My first medevac has been completed. Patients from a
helicopter crash approximately 1-hour flight time with a Twin Otter (a small
twin engine airplane) from McMurdo. We were notified around 2000 on Wednesday
evening about the incident and that we might get some patients. Due to some language barrier it was a lot of
different information that was received. Our lead MD was down at the EOC
(Emergency Operations Center) and I was there for a short period of time and
went on to go back to the clinic and start to get things in order if we were to
receive these four patients. As I have mentioned in an earlier posting is that
if get more than 2 critical patients we are on the border to call it an MCI
(Mass Casualty Incident). It sounds strange to say that, but with our limited
resources here and not having the medical staff or the medical technology as we
have available in the US we are dependent on volunteers from the community
here.
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| Part of our team waiting for patients to arrive around midnight |
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| Main bays ready for patients |
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| Team getting a little bit of rest before the patients arrive. |
We called in a few people to assist us, we never called it
as a proper MCI. We had a few people that were needed to run the lab and assist
with x-rays. We are also lucky to have a couple of trained paramedics on
station that are willing to help out. All in all I feel we were as prepared as
we could be for the patients that we were expecting. Our lead MD, Mark did a
great job with letting us know what was going on and sharing information with
us as he got them. Flight surgeon Dr Steve Norris did a great job in assisting
in organizing the clinic.
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| Dr Norris ready for patients to arrive |
At 0130 Thursday the patient’s arrived. We only have one
ambulance on station so we utilized 3 passenger vans as make shift ambulances.
They got the sea ice runway closest to McMurdo as landing strip ready, even
though it was officially shutdown for aircraft operations for a few days
earlier. A great job by Fleet-Ops to get it ready in a few hours.
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| Pt treatment area 2 |
We received 4 patients and we were told that the earliest we
could get these patients off to New Zealand for more definitive care would be
at 1030 in the morning. Our station manager Steve Dunbar came to the clinic
several times to see what was going on and ask if we needed anything else and
updating us on the status for the flight out to New Zealand. At 0730 we started
to move the patients from the clinic down to the helipad in town for transport
out to Pegasus Airfield. The reason for flying the patients out there was the
condition of the road and the distance. It would take us over an hour in the
ambulance and vans vs. 10 min to get to Pegasus. We got all the patients loaded
in to two Bell 212 (2 in each aircraft) that we have. Once out at the airfield
we got them all loaded in to a LC-130 flown by the 109th Air Lift
Wing, Air National Guard from New York. This being my first Medevac off the
ice, it was nice to have the Medtech Jay that has been with us for a couple of
weeks to assist with the process.
Once in the air it was just a very long uneventful flight to
Christchurch, not even the minimed or ventilator was giving us any trouble.
When we arrived in Christchurch we had 4 ambulances waiting to take the
patients to the hospital. We gave report to the crews and they took over the
care of the patients. All we had left to do was to pack up our gear and hand
them over to the cargo people so they could be put on the next flight back to
McMurdo.
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| Tight quarters on our way to the helipad in the ambulance |
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2 patients in each Bell 212 for transport to Air field
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| Arrival to the airfield |
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| Patients being loaded in to the LC-130 |
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| Loading the patients |
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| Jay giving orders |
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| Patient care during flight |
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| Off-loadeing patients in Christchurch |
Once we had passed through customs and immigration we headed
to the hotel. It was nice to see something green and smell the grass. It
reminded me a lot of a Swedish summer evening. The temperature was just right
and even the smells reminded me of a Swedish summer night. Next up after
getting out of the clothes I had been wearing for the past 36 hours and take a
shower was to try to find a grocery store. We are scheduled to return tomorrow
at 0930 and I had some things that people had been asked me if I could get to
them. I did not promise anything but I would at least try. We managed to find a
store before they closed and get the stuff that I wanted. It was a strange
feeling in a way to be in a store again, we have a very small store on station
with limited items, here there was everything. A lot of aisles to go and find
stuff, almost to the point I did not know what I wanted myself.
We meet up with the ANG (Air National Guard) crew at their
hotel for drinks and dinner, but after being up for, at this time 38 hours it
did not become a very late night. Once my head hit the pillow I was out until
my alarm clock rang at 0800. I did manage to talk to my parents on Skype for a
few minutes and breakfast at McDonalds (only option close to the hotel). The
hotel breakfasts are really expensive here.
1100 am, 15 hours after our arrival we were on our way back
to the ice. Some things were learned and I am happy to have gotten the first
medevac done. Hopefully I don’t have to wait 9 more weeks for the next one,
since this is the job I truly enjoy doing.
Below are some pictures from the flight back.
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| Pre-Flight briefing in Christchurch |
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| The LC-130 flight deck Pilots Dave and Josh |
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| A korean Icebreaker by Terra Nova Bay |
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| LC-130s parked at Pegasus Airfield |
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