Kunsan medics train with Army for evacuation missions

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Amanda Savannah
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Approximately 40 Airmen from the 8th Medical Group participated in medical evacuation training here Jan. 19 with Army medics from the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade at Camp Humphreys.

The group of flight surgeons, family practice doctors, nurses, medical technicians, independent medical technicians and medical support personnel worked with Army Capt. Jared Brynildsen and 1st Lt. Quinn Meyers, UH-60 pilots, and Army Staff Sgt. Reginald Jones, flight medic, on learning medevac operations around the Black Hawk.

"Any time a patient needs to move urgently to a higher echelon of care, that's when you would consider a medevac," said Maj. Karen Hines, 8th Medical Operations Squadron health and wellness center director. "We also call it a dustoff. In this situation ... it's someone who has to get out pretty quickly, so they are seriously injured."

Major Hines invited the Camp Humphreys team to Kunsan to familiarize the Wolf Pack medics with the medevac concept.

"A lot of times (in real-world situations) it's not in the ideal conditions like this is, with the rotors off and the sun shining," Major Hines said. "It could be in low light, and we could be doing a hot onload, so the more familiar we are with the scenario and the equipment, the more prepared we will be."

The training focused on cold and hot loading, which is loading patients onto the helicopter with the rotor off for cold loading, and on for hot loading.

"Once the blades start spinning, the significance of safety goes way up," Captain Brynildsen said. "That's why they're practicing it now, so they know how to approach when the rotor is spinning."

Sergeant Jones began the training by explaining the equipment he keeps on board, the different patient configurations the helicopter is capable of, types of training he must remain proficient in, and the pros and cons of being a flight medic.

There are four standard medevac configurations to the Black Hawk; four litter and one ambulatory patient, six litter and one ambulatory patient, two litter and four ambulatory patients, and no litter and seven ambulatory patients. Litter patients are those who are seriously injured and cannot move themselves. Ambulatory patients still need to be evacuated, but are able to enter the helicopter on their own or with assistance.

"To be a flight medic, we must take a flight medical course with pediatric life support, basic trauma life support, advanced trauma life support, advanced cardiac life support, and basically be prepared to be able to fix any injury that's caused," Sergeant Jones said. "It's very rewarding and I get to see and experience a lot, but it's very difficult working in this environment."

The Wolf Pack medics then asked the team questions including regarding the rank requirements to be a flight medic, frequency of their medevac missions, mission lengths and whether the team had ever transported Korean patients.

"Back in March (2010) when the (Republic of Korea Naval ship) Cheonan sank, I was in charge of that (response) team," said Captain Brynildsen. "We sent a couple crews out to the ship and had a couple medevac missions from there of patients we had to take to Capitol Defense Hospital (near Seoul)."

Before the hands-on portion of the training began, Sergeant Jones reminded the group to remember safety when loading and unloading patients in a real-world scenario.

"If you are ever part of a litter team, never, ever, ever approach the aircraft unless you have the attention of one of the crew members, and never approach it from the rear," he said.

Staff Sgt. Wilsondo Alteus, 8th MDOS flight medicine technician, said he enjoyed learning how to load and unload patients from the aircraft.

"I've done this before ... with just the litters, but walking onto the helicopter has been totally different," Sergeant Alteus said. "We're watching how to load and offload patients while making sure we're safe, the patient is safe and that everything is done the way it's supposed to be done."

Sergeant Alteus said he also saw how parts of the mission are more difficult than others.

"Loading the patient is the easy part, but trying to be sure you come in quickly at the right angle and that the patient is safe is hard. Watching how they configure the aircraft also looks challenging," he said.

Tech. Sgt. Daniel Johnson, 8th Medical Support Squadron NCO in charge of outpatient records, said he wished he had encountered this training before his deployment.

"We were able to see what our sister service does (for medevac missions) on this peninsula in a controlled environment. The last time I got this type of training, I had mortars landing around me," Sergeant Johnson said. "This training was perfect for my career field. As a 4A0 (Health Services Management technician), we grab patients directly off the helicopter. Many people haven't been in front of a real helicopter, and this gives us the opportunity to see what it's really like."

Lieutenant Meyers and Captain Brynildsen said they also enjoyed the opportunity to show Air Force members the Black Hawk's capabilities, and working with their sister service.

"My favorite part of the training was seeing how excited people got about being around a helicopter; a lot of people haven't gotten to experience that," Lieutenant Meyers said. "For us it's work every day."

"This training provided everybody the chance to get exposure to the aircraft," Captain Brynildsen said. "We don't get to come down here and train with the Air Force as much as we'd like, so having them be able to get around our aircraft was a good opportunity for everybody to work together and build professional relationships."