SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- The 4th Medical Group conducted a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive mass casualty exercise Dec. 13, 2017, at the clinic at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. The exercise involved 88 participants and served to test and improve the 4th MDG’s emergency response capabilities.
“The goal was to ensure our patient decontamination team is fully capable of decontaminating patients during a potential chemical or material incident,” said 2nd Lt. Mariby Dilks, 4th Medical Support Squadron medical readiness flight commander.
The 4th MDG has two decontamination teams consisting of 28 personnel --a medical contingency response decontamination team and a deployment decontamination team, which are tested annually.
“This exercise tested both our deployment decontamination capabilities as well as home station,” said Dilks.
The exercise required the teams to set up the tent, have members dress in full biohazard suits and have running water within minutes, added Dilks.
“They are allotted 20 minutes from the time they are activated to the time they receive their first patient,” said Capt. Kristina Zuccarelli, 4th MDG family health flight commander.
The decontamination team beat their allotted time by six minutes, said Dilks.
“We have a lot of new members on the team so we have really been training them on how to do this,” said Zuccarelli. “We set the tent up about every two to three months, this was half the team’s first field exercise.”
This exercise also required the decontamination team to work closely with the clinical team.
“Decontamination cleans the patients first, they make sure that they don’t have any hazardous waste so they are clean and clear to come to us,” said Staff Sgt. Jordan Reynolds, 4th Medical Operations Squadron medical technician/ clinical team chief.
The clinical team categorizes the patients, then prepares them for transport to an off-base medical facility, added Reynolds.
The exercise helped the 4th MDG improve their already established readiness plan, said Reynolds.
“If something happens on base with mass casualties, the Airmen need to know what needs to happen so we can save people’s lives,” said Reynolds.