Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Jonathan Pankau | NORFOLK, Va. (July 22, 2017) -- USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) Medical department Sailors...... read more read more
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No aviation evolution is complete without the watchful eyes of the flight deck medical team to care for Sailors on the flight deck.
“The flight deck can be a dangerous place to work, but it can be a safer place if you put all the safety measures in place,” said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Stephanie Conn, the leading flight deck hospital corpsman. “But sometimes mishaps happen and when they occur, medical is up here, ready to respond to any type of situation.”
To assist in the response of a possible mishap on the flight deck, the battle dressing station on the flight deck is the main mode of medical aid during flight quarters.
“We have a small trauma center in the flight deck battle dressing station, “said Conn. “We have the ability to maintain life and limb. Our purpose is to be on deck and take care of the Sailors here.”
Not only is the medical team providing care during critical situations, they also provide other critical services for Sailors.
“Flight deck medical personnel range from safety observers to emergency medicine,” said Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Aaron Puffenbarger, an aerospace medical technician. “We take care of Sailors’ flight deck physicals and flight physicals. We make sure that anyone in an aviation rate is fully medically qualified to do his or her job.”
Part of being a safety observer on the flight deck is knowing the possible situations that may occur during evolutions.
“We’re on deck to respond to any situation medically, but we still need to have the same training to fight fires and know all the different hand signals so we know what an aircraft director is doing for the safety of our Sailors,” said Conn.
Two medical personnel are required to be on the flight deck during all evolutions and their positioning is key at all times.
“We use situational awareness for where the medical team needs to be on deck,” said Conn. “We usually keep one person in front of the island so they have a full deck view of anything in the landing area. In any evolution, a hospital corpsman is in a place that is out of the danger area so that we can assess the situation and respond accordingly.”
Through all of the medical preparedness, the memories of flight quarters stand out, even while training on the job.
“Being out on the flight deck with all the Sailors and aircraft is an amazing experience,” said Hospital Corpsman Sebastian Abbott. “Having someone up there like HM1 Conn and HM3 Puffenbarger to train and teach me all about the flight deck has helped a lot. Being out there in person makes the learning curve much quicker and lightened."
| Date Taken: | 11.04.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.13.2017 10:30 |
| Story ID: | 255063 |
| Location: | AT SEA |
| Web Views: | 480 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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