Army soldiers line up to board a C-130 aircraft.

NEWS

Reservists receive annual medical training

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jessica E. Andrews
  • 302nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron
PETERSON AFB, Colo. (AFRC) --  “Charging, CLEAR, shocking!”

It sounded like a scene out of the hit TV show ER, but it wasn’t. Staff Sgt. Jonathan Hilliard, 302nd Aeromedical Staging Squadron aerospace medical service journeyman, was training nurses for real life and death situations during the 302nd ASTS’s annual sustainment training. Through the use of state-of-the-art simulation mannequins, the nurses were able to conduct realistic defribrilations and intubations.

For some, this was nothing new. Many reservists actually practice these skills day in and day out in their civilian jobs. For others, such as new Airmen, it was brand new information.

Capt. Teresa Gaebler, officer in charge of nursing education and training, and Tech. Sgt. Nicole Boeschen, NCO in charge of nursing sustainment, coordinated the annual training, held at Pikes Peak Community College, Rampart Range Campus. Chief Master Sgt. Stephanie Pauley arranged for the unit to train there, since she runs the science lab for her civilian job. Captain Gaebler says each Air Force Specialty Code has 10 sustainment items they need checked off, and this gives them an opportunity to go over those skills.

Six stations for the training consisted of learning about suturing, patient assessment, Foley catheters, intravenous placement, nasal gastric tubes and chest tubing.

Tech. Sgt. Bryan Lee, 302nd ASTS medical service craftsman, and a civilian paramedic, recognizes the need many have for this training as reservists. He showed a group how to start an IV at one of the six stations.

“If you work at a hospital or are deployed, you’re going to have to know how to do this. This annual training will make up the bulk of the wartime paramedics job,” he told his group.

Tech. Sgt. Adrian Villarreal, 302nd ASTS medical service craftsman, demonstrated nasal gastric tubes. He works as an emergency medical technician at a trauma center in Denver. He said the nasal gastric tubes serve two purposes - to take things out or put things in. He has been deployed and knows the importance of really knowing this training.

“You have all this training, but when you’re deployed, things are different. Maybe it’s dark out, or the vehicle you’re in is shaking while you’re working on the patient - you have to adapt,” said Sergeant Villarreal.

Airmen concentrated on sewing hot dogs while at the suturing station. Suturing, more commonly known as “getting stitches,” is wound care to close an open wound. When a patient comes in with an open wound, you numb it, then irrigate it with 1,000 cubic centimeters of saline which cleans out the (debris) sand and dirt. Then once it’s cleaned up, you perform wound closure. Unit members practiced on the hot dogs, but most of the time they practice on pig’s feet because they say it’s almost like human skin. Staff Sgt. Ruben Foster, 302nd ASTS medical service technician, says it’s important to be up on these skills because you never know when you’ll get called into a mass casualty situation. He’s been pulled to do suturing on a domestic bus crash and also while deployed in Iraq. Foster is a civilian medical technician in the emergency room.

Sergeant Hilliard works as an EMT as a civilian in Cripple Creek. He summed up the patient assessment station.

“The reason we do physical assessments is because you can’t fix it if you don’t know what’s broken,” he explained. If the patient is conscious, he says you talk to the patient, and get their history. If they’re unconscious you focus on airway breathing and stabilize to sustain life.

The chest tubing area was used to show when lungs collapse a chest tube is placed into the pluerual space (the two membranes surrounding the lung). You may need to use a chest tube when there’s a gunshot wound, bleeding, build up or an infection. Its purpose is to re-inflate lungs by creating pressure between the membranes.

Finally, everyone gets to practice foley catherization on the mannequins so they can collect urine samples to record urine output and check glucose levels.

The professionals that make up this unit are an invaluable resource in teaching experienced and inexperienced airmen alike. Senior Master Sgt. Shannon Snare, 302nd ASTS superintendent of medical services, says, “Having personnel in our unit who are able to train the members of the 302d ASTS is vital. These members are paramedics and nurses who, unlike most of our personnel, do this job every day. It is a privilege to have them on board. I know that if I were called to duty I would feel secure in my abilities to care for any member of any force. When we train together as a unit we learn cohesiveness and it makes for being a better team member. This training makes us confident and qualified medical personnel.”