New medical evacuation training may save lives

by Staff Sgt. Amber R. Kelly-Herard
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

4/16/2013 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill.  -- As the second group of graduates left Air Mobility Command's Aeromedical Evacuation school recently, the streamlined curriculum they experienced promised Total Force medical crews who are even better prepared to work together to save lives.

Thirty days of streamlined training at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, now brings common standards to Guard, Reserve and active-duty Airmen, allowing aeromedical crews to seamlessly act in emergency medical situations without skipping a beat.

"Each crew member having the same initial qualification training will improve their interoperability, which will allow any combination of crew members to work flawlessly together and focus on supporting wounded warriors returning from Afghanistan," said Col. Jennifer Kimmet, AMC Aeromedical Evacuation Operations chief.

Previously, with 33 variations of different locations and curricula, Airmen might have taken up to a year to be fully trained. Until now, most flight nurses and technicians received initial flight qualification training at their units, while some attended formal training classes at Pope Army Air Field, N.C.

"This is a big paradigm shift for aeromedical training," said Maj. Artemus Armas, AMC's Aeromedical Evacuation Operations and Training Branch chief. "This is the new way training should be done in the future, because it reduces local training variances and provides a single, standardized approach that allows for more efficient medical treatment."

The new curriculum involves five days of academic training on Air Force Instructions and terminology. Trainees then treat a simulated patient and then are evaluated for administering care aboard an aircraft. After working on a simulated C-130, for instance, students move on to actual C-130, C-17 and KC-135 aeromedical evacuation-configured aircraft.

The school will hold six more classes of up to 192 students this year.

AMC is the lead command for Aeromedical Evacuations worldwide. Since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, March 19, 2003, Guard, Reserve and active-duty Aeromedical Evacuation experts have performed nearly 200,000 patient movements for wounded service members.