FORT CARSON, COLORADO, UNITED STATES  –   Now in its fourth year, Mountain Medic enhances joint medical capabilities through a combination of classroom and field training. This year’s scenario replicated the operational environment for large-scale combat operations, challenging teams to perform prolonged field care and delayed evacuations in complex, realistic scenarios. From the point of injury to air and ground evacuations, medical units worked together to establish a comprehensive trauma system, ensuring seamless casualty care and continuity of documentation across multiple roles of care.

EACH participation in the readiness exercise involved reception of exercise casualties from a simulated dirty bomb attack that resulted in twelve exercise patients being transported to EACH. Upon arrival, the emergency department, in conjunction with the Decontamination (DECON) Team, exercised DECON procedures, followed by assessments of the patients’ injuries to determine appropriate levels of care, and provide emergency care.

The exercise gave the EACH DECON Team the opportunity to set up and practice DECON procedures.

“This was a highly beneficial exercise for us,” said Capt. Emily Bremer, the EACH associate radiation safety officer. “We did a complete set up of the DECON tent with full water functionality and confirm that our water bladder does have the capability to hold our expected capacity. It also gave our team the chance to DECON real people and work through some of the nitty gritty aspects of DECON, like how much you actually need to scrub someone.”

Bremer says that because the EACH portion of the exercise was limited to the DECON Team, the Emergency Department and the EACH Operations Team, they were able to focus on fine-tuning their processes.

“This gave us better access to the other sections and we were able to communicate much more thoroughly to really fine-tune our processes and our relationship with the Emergency Department, Bremer said. “This will pay dividends in larger events going forward.”

For the Emergency Department, exercising a mass casualty event helps ensure the team is prepared to respond to real-world events, according to Kelly Holesinger, the assistant clinical nurse officer in charge for the EACH Department of Emergency Medicine.

“A MASCAL exercise is a critical training event for the emergency department because it simulates real-life scenarios where department capabilities are stressed to their maximum potential due to patient overload,” Holesinger said. “These drills promote readiness and efficiency in handling emergent situations. They also help us improve preparedness, coordination, resource management, identification of gaps, and stress management.

The other added benefit to these exercises is to help better prepare service members for future combat operations, Holesinger said.