AGANA HEIGHTS, GUAM –Sailors from U.S. Naval Hospital Guam participated in ''Warm zone,'' First Receiver Operations Training (FROT) Sept. 4. Observers from three local agencies also participated in the training to include, Naval Base Guam Fire and Emergency Service, the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority, and Guam Medical Regional Center.

“These incidents are about savings lives,” said Brett Wallace the hospital’s Emergency Manager.The purpose of the training is to provide participants the opportunity to practice dressing in their Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) suits, setting up a decontamination tent, and most important, decontaminating patients involved in a Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBRN) incident.

“Patients involved in any such incident must be decontaminated before medical treatment can be administered. Decontamination of patients serves to protect medical providers from becoming contaminated which could render them a casualty, making them a patient and disabling from providing further medical treatment,” said Wallace.

During the training Sailors have approximately 15 minutes to dress in their HAZMAT suits as well as set up the decontamination tent. Once everything is set up the Sailors are ready to receive both ambulatory and non-ambulatory patients.

There are three stations on the outside and inside of the tent, one side is known as the “dirty side” with the other side as the “clean”. The job of the Sailors is to first identify the agent and where it is on the body. Second they perform a triage, where Sailors must decide which patients will need treatment first. The last step is to perform the decontamination which consists of stripping a patient, discarding all decontaminated clothing and scrubbing the patient with hot soapy water.

Once the patient has been washed they are then sent to the end of the tent where a Sailor will go over them with what is known as M9 tape. This tape is tapped gently all over the patient. If there is still an agent located on the patient, the tape will pick it up. If the patient is still “dirty” they will be sent back through for further decontamination.

According to Susan Ozborn, the Decontamination Instructor, the drill conducted at the hospital was a success.

"These drills prepare us for whatever can happen. Living on an island makes this even more important. Working together with our local agencies ensures we are all ready to respond, that we are all able to care for the sick and injured," said Wallace.