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Navy and Air Force Medics Carve New Path Moving Combat Casualties
Story Number: NNS030715-12
Release Date: 7/15/2003 9:14:00 PM
By Chief Journalist (SW) Dan Smithyman, Naval Station Rota Public Affairs
ROTA, Spain (NNS) -- As Fleet Hospital (FH) 8 closes its doors after months of treating combat casualties from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, the Air Force team working directly with Sailors from the field hospital also leave, having cut a new doctrine in aero-medical evacuation.
Col. Cynthia Linkes, officer-in-charge of the 491st Expeditionary Aero-medical Evacuation Squadron (EAES) here, says the Air Force/Navy team became a seamless joint operation in the care of wounded servicemembers who fought in the Iraqi war.
“Our mission was to receive and transport patients ready for aero-medical evacuation, whether it was coming in from Kuwait or going home to the States,” Linkes said. “We would receive flights here, offload patients from the aircraft, typically a C-141, and help the Navy get the patients into their care system, basically doing a lot of the litter carrying, transportation, things like that, and then the Navy would take over caring for the patients.”
“When the patients were ready to be aero-vacced back to where they were going, usually back to CONUS [continental United States], we would coordinate with the Navy, and of course the whole air medical evacuation system, in order to know which patients to put on a particular aircraft,” Linkes added.
The Rota, Spain, Mobile Aero-medical Staging Facility (MASF) operation was special, because the 491st was literally co-located with the Fleet Hospital, occupying one wing of the tent hospital. That, Linkes noted, is a new philosophy, a new doctrine that has not been done before in handling patient movement.
“The usual set up for a MASF is in a tent separate from any other facility, not connected to anything. Patients coming from other locations would be taken to the MASF, which is generally located right on the runway, and keep them there for 12 or more hours before transporting them to the hospital or treatment facility, which is typically miles away,” Linkes said. “This is very different to have the Fleet Hospital right with the MASF, and it has really worked great.”
“We don’t have to move patients twice,” said Chief Master Sgt. James Powell, the non-commissioned officer-in-charge of the 491st. “They don’t have to be moved from the hospital to us on the flight line and again to the aircraft. We just take them from the hospital straight to the aircraft, and get them on their way home.”
The 39-member team comprising the 491st EAES from San Antonio, is much like their Navy neighbors inside the hospital, although they are all mobilized Reservists. Flight nurses, enlisted aero-medical evacuation technicians, communications and administrative personnel, and a medical service corps officer make up the 491st.
“We get the patients about six hours before the flight,” Linkes said. “Our team does an assessment with the thought of aero-medical evacuation in mind, so we’re thinking about the stresses of flight; how vibration, humidity and changes in temperature will affect things like broken bones, which can cause more pain, or [flight stress may] cause problems with throwing an embolism, so we have to be aware of a patient’s condition.”
Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Derick Moody, a member of FH-8’s casualty receiving division and EVO (emergency vehicle operator), said the Navy and Air Force teams had its ups and downs, but “then we put some oil to the works, and it became a smooth working machine.”
“We shared drivers, vehicles and ideas in moving the patients as quickly and safely as possible,” he said.
According to Moody, one of the differences was the procedure for moving patients. Navy corpsmen generally use two litter carriers, while Air Force medics use four. Moody said the heaviest patient weighed 310 pounds and required the strength of all four litter carriers.
“He actually thanked us and complimented us on how carefully we moved him,” Moody said. “In fact, we got lots of compliments from our patients. We all gave them the best care we could. Even at 2 o’clock in the morning, we still gave 100 percent.”
After the 491st shipped out the final 21 patients of FH-8, the Air Force crew packed their gear and prepared for one last transport home…themselves.
For related news, visit the Naval Station Rota, Spain Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/rota.
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