Airmen help warriors get home safely

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Mike Chillstrom
  • 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  At an hour when most people are fast asleep, 59th Medical Wing medics from Wilford Hall Medical Center here were wide-awake anticipating the return of 14 servicemembers injured in Iraq.

Standing sentinel, a row of 14 ambulances lined the San Antonio International Airport flightline awaiting the arrival of the patients April 29.

Medics watched as the C-141 Starlifter glided onto the San Antonio runway nearly one day after leaving Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

The mission from Germany began with 43 Operation Iraqi Freedom patients, bringing 29 of them to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., before continuing to San Antonio.

Fighting the wind and rain, two critical care air transport teams, some observers and a handful of people from the 59th MDW’s aeromedical staging facility moved patients from the C-141 into the ambulances.

All the patients were driven to nearby Brooke Army Medical Center, where they received care mostly for burn and shrapnel injuries.

The medics accompanied four extremely ill patients to the medical center.

“(The) teams were required because four patients needed critical-care ground transport. Our job is to treat patients who need to be continuously monitored,” said Capt. Julia Kiss, CCATT program coordinator and critical-care nurse.

The 59th MDW teams were able to jump in and take over for the team from Germany, ensuring that the critically ill patients had continuous care.

A CCAT team comprises a critical-care physician, critical-care nurse and respiratory therapist who are able to provide in-transit care for the most severely ill patients. The team essentially forms a mobile intensive care unit anywhere it goes.

The San Antonio mission lasted less than two hours, concluding with the safe arrival of the patients at the medical center.