Triage one area of focus in exercise

MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- More than 100 Reservists in the 446th Aeromedical Staging Squadron participated in an annual mass casualty exercise Sept. 23-24.
"Lessons learned from previous exercises and events have shown that triage response needs the most work, so that is what we focused on this time," said Lt. Col. Karen Winter, 446th ASTS exercise evaluator. "Triage decisions and responses have to be quick. Everyone did really well."
On Sept. 23, the Airmen went through classroom training and lectures. In the afternoon, they had demonstrations and hands-on training in groups of two with an instructor. On Sept. 24, they used the training for two exercise scenarios.
The first exercise scenario was a bus accident during a fire drill.
"The scenario was to train immediate bystanders who are first on the scene without equipment. It also helped us train for safety, triage, and immediate care with limited resources, without regard to rank or medical training," said Col. Sandra Smith-Poling, 446th ASTS commander.
The second exercise scenario was staged at Hangar 9 with a jet-fuel truck running into the hangar and exploding as a commander's call was being set up.  The initial response was the fire department with ASTS people responding in ambulances or buses with some equipment.  This was to train the interface with the fire department incident command and to arrange immediate triage, treatment, staging, and transportation and to identify to what hospitals victims would go and to arrange the transportation.
"The members have stated this was the best exercise they've ever had and gave them a very good plan and idea of mass casualty response," said Colonel Smith-Poling.  "My observation is that they did exceedingly well ... better than I've seen any unit perform for a mass casualty."