21st century tent hospital evokes memory of TV’s “MASH”

The Inland Echo » The Military » 21st century tent hospital evokes memory of TV’s “MASH”

21st century tent hospital evokes memory of TV’s “MASH”

October 26th, 2008 | Add a Comment

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

By Deborah Kallgren

Think M*A*S*H on steroids. That’s the impression one gets when touring the 21st century version of a tent hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia.

21st century tent hospital evokes memory of TV's Officially called a Surgical Shock Trauma Platoon/Forward Resuscitative Surgical System (SSTP/FRSS), the unit is normally used in forward-deployed positions in war zones. The battalion trains constantly to set up the tents and have them ready for patients in under 30 minutes.

Approximately 45 members of the 2nd Medical Battalion from Camp Lejeune erected such a tent hospital at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth last month.

The setup allows military medical personnel – hospital corpsmen, nurses and doctors – to treat injuries as close to the battlefield as possible, minimizing the time between injury and medical care. It’s where some NMCP staff may find themselves deployed, saving the lives of soldiers and Marines.

The battalion erected a five-tent unit in Portsmouth. It had the acrid smell of new vinyl, and everything was clean and new – a big contrast for Cmdr. Tom Craig, an emergency physician at NMCP who served in tents like these in Iraq.

“How bright and shiny these were! They smelled nice and fresh and didn’t seem old and stale. And it wasn’t dusty and dirty. It’s interesting in that these are the exact same tents, and the memories come flooding back.”

But the hospital tents weren’t meant to evoke memories. They were to give the Portsmouth staff an impression, although sanitized, of battlefield medicine. Still, Craig said it’s hard for someone who has not deployed to a war zone to really understand the harsh conditions under which they must perform medical miracles.

“It’s so artificial. It’s clean, you just had a good night’s sleep, you’ve had a full meal. Try to envision what it’s going to be like when you get there. There’s a helicopter inbound, you don’t know how many victims, you don’t know what condition they are in, and you’ve got to be ready,” said Craig.

Medical personnel are briefed on the new tent hospital. Photo courtesy Military Health System The SSTP is the resuscitative section where the emergency physicians treat life-threatening and limb-threatening injuries and prepare patients to be medevaced out. When the SSTP is paired with a FRSS, the tents then have an operating room with surgeons and an anesthesiologist to treat severe injuries on site. The tent hospital is equipped with high-tech equipment including a lab, X-ray capabilities and a supply of FDA-approved blood.

Cmdr. Sean Barbabella lectured medical residents and interns on his experiences, the kind of gear they’ll use and other tips on providing medical care in austere environments. “As an emergency medicine physician, we’re in charge of the shock trauma platoon, and we don’t normally get training on that. You’re put out in theatre and all of a sudden you’re given equipment and six or seven vehicles and you have to know how to run it in convoys.”

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Tiffany Sharkey is part of the battalion and has had back-to-back deployments to Iraq with the SSTP/FRSS. She’s seen the far-forward surgical care that saves lives and limbs. “We do everything that we can to ensure the survivability of our Marines and sailors. The loss of one life is one too many.”

Deborah Kallgren works for Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Public Affairs.

HOSPITAL CORPSMAN Street Sign ~ Custom Aluminum Street SignsCustom Aluminum Street Sign. Made of aluminum and high quality 5-7 year outdoor vinyl lettering and graphics this sign is 4 x 18 inches. Made to last ... Read More >

DANGER KEEP OFF CLIMBING, SITTING, WALKING OR RIDING ON CONVEYOR AT ANY TIME WILL CAUSE SEVERE INJURY OR DEATH 14" x 10" Aluminum Sign
Equipment Machinery & Operations Safety Signs. DANGER KEEP OFF CLIMBING, SITTING, WALKING OR RIDING ON CONVEYOR AT ANY TIME WILL CAUSE SEVERE INJURY OR DEATH. 14" x 10" Aluminum Sign

Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation

The Dramatic History of Iraq in One Concise Volume

The destinies of Iraq and America will be tightly intertwined into the foreseeable future... Read More >

ECG's for the Emergency Physician 1A collection of 200 high quality ECGs (Electrocardiogram's) that cover the entire spectrum of emergency electrocardiography. The first half of the boo... Read More >