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Nine medevaced from PRT Zabul after tragic accident

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson
  • PRT Zabul
QALAT, Afghanistan --  It was 9:10 a.m. when the notification came to Forward Operating Base Smart, Afghanistan.

A civilian bus headed south on Highway 1 has rolled over leaving seven dead and more than 30 injured just outside Qalat city.

Within 15 minutes, medical personnel from Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul were on the scene at Zabul Provincial Hospital to assess patients and provide medical care.

"We were told that three to four patients were injured severely enough to be transported," said Maj. Shane McCauley, senior medical officer, PRT Zabul. "We knew there were a lot of injuries. We were called to assist with to triage and determine who needed to be medevaced to a higher level of medical care."

The five Air Force medical personnel, two doctors, two medics and one physician assistant, entered the hospital and went to work assessing patients.

"We were directed toward the room with the most serious injures," said Dr. McCauley. "The first patient we found was delirious. He had a head injury and didn't know where he was or even his own name. We also found a younger man who appeared to be paralyzed from the mid-thigh down."

The military provides medical assistance to civilians if the patient's life, limb or eyesight are threatened. The Afghan medical system provides care for all other medical issues.

All together, nine patients with potentially life-threatening injuries were flown via helicopter from FOB Smart to FOB Lagman, and then on to Kandahar.

"To get the patients from the hospital to FOB Smart was somewhat difficult," said Staff Sgt. Marc Villano, a PRT Zabul medic.

The Zabul Provincial Hospital is about 100 meters from the PRT's gate; however, transporting severely injured patients in Afghanistan isn't easy.

"In a perfect world, you would have an ambulance or some sort of emergency vehicle," said Sergeant Villano. "Here we used vans, trucks and anything else we could find."

Sergeant Villano made five trips from the hospital to the base, monitoring each patient the entire way.

"I had no time to stop, even for a second. By the time I got out of one van at the hospital, I was jumping into another to return to the base," said Sergeant Villano. "Everyone did a great job getting the patients ready for transport."

While medical members evaluated and treated patients at the hospital, Airmen and Soldiers back at FOB Smart took it upon themselves to set up a staging point between the gate and the helipad.

What started with two 4X4 boards to place litters on grew to a casualty collection point and staging area.

"A couple of us were waiting at the gate just in case someone needed our help," said Capt. Ryan Weld, PRT Zabul intelligence officer. "It ended up that a lot of help was needed and the team just responded. More and more people kept showing up helping us get backboards ready for the incoming patients and getting then loaded into the helicopters. No idea was overlooked."

"It was perfect," said Sergeant Villano. "They set it up right between the gate and the helipad. They had all the cots lined up and they grabbed a mass casualty bag and had it ready for us. They were on the ball. Whatever we needed, they were on it."

Captain Weld, who is combat lifesaver qualified, said that all the people he saw were severely injured.

According to the incident report, the nine medevaced patients suffered from two femur fractures, five head injuries, one case of paralysis and one abdominal injury. It took two hours to triage, treat and medevac all nine patients. The first patient was air lifted within 20 minutes of PRT medical personnel arriving at the hospital.

"I think we responded quickly and got the patients to a higher level of care in enough time to save their lives," said Doctor McCauley.

"I feel like I helped change these people's lives," said Captain Weld. "Some of these people would not have survived had we not been here to provide this care.