U.S. Army Medical Personnel to Train at Grady’s Level 1 Trauma Center

Grady Memorial Hospital has become the latest site of the U.S. Army Military-Civilian Trauma Team Training (AMCT3), enabling military medical personnel to share knowledge and advances in combat casualty care and learn from their civilian colleagues at Grady’s nationally verified Level 1 trauma center. The partnership was formalized during a signing ceremony at Grady on September 19.

This military-civilian partnership between Grady and Army Medicine will work towards achieving the goal of eliminating preventable trauma-related deaths on battlefields or in civilian settings.

“We are excited to join forces with the U.S. Army to help our nation’s heroes become better equipped to treat trauma injuries that occur during combat,” said John M. Haupert, president and CEO of Grady Health System. “Grady prides itself in being a teaching hospital. This new partnership will further strengthen our goal of sharing medical knowledge and innovative techniques to improve health outcomes for our community and soldiers on the frontlines.”

The Army launched the AMCT3 program in 2019. It helps Army medical personnel sustain and build their clinical skills by working at the nation’s premier trauma centers. Grady is the eighth civilian medical center in the country to participate in the program. While military healthcare personnel will gain invaluable trauma experience, the program also allows their civilian counterparts to obtain knowledge from those who have acquired useful skills while providing medical care in combat zones.

“Soldiers, infantrymen, rangers, they do what they do because they know as they execute the mission there’s going to be a medic that is there to save their life,” said Lt. Gen. R. Scott Dingle, U.S. Army Surgeon General and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command. “From the foxhole to the fixed facility – every surgeon, every medic, every medical professional. We count on partnerships like this one to train the world’s most powerful medical system, which is Army Medicine.”

The program helps ensure Army clinicians are proficient in their surgical skills and prepared to treat combat injuries that may happen during deployment. While military medical personnel often provide routine health care for soldiers and their families, they don’t receive as much experience with trauma and critical care patients. Through the AMCT3 program, military personnel serving on Forward Resuscitative Surgical Teams will receive up to three years of training working alongside Grady’s trauma surgeons.

“Grady is one of the busiest trauma centers in the nation,” said Dr. Elizabeth Benjamin, trauma medical director and professor of surgery at Grady. “The high volume of trauma patients we see here makes it an ideal location for our Army counterparts to train alongside us. This bidirectional education will enable us to treat some of the most critically injured patients. We look forward to our continued partnership with the Army as we move forward in our mission to save lives.”