[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 81 (Tuesday, May 16, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1042-E1043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     KERNEL BLITZ AND PACMEDNET: MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY SUCCESS STORIES

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                     HON. RANDY ``DUKE'' CUNNINGHAM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 16, 1995
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the men and 
women of our Defense Department's medical corps for the fine job they 
performed during the Marine Corps' annual Kernel Blitz combat exercise, 
held last month at Camp Pendleton, California. This exercise showed how 
military medical care is on the cutting edge of the latest automation 
technology, and Kernel Blitz demonstrated the integral role that this 
technology plays in supporting the troops. Our fighting forces deserve 
nothing less than the very best.
  Last year, Congress and the Defense Department proposed a 
demonstration project known as the Pacific Medical Network [PACMEDNET] 
which utilized investments already made in the Defense Department's 
Composite Health Care System [CHCS] and expanded these attributes for 
effective wartime deployment. This technology was successfully used in 
Kernel Blitz and will take the Defense Department into the 21st century 
in both its peacetime and wartime medical missions.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to share the following article from Federal 
Computer Week on how this investment in technology is improving 
emergency medical care for the Defense Department. This successful 
usage of CHCS technology is a simulated wartime exercise demonstrates 
that PACMEDNET is the future of battlefield medical care.
            [From the Federal Computer Week, Apr. 10, 1995]

            Hospital System Survives First Battlefield Trial

                             (BY BRAD BASS)

       The Defense Department's $1.1 billion Composite Health Care 
     System (CHCS) went into battle last week, and early reports 
     said the system came through with the colors flying.
       The Marine Corps' annual Kernel Blitz combat exercise, held 
     at Camp Pendleton, Calif., last week, featured deployable 
     medical information systems for the first time. The training 
     mission linked hospital based CHCS to battlefield medical 
     systems composed of smart cards, ruggedized handheld and 
     laptop computers, and wireless communications. The expansion 
     of CHCS to the battlefield stems from lessons learned in 
     Operation Desert Storm and other hot spots, where Defense 
     forces suffered from inadequate medical technology, said 
     officials with both DOD and with CHCS contractor Science 
     Applications International Corp.
       ``The fleet hospitals in Saudi Arabia had no automation,'' 
     said Cmdr. Mel Baxter, director of development in the DOD 
     CHCS program office.
       ``Things could have gone a whole lot better if they had 
     these tools,'' Baxter said. The Air Force has already decided 
     to put a version of CHCS in its base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 
     next month, Baxter said.
                          Simulated Casualties

       The Kernel Blitz system connected two ships--the USNS 
     Mercy, a medical ship, and the USS Peleliu, both off the 
     coast of Camp Pendleton--to forward surgical companies near 
     the beach.
       After the Marines simulated a full-scale landing operation 
     using helicopters, tanks and armored personnel carriers, 
     troops moving inland suffered about 200 simulated casualties, 
     according to Steve Hudock, SAIC's director of CHCS 
     deployment. Each soldier carried a CHCS Multitechnology 
     Automated Reader Card, a smart card equipped with a 2K chip, 
     a bar code and a photograph. Manufactured by 3G Inc., 
     Williamsburg, Va., the cards contained basic medical 
     information on the ``injured'' troops.
       Field medics used SAIC's ruggedized SE-1415 Agilpac, a 
     486SX-based handheld computer purchased from the Army's 
     Common [[Page E1043]] Hardware/Software (CHS) contract, to 
     translate data from smart cards into a format compatible with 
     CHCS.
       The Agilpacs then downloaded CHCS data onto the cards so 
     that medical personnel at other locations would be aware of 
     each patient's condition, medication or other essential 
     information. The casualties were transported to the forward 
     surgical companies, where smart card data was transferred to 
     ruggedized laptops via SAIC's Tactical Communications 
     Interface Module, a controller/signal processor designed for 
     combat applications.
       This module is also available on the CHS contract. 
     Throughout the exercise, Marines used SAIC V2A1 LC 
     Lightweight Computer Units, 23-pound, ruggedized laptops 
     based on 32-bit, 486DX processors. These machines were 
     purchased from the Army's LCU contract, held by SAIC.
       Medical personnel were able to use the LCUs to check the 
     CHCS database for further information on each patient. The 
     laptops connected to CHCS nodes located on the Mercy and the 
     Peleliu via portable satellite dishes or radio.
       When patients were evacuated, the forward surgical 
     companies transmitted patients' records to medical staff at 
     the Peleliu and the Mercy to alert them that casualties were 
     on the way and to provide information on the type of injuries 
     and what caused them.
       ``The doctor has a more complete picture of his patient as 
     opposed to being surprised when the helicopter arrives,'' 
     Hudock said.


                              No Glitches

       Baxter said people involved in the exercise reported no 
     glitches.
       ``The summary information rolled from one medical treatment 
     facility to another,'' he said. ``I think people were 
     skeptical at first, but everybody said it is working great.''
       Baxter said the exercise represents a new phase in the CHCS 
     program and battlefield medical automation in general. CHCS 
     was initially designed as a system for pharmacists, lab 
     technicians, radiologists, and other hospital-based 
     clinicians. DOD officials, however, decided to expand the 
     system into the battlefield rather than develop a separate 
     system for tactical users.
     

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