CENTENNIAL, Colo. (4/20/11) – The Colorado Army National Guard teamed with the Wyoming Air National Guard, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Eastern Colorado Health Care System,  South Metro Fire Rescue and other community partners to conduct a full-scale Federal Coordinating Center  exercise at Centennial Airport.

The exercise was conducted in an effort to test several aspects of the National Disaster Medical System’s response, said Metropolitan Area Communication Center (MetCom) Supervisor Mike Judy.

In a hangar at Centennial Airport’s Signature Flight Support branch, local incident management teams practiced their skills to create and manage a reception site for an NDMS activation.

“The flight line simultaneously practiced the ability to coordinate the use of multiple civilian and military helicopters to support the transport of exercise patients to hospitals across the Front Range, from Loveland to Parker,” said Judy. “Just out of view, reception hospitals tested their in-house capabilities to handle surge capacity by receiving and processing multiple patients arriving by air and ground.”

The overall mission of the participating agencies was to treat more than 200 patients, then transport them to 15 metro-area hospitals by using ambulances, military and civilian helicopters, and a C-130 cargo plane in less than six hours.

“In light of the tragedy that is still unfolding in Japan, people want to know how the U.S. is preparing for a major national disaster,” said Roger Rewerts, FCC coordinator, in a news release issued by the VA. “This exercise is an example of local, regional and federal efforts to promote a unified response to large scale incidents. Our objectives include enhancing capacity, building sustainment and creating surge for receiving medical facilities.”

In total, more than 300 individuals from 20 community agencies participated in the exercise.

Public Information Officer Andy Lyon, Arapahoe County Incident Management Team, expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this exercise.

“This was the first time our incident management team took on an exercise like this,” he said. “I personally learned a lot and believe it will help me do my job better day to day, as well as be prepared should something like this actually happen.”

Among the participating agencies, the Colorado and Wyoming National Guards made their presence known by providing the majority of the exercise’s air support needs with an Air National Guard C-130 cargo plane and seven Army National Guard helicopters.

“I think this is a great opportunity for the civilian sector to see how we work,” said Maj. Nancy Weisenhorn, chief nurse, 187th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Wyoming Air National Guard. “In a real-world casualty, we would be coming together to take care of patients and evacuate people.”

The staged landing followed by the unloading of patients from the cargo plane marked the beginning of the exercise.

“The C-130 is a very large cargo plane and we can configure it to hold many different configurations of patients,” said Weisenhorn.

Patients were escorted from the C-130 via stretcher, wheel chair or walking, into the hanger then processed by severity of injuries. The patients were then transferred to either an ambulance or helicopter for further transport or directed to a medical station for further analysis.

According to Capt. Troy Brown, operations officer for the 2nd Battalion, 135th General Support Aviation, Colorado Army National Guard, the 2-135th has provided support for the fourth year in a row. This year, the unit provided four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, three UH-72 Lakota helicopters, and 20 aircrew members to perform patient transport to numerous Front Range hospital helipads.

“The professionalism of the crews was exhibited by their ability to remain flexible during multiple on-scene changes associated with the exercise and also in their ability to land at unfamiliar hospital helipads, some located on the top of or adjacent to large buildings,” said Brown. “Missions were performed safely, without incident, and provided mutually-supportive training to COARNG aircrews and the members of the regional NDMS team.”

The COARNG transported more than 150 patients by air to 10 different Denver-area hospitals.

Because of the large number of patients needing medical care and the involvement of so many different agencies, command and control at the airport was a vital key to the efficient execution, safety and success of the exercise.

Bob Herdt, a battalion chief with South Metro Fire Rescue, was one of the incident commanders tasked with coordinating the execution of the exercise.

“It was a very challenging exercise with quite a few lessons to be learned,” he said. “It was a great opportunity to collaborate with so many different agencies and jurisdictions, as well as so many private entities. I’m especially grateful to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Centennial Airport and Signature Flight Support for inviting us to participate."

The Federal Coordinating Center is managed by the Department of Homeland Security NDMS and may be activated in times of federally-declared national or international emergencies to coordinate definitive medical care of evacuees from the emergency area to the FCC’s assigned area.

“In Colorado, it is rare that multiple civilian and military air medical helicopters are called upon to respond to a single incident,” said Judy. “With these types of low-frequency, high-acuity events, it is imperative that we practice and train together so when a actual disaster presents itself, we are fully prepared to respond as a team. We are fortunate to have exercises like this in which we can work through a simulation, identify potential problem areas, address operational concerns and improve our operational capacity.

“With involvement from the Colorado National Guard aviation unit, NDMS is able to expand its capabilities by providing an air transport arm to facilitate long-range, mass-patient movement, which is something that cannot be effectively achieved by ground assets. When a disaster occurs, the National Guard is often deployed as the first military responder. It is important to train with the individuals in specific positions that will be involved during an actual event. We look forward to continuing our relationship with … the National Guard and hope that when a disaster strikes, we are able to respond like we train: as a team.”

As with any training, there are always successes and failures, but as it’s said in the military, it’s better to make those mistakes now, during training, then in an actual emergency situation.

“Each year, we create lessons learned, which can be anything from operational concerns, safety concerns, logistical deficiencies, etcetera, and these lessons prove valuable when moving forward into the following event,” said Judy. “We look at lessons learned from previous years to ensure we’re not making the same mistake twice. If a perfect exercise is conducted and no mistakes can be identified, you have big problems. In any exercise, mistakes are expected – they’re almost welcomed.”