Medics test new facility, casualty collection point in preparation for UCI Published March 20, 2007 By Senior Airman Angelique Smythe 36th Wing Public Affairs ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- The 36th Medical Group practiced setting up a casualty collection point and emergency patient care in their new building March 9. This exercise was in preparation for the upcoming Unit Compliance Inspection. "The last phase of our new building was just completed in January, so we're practicing a new patient flow," said Lt. Col. Susan Davis, 36th Medical Support Squadron commander. "We recently revamped our whole mass casualty response." As a small clinic, the 36th MDG would not usually bring patients back to the clinic in the event of a mass casualty on base, but rather send their personnel out to a casualty collection point at the incident location, said Colonel Davis. There, they triage the patients, provide any life saving treatments, then transport them via ambulance to the Naval Hospital. The goal is to get them to a definitive care location as soon as possible. The exercise scenario simulated that an earthquake had occurred injuring many people across the base. "If we have a disaster that generates casualties from multiple locations on base, the wing commander can designate the clinic as the casualty collection point for the base," said Lt. Col. Robin Schultze, chief nurse and secondary response team chief. "Due to resource constraints, we cannot support more than one casualty collection point. If the clinic is designated as the CCP, vehicles of opportunity would be used to bring injured personnel to the clinic. The patients would be decontaminated, if necessary, triaged, and prepared for transport to the Naval Hospital." The MDG practiced this new concept of having a casualty collection point at the clinic, along with their in-place patient decontamination process. "We had scenarios where someone was struck by a piece of concrete falling from a carport; a hydrazine spill; and injuries related to damages in homes and different units," said Lt. Col. Dale Volquartsen, 36th MDG chief of medical staff. Medical clinic members said they felt they would be better prepared if these situations were to arise. "We learned a lot of lessons, and we learned about things we need to continue to work on," said Colonel Volquartsen. "I think everyone did quite well, especially since this is the first time we've trained or exercised this."