Tbilisi, Georgia -- The trauma room was buzzing with movement when the injured patient arrived via a casualty evacuation flight. The simulated injured Marine was in critical condition with a serious chest wound and was missing his lower left leg. His blood pressure was dropping and he was unconscious. It was now up to the 67th Forward Surgical Team to stabilize his injuries and to perform surgery if necessary.
"Providing initial stabilization for a trauma patient is our mission," said Army Maj. Alan Sbar, general surgeon and commander of the FST.
Sbar's 13 member team is completely self-contained and self sufficient with its ability to provide Advanced Trauma Life Support. The FST has an operating room, an Intensive Care Unit, as well as limited ultrasound and x-ray capability.
When providing care for a trauma victim "every member of the FST has an assigned role," said Operating Room Nurse First Lieutenant Ann Redder. "Everyone needs to know what they have in their hands and what they will soon need to have in their hands," she added.
Combat Medic Sgt. Joey Holt was with the Marine when the simulated exercise started. Holt's mission in the field is to treat the casualty at the scene and expedite the patient to the FST as soon as possible.
"I treated the casualty at the scene," said Holt whose first priority was to place a flutter valve to prevent air from entering into the Marine's open chest. Holt then initiated intravenous fluids, applied a tourniquet for the leg injury and stabilized the spine. His next move was to call in a helicopter to move his patient to the FST.
As the scenario continued, it was necessary to move the patient to surgery.
"The simulation included massive injuries to the patient's right lung, liver, and left leg, designed to test the surgical and supportive capabilities of the FST," said Dr. Sbar.
All materials needed for open chest surgery, abdominal surgery, and emergency amputation were utilized in the exercise.
Upon completion of surgery, the injured Marine was moved into the ICU for close monitoring.
With the scenario complete, FST can now evaluate how the exercise went and make adjustments if necessary.
"This exercise was great for us," said 1st Lt. Redder. "We were able to evaluate trauma needs and also assess our supplies."
"This CasEvac exercise validated our procedures in the event of a real emergency," said Capt. Phil Cushman, executive officer/operations officer for Task Force GTEP. "We can extract an injured Marine, Soldier, or Georgian soldier and stabilize him in a matter of minutes. This is important considering the amount of live-firing we will be conducting during training," he added.
The primary mission of the FST in Georgia is to provide medical support to the GTEP training cadre but they will also participate in the training syllabus. Members of the FST will provide training classes to medics in the Georgian Mountain Brigade.
The training the FST will provide is basic battlefield medical support. "We plan to get their medics up to speed with self aid, buddy aid and medical evacuation," said Maj. Sbar. "And then we will work up to basic life support, casualty collection and triage."
"Planning and executing a joint, multinational exercise is a challenge. We had Marines, Soldiers, Georgian airmen and civilian contractors who stepped up to the plate and made it happen," said Cushman. "Our Troops are the most valuable asset we have. The responsiveness of the Georgian Air force and skill of the FST was impressive."