Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Lieberknecht | 170316-N-AO823-005 PENSACOLA, Fla. (March 16, 2017) – Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class...... read more read more
(PENSACOLA, Fla.) – Navy Medicine ensures Sailors, Marines, their families and retirees are healthy, ready and on the job – be it on land or sea. One of the ways that is accomplished is through the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute (NAMI) under the Navy Medicine Operational Training Center (NMOTC).
One particular feature of NAMI that makes it a regional asset to Navy Medicine in the Florida panhandle is its Recompression Chamber (RCC), a hyperbaric chamber for patient treatment.
The primary use of a hyperbaric chamber is to treat Decompression Illness, the general term for a group of medical conditions caused by a decrease in pressure, and most commonly experienced by divers. In the military environment, similar conditions can also occur during operations and specialized training. Although the exposure to a low pressure environment is conducted on the ground, the related adverse effects are similar to the same environment while flying. The RCC is a military mission-critical piece of medical equipment used to keep active-duty service members safe and prepared to perform necessary duties during an event that requires its use.
The RCC, recently recertified for continued use, is operated by NAMI at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola to support all training and operations by local and visiting military and federal agencies.
Capt. Georgia Stoker, the NAMI officer-in-charge.
“NAMI’s RCC is the only dive chamber capable of recompression therapy in the local area,” said Capt. Georgia Stoker, the NAMI officer-in-charge. “The hyperbaric chambers at our local hospitals are geared for wound therapy and not emergency recompression. The next available chamber that could treat decompression illness is in Mobile, Ala..”
Such medical support would not be possible without the work of the NAMI Hyperbaric team maintaining proper readiness and certification. In September, the RCC underwent a thorough, 120-item inspection from Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), the Naval Shore Facilities, Base Operating Support, and Expeditionary Engineering Systems Command that delivers life-cycle technical and acquisition solutions aligned to Fleet and Marine Corps priorities. The satisfactory completion of this inspection achieved recertification for the NAMI RCC, allowing for recompression operations for the next 3 years.
“It takes a team effort to accomplish and maintain those checklist items,” said Chief Hospital Corpsman Norman Gubler, a Diving Medical Technician and the NAMI Hyperbaric Leading Chief Petty Officer. “The recertification of the chamber allows us to continue to operate for the next three years. It is the pride and dedication of the NAMI Hyperbaric medicine department to continue to adhere to the utmost quality control and safety standards during recompression chamber operations and high quality patient care, which contributed greatly to this recertification process.”
Under Navy Medicine, NMOTC provides training for operational medicine and aviation survival. The vision of NMOTC is to be recognized as the global leader in operational medicine, innovative and responsive to the challenges of the warfighter.
NAMI is one of six detachments of NMOTC. NAMI’s mission is to maximize performance and survivability of the warfighter by supporting Navy and Marine Corps aviation units through expert aeromedical consultation services development and application of aeromedical standards and training of aeromedical personnel for operational assignments.
| Date Taken: | 12.17.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 12.17.2020 11:47 |
| Story ID: | 385206 |
| Location: | PENSACOLA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 408 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, NAMI Recompression Chamber Recertifies, Ready for Patients, by PO2 Matthew R Herbst, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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