CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti (August 6, 2024) – Medical personnel assigned to Camp Lemonnier participate in weekly Expeditionary Medical Facility (EMF) training events called “Trauma Tuesdays.”

Camp Lemonnier’s EMF is the only Level II military trauma center on the continent, providing emergent care, preventative medicine and veterinary services to support CLDJ and forward-deployed units in Africa. Medical and veterinary trauma intervention training is one way the EMF maintains crisis response readiness.

“Trauma Tuesday training is open to all medical personnel on base to foster relationships and to maintain readiness in case of a mass casualty incident where we would require their assistance,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Estela Rojas, critical care nurse for EMF. “It also ensures medical operational readiness within our command and other tenant commands assigned to Camp Lemonnier.”

Throughout the month of July, EMF combined classroom and hands-on training as part of a series focused on basic life support (BLS) and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS).

Service members from EMF, Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron (MSRON) 1, the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Task Force Paxton, U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command and 4th Battalion, 3rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment attended the series.

“The purpose of the training was to practice basic life support and to get medical personnel comfortable with performing the needed interventions,” said Rojas. “The advanced life support and electrocardiogram (EKG) class familiarized students with advanced life support interventions within the first 10 minutes of a patient arrival.”

During the classroom training, medical personnel discussed different types of EKG rhythms and how to read and interpret them. The hands-on portion included stations that tested their ACLS response knowledge.

Camp Lemonnier is an operational installation that enables U.S. allied, and partner nation forces to be where they are needed to ensure security and protect U.S. interests. The installation provides world-class support for service members, transient U.S. assets and 36 local tenant commands, including the Expeditionary Medical Facility.

(U.S. Navy Story by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christopher Thomas)