A company of Wisconsin Army National Guard medical specialists worked alongside their civilian first responder counterparts in a medical training exercise held March 4 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The event helped to build valuable relationships among medical personnel and enhance their ability to respond in times of emergency.
The Waukesha-based 135th Area Support Medical Company (ASMC) and fire department personnel spent the morning at Prairie Elementary School learning how to work side by side during an exercise that simulated a number of medical scenarios. As Wisconsin’s first military responder, the Wisconsin National Guard supports local authorities as part of its mission.
SGT Kevin Lovelace of the 135th ASMC helped put the training event together. A traditional Guard member who drills with his unit one weekend a month, SGT Lovelace has worked in the civilian sector the past 10 years in a pre-hospital emergency setting.
“I’m very familiar with working with all these departments involved in the training,” SGT Lovelace said. “Exercises like this not only motivate Soldiers within the company, but it gives us the opportunity to work with the local agencies that we have the potential to work with. It’s important to build those relationships.”
SGT Mike Glime said the exercise was also beneficial because it provided the opportunity to work on potential impediments.
“I was in charge of military communications, and it was not as smooth as it should be, which is very realistic for military communications,” SGT Glime said. “It helped us understand how we may have to relay communications when we are dealing with different ambulances that go outside the range of our radios – how we can get messages to them and get around whatever issues we may be facing.”
1LT Chris Roelke, who worked as a patient hold officer during the exercise, was pleased with the practical experience generated by the event.
“We had multiple patients coming in and the combat medics were able to triage, treat and stabilize patients – get that real hands-on experience,” 1LT Roelke said.
The scenario also presented medics with patients whose conditions began to deteriorate, which required upgrading their evacuation priority.
SGT Katrina Pierson applied moulage – in this case, simulated wounds – to mock casualties as part of the exercise.
“Seeing how local agencies responded to patients with moulage helped me understand how an event like this will be taken care of,” she said.
The staff at Aurora Summit Hospital appreciated the moulage so much that they took photos of simulated wounds.
SGT Lovelace appreciated all the civilian agencies that took part in the exercise and said everyone worked well together.
“Seeing that cohesive hand-in-hand collaboration was pretty cool,” he said. “It made all this work going into the training worthwhile – every hour of sleep that I lost.”
SGT Lovelace said he is contemplating a larger collaborative exercise in the future. Because some members of the 135th ASMC are also part of the Wisconsin National Guard’s CERFP – a force package designed to respond to weapons of mass destruction events, collapsed buildings and hazardous materials – the exercise offered realistic preparation for that mission.
BY Vaughn R. Larson, WISCONSIN NATIONAL GUARD
