North Riverside Medical Unit Trains with Summit Fire Department

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Illinois Army National Guard Medics with the 708th Ground Ambulance Company and Firefighters with the Summit Fire Department attend to a simulated patient at a mass casualty exercise Nov. 6 at Summit

• Illinois Army National Guard Medics with the 708th Ground Ambulance Company and Firefighters with the Summit Fire Department load simulated casualties into a military ambulance at a mass causality.
• Illinois Army National Guard Medics with the 708th Ground Ambulance Company attend to the wounded at a mass casualty exercise with the Summit Fire Department Nov. 6 at Summit Park in Summit.

NORTH RIVERSIDE, IL (11/08/2010)(readMedia)-- The 108th Multifunctional Medical Battalion (MMB) conducted a joint training mass casualty (MASCAL) exercise with the Summit Fire Department and other emergency relief agencies Nov. 6 at Summit Park in Summit.

The Summit Fire Department acted as the incident command, but due to the volume of simulated casualties more personnel were needed to support medical response, said Summit Fire Chief Robert Wasko. The 108th MMB and the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) response from Advocate Christ Medical Center along with other fire departments in the area and relief agencies were called to support.

The exercise was the third annual MASCAL event and simulated a passenger train derailment in a metropolitan area of Chicago with roughly 130 volunteers acting as injured passengers in the exercise. The Summit Fire Department called medics with the Illinois Army National Guard to help support medical evacuation and patient care, said Sgt. Maj. Timothy Griffin of Summit, the senior enlisted adviser with the 108th MMB and a Summit firefighter. The simulation mimicked a disaster during midday rush hour.

Griffin said over the years the training has become more realistic, intense and able to reinforce critical skills. The quality of the training was greatly enhanced by the emergency medical service coordinator, boy scouts and volunteers from as far away as Joliet, Bloomington and Springfield, he said.

"This is the first (MASCAL) in Illinois history to have 100 plus live casualties," said Griffin.

firefighters arrived first on scene ad moved the injured from the incident site onto civilian or military ambulances with the 708th Ground Ambulance Company. The civilian ambulance moved patients to Advocate Christ Medical Center or to the 710th Area Support Medical Company to receive treatment.

With two companies supporting firefighters on the ground, the MMB's Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment worked with emergency relief coordinators and senior leadership of the Summit Fire Departement to help direct relief efforts.

Griffin said with lessons learned when responding to Hurricane Katrina, the joint training between agencies reduces communication problems between the groups. The joint training allows the groups to communicate fluidly even while in different uniforms.

"We are training with civilian entities we can actually get called on to work with," said Griffin.

With recent events it has become necessary for the military and civilian agencies to talk and cooperate, said Sue Hecht of Alsip the EMS coordinator with the Advocate of Christ Medical Center.

"Ten years ago you would never see Illinois National Guard (training) with the fire departments and hospitals," said Hecht. "We learned through world events, especially stateside, that we all have to (work) together."

The MMB supported 13 different local agencies during the MASCAL, said Maj. Chris Luetke of Lake Villa, the executive officer with the 108th MMB. The different agencies would work together and support emergency relief efforts in case of a disaster to rescue and preserve the lives of the injured.

"The joint training between agencies is incredibly important because it enables the Guard to work efficiently and effectively with emergency agencies in case of major disasters or civil disturbance-type events," said Luetke. "We know who the people are and we know how to communicate with them,"

The MMB is capable of supporting operations as a force multiplier. With more than 150 trained Soldiers the MMB added more man strength and able bodies to attend to the wounded, said Luetke. The 708th was capable of providing en-route medical care on the ambulance until the patients reached the 710th treatment area where they were received critical medical care, he said.

"As whole, we worked well together," said Wasko. "It's a learning exercise so each of us can learn some of the procedures better in the case of a real life situation.

"The more we do this the more we learn. The more we learn to work together and hopefully nothing like this will ever happen, but you never know in today's world if it could," said Wasko. "The more we learn and train with each other the better we'll be to entertain a real life problem like this."