U.S. Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay Corpsmen Complete EMT Training

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (NNS) -- Six corpsmen from U.S. Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay (USNH GTMO) passed their final emergency medical technician (EMT) training field exercise Feb. 3.

Upon completion and passing of the certification exam, all will become nationally registered EMTs. Guantanamo Bay is the only naval medical facility where corpsmen receive EMT training through the hospital because of its isolation.

"It's one of the 'perks' we have here at Guantanamo Bay, "said Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Stacey Zimmerman, who served as a training team leader during the final field exercise. "We get a great deal of training out of the four-week accelerated course. The normal course [in the States] takes about four months. We do the entire curriculum in four weeks. It's very intense, with classroom training six days a week, 10 hours a day, two exams a week, and practical exercises."

"It's a very fast-paced course," said Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Corey Bynum, who also participated in the course.

The four other EMT trainees were Hospitalman Apprentice Paul Boss, Hospitalman Apprentice Remi Thomas, Hospitalman Kevin Corcoran and Hospitalman (SW) Brandon King.

"We need this training in order to work in the ER (emergency room)," said Boss, who was also one of the scenario patients.

David Crowley, director of military medical programs with Davis Defense Group, and the contracted instructor for the EMT course at Guantanamo Bay, said they train to the National Registry of EMT standard curriculum.

"During the four-week cycle, the trainees receive 160 hours of classroom training, 10 hours of emergency room observation and three field exercises," said Crowley. "The students here at Guantanamo Bay are committed and dedicated."

Crowley added that the success rate at GTMO is very high. "They have an 80 percent first-time pass rate, which is well above the national average."

The exercise scenario simulated a patient who had an arm amputated by a boat propeller, and a second patient (the person who pulled the first victim out of the water) who developed breathing problems and chest pains. The students did not know what the casualty was until they arrived on the scene at Windmill Beach.

"We try to make the scenarios as realistic as possible," said Crowley. "We try to tailor the drills to situations they might encounter at GTMO."

National certification requires that the trainees must have the "ability to provide safe and effective entry level emergency medical care."

The final scenario was a joint exercise utilizing both the corpsmen trainees and members of the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Fire Department. GTMO's firefighters are trained as first responders, and are not certified EMTs.

"In this scenario, the EMS team would be the incident command," said Crowley. "Realistically there are only two of them in an ambulance at a time. They are taught to utilize people who are there at the scene to provide needed assistance under the team leader."

"We worked very well together," said Chief Clifford Foley, GTMO's fire inspector. "The more training we get, the more comfortable we are working together."

In addition to Foley, the other GTMO firefighters taking part in the EMT scenario were Capt. O'Neil Thompson, Jermain Brown, Matthew Martell and Glenroy Valentine.

"Congratulations to each and every one of you. Keep training. You never know when that call will come,"
said Lt. Cmdr. Kristina Oliver, USNH GTMO's acting director of Nursing Services, said during the scenario debrief.

Upon certification, all six corpsmen will work in the hospital's Emergency Room.

"Due to the number of enlisted Corpsmen at this small command, and the various watchbills to which they are assigned, it has been decided that only certified EMTs will cover emergency room duty," said Cmdr. Bruce Deschere, USNH GTMO director of Medical/Health Services. "The EMT course just completed gives us the numbers we need for that."

For more news from U.S. Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay, visit www.navy.mil/local/nhgb/.