other nations to train their medical personnel on EMEDS procedures during natural disasters," the sergeant said.

Often in under-developed areas once the local people see a Red Cross on a tent, they come from all around for medical care, she said. "Most of the injuries we see are serious infections from open wounds, if left untreated they could become life threatening."

At Pacific Lifeline, the EMEDS skills were put to the test when they stepped off the aircraft they were face with a scenario where a local civilian had a broken leg and needed immediate medical care.

"This was the first time the EMEDS training cadre had thrown a scenario at us upon arrival instead of the normal in processing. It was a visionary technique that exposed us to the concept of immediate need for our services on arrival, and helped us understand how to better manage our logistics," said Lt. Col. Greg Schumacher, from the 3rd Medical Group, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

During the exercise the EMEDS group also received refresher training in patient transport and stabilization with the help of the Heavy Mobile Helicopter Squadron from Kaneohe Bay Marine Corp Base, Hawaii. 

The EMEDS were taught proper techniques for loading and unloading patents under the moving rotors of a CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter. "Sometimes Airmen get rusty on certain skills because they don't get the chance to use, that is why it is important for us to give refresher training," Sergeant Edmondson said.

"In the past EMEDS was traditionally meant to be a wartime function to set up a field hospital, but is now being incorporated into humanitarian relief missions," the sergeant said.

The field hospital package normally consists of eight Alaskan shelters and it has everything needed to provide a full spectrum of medical services, everything from surgical to dental to public health.

EMEDS Airmen will also participate in a series of mass casualty exercises and other realistic scenarios as part of Pacific Lifeline. The total force humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise taking place from three locations within the Hawaiian Islands. Led by 13th Air Force, Pacific Lifeline provides a training environment to test Pacific Air Forces' ability to respond and support humanitarian and natural disaster relief operations within the Pacific Region.

The exercise runs through Feb. 9. 

Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link)

Click here to view the comments/letters page