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Medical logistics: Lives in the balance

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. John Jung
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  Surgical and survival records are being broken by doctors and nurses at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital here daily - but without critical supplies, medications and equipment, the skilled surgeons and caring nurses can't continue to do their job of saving lives.

That's where the masterful work of the 455th Expeditionary Medical Support Squadron, medical logistics flight comes into play.

So far in their rotation, the handful of medical supply technicians who comprise the flight, managed more than $7.1 million of medical supplies and equipment, including $2.5 million in contracts to sustain the hospital as well as the Egyptian and Jordanian hospital here at Bagram.

The flight also supported more than 2,100 aeromedical evacuation patients, 1,100 surgical cases and about 900 level-one trauma patients through their efforts, by keeping vital, life-saving supplies in the hands of caregivers; allowing them to claim an impressive 99 percent patient survival rate.

These kind of numbers don't go unnoticed.

"Just this morning, the director of the surgical staff for the hospital told me he was very thankful that we [the logistics flight] stepped up to the plate to make sure the care providers had no shortfalls in drug items or anything that they needed," said Maj. Cadina Powell, medical logistics flight commander, deployed from the Air Force Surgeon General's Office, Bolling Air Force Base, D.C.

But numbers alone don't tell the full story of the flight's accomplishments.

One of the most challenging issues for the flight is the lack of warehouse space at the hospital.

"Usually we have a storeroom that is three or four times the size of the current space we have for the number of patients that are seen here," said Major Powell, a 16-year Air Force veteran and native of Chicago.

The lack of space to store supplies, medicine and equipment, combined with the unpredictable shipping time into Afghanistan keeps the 'Log Dawgs' on their toes.

The Log Dawgs have to meticulously ensure stock levels in the hospital are ready for patients by monitoring the amount of supplies on-hand and proactively re-ordering supplies in case of a mass casualty trauma.

"We have to be creative and flexible with how we order and stock items, due to the length of time required for supplies to arrive" said Tech. Sgt. Jose Nevarez, the NCOIC of materiel management and 12-year Air Force veteran, deployed from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.

"To make up for some of that unpredictability we often stock items forward into the clinic or operating room so we don't have take up space in the stock room. It's sort of like a puzzle," said the El Paso, Texas, native. "We have to balance what stock we here now with what we expect to need in the future. But we also have to figure in what the docs and nurses will need in case of an emergency."

Even with their hands full trying to see into the future to order just the right amount of supplies, members of the flight still find ways to help out the hospital with its life-saving mission.

Staff Sgt. Crystal Moore, the NCOIC of customer service, materiel management and six-year Air Force veteran, is deployed from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., and helps out a part of the manpower team.

"If we're needed, we'll go out to the 'Dustoff' helicopters and bring the wounded or injured into the hospital as well," said the Port Orchard, Wash., native. "It really brings it home for me to see that the supplies I am ordering make a difference here. I see the patients as they come in, and see they are getting well because I've done my job right."