Guardsmen care for wounded warriors

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. John Gordinier
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq (AFNS) --  A staff of 23, of whom 21 are Air National Guardsmen, work together to provide medical care and support to more than 750 servicemembers and coalition forces here.

The 447th Expeditionary Medical Support Squadron here provides servicemembers with medical, dental and mental-health care. They also ensure the food and water is safe to consume through bioenvironmental engineering and public health.

"EMEDS is an expeditionary medical mission comprised mainly of Air National Guardsmen," said Col. Maureen McCarthy, an 447th EMEDS commander. "EMEDS is really a tent package that was here originally at the beginning of (Operation Iraqi Freedom) in 2003."

"Then, as the need increased, additional support and equipment was brought in," added the Topsfield, Mass., native deployed here from Otis ANG station, Mass. "This facility can take care of a population of 500 to 2,000 people."

Overall, the facility provides all types of medical care, without the surgical package.

"We don't do any immediate surgery here," the colonel said. "If someone is severely injured, we would stabilize, treat, and air evacuate them to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, for further care."

According to the ANG Web site, EMEDS is a modular, scalable, rapid-response medical package that can be used in humanitarian relief, wartime contingencies and disaster-response operations.

"The 447th EMEDS has been here in place for four years as a hardened facility," Colonel McCarthy said. "Traditionally, when EMEDS is set up in a barren situation where you are walking in off the aircraft, it is a tent set up to begin surgical care. Just like what we did with Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma."

Since it is a modular package, everyone is their own subject-matter expert.

"Everyone here is in a one-deep slot except for the medics," said Master Sgt. Joey Castle, 447th EMEDS first sergeant and biomedical equipment-repair technician. "We have one X-ray technician, one dentist, one dental technician, one mental-health psychologist and so forth. Since each Airman is the only subject-matter expert, we are always on-call, ready to take on any urgent medical need."

By and large, Sergeant Castle said his mission here is to maintain any type of equipment that involves patient care.

"I perform diagnostic checks, maintenance and repair on all the medical equipment in our facility," added the Great Falls, Mont., native deployed here from Great Falls International Airport Air Guard Station, Mont. "I keep everything running."

While other Airmen in the EMEDS facility don't provide patient care, they do make sure Airmen are not exposed to bioenvironmental dangers on the installation.

Staff Sgt. Timothy Booth, 447th EMEDS bioenvironmental-engineering technician, said his mission is to go out and collect data to make sure all Airmen here are not being exposed to anything hazardous --whether it is noise levels or chemicals.

"I also do a lot of water sampling to make sure the water here is up to standards and safe for servicemembers," Sergeant Booth said. "If we find something in our inspection, it is our job to inform proper leadership and implement controls and preventive measures to correct the finding."

"After my recent inspection, I found the water here to be better than bottled water back home in the states, because the bottling company here takes their water to a higher standard than the minimum requirements," added the Rogers, Ark., native deployed here from the Fort Smith Municipal Airport Air Guard Station, Ark.

If Airmen here have emotional problems or if they have combat stress, they can seek help at the EMEDS facility as well.

Col. Rick Campise, 447th EMEDS mental-health chief, said his job here is to help people perform their mission.

If someone goes to mental health, there is a stigma it will impact their career negatively, Colonel Campise said.

"That's just not the case," he added. "We performed a study a while back and found of those who came to mental health for help, only three percent of them had a negative career impact. So, 97 percent of the time, there is no change in your career.

"There is no need to be miserable; you can get treatment," continued Colonel Campise, a Washington, D.C., native deployed here from Langley Air Force Base, Va. "We have sessions for combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder which are proven to help a person's quality of life.

"Mental health is not a ticket home; it is the idea that you want to come to mental health because you want to make changes in your life that will help you stay in-theater and help you achieve your mission as opposed to thinking, 'things are going bad, and I want to go home to take care of it,'" he concluded.

Overall, the EMEDS Airmen are happy to be in the fight and on the front line in their specialty.

"I was excited about coming here and being in a one-deep slot because it's a true test of your skills; I love the challenge," Sergeant Booth said. "Working with Guard Airmen makes me feel right at home."