Traffic control and Doctors

This week was mass casualties week. Instead of working with one injury or multiple injuries by ourselves, we learned how to work in teams (2 medics, radio man and a doctor) to treat multiple injuries in the field. The way it works is that first: all the injured people got into a semicircle. The medics would then split up, one staying with the doctor and going to one side, and the other medic would start at the other side. Together they would stop any big wound that would cause the injured to die from blood loss. Then the doctor would tell the radio man who had what injury and who would have to be worked on first. The radio man would then call into the central command and tell them about the injuries and that help was needed to evac the injured.

While the radio man was doing that, the doctor and the medics would start surgery on the injured. The whole process takes maybe 20-30 min and you can have more than one team working at once. The rules that come into play, when there is more than one team are that the first one on the scene is the ones in charge. By the end of the week, we were doing training exercise with four teams. That means 4 doctors, 4 radio men and 8-12 medics on one scene with 10 injuries.

Another thing we did this week was be traffic officers. This week was the 10th anniversary of the Harap. The Harap is the army medical clinic. Each course had to send 4-5 people to go and either be security or traffic control and help people park their cars. It was a very nice ceremony and by being there, I got a chance to meet many high up officials who are in charge of the medical branch in the army. Also, there were demonstrations of all the new medical technique that are going on in the country.

Finally, the last thing we did before we got to leave this week was opening up multiple veins on one person. Up until now, we have only opened up one vain per person. On Thursday however, we got a chance to open up 3 veins on one person.

Some other high lights for the week:

It finally rained here in Israel. It even hailed in some areas :)

Surgery week

This week we continued to learn about the different surgeries we were allowed to help in. The first one we learned was a simple intubation. An intubation is when we insert a long tube down someone’s throat to help them breath. The surgery is not hard and in fact does not even including cutting someone open.

The next surgery we learned about was a Cricoidotomy. This is a more sever intubation, where a small incision is made in the neck, between the thyroid gland and the Cricoid. The surgery is not long, only supposed to last 6-7 min.

The final surgery we learned was how to put in a chest tube. This is done when someone has a Pneumothorax and therefore their lung is either not inflated or something has gotten into the pleura membrane and is squeezing the lung. The Surgery is the most complicated one we have learned so far and is the most successful one of all.

Some other things we did this week:

A training exercise on someone who has had a heat stroke.

A test in pharmacology (where we are test on what drugs to give, what is inside the drug and why do you give that drug)

A class on poisonous animals

Next week will be a more physical week where we start mass casualties.

Midterms and guarding

The past two weeks have been a combination of mid-terms and guarding.

When we first got to the base on Sunday, we started studying for our midterms as well as start a new lesson topic on surgery. In case there is a war, doctors throughout the country are called up to go into the field and set up a field hospital (called in Hebrew Tzevet 10 or team 10.) Because the doctors come from many different specialty fields (skin, heart, lungs, brain, etc.) they might not remember how to do a basic surgery. This is where we come in, as helpful reminders walking them through the process. For example, we are taught how to perform a tracheotomy (however, we are not allowed to perform the surgery alone) in order to help a doctor whom might have forgotten how to do one.

We also spent the week doing triage exercises. Instead of us working in groups of three (where one guy is the medic, one is the injured and one is the checker), we worked in groups of five, where three people were the injured, one was the medic and one was the checker. The exercise was hard because there is so much you need to keep in mind and you usually get confused between what to do to whom when.

This training and learning class took us through Tuesday. Then that night, the commanders told us to go straight to bed and not worry about the midterms the following day because sleep was more important. Of course no one listened and we all stayed up till 12 learning. By the time I was done with my shower and made my bed, it was already 1 in the morning. Then at 1:15 (I looked at my watch because I thought that I had slept for a while) we had an "attack." All the commanders walked into our sleeping area and told us that we had 7 min. to get dressed, with our gear and our guns and follow them to an attack site that just took place. We all got dressed quickly and we eager to start. The commanders then lead us to a well light place and told us welcome to mid-terms. We all took terms trading positions as medic, checker and victim. Of course the commanders were overlooking us and grading us as we went along. The scenarios that took place ranged from a regular victim with a bullet wound, to a soldier on guard duty who was attacked with a white phosphorus grenade, to a guy who is suffering from hypothermia. The training went till 4:15 in the morning. Then the commanders told us to go to sleep till 12, where we finished the mid-term with a written test. Luckily I passed with flying colors.

Then next week and a half was spent doing guard duty. Like all my other guard duty times, the time went by fast but was very uneventful. The shifts were tough (2 hours guarding, 2 hours on the readiness team and 2 hours to our self.) The only exception to this was:

On Saturday night I was coming off a guard shift at 11 at night (the shift started at 9). We then went to the readiness team room to sleep a little before our next shift. While we were there sleeping (not long, only maybe 20-30min) there was an attack on the base. This time however was not a drill.

What happened was that four soldiers had gone out for the weekend (when they were supposed to close for the weekend) and came back to base in civilian clothing. The problem was not that they had left but that they decided to enter through a hole in the fence. The guys on patrol saw the guys and told them to stop. Once they ran, the patrol called us (the readiness team) and we went into action. We sent the next 3 hours closing down the base and putting everyone in a room. We then did a room to room search looking for the soldiers. Of course, we were told that they were four civilians and we didn’t know they were soldiers. At around 4 in the morning, we called the patrol into the room, where everyone was, to see if the intruders were there. It turns out that not only were they in the room, but they had changed back into uniform and acted as if nothing was going on. After the people were caught, instead of going to bed, I went straight to another shift and ended up pulling a 16hour shift with only that 20-30min sleep the night before.

As I’m sure you can tell, this weekend has been nothing but a sleep-in weekend, where I’ve been catching up on sleep the whole time. On top of that, I have been also monitoring my phone in case we get a call up to go help out in Haifa, with the fire. Please keep all the victims in mind this week, as we (Israel) continues to battle the blaze and stop the fire.