DGMC, 615th team up to test EMEDS' 'hospital in box' Published Feb. 17, 2011 By 60th Medical Group Public Affairs TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Three hours after they hit the ground in Trinidad, members of the 60th Medical Group and the 615th Contingency Response Wing at Travis had treated the injured and suffering and delivered a baby. Some 12 hours later, the Expeditionary Medical Support Health Response Team had set up nearly half-a-dozen tents and was operating as a medical facility deployed to a disaster area. Though the 38-member team hadn't really left Travis, they were demonstrating and evaluating how rapidly they could set up a medical center in an austere environment. Seventy-five students from the Matt Garcia Learning Center in Fairfield acted as patients, along with state-of-the-art medical mannequins like the pregnant mother. "I'm very impressed," said Col. (Dr.) Wayne Pritt, in his role as Trinidad's minister of health. In real life he is the deputy medical operations group commander at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. According to Dr. Pritt, the exercise demonstrated the changing thought process in the way EMEDS teams have deployed in past when it would take up to 36 hours to set up larger EMEDS facilities and begin caring for patients. Today EMED teams need to be able to start rendering aid within a few hours of landing. The newer Utilis package can be airlifted by only two C-17s and up and running within 12 hours. "We met that mark (Tuesday) at 10 hours with one day of training and no pre-familarization with the equipment," said Col. (Dr.) Scott Russi, who played the EMEDS HRT commander. "All of this is designed to be mobile but fully functional even to the degree that we have in the hospital here," said Dr. Russi , master clinician in general surgery at David Grant USAF Medical Center. Getting a smaller facility up and running sooner will save more lives, he said. The two-day demonstration, held this week, also was the first time the EMEDS HRT package had been used. "To date, the package has existed on paper," said Col. (Dr.) Elmo J. Robison III, Air Combat Command's chief of expeditionary medical operations with the office of the command surgeon at Langley AFB, Va. "In an equipment sense, this is the first time that we have brought the people and equipment together to demonstrate the capability," he said. The main purpose of the demonstration was to find out what works and what can still be improved. Although the demonstration was deemed "very successful," there is room for improvement, said Colonel Robison. "We've got a little tweaking to do. Turn buckles that don't work exactly the way we want them to and the packing system we need to perfect a little bit more," he stated. "Some of it's a little heavier than what we would like to have. Some of it is a little bulkier. We have to make sure we have the right equipment at the right time so the user can find it, but overall, this demo has gone pretty well." Organizers will evaluate and report back to higher headquarters what changes need to be done to EMEDS HRT before the mobile medical facility can be deployed in real-world situations. "Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Charles B. Green is the lead agent on this. He's our surgeon general for the Air Force. He's very involved in this. He wants this to work," Col. Russi added. "It's also the other side of what the Department of Defense does. We're not only here to defend the country but we're also here to bring humanitarian aid where needed, so we're seeing that as the political side of Air Force medicine. We need to bring not only the ability to defend our freedoms, but to build relationships." "This is going to add a great capability to the Air Force Medical Service," stated Col. Robison. "We've always had a great capability to respond. This just magnifies that and makes it even better so we're able to respond more rapidly and more appropriately to situations that are out there."