{"id":9403,"date":"2014-12-20T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=9403"},"modified":"2014-12-20T04:02:12","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T10:02:12","slug":"fort-campbells-86th-damage-control-resuscitation-team-provides-essential-medical-support-to-operation-united-assistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2014\/12\/20\/fort-campbells-86th-damage-control-resuscitation-team-provides-essential-medical-support-to-operation-united-assistance\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Campbell’s 86th Damage Control Resuscitation Team provides essential medical support to Operation United Assistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Sgt. Dani Salvatore<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\n27th Public Affairs Detachment<\/p>\n

\"UnitedMonrovia, Liberia<\/strong> \u2013 Medical emergencies: something no one likes to think about but that everyone needs to prepare for. Troops deployed in West Africa are often in remote areas of operation, and accidents, injuries, and illness are always a possibility. Fortunately, the Army can address critical health concerns in theatre.<\/p>\n

The 86th Damage Control Resuscitation Team, 86th Combat Support Hospital, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is a one-of-a-kind medical team operating in the Joint Forces Command \u2013 United Assistance Field Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, capable of facilitating life-saving interventions and surgeries to personnel, specifically designed for missions like Operation United Assistance.<\/p>\n

\"Capt.<\/a>

Capt. Melanie Bowman, a Camden, Tenn., native and officer in charge for the 86th Damage Control Resuscitation Team, 86th Combat Support Hospital, Fort Campbell, Ky., prepares medical supplies at the Joint Forces Command \u2013 United Assistance Field Hospital, Dec. 16, 2014. The field hospital has the equipment and personnel to address any immediate medical emergency in theater. (Sgt. Dani Salvatore, 27th Public Affairs Detachment)<\/p><\/div>\n

OUA is a mission supporting the U.S. Agency for International Development-led comprehensive U.S. Government and international effort to contain the Ebola outbreak in<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a 17-man surgical element that is responsible for life, limb or eyesight, damage control, resuscitation, (and) surgery,\u201d said Capt. Melanie Bowman, a Camden, Tennessee, native and the officer in charge of the team. \u201cWe can do whatever we need to do to save somebody\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

OUA\u2019s mission presents unique operational challenges for the Army\u2019s medical field. Sergeant 1st Class Jason Morgan, a Brunswick, Maine, native and 20-year Army medic, said he has been on many deployments but has never been part of a team like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost (Forward Surgical Teams), when you go to Afghanistan or Iraq, you fall in on hard facilities, buildings, structures, things that are already in place,\u201d said Morgan. \u201cHere, what you see is what you get; this is it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To compensate for the remote location, the team brought all the equipment they would need from the 86th CSH.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came in with eight (shipping containers) and the bags on our back,\u201d said Morgan. \u201cEverything we have here we resourced and made for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

From those materials, a fully functional field hospital was constructed, complete with two trauma beds, an intensive care unit and surgical triage, providing the necessary facilities and equipment to perform critical treatment.<\/p>\n

In addition, the hospital is stocked with medicines for illnesses more likely to occur in West Africa such anti-venom for snakebites, said Bowman. Some provisions they have on hand would otherwise be unavailable. The field hospital maintains the only blood products \u2013 such as plasma \u2013 in West Africa.<\/p>\n

[320left]Medical personnel were selected based on their specialty to accommodate all of the procedures that could be necessary in the remote location.<\/p>\n

The team includes six medics, three operating room technicians, three surgeons, two certified registered nurses, and two registered nurse assistants, said Morgan. The collection of personnel has the expertise to carry out all essential processes, including diagnostic assessment, sedation, and surgery.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s capabilities and resources are substantial, allowing them to carry out life-saving efforts in a remote location; however, Bowman said this is accomplished with a lot of support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not a self-sustaining element, and without the support of the units that are around us, it would be very difficult for us to maintain this mission and provide this life-saving resource to Soldiers on the ground here in Africa,\u201d said Bowman. \u201cWe have had an amazing relationship with these units on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowman credits the 101st Sustainment Brigade and 86th Combat Support Hospital, both out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, along with many other units for delivering support for their mission.<\/p>\n

It is clear the team and facility\u2019s capabilities have the means to keep Soldiers on mission.<\/p>\n

There was one instance where a Soldier was able to receive extensive treatment and return to duty for OUA, said Morgan.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had an infected hand,\u201d he said. \u201cPretty much, her range of motion was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

[320right]Despite her extensive ailment, the team was able to provide swift and effective treatment.<\/p>\n

The team performed the surgery needed to address the infection at the field hospital and did not need to evacuate her, said Morgan. She was able to continue her mission for OUA provided she complied with follow-up appointments.<\/p>\n

This scenario exemplifies what Bowman said is the best part about her job: knowing she is there to take care of Soldiers when they need it so that they\u2019re able to make it safely back home to their loved ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Sgt. Dani Salvatore 27th Public Affairs Detachment Monrovia, Liberia \u2013 Medical emergencies: something no one likes to think about but that everyone needs to prepare for. Troops deployed in West Africa are often in remote areas of operation, and accidents, injuries, and illness are always a possibility. Fortunately, the Army can address critical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[3472,9790,9780,9783,9782,6919,9789,2423,9779,9616,3471,9788,9784,9647,9787,9778,9786,9785,9781],"class_list":["post-9403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","tag-101st-airborne-division","tag-101st-sustainment-brigade","tag-27th-public-affairs-detachment","tag-86th-combat-support-hospital","tag-86th-damage-control-resuscitation-team","tag-africa","tag-brunswick-me","tag-camden-tn","tag-dani-salvatore","tag-ebola","tag-fort-campbell-ky","tag-jason-morgan","tag-joint-forces-command","tag-liberia","tag-melanie-bowman","tag-monrovia-liberia","tag-operation-united-assistance","tag-united-assistance-field-hospital","tag-west-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9404,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9403\/revisions\/9404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}