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Building flying hospitals to save lives

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Stacia Zachary
  • AFCENT Combat Camera Corresponden
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Construction is in progress. Typically, aircraft parked on the flightline are not involved in construction - that is unless the C-130 Hercules in question is being reconfigured into a flying hospital.

The aeromedical mission is an integral portion of conducting wartime operations. Even though the in-flight process of caring for and transporting patients is the most identifiable of the aeromedical evacuation mission, there are many moving parts on the ground as well.

"The (aeromedical operations team) is so important to the AE mission because we do 'crew management' and 'crew scheduling' in addition to validating air crew certification," said Lt. Col. Patrick Martinez, 379th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron AEOT officer in charge. "Every detail of ensuring we have the right crew member for the mission at the right time and at the right place is the responsibility of the AEOT."

With an alert for an AE mission, time is of the essence. Not only does the mission take priority while in flight, there's also a small window of time for the medical crew to launch.

"Getting the patients to where they need to be safely and in a timely manner is top priority," Sergeant Brown said. "Depending on the severity of the patient's condition, we have a limited window of time to get them to the higher level of care they require."

An aeromedical mission is generated when a flight surgeon authorizes a patient to travel from Point A to Point B. Once approved for travel, an AE team will receive notification of the patient movement.

"As a member of the AEOT staff, we obtain patient information the night prior to the mission and present it to the (medical crew director) and their crew on the day of the mission," said Capt. Clementine Duke, 379 EAES. If the crew finds something while reviewing the mission paperwork, they will bring it up to the AEOT staff with an alternate suggestion for configuration, if needed."

Provided to the AEOT crew is a confirmed patient information report that includes the number of patients, ages, diagnoses, patient category, and the medical equipment necessary to provide pertinent care for the patients onboard.

"We fill the aircraft with medical in-flight kits, medication boxes, (medical) publications, emergency medical equipment, portable oxygen, an electrical frequency converter, coolers with food and water and life support bags," said Master Sgt. Carie Brown, 379th EAES AEOT.

The AEOT builds a "package" with all of the information necessary to generate the mission. This package assists in building a mission plan of equipment and teams needed for a successful flight. The configuration of the aircraft can change at a moment's notice depending on the patient's status or unforeseen changes to the planned mission.
"We configure the aircraft according to the patient report and according to the positioning plan that each crew has," Captain Duke said. "We also configure according to the number of patients on the mission and their conditions."

While the AE crews usually fly on a C-130 here, they can also fly on a C-17 Globemaster III, a KC-135 Stratotanker or a C-21. Different airframes give the AEOT staff different options on configuration and how many patients they can carry and treat. A C-130 can carry 70-74 litters while a C-17 can carry 36-48 litters.

"C-130 is most frequently used for shorter distances and C-17 for longer missions," Sergeant Brown said. "The C-17 is most ideal for patient care because it has therapeutic oxygen and electrical outlets available for our use so we don't have to bring on additional (patient support pallets)."

With this comprehensive information in hand, the AEOT staff runs down the checklist appropriate to the mission at hand, coordinating the various steps required to ensure the medical aircrew is adequately equipped for the flight.

"We take one step at a time and work off checklists to ensure we don't miss a beat," Colonel Martinez said.

Once the aircraft has been reconfigured, the AEOT staff will let the medical crew director know that it is time to alert the AE crew, who have one hour to report for preflight.

"Once we finish with the configuration we check with the medical crew director and the charge medical technician to ensure they have everything they need, and all the equipment is operational," Sergeant Brown said.

The AEOT team not only reconfigures an aircraft into a flying hospital, the team also manages the AE crews and critical care air transport teams assigned or transiting through here. Additionally, the AEOT personnel perform mission preparation, launch and recovery of the AE and CCATT as well as conduct mission debriefs.