Travis team treats battlefield wounded

  • Published
  • By Capt. Kim Garbett
  • 60th Medical Group Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) --  The aeromedical staging facility at David Grant Medical Center here cares for some of the most precious cargo in the Air Force: its people.

"Since the beginning of hostilities in Iraq … earlier this year, Travis' ASF has seen more than 200 patients come through (its) staging facility and departure lounge each month," said 1st Lt. Sarah Abel. She is a clinical nurse in the facility.

"The patients primarily have been armed-forces members from all branches of the military. Their medical needs vary from shrapnel wounds, to fractures, to blast injuries from (rocket-propelled grenades) and land mines, to post-traumatic stress disorder from being on the front lines," she said.

The 60th Aerospace Medicine Squadron staff provides around-the-clock coverage at the medical center’s staging facility, receiving patients and launching missions for those patients requiring aeromedical evacuation for urgent or emergency care around the world.

The Travis facility works hand-in-hand with aeromedical expeditionary squadrons daily.

Travis' 349th Aerospace Expeditionary Squadron and 60th ASF airmen work together on a regular basis. They move patients who need medical attention that cannot be provided at their forward-deployed and overseas locations, said Senior Airman Paul Wheeler, an ASF medical technician.

Travis AFB is the West Coast hub for all aeromedical evacuation in the Pacific Theater and also provides patient transportation globally, Abel said.

During peacetime operations, Travis' ASF primarily sees military family members coming from overseas for emergency care at state-side facilities, Wheeler said. Most are newborn children with serious health problems.

Up until August, all continental-U.S. aeromedical evacuation missions were handled by the C-9 Nightingale, specially designed for medical transportation and air evacuation missions. Overseas air-evacuation operations airframes included KC-135 Stratotankers and C-141 Starlifters.

In August, C-9s were retired from the Air Force inventory. The aeromedical mission transferred to airlift platforms such as the C-130 Hercules and KC-135, which were then reconfigured for their aeromedical mission, Wheeler said. Medical equipment is brought on board as necessary. Two nurses and three medical technicians typically make up the medical flight crew caring for the patients during the flight.

During wartime operations, the staging facility airmen care primarily for people injured on the battlefield. The air-evacuation system consists of various aircraft, medical teams overseas, flight crews and medical flight crews. It also includes home-station medical teams at various hubs across the United States, among others who make the operational medical missions happen, Abel said.

"We try (to) make the patients' stay as pleasant as possible here … since some of our in-transit patients remain overnight while awaiting transportation," said Master Sgt. Thule Huff, an aeromedical-evacuation operations element chief at the facility. "The air-evac system is a real testimony to the teamwork between the aircrew and medical personnel in the Air Force. (They) ensure the safe and expeditious transport of precious cargo -- the lives of their servicemembers and their family members -- being moved across the world.

"Our ultimate goal is to provide them with skilled medical care and to ensure they are moved as quickly as they can be from their starting destination to the facility where they will be treated," he said. (Courtesy of Air Mobility Command News Service)