Critical role
Medics make a difference

Raaf Medics
(MPEG video 3.19 MB)

By CPL Damian Shovell

SGT Karen McDonald, an anaesthetist, assists a patient at the medical facility.

Photo by CPL Neil Ruskin

NINETEEN ADF medical personnel are making a critical difference working alongside the US Air Force (USAF) at the No. 332 Expeditionary Medical Group at a major coalition base north of Baghdad.

OIC Australian Medical Detachment Wing Commander Michael Patterson said the group was working in the critical care areas and had slotted into the USAF’s roster.

“For example, in the Intensive Care Unit there are eight Australian nurses working as part of about 16 nurses in all and they just fill part of the roster and work side-by-side with the Americans,” WGCDR Patterson said.

The ADF medical staff – nine of whom are from the Air Force – include a neurosurgeon, a specialist emergency physician, two intensive care physicians, 10 intensive care nurses and five medics.

They treat coalition military personnel and civilians.

“We’ve come to a facility which is the USAF theatre hospital, which is the first time they’ve deployed a facility of this size and in this role for some time, and they were very keen in getting some people from coalition countries who had the emergency and intensive care capability to contribute to the facility,” WGCDR Patterson said.

He said the ADF contribution accounted for about 10 per cent of the 200 or so hospital staff and he believed the experience was proving very successful.

“That’s for a number of reasons: first, we’ve brought some very talented people, who are well-rounded from an operational and professional perspective and who have done a number of operations in similar roles; and second, we’ve been so well received by our hosts, it’s very easy to work well in that environment.”

He said he was initially concerned at what expectations the USAF might have, but quickly found the two organisations were very professionally aligned.

He said the hospital was operating at well over half its bed capacity and most casualties had battle injuries from improvised explosive devices and gunshots.

“The majority of what we see coming through the door is trauma [work] and some of it is quite significant. It’s peaks and troughs and it’s aligned closely with the operational tempo.”

He said casualties arrived mainly by casevac helicopters, usually after initial treatment at a field hospital.

“... it’s unusual for us to get anyone who has seen any surgery, so quite often we’re the first port of call.”

He said the Australians were performing admirably alongside their US counterparts.

“Given that we came here with the expectation of seeing these sorts of things, and living in the environment we’re living in, there are no surprises for any of us, it’s pretty much what we expected,” WGCDR Patterson said.

“We’ve got guys in the emergency department, in the operating theatre, in the ICU, and people who recover the patients in between.”

Once patients were stabilised they were transported to a hospital in Germany, a five-hour flight away. It was not uncommon for casualties to be in Germany within 24 hours of being injured.

Apart from providing a rewarding individual and professional experience, the deployment would benefit ADF health significantly and add to the lessons learnt from recent ADF operations, WGCDR Patterson said.

He said the value of operational experience was two-fold: sustaining relationships with coalition partners and adding to the mix of operational experience gained in Iraq that would help shape doctrine in the future.

“For example, their AME system: the US have CCAT (critical care aeromedical evacuation teams), and that’s a capability Australia is currently considering and we’re in an ideal position to provide comment.”

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