Iraqi medics learn first responder skills

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Levi Riendeau
  • 321st Air Expeditionary Wing
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq --  The first moments after an injury are the most important, when it comes to first responder care.

That's why medics at the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group have been teaching Iraqi medics how to take care of trauma patients during those first few minutes.

"You can have world-class trained plastic surgeons all over this hospital, but it doesn't do any good if people don't get stabilized in the field," said Air Force Master Sgt. Kristen Hess, 332nd Expeditionary Medical Operations Squadron.

A variety of U.S. Airmen taught many first responder skills to a class of six Iraqi medics.
With participation from several Iraqi bases, the three days of training covered everything from basic first aid to applying a chest tube to remove fluids.

"I tried not to focus on specific equipment we use, because they may have different equipment, and that information wouldn't be useful to them," said Air Force Capt. Susan Senko, 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group emergency room registered nurse.

Instead, most of the training focused on the specific types of injuries trauma victims might receive and the specific techniques that are used to treat them.

"(The Iraqis) seemed to get the concepts," said Hess, deployed from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. "They asked very intelligent questions."
In addition to formal training, they gave a hands-on portion for most of the training modules.

The formal training was rounded off with a hands-on exercise on the last day.
Trainees were presented with a trauma victim and asked to stabilize them from the accident site to the emergency room.

There they put their new knowledge to the test.

"(During the exercise) they were very jelled together as a team," Hess said. "You can train all you want to, but at home if you can't work together as a team, it doesn't do you any good."

All of this training and experience has only a small impact if given just to the six Iraqi medics, Hess said.

"One of the goals was to take the information that we gave them and (challenge them) to train others," Senko said.

Through this progressive transfer of knowledge, the expertise of the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group can be passed on to many Iraqi medics who didn't have the opportunity to work directly with the U.S. medics, Hess said.

"For a lot of us, it's an honor to take what are daily operations for us and give that back to people that, had we never been here, would never have had that opportunity (to learn)," Hess said.