 |
|
CPO
Angus waits for an inbound helicopter.
|
 |
|
CPO
Steve Angus assists a patient in a Coalition medical facility
north of Baghdad. This is his fourth deployment to The Gulf.
|
|
Photo:
CPL Neil Ruskin
|
By
CPL Damian Shovell
Medics
in the MEAO
(MPEG video 5.04 MB)
For
Chief Petty Officer Steve Angus, Sergeant Major for the 19-strong
ADF medical contingent attached to the US Air Force’s (USAF) 332
Expeditionary Medical Group in Northern Iraq, the deployment marks
his fourth in the Middle East, but the first with his feet on
dry land.
CPOMED Angus said he first deployed to Operation Desert Shield
in 1990 onboard HMAS Adelaide for four months and has also served
on HMA Ships Sydney during Op Slipper and Kanimbla during Op Falconer.
He said his prime function on this current deployment was detachment
Sergeant Major, and secondly as shift leader in the Emergency
Room (ER) in the USAF Theatre Hospital, which involves meeting
casualties on the helipad and bringing them into the ER’s four
trauma bays.
“Part of the shift leader’s duties is ensuring the right patients
come in the right order and go to the right area,” he said.
“Then we direct the floor, direct the medics and make sure trauma
teams are being paged, and if there’s an overflow we get in and
do patient care as well.”
CPO Angus has worked in Emergency Rooms in Australia at Royal
North Shore and St Vincent’s hospitals and has seen similar injuries
in road trauma accidents, which has helped prepare him for the
injuries and wounds he is now treating.
He said the experience level of the USAF personnel was high and
working together was providing positive outcomes for both.
“It’s good working with such knowledgeable people … we’re learning
as much from them as they are of us,” he said.
“The experience has been fabulous so far, working with these guys
and in this area is an eye-opener, but I don’t think I’ve had
a bad day yet.
“It’s given us a broader exposure to how patients are treated
and we can use that anywhere.”
