Sergeant Major of the Army visits CSTARS

Sgt. James Woods, superintendent of the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills in Cincinnati, explains to Sgt. Maj. of the Army, Raymond Chandler III the process of how the high-fidelity human patient simulator manikin can replicate any physiology they are going to see in their patients, while inside the Air Force’s CSTARS at the University Hospital, Cincinnati. This critical training allows students to experience the challenges of the austere environment and to improve medical crisis management skills (Air Force photo by Michelle Gigante).

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Sergeant Major of the Army visits CSTARS

Published June 20, 2014
By Michelle Gigante
88 Air base Wing Public Affairs

WRIGHT PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- The top senior enlisted member, Sergeant Major of the U.S. Army, Raymond Chandler III visited the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills in Cincinnati during a June 11 tour.

As a USO guest for the birthday of the Army celebration, Sgt. Maj. Chandler attended numerous events with particular interest of the sister service here, CSTARS.

"I have a vested interest in post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, and I think the senior leadership needs to know about it and understand we are working to try to make things better for our soldiers," said Chandler.

Chandler talked about the cooperation between the sister services, such as the one at CSTARS and about the importance for the future of the Department of Defense to share scarce resources to accomplish the national military strategy.

"All of us have things that we do specifically for our service to provide a greater strength," Chandler said. "We have to look at those opportunities and say, 'OK, the Army does this very well, let's share that practice across the services' or 'the Air Force does this extremely well, let's share that practice,' so that we don't have redundancy because we are in a very resource constrained environment."

Chandler spoke highly about the relationship between the Air Force and the University Hospital of Cincinnati and how he thinks it is extremely strong, vital and going to pay huge dividends. As the Air Force continues to expand the training for the medical personnel, the Army is able to leverage the Air Force's capabilities to help soldiers when they are wounded in origin.
"I thought it was a phenomenal facility, learned a lot of things, and look forward to a strong partnership as we try to expand this not only for the Air Force, but opportunities for the Army to work together to help our men and women," said Chandler.

Due to a constant deployment cycle, it is essential for the Air Force to always be ready to go and bring cutting-edge trauma care and critical care medicine to wounded warriors. For this reason, the simulated training aspect is critical.

"If something happens in the back of an aircraft, it can be a very lonely environment because in the intensive care unit, you can get significant amount of help rapidly, but when in the back of the aircraft, all you have is your bag sets and the team that you have," said Maj. Daniel Cox, course medical director at CSTARS and trauma surgeon. "If you train for the worst case scenario, then you understand the steps to take to have a plan in place if you find yourself in one of those critical situations."

The courses at CSTARS provide a platform to help maintain trauma and readiness skills throughout the Air Force Medical Service. "It was a great experience of having him here and getting to brief him on what we do, to explain our process of how we interact together with the Army medics, and where that environment overlaps," said Cox.

Chandler devotes the majority of his time to traveling throughout the Army observing training and talking to soldiers and their families. Prior to his visit here, he was unaware of the CSTARS program, its capabilities and how the Air Force is working with the University Hospital of Cincinnati.

CSTARS, assigned to the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, trains Air Force critical care air transport teams via a unique partnership with the University of Cincinnati, which is co-located with the surgical intensive care unit for one of the nation's major trauma medical centers.