Courtesy Photo | Captain Sara Anderson, 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 159th Combat Aviation...... read more read more
Capt. Sara Anderson would never have been flight surgeon of the year if it were not for her husband.
"My husband is the whole reason I am a flight surgeon," said Anderson. "He was a flight surgeon and he encouraged me to pursue the option of becoming on."
Anderson, of 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment located at Logistical Support Area, Iraq, was the recipient of the Theodore Lyster Award presented by the Society of US Army Flight Surgeons while she has been deployed in Iraq.
The Theodore Lyster Award, the second highest award given by the society, was officially presented at the Operational Aeromedical Problems Course, in the city of Galveston, Texas Feb. 14.
The Theodore Lyster Award is an award presented annually to the most outstanding active duty flight surgeon assigned to an Army Medical Department unit. It recognizes flight surgeons in direct support of aviation units, those who support aviation units as part of the Professional Filler System, and other flight surgeons that support Army Aviation.
Anderson was recognized for her service as Chief of Aviation Medicine at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, where she rendered care to a combined patient population of 4,000 personnel.
She has also been writing and updating medical evacuation treatment protocols, training and supervising flight medics helping keep them at a high state of medical readiness.
Anderson said she has only been a certified flight surgeon for about two years. When she is not deployed as a flight surgeon, she is a pediatrician.
"I was chosen by PROFIS to deploy with this aviation unit that usually wouldn't have one," said Anderson.
Anderson said she was not aware of the fact that she had won the award until one of her colleagues saw her name in a medical magazine and told her about it.
"I had no idea I had won the award," she said. "My husband was reading the same magazine and found out the very next day."
Anderson said she met her husband at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., where they were both students.
"My husband is the whole reason I am a flight surgeon," Anderson said. I wanted to be able to stay in the same area as him, and since there were no openings for pediatricians, I decided to become a flight surgeon. He really enjoyed his experience as a flight surgeon and encouraged me to pursue the option of
becoming one."
Anderson said her main mission here is to make sure the Soldiers of her unit are healthy and mission ready at all times. During medical evacuation missions, she conducts preventative medicine on the casualty until they reach a medical facility.
"Prior to this deployment, I have not been attached to a line unit, and this is the first time I have been able to see how hard these Soldiers work to complete their mission," she said.
Anderson said she has learned a lot while working with the 57th Medical Company, which is attached to the Eagle Lift battalion.
"My husband was previously a medevac pilot so it has been interesting for me to see the operations on a first hand basis," she said.
"The 57th Med. Co. is very interested in making improvements to their own medical skills and knowledge as well as the medevac operation as a whole," said Anderson. "We have formal education time weekly and they continually perform on the job training."
Currently Anderson and the 57th Med. Co. are working on designing a computer based system for recording patient information during a medevac mission.
"This will increase the quality of information that the trauma hospitals receive as well as allow for analysis of pre-hospital care here in Iraq," Anderson said.
| Date Taken: | 08.25.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 08.25.2006 10:05 |
| Story ID: | 7550 |
| Location: |
| Web Views: | 794 |
| Downloads: | 203 |
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