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Reservists participate in regional disaster response exercise

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Susan Stout
  • 944th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

About 500 military members from across the United States partnered with local hospitals and private businesses April 24-28 for a coordinated disaster response exercise.

The exercise, named the Coyote Crisis Campaign, involved response to simulated explosions, power outages, potentially contaminated air and water, and victims needing emergency treatment caused by mock terrorist strikes in Arizona and Nevada.

Airmen from the active-duty 56th Medical Group and Air Force Reserve Command’s 944th Medical Squadron from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., joined a host of other participants in the exercise. They included the Arizona Air National Guard, General Dynamics, the City of Scottsdale and Scottsdale Healthcare for the first-of-its-kind regional disaster response exercise conducted in various locations in Scottsdale and the Papago Military Reservation in Phoenix.

Before the exercise kicked off, medical technicians from the 56th and 944th Fighter Wings underwent training including triage, medical command and control, medical air evacuation, patient management and transportation, and wound care.

"Exercise participants said they loved the teamwork and realistic training using 'live patients' (community volunteers) versus mannequins," said Senior Master Sgt. Tammy Harrington, 944th Medical Squadron readiness NCO in charge and exercise lead planner. "This training enabled military members to work closely with community medical assets to prepare for events like natural disasters or terrorist attacks."

Other participants in the Coyote Crisis Campaign came from Arizona State University, Maricopa County and National Guard units from Hawaii, California, Nevada, Texas and Michigan.

A mobile medical hospital – expeditionary medical support facility – used for Hurricane Katrina victims was deployed for this exercise. The EMEDS was brought to Arizona by the Alpena Military Combat Training Unit in Michigan.

"An added bonus with the Coyote Crisis Campaign was the use of a C-17 used to transport patients, which added realism to the exercise," said Capt. Sam Gonzales, 56th Medical Group Federal Coordination Center officer.

Blackhawk helicopters transported patients to area hospitals, and Staff Sgt. Jennifer Medved, a 56th Dental Squadron dental technician, was one of the people who helped load patients into the helicopters.

"The exercise was a great experience," Sergeant Medved said. "It is reassuring to know that if something were to happen in the Phoenix area the different services and local departments would come together and help save lives."

The Coyote Crisis Campaign was designed to evaluate the National Disaster Medical System, an asset-sharing partnership among federal agencies working with state and local governments and the private sector, according to Captain Gonzales.

The objectives of the NDMS are to provide supplemental health and medical assistance in domestic disasters at the request of state and local authorities, to evacuate patients who cannot be cared for in the disaster area to designated locations elsewhere in the nation, and to provide a nationwide network of voluntary, pre-identified, non-federal acute care hospitals capable of providing definitive care for victims of domestic disaster or military contingency that exceeds the medical care capabilities of the affected local, state or federal medical system.

"Our ability to test the NDMS enabled Luke, along with its partners, to identify weaknesses and strengthens in an already sound medical support system," Captain Gonzales said. (AFRC News Service)