The past two weeks were “educationally intensive” for Capt. Steven Thompson of Palmyra.
The Fort Indiantown National Guardsman and two of his colleagues passed a two-week intensive training course in specialized trauma and deployment skills training through Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s Trauma, Readiness, Education and Training program.
The final day of class involved a capstone mass casualty simulation event that was open to the press. Other training involved rotations in clinical trauma, surgical intensive care, neurological intensive care, and emergency medical services through Penn State Health Life Lion.
“A class involving a simulation of a program like this really takes a lot of the classroom and simulation elements of our training and really puts it in a real-life, real-patient scenario,” said Thompson, a member of the 193rd Special Operations Wing, medical group attachment, which is based at Harrisburg International Airport, Middletown. “It allows practical application of the skills that we’ve been taught and as the general mentioned, for those who may not do a whole lot of medical on the outside, it allows them to get that hands-on experience to really cement the skills.”
The three guardsmen who graduated from the program on Friday are its inaugural class. Penn State Health has been designated as the third National Guard Training Center in the United States, and the only program on the East Coast to provide the specialized training.
That made being an inaugural graduate special for Thompson, whose civilian job is in the anesthesia department at the Hershey-based medical center.
“It really gave all three of us a great opportunity to interact with the staff and kind of explain to them what this program is about, and what they can look to in the future,” Thompson said. “What are individuals going to try to get out of the program? What kind of individuals are going to be coming through? And really just kind of set the tone for the staff here and the program. It was a great honor, and I was glad to be a part of the inaugural class.”
During the mass casualty scenario, the “students” began the simulation by working with mannequin patients who had sustained various battlefield injuries. As a speaker played the sounds of bombs exploding and other sounds on the battlefield, the guardsmen worked diligently to prep their patients for additional care elsewhere.
Penn State Health trauma specialists like Amy Bollinger took notes and monitored the actions of the field medical staff as they provided care to the patients. Bollinger said she is an Education, Outreach, and Injury Prevention Coordinator for the Adult Trauma Program at Penn State Health Hershey Medical Center.
“It is our honor and privilege to be a part of this military partnership. It benefits our community, it benefits the United States military, and it’s a win for everyone concerned. We learn from our military colleagues and our military colleagues learn from us, which just makes everyone better and better able to serve our communities,” Bollinger told LebTown. “It is unbelievably special for us to be a part of this work.”
It was noted during comments to the press and guests that the course covered a lot of material in a short amount of time.
“Over the last two weeks our military partners had an opportunity to shadow and work one-on-one with trauma experts in various areas of our hospital as well as Life Lion. They did hands-on skills, they were able to follow patients and take care of patients, work with our trauma experts in all areas of the hospital and pre-hospital arena,” said Bollinger. “Today what you witnessed was them putting those pieces together and having a scenario with multiple casualties who were injured, having to quickly triage and assess what was going on with each of the casualties and then intervene based upon the skills they know they need to perform in real life.”
Thompson highlighted specific training models conducted over the past two weeks.
“In terms of the intensity, we kind of hit the ground running with a quick hospital orientation, which was great. And then we kind of delved into some of the specific medical equipment that we use in the military,” he said. “We got to see a broad range of care throughout the hospital. And the focus there was really kind of the start to finish of the care of the trauma patients.”
The training involved work in the field, too, to provide a broad learning experience.
“Starting out in the field, we rode with EMS, both the ground crews and the group of care, and then took that into the ER, and then from there into the intensive care unit to really get that just broad coverage, which is one of the goals of the program,” Thompson added.
While a mass casualty situation would most likely happen in a war setting on foreign soil, there’s the possibility the training could be utilized domestically, according to Thompson.
“Not just scenarios like this and other scenarios that we run as part of our teaching and training, but also being able to get into the hospital setting where there’s a different kind of pressure and different kinds of distractions, but still go back and run through that on a basic primary and secondary basis,” he said. “We work with the Department of Homeland Security, with FEMA for that very purpose, to provide a bridge to allow resources to local communities that might have their own resources overwhelmed, but before the big guns necessarily hit.”
Thompson noted the unit has a six-hour window, which is pretty short, to enable domestic deployment to support local communities when their services are needed.
“We especially saw that during COVID. None of us thought we’d be responding in that way, but we did. My unit was a part of a lot of the operations that occurred, whether it was the nursing home COVID testing missions, or even providing staffing support to facilities as well,” he said. “We performed a lot of functions that were outside the typical scope of what we kind of trained for. But if it’s one thing we’ve learned in the military, it’s to be flexible and to be ready to adjust to the unexpected.”
Thompson said a core value of this program is to add to other training he and his colleagues have received elsewhere.
“Really just the different settings, getting familiar with how a person kind of operates, their trauma scenarios. Many of us have gone for different trauma training elsewhere and being able to take nuggets from everywhere we’ve gone, depending on the experience,” he said. “Specifically, it’s just that refreshed awareness of the civilian trauma process and being able to get hands-on with the patients.”
Major General Lisa Hou, director of the Office of the Joint Surgeon General, National Guard Bureau, said the National Guard is excited to offer this opportunity to its soldiers based at Fort Indiantown Gap. These specialty classes are open to National Guard members nationwide serving as medics or nurses and can accommodate up to 10 participants per training session.
“Trauma training is a critical part of ensuring the readiness of military medical providers for combat casualty care,” said Hou. “We are excited to expand the opportunities for our National Guard providers to participate in premier trauma training at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, the only level 1 trauma center for both children and adults in Pennsylvania.”
Thompson said he is grateful for the opportunity to sharpen his skills – especially with the battlefield simulation.
“Doing it for real just has that really supportive element of entry. It helps establish that muscle memory to really do it for you,” he said. “We like to say that we train, you know, fight as you train, train as you fight, to make sure you’re doing it at the same level each and every time.”
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