Kearsarge (LHD 3) - Naval Cruise Book

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- K and leurneill KEARSARGE gained some publicity in March when Norfolk television reporter Stephanie Sy ,Q from wrkn-3 Embarkea I to help tell families back home what the ship and crew were doing to sup- port Operation nduring Freedom, Stephanie and her cam- eraman Wayne were a big hit aboard the ship. Dur- ing their visit, they allowed more than 100 Sailors to record special hometown greetings to family back home. Stephanie and Wayne also made a guest appearance on Big Bucks Combat Bingo, joining - Captain McKnight, keeping the crew laughing all evening! Meanwhile, drills were increased to prepare the 5 VI. ship for any possible r F .Q 'U situation. With tension fi' 5 g 1 growing, everyone started 1' - as l ' to realize conflict was no longer a matter of if - it was a matter of when. GL. cu ,.'f 9- ga, . swf'- .L ... -.I X Q T Q XX -Q -.., 1 1,-xii i Q ' I 'b 35- . ' l ,, .'.- ,K L- 'ics S X Vmntmd M IF' D X . fb' '- 1 t 0 MARCHXS3

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....- -4 - 61 c9LWW6'l T' Y l . . I .J Q U.S.?-3 rp r ,Q K . ' -M f I E XX f' ' All y l , A Q if 'H ----M.. , -A V4 K 1- 'Qu - rf! Q--1 4 . is .- A x fv A S KEARSARGE, FST EIGHT Prepare for Casualties By JOI Chris Hojfpauir A fair definition of a mass casualty scene is organized chaos. Recently USS KEARSARGE ILHD 31 conducted two back- to-back mass casualty drills to flex a capability that the ship has not fully implemented. Stretchers bearing simulated wounded Sailors and Marines were lined up on the flight deck, arranged in a neat line near the island as Hospital Corpsmen quickly assessed the simulated injuries. The casualties are quickly moved, through massive, armored, double doors into the ship 's Flight Deck Triage room, just inside the island. The place was a swarm of activity with doctors quickly performing primary triage, prioritizing patients according to the severity of their injuries and how urgently they needed care. From there, stretcher- bearers move the wounded to one of the ship's Battle Dressing Stations or Main Medical, via an elevator: for further treatment or surgery. The stress level among the medical professionals was high. Of course, it would have been even higher were the casualties real. The event was held the day before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. KEARSARGE is deployed in the Arabian Guh' as part of Task Force 51 arzd boasts a medical capability second only to the Navy 's two dedicated hospital ships, USNS MERCY ITAH-191 and USNS COMFORT ITAH-202. As a result of its robust medical capabilities, KEARSARGE is designated as a primary Casualty Receiving arzd Treatment Ship ICRTSJ. Today was a training exercise for handling a large number of casualties, said Capt. Mary Jean Herden, Officer in Charge of F leer Surgical T am EIGHT fFS7181, and CT CATF Surgeon. M We purposely overloaded the system to test how well we can deal with a mass casualty situation. FST-8 is home ported at Amphibious Group TWO, Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, Va., and normally deploys as an integral part of an Amphibious Ready Group to augment the medical staff aboard big deck amphibious ships, the primary CRTS. We wanted to present a realistic situation and expose everyone to the kinds of stresses they would see in a real-world mass casualty situation, Capt. Herden added. The embarkation of a Fleet Surgical Team adds medical command and control, surgical and medical specialty-trained doctors, nurses and corpsmen to the CRTS plaU'orm. Fleet Surgical Team EIGHT originally left Norfolk aboard USS BATAAN ILHD-52 to complete the task of training a task-oriented surgical team for that ship. The team transferred via LCAC in the Arabian Guy' to KEARSARGE Mar: I to set up the Casualty Receiving arzd Treatment Ship capabilities. Today, with the addition of 84 more medical augmentation personrzel, the ship 's manned at wartime levels. In total, there are over 130 medical personnel ready to render aid to the sick and injured aboard the ship. d Lt. Jesse Irwin, one of three doctors permanently assigne to KEARSARGE, would be one of the first people to see patients in a mass casualty situation. He manages the triage of incoming patients, makes initial diagnoses and determines which patients have priority based on medical needs. My job in primary triage isn 't to fix people, Irwin said. It's to take a general survey and identfy who needs the most urgent care. We have to concentrate our ejfor where they 'll do the MARCH!55