Photo By Staff Sgt. Matthew Ard | Tech. Sgt. Jonita Williams, Air Force Lt. Col. Heidi Stewart, Air Force Maj. George...... read more read more
By Staff Sgt. Matthew Ard
Wisconsin National Guard
OSHKOSH, Wis. - Amidst all of the commotion at the world’s largest air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, a small group of airmen had an important story to tell.
Members of a Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT) took the stage Aug. 2 in the Theater in the Woods at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA), AirVenture Oshkosh show to tell people about the mission of these special teams.
“They’ve saved countless lives since I’ve been flying,” said Air Force Capt. Tanner Summers, a C-17 Globemaster III pilot who earlier greeted hundreds of spectators inside the cockpit of a C-17 parked on the runway at the event.
“There are a number of memorable patients that we have flown,” said Air Force Maj. George Kotti, CCATT team leader with the 81st Medical Group from Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. “Some are more memorable because of the medical issues and challenges.”
“Since 9/11 we have moved about 195,000 patients,” said Brig. Gen. Kory Cornum, air mobility command surgeon with Headquarters Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
More than 9,200 of those patients were moved in critical status by CCATTs, Cornum said. He noted that the rapid patient movement from the battlefields of the Middle East to the medical centers in the United States has gone from an average of 40 days during the Vietnam War to only three days today.
CCATTs utilize a mobile intensive care unit (ICU) that is set up aboard a number of different aircraft such as the C-17 Globemaster III. The equipment that CCATTs have available to them is highly advanced and requires extensive training to deploy in such a capacity.
“We have 10 minutes from the time our pager goes off to get dressed, grab a bag and be outside because our vehicle is waiting to pick us up,” said Tech. Sgt. Jonita Williams, a respiratory therapist for a CCATT with the 81st Medical Group, at Keesler Air Force Base.
Williams has logged more than 30 missions as a CCATT member, and recalled the story of a seriously injured patient who had died on the operating table, but was revived by skilled medical professionals who amazingly massaged his heart until he came back to life.
Williams’ team received the call to transport the soldier who had been revived, and they were quick to prepare for rapid transit from Kandahar to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
“Lo and behold, there are bad guys out there that don’t like us too much, unfortunately,” Williams said. Her team had to hit the deck as indirect fire rained down on the base near the airfield, further delaying transport of the critical patient.
“We wanted to make sure we kept him alive because there was so much effort put into his recovery,” Williams said. “We didn’t want to lose him again.”
Today that soldier is stateside and able to do pushups on his own, she said.
“It is because of the things we are capable of that he is able to do that today,” Williams said. “It is guys like this that deserve all of our respect.”
Williams also mentioned having to replace a ventilator prior to departure as well as a faulty frequency converter which was repaired during take-off by a member of the air crew.
“We can’t do what we do without them,” Williams said of the aircraft crewmembers.
Kotti took the podium, speaking with the eloquence of a noble university professor, and took the spectators on a practical and pointed discussion about how CCATTs operate.
Kotti noted the many challenges CCATTs face as well as the rewards of the job. Dark working conditions aboard the aircraft make even the most routine tasks much more difficult. Delays due to enemy attacks on the runway or at the hospital can slow transport and squeeze minutes out of that “golden hour” — a term used in the medical community to describe the amount of time a patient is most likely to survive if they are given standard medical treatment.
“You have to think about when the back of the aircraft closes and you are at 30,000 feet, you need to make sure that you have everything that you need to take care of that patient,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Heidi Stewart, 81st Medical Group, Keesler Air Force Base.
Stewart elaborated on the extensive training CCATT members receive throughout their careers and the capabilities that CCATTs can bring to any corner of the globe in a short time. The real success of CCATT is in their ability to then turn around and transport patients back to the other side of the globe if need be.
“Your patients act differently at altitude than they would on the ground,” Stewart said. Points like this are emphasized in training and put into practice in advanced course simulators which have the ability to convey real-life scenario’s for trainees.
Stewart told the crowd about a patient whom she treated in 2005 that was in an explosion. There were others who were also being treated aboard the aircraft — however this person stuck out in her memory.
“He was significantly burned,” Stewart said, as she stepped away from the podium to gather herself. “The mission was probably about nine hours, maybe eight,” she said. Stewart sat by his side for six hours as she was unable to sedate him due to the patient’s medical circumstances.
“Does the training prepare you for this? Probably not," Stewart acknowledged, "but that’s what we go out there for. We go out there with the expectations that we’re going to be doing things like this and it gives us great pleasure to be able to do it.”
Kotti wanted to make it clear that they make no claims to heroism, and that the patients that they serve and those out there fighting every day to keep our country safe deserve the credit.
“I’ve shown you pictures of fancy equipment, state-of-the-art aircraft and teams of incredible people that will make this mission a success," Kotti said, "but what it really boils down to is not a new technology or a new process. It is a patient and a nurse and a commitment that our military and our country have made.”
Kotti was proud of the community of CCATT teams he is a part of and gave credit to the many hundreds of people who work in many ways to make the transport of patients happen so effectively.
“No matter how badly you are injured, no matter where you are in this world, we will come, and we will bring you home,” Kotti said.
It is true that heroes come in many forms. But angels come with wings.
| Date Taken: | 08.02.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.05.2014 14:31 |
| Story ID: | 138352 |
| Location: | OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 379 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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