CRASHED: 60th Medical Operations Squadron Emergency Department and 60th Civil Engineering Squadron Fire Department practice Joint Trauma Response Exercise

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Austin Delacruz
  • 60th Medical Operations Squadron
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Time: 8:50 a.m. Day: Saturday. 

It's a cold, quiet morning at Travis, but Maj. Raymond Nudo, Staff Sgt. Ivan Fronefield, Tech. Sgt. Eric Swanson and Mr. Michael McCann have just completed the setup and preparation of a surprise exercise. 

The clock struck 9:10. Major Nudo gave Sergeant Swanson a verbal direction to commence the exercise. 

The objective of the exercise was to test the Emergency and Fire department's trauma inter-agency response, communication and team performance in responding to a life-threatening emergency. 

The exercise started with an emergency scenario call about an automobile crash involving two victims with multiple traumatic injuries requiring rapid automobile extraction. 

The fire and emergency teams arrived at the scene. The fire team performed a quick perimeter sweep of the area focusing on hazardous materials, fuel leaks and the stability of the automobile involved. This is a preventative measure to eliminate any risk that could endanger the lives of the emergency response medical team.
All clear and secured. The medics swiftly moved and assessed the victim's airway, breathing and circulation. A medic team member stabilized the head and spine of the victim to avoid worsening of the injury sustained during the impact. While the fire team leader simultaneously directed the rapid removal of the victims from the crashed automobile, the medics continued to attend to the medical needs of the victims without delay. 

The fire team performed the rapid removal successfully. Paramedics stabilized and transported the victims to the David Grant USAF Medical Center where cutting edge medical technology and procedures would be performed by advanced and highly trained medical professionals to save the victim's lives. 

"Once the Emergency Medical System has been activated, our communications system will record every radio message sent and received during the exercise or real life emergency response," said Sergeant Swanson, 60th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department team chief. 

"This gives us the opportunity to review every detail of how quickly and efficiently we responded. Furthermore, it allows us to evaluate minute-by-minute communication and interaction for each and every case we respond to and point out how we can improve our response in the future," he said. 

"What we did today is a great benchmark and step in the big ladder of things in improving the communication and technical skills, knowledge and scope of practice of both disciplines," said Sergeant Fronefield, Travis self-aid buddy care advisor and 60th Medical Group Simulation Center manager. 

"Having both teams collaboratively work together, we can maximize patient outcome by using the asset that we have available on scene," Sergeant Fronefield added. "Furthermore, we were able to identify our weaknesses and how we can strengthen them so that there is no delay in patient care when responding to real world situations in the future." 

"I make sure that the communication is good, the teams are interacting, the leadership is defined, everybody has clear roles and responsibilities and how that is directed towards a positive patient outcome," explained Mr. McCann, 60th Medical Operations Squadron patient safety manager. 

"Most of all, I look at the team dynamics - how they are interacting as a team and how they are functioning as a team. It's a measure of team performance. We will continue to have these types of exercises to promote inter-agency assistance and communication thereby improving patient safety," he said. 

"Overall, the response time, communication and assessment of both teams are good. The Team STEPPS (Team Skills Training to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety) approach that we use at DGMC proved its worth in this exercise," said Major Nudo, 60th Medical Operations Squadron Emergency Department flight commander. 

"There are things that we can do better, but we did well, Major Nudo added. "As we progress to the future, we will continue to work with the fire department and eventually the security forces in order to establish a top-to-bottom training and response platform -- the Travis Emergency Response System."