Keeping The Survival Rate High

  • Published
  • By Rich Lamance
  • Airman Magazine staff writer
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq - --  A true oasis in the desert, the Air Force theater hospital at Balad Air Base, Iraq, is one of the most advanced field hospitals ever used in wartime.

The survival rate -- for American servicemembers, Iraqi military and police, civilians, even insurgents -- is more than 95 percent. That's the highest ever for any conflict, U.S. military officials said.

A primary reason for the success is the quality of the Airmen -- like aerospace medical technician Staff Sgt. Jason Leonard -- who work at Balad's 332nd Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility. He and his peers have the vital task of stabilizing critically wounded patients before their transport out of the hospital.

Then the facility's Airmen help to safely transfer some patients to larger hospitals in Germany or the United States.

"The timing of movement for critical patients is crucial to their recovery, involving stability and increased care," Sergeant Leonard said. "The least amount of time spent in transit to and from the aircraft is paramount."

Sergeant Leonard said during this influx of activity, volunteers are an important part of the success story. Everyone from F-16 Fighting Falcon crew chiefs to firefighters get involved with moving patients safely to and from aircraft.

"When the volunteers arrive, I make sure they have all of their personal protective equipment and know our commands for lifting and moving patients safely," he said.

Because the Balad hospital is basically a stop where Airmen stabilize critically wounded patients before transporting them to larger hospitals, Sergeant Leonard and his peers find themselves going through the same process twice, only in reverse.

"We receive patients from throughout the region," Sergeant Leonard said. "After leaving the aircraft with the patients, those needing to be seen in the emergency room are taken there.

"Then we unload the remainder of our patients into the staging facility," he said. "I help our baggage technician with the customs checks and then assist with taking patients' vital signs and help assign them to their beds."

Sergeant Leonard said units like his are critical to the success of the aeromedical evacuation system, which reaches from the battlefield to stateside hospitals.

"If my unit was not a step in the evacuation process, patients would have no place to be housed and cared for while awaiting an aircraft to take them to the next echelon of care," he said.

Theater hospitals don't have sufficient beds or people to care for non-critical patients awaiting transportation. Plus, most hospital staff members are not experienced in loading and off-loading patients from different types of aircraft, the sergeant said.

"Air evacuation crews rely on us to make sure patients meet aircraft at the right times, with the right medication to ensure an uneventful flight," he said. "Very simply, the air evacuation system would not work without the staging facility staff."

However, it's during a crisis, when mass casualties arrive from the field, that the sergeant says is the most telling example of just how instrumental he and his unit have become in the effort to save lives.

"During one of my early weeks in country, we were called to support a helicopter pad for a mass casualty evacuation. As helicopters kept coming in with more wounded, it was astounding to see all the people, from EMTs [emergency medical technicians], doctors and nurses, to volunteers who had never done anything medical in their careers, work in such a fluid manner.

"Every person out there was saving lives," Sergeant Leonard said.

As the wounded arrived people lifted the them onto litters.

There were "people triaging, people exposing wounds -- and all of this within the 90 seconds before the patients even got to the emergency room," he said.

"Personally, it was comforting to know if one of my friends or loved ones was serving in Iraq, and wounded, I would have the utmost confidence in our medical staff's ability to get them home alive," he said.

Balad is Sergeant Leonard's first deployment. But for all its hardships, the six-year Air Force Reserve veteran plans to reenlist. Iraq has been an eye-opener.

"Sleeping has been hard because of the proximity of my bunk to the flightline and the tempo of the missions at Balad," he said.

For now, Sergeant Leonard cares for the wounded, which is no easy task.

"It makes life more difficult to see my brothers and sisters in the service injured in the line of duty," he said. "But we're making a difference here."