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MOMBASA, Kenya (April 20, 2009) - In a medical
emergency, time can be an enemy. The longer it takes to transport a
patient to the hospital, the higher the probability they may not
survive.
U.S. Army Central and Kenya Army Soldiers' skills were put to
this test during a medical evacuation exercise, April 17, in
Mombasa, Kenya.
Participants were assigned an emergency and took action, said
Sgt. Kelsi Dammann, USARCENT combat medic. They were given a
realistic scenario and were timed on how long it took to get to a
medical facility.
Though Soldiers knew an emergency was coming, they did not know
what it would be. This element of surprise assessed USARCENT and
Kenya Soldiers' ability on working together to diagnose and
successfully transport a patient to the hospital.
With the clock ticking, traffic became an immediate challenge as
the ambulance raced to the Aga Khan Hospital in Mombasa. Kenya Army
Soldiers reacted quickly by jumping out of their vehicles.
"I was concerned that if this were a true cardiac arrest that we
wouldn't make it to the hospital, but they got out there and
cleared the road and we were able to clear through traffic quickly
and efficiently," said Capt. Jonathan Ji, M.D., USARCENT Field
Surgeon.
Ji explained that in a trauma, there is a thing known is the
golden hour. Every second counts in saving a life.
At the hospital, Dr. Majid Twahir, Medical Director of Aga Khan
Hospital, was the only staffer who knew that this was a training
event.
"I was the only one who knew this was going to happen," Twahir
said. "We had already arranged in advance what the sequence would
be and so we alerted the staff. We alerted ICU and the laboratory
and we let them know there was a patient coming in who might be
having cardiac arrest."
Upon arrival, the ambulance was greeted and the patient rushed
in for care.
"Our goal was deliver the patient to the hospital with the
optimal care in the minimal time possible," said Maj. George
Moturi, M.D., Kenya Army medical officer. "We were told it would
take an hour and we arrived in 20-30 minutes."
The participants in the exercise not only overcame the
challenges of time, trauma, and environment, they did so while
working together.
Capt. Muranga Risper, Kenya Army Nursing Officer touched on the
importance of working with the U.S. Army.
"It is important because we are the host country; we are trying
to work together to make sure they understand what we have in our
ambulances and how we do it in Kenya and they (U.S. Army) can tell
us how they do it so we can synchronize and work together," said
Risper.
In addition to the value of training in a joint environment, the
MEDEVAC refined Soldiers' skills.
"The more we rehearse, the faster things will flow and the
smoother things will flow and we'll identify the errors along the
way," Ji said. "We need to do more and more of these things. This
is what we do; this is what the Army does. We train to get
better."
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