DVIDS – News – BACH soldiers learn rescue techniques for military working dogs

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Soldiers from Blanchfield Army Community Hospital recently participated in K9 Tactical Combat Casualty Care to enhance their ability to provide point-of-injury care to military working dogs in a deployed environment .

“Our 68Ws (combat medics) are on the front lines, as are our military working dogs, and often we are not. So when these military working dogs are injured in the line of fire, the first person to see and touch them is our doctors. It is therefore important for the [medics] know when they have that injured military working dog what they can do and how they can save that dog’s life. said Capt. Michael Hoffman, an Army veterinarian assigned to the Fort Campbell Veterinary Center, one of six veterinarians who conducted the training. “Point of [injury] treatment is usually the deciding factor in deciding whether or not that animal lives or dies. It is therefore important that [medics] get that training so they can be that deciding factor.

K9TCCC is an evidence-based guideline that establishes a standard of care from the point of injury on the battlefield to Role 2 facilities for military working dogs in all services, based on a combination of combat casualty data analysis, clinical research and lessons learned in combat. . This training for non-veterinary providers (manipulators and deployment of medical personnel) focuses on the preservation of life, limb or sight, and is also part of the list of individual critical tasks for nurses in the emergency room of the army.

“We’re not always with the dogs when they’re deployed, so it’s good to have other medical teams who have a really good knowledge base there who can provide treatment for our dogs as well,” Pfc said. Haylee Valdez, an Army animal care specialist at Fort Campbell.
Veterinarians and animal care specialists deploy, but the military working dogs they support may be dispersed with their handlers to more austere locations within a large area of ​​operations.
Valdez taught attendees how to perform a patient assessment on a military working dog, explaining what signs to look for, where to look and what to do.

The veterinary team has shared the mnemonic M2ARCH2E to help soldiers remember the steps to take when treating a military working dog:

Muzzle – An injured and conscious military working dog may bite, so be sure to muzzle the dog first.

Massive Bleeding – Just like humans, stopping massive bleeding is essential. Unlike humans, tourniquets are generally not effective on dogs.

Airway – Recognize the need to provide an airway.

Breathing – Just like humans, seal open chest wounds, perform needle decompression. Unlike humans, it’s best not to bury the needle all the way to the hub.

Circulation – Know where to measure and dog-specific heart rates.

Hypothermia – Just like humans, keep the patient covered and dry.

Head trauma – How to minimize head trauma?

Everything else – Medication doses are different, signs of heatstroke.

“Today we learned about basic bleeding checks and wounds that we might possibly see on dogs and how to treat them,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jamie Hendzel, combat medicine specialist at BACH. Hendzel noted some similarities she would encounter when treating a human, such as control of bleeding, and some differences unique to dogs.

“The head-to-toe assessment was basically the same – the basic things we’ll see on the initial point of injury – but on the dog the locations are different. The pulse is in a different place, the heart beats per minute is different.You never know what type of patient you are going to see, so it is good to have some basic knowledge.

Col. Michael Wissemann, deputy commander of the 531st Hospital Center for Nursing, and members of his unit also participated in the training. Wissemann shared that during a previous deployment, a military working dog was brought to his unit for treatment.

“The dog had a problem with his intestines and he was sent to our unit in Iraq,” Wissemann said, “We had a vet there who could treat the dog, but this shows that military working dogs within range may need emergency medical care. This training is ideal for young soldiers who may not have been exposed to military working dogs before. It’s great for nurses and doctors to refresh the knowledge they already have and to revalidate it, because things change over time.