{"id":189909,"date":"2024-05-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=189909"},"modified":"2024-05-31T00:27:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T00:27:17","slug":"michigan-guard-liberia-conduct-casualty-response-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=189909","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Guard, Liberia Conduct Casualty Response Exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Members of the Armed Forces of Liberia conducted a mass casualty exercise scenario with partners from the Michigan National Guard at 14 Military Hospital May 23, 2024, in Dauzon, Liberia. The two are partners under the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program. (U.S. National Guard photo by Capt. Andrew Layton).
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DAUZON, Liberia \u2013 A joint team of Michigan Army and Air National Guard medical professionals worked with Armed Forces of Liberia staff to create a preliminary mass casualty response plan for the AFL\u2019s 14 Military Hospital.<\/p>\n

The weeklong event culminated May 24 with exercise scenarios. About 40 AFL soldiers participated in the drills.<\/p>\n

The Michigan team tapped its members\u2019 military proficiency and experience in the civilian sector. The U.S. Soldiers and Airmen represented the 177th Regional Training Institute, 156th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, 1-182d Field Artillery Regiment, and the Michigan ANG\u2019s 127th Medical Group. U.S. Army and Air Force personnel from the U.S. Embassy \u2013 Monrovia Office of Security Cooperation and Team 3712, Southern European Task Force \u2013 Africa Civil Affairs Battalion, participated in the exercise as augmentees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ran through three different exercise scenarios simulating the arrival of a large number of patients from various emergency situations,\u201d said team leader U.S. Army Capt. Chelsey Downer, the Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment commander and instructor with the 177 RTI. In civilian life, Downer is a nurse practitioner. \u201cEach time, we were very impressed with what we saw from the 14 Military Hospital staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Memories of a real-world disaster are fresh for many Liberians. In December, a fuel tanker crashed and exploded alongside a highway in Bong County about 80 miles north of Monrovia, killing more than 50 people and injuring nearly 100 others. Staff at 14 Military Hospital received and treated 11 critically burned patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that first group came [to the hospital], there was an initial shock,\u201d said AFL Maj. Albertha Clark-Kollie, chief medical officer at 14 Military Hospital. \u201cThis tragedy is why so many of our team at the hospital were motivated [to participate in the scenarios]. They really wanted to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 14 Military Hospital opened in September 2021 and is one of Liberia\u2019s most impactful health care facilities. The number \u201c14\u201d is a tribute to former Liberian President George Weah, who wore the number during his legendary soccer career before entering politics.<\/p>\n

The Michigan National Guard, linked with the AFL for 15 years through the National Guard Bureau\u2019s State Partnership Program, has supported the 14 Military Hospital with multiple visiting teams since the facility opened.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team didn\u2019t just give us the fish; they taught us to catch fish also,\u201d said AFL 2nd Lt. Alfred Diggs, a physician assistant and administrative officer at 14 Military Hospital. \u201cWe appreciate our U.S. partners and really try to give our all when they come to work with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Americans also donated medical supplies to the neighboring Edward Binyah Kesselly Barracks clinic, including alcohol swabs, allergy medications, breathing treatment medications, gloves, IV fluids, N95 masks, oxygen masks, silver nitrate sticks, and syringes for vaccine and blood draws. Before the 14 Military Hospital was built, the EBK clinic was used as the AFL\u2019s major military medical facility.<\/p>\n

In addition to the exercises, 14 Military Hospital\u2019s emergency procedures for fire and evacuation were reviewed.<\/p>\n

U.S. team members said working alongside West African partners was a mutual learning opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m usually an out-of-the-box thinker,\u201d said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jonathan Coats, an emergency medical technician and firefighter with the 156 ESB. \u201cbut this week, I learned a lot about ingenuity \u2014 specifically, what you need and don\u2019t need to offer a high standard of care in our profession.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never want to see another tanker explosion, but we are confident our partners in the AFL would be able to handle another worst-case situation very well,\u201d said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Tracy Chapman, an instructor combat medic with the 177 RTI. \u201cWe could learn a thing or two from our partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. team appreciated the perspective of AFL Sgt. Jesse Mender, a chaplain at 14 Military Hospital. \u201cMore sweat in training means less blood on the battlefield,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, that was perfect,\u201d said Downer. \u201cWe are definitely going to put that on the wall of our classroom when we get back to Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard X<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the Armed Forces of Liberia conducted a mass casualty exercise scenario with partners from the Michigan National Guard at 14 Military Hospital May 23, 2024, in Dauzon, Liberia. The two are partners under the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program. (U.S. National Guard photo by Capt. Andrew Layton). (Photo Credit: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189911,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=189909"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189912,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189909\/revisions\/189912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/189911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=189909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=189909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=189909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}