Milton S. Hershey Medical Center launches National Guard trauma training program

HERSHEY, Pa. — It’s a bright, brisk morning in early February, and the scene might best be described as controlled chaos. Four wounded soldiers lay side by side in a combat zone following an early-morning enemy attack. Three camouflage-clad medics work furiously to save their lives, assessing their conditions and tending to their wounds. All around them, the sounds of combat ─ gunfire, explosions, helicopters landing and taking flight ─ add to the urgency.

In reality, this is a mass-casualty simulation in the Life Lion Hangar on the west side of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s campus. It serves as the capstone project for a two-week training program in specialized trauma and deployment skills. The three medics are National Guard members completing the inaugural Hershey Trauma, Readiness, Education and Training (TREAT) Program. Their certification marks the culmination of rigorous training in specialized medical skills.

Penn State Health began a collaboration with the National Guard in January to train medical soldiers in specialties such as emergency medicine, labor and delivery, and emergency medical services. Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is now the third National Guard Training Center in the United States, and the only program on the East Coast, to offer this hands-on training for National Guard members.

A natural partnership

One of only a few U.S. hospitals to be verified as a Level I trauma center for both adults and children, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center was a natural choice for this program, said Dr. Scott Armen, chief of the Division of Trauma, Acute Care and Critical Care Surgery and an active Army Reserve member.

“Our excellence in trauma care, as well as our strong military ties and extensive clinical training resources, made it possible to collaborate with the National Guard Bureau as a way to simultaneously support our community and the country,” he said.

Participants begin with two days of refresher training on fundamental tactical and clinical skills. They then spend the remainder of the two-week program working alongside Penn State Health medical providers in intensive care, emergency medicine and air medical transport. New trainees rotate in every two weeks.

“Most National Guard members have other full-time occupations and may not have experienced the high stress level of a trauma situation,” said Jillian Murray-Duchesne, a registered trauma nurse and embedded Guard member at the Medical Center, who designed the TREAT curriculum. “This training allows them to learn and practice the skills they’ll need in a controlled environment that simulates the conditions they may be exposed to during a deployment.”

The battlefield noises during the capstone experience reinforced this realism, challenging the medics’ ability to think and respond under extreme stress. One Guard participant even boarded a Life Lion helicopter with the crew and continued giving care to a soldier being transported to a medical facility.

‘Trauma care requires teamwork’

Teamwork between the Guard participants and medical professionals was evident throughout the TREAT experience. It’s not only a key part of the skills training, but absolutely necessary in any trauma scenario, said Amy Bollinger, trauma education, outreach and injury prevention coordinator at Penn State Health.

“Trauma care requires teamwork,” said Bollinger, who had an active role in planning the training ─ a process that took 18 and 24 months ─ and its implementation. “So many people were involved and committed to the program’s success, from the highest levels of administration to the professionals who provide bedside care. We couldn’t have done it without all of them working together.”

View a gallery of images from this program.

Hands-on trauma training

The participants themselves said they saw the training as an opportunity to provide a much-needed service to their communities. Tech. Sgt. Carlos Patino-Quiroz served as a flight paramedic with the 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade. In civilian life, he has worked as a flight nurse, ICU nurse, ED nurse and professor of nursing at a local college. 

“From day one of this program, we were very welcome,” he said. “The staff was great. The trauma director spoke with us on the first day. It was such a great experience, and I have nothing but good things to say about them.”

Capt. Steven Thompson is a nurse with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. In the civilian sector, he works as a post-anesthesia care nurse at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

“It was great to be able to do this training in a facility I've known well on the civilian side,” he said. “I got to see different perspectives in the ER, the ICU and even the pre-hospital. That allowed me to get hands-on training in a way that I don't typically get it on my day-to-day civilian job but is very key to my military success.”

Staff Sergeant Suzanne Nowalk is an Air National Guard medic with the 193rd Special Operations Medical Group Detachment 1 at Fort Indiantown Gap in Annville and also a registered nurse at an Adult Level II trauma center.

“You can look at theory and practice it in a simulation lab all you want,” said Nowalk. “But to actually be able to see how a trauma is run from start to finish, and experience it ourselves, was the best part.”