617th AOC Airmen orchestrate African aeromedical evacuation

Published Feb. 18, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Stefanie Torres
17th Air Force Public Affairs

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- When the 617th Air and Space Operations Center's Aeromedical Evacuation Control Team picks up the phone, the clock starts to work against them.

AECT Airmen coordinate and transport patients who need a higher level of care from Africa to locations where necessary medical care is available as part of 17th Air Force (Air Forces Africa) and serving in the 617th AOC's Air Mobility Division in support of U.S. Africa Command. Time is critical.

From October 2009 to February 2010, 617th AOC Airmen have coordinated the movement of 14 patients and tracked 154 patient movements with varying medical conditions ranging from dental and cardiac emergencies, orthopedic injuries and infectious diseases to compromised airways, said Tech. Sgt. Laura Jacobs, a 617th AOC aeromedical evacuation controller.

Sergeant Jacobs recalled one of the unit's most challenging missions that involved six injured patients with two needing urgent care.

"We had a plane and crew on the ground at their location in probably right at 12 hours, which is good for Africa because the continent is so big," she said. "Regardless of the urgent status and short notice of the event, we had a mission built in coordination with Tanker Airlift Control Center along with aeromedical evacuation crew tasked in four hours, which is fast compared to some other missions I've worked."

Most of the patients come out of Djibouti, but patients have also been recovered from Kenya, Mali,, South Africa, Liberia, Uganda, and Ethiopia, she said.

Requests for patient movement in Africa are sent to 617th AOC Airmen from the Theater Patient Movement Requirement Center here at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Lt. Col. Maria Guevara De Matalabos, the 617th AECT chief said.

"Air Force aeromedical evacuation begins once a validated movement request is passed to the Air Force for execution," she said.

AECT Airmen are always available 24/7, and as part of the 617th Air Mobility Division, they coordinate with appropriate agencies to get an aircraft and aeromedical evacuation crew onto the African continent in as little as 12 hours.

"The time we have to get there and have hands on depends on the seriousness of the patient's condition," Colonel Guevara De Matalabos said. "We would like to get hands on urgent care patients within 12 hours, and priority patients within 24 hours."

Without dedicated assigned aircraft or people for aeromedical evacuation that quick response is challenging, she explained.

One of the longest missions involved tasking a C-17 Globemaster III out of a base in Southwest Asia, to South Africa and back to Ramstein AB, Sergeant Jacobs said.

"It's a little (more than) 11 hours from Ramstein AB to South Africa, and the total flying time with aircraft leaving Southwest Asia, took about 19 hours," she said.

17th AF houses a "tailored" 617th AOC mission, which provides command and control capabilities for the planning and execution of aerial missions on the continent. However, with no assigned aircraft or aeromedical evacuation crews, the unit requests for support as needed from TACC officials to pinpoint the most available and capable airframe for the specific mission.

On average, coordination times of aeromedical evacuation missions for Africa take about four hours, even when requesting aircraft from TACC officials with aircraft originating out of Ramstein AB, Colonel Guevara De Matalabos said. A plane equipped with the en route care capabilities is imperative for successful execution of aeromedical evacuation missions.

"En route care is provided by trained (aeromedical evacuation crew members) consisting of qualified flight nurses and aeromedical evacuation technicians," Colonel Guevara De Matalabos said.

Colonel Guevara De Matalabos and her team routinely call upon the 603rd Aeromedical Evacuation Control Team, 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron Airmen, both at Ramstein AB, the Critical Care Air Transport Team at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, and Tanker Airlift Control Center Airmen at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., to assist in providing people and aircraft for the mission.

"These units have more than helped as far as lending us their assets," Sergeant Jacobs said. "They recognize the urgency of the missions and they are more than willing to help us."

The mission for 617th AOC Airmen doesn't end when coordination efforts are finished. They want to make sure that everyone, from patient to crew members, is taken care of in the patient movement process, Colonel Guevara De Matalabos said.

"We flight follow the entire mission," she said. "We track every patient from when they are picked up until they are delivered to their destination. We also make sure the flight crew has the right information they need. We want to make sure everything runs smoothly. This is a team effort and the evacuations couldn't happen if we all didn't work together."

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