JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
The Army Trauma Training Detachment, or ATTD, is a satellite of the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence based in Miami, Florida.
ATTD, which was officially established Sept. 10, 2001, marks 20 years of a collaborative and successful relationship between ATTD and Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial, where they are colocated, as they train the Army’s Forward Resuscitative Surgical Teams, or FRSTs, prior to deployment.
Army medical personnel spend the first week of pre-deployment training using patient simulators at the Michael S. Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education. They spend the second week treating human patients, who have been brought through the Ryder Trauma Center, at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The training includes gunshot wounds, stabbings, burns, motor vehicle accidents and other types of injuries that may occur in combat deployments.
ATTD has two main missions: teaching the Army Trauma Training Course, which is geared toward pre-deployment readiness for surgical teams, and fostering a military-civilian partnership by working as medical providers at Ryder Trauma Center Jackson Memorial.
“We do a lot of team building and basic training for medical providers, and this particular training is also geared to support the COVID-19 response,” said Army Lt. Col. Mark Buzzelli, ATTD Program Director. “This is a unique experience; we are working with a tremendous group, and we have come together for a common goal.”
Buzzelli says the collaboration, which annually trains at least 11 FRST’s and over 260 personnel, has likely saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives in the last 20 years.
ATTD is one of dozens of specialized programs and courses under the purview of 187th Medical Battalion, 32nd Medical Brigade, at the MEDCoE, which is located at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
“The special relationship between the Army Trauma Training Detachment, Gordon Center, Jackson Memorial, and Ryder Trauma Center is well recognized throughout the branches of the military and is used as a model of excellence for military-civilian partnerships in medical training care,” said Lt. Col. Dennison Segui, the 187th Medical Battalion commander.
ATTD, through its collaboration with the Ryder Trauma Center, has led over 14,300 trauma cases that trained 220 FRSTs and 5,280 personnel since 2001.
For more information about MEDCoE programs and initiatives, visit https://medcoe.army.mil/32d-medbde.