Bringing them back home

By Andrew Stackpool

Air Force aero medical personnel prepare injured Australian patients at Denpasar Airport for evacuation to Darwin following the Bali bombings on October 1.

Aero medical and C-130 aircrew members involved in the Bali bombing evacuations to Darwin and Newcastle.

Photos provided by GPCAPT Bill Griggs

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* Aero medical evacuation teams deployed to Denpasar in Bali on two C-130s on October 2 for Operation Bali Assist II. Ten Australian victims wounded in the Bali bombings were evacuated to RAAF Base Darwin on October 3. Nine victims from Newcastle were then evacuated to RAAF Base Williamtown on October 5. The Air Force’s lightest, most rapidly deployable hospital, known as Expeditionary Health Flight Level 2, was deployed overseas for the first time since Vietnam. The successful medical evacuation comprised regular and Reserve medical personnel and specialists from all over Australia..

AIR Force regular and Reserve medical personnel from around Australia put their hands up to help the injured from the Bali bombing, making Air Force health history in the process.

Like her colleagues at No. 86 Wing and in other areas, Officer Commanding Health Services Wing Group Captain Tracy Smart and her team at RAAF Base Amberley worked tirelessly through the night to get the medical effort on the ground in Bali to bring home 10 wounded Australians.

Twenty-three people, including four Australians, died when three terrorist bombs exploded on the Indonesian island on the evening of October 1.

Group Captain Smart said when the Wing received the call at 11.30pm on October 1, they “immediately put the Medical Assessment Element (MAE) and an augmented Aero Medical Evacuation (AME) team in Darwin, which comprised personnel from No. 321 Health Services Flight (HSF), and the Specialist Reserve, on three hours notice to move”.

“At about 2am, I spoke to the Strategic Operations Division and recommended that our response should include at least two more AME teams, plus kit from RAAF Base Richmond, as well as our online expeditionary health capability,” she said.

“This included an Expeditionary Health Flight Level 2 (EHF2) and Fly Away Surgical Team (FAST). When deployed together, this represents an EHF Level 3 (EHF3) Basic – in other words, our lightest, most rapidly deployable hospital.”

Meanwhile, No. 3 Combat Support Hospital was alerted to the bombing in the early hours of Sunday morning, October 2, and rapidly prepared to deploy its medical teams. The hospital prepared two enhanced AME teams as well as the EHF2 and FAST teams, while other health personnel from around the country also assisted.

No. 1 Air Transportable Health Squadron, and Nos. 321 and 322 Combat Support Squadrons from Darwin and Tindal also provided AME teams on standby in Darwin.

Commanding Officer No. 3 Combat Support Hospital Wing Commander Steve Davis deployed to Bali as the Health Commander with the Medical Assessment Element (MAE) and Defence Supplementation Staff, which worked in conjunction with the DFAT Emergency Response Team.

The MAE team’s task was to find any Australian patients and assess other seriously ill people with a view to evacuating them back to Darwin.

By 10am, the hospital’s EHF2, FAST, and two AME teams and equipment were loaded onto the C-130 to head for Darwin. While this was under way, Reserve members, including critical care aero-medical retrieval specialists, surgeons and anaesthetists, were deployed to Darwin.

Wing Commander Karen Leshinskas, from the Health Support Wing, joined the Wing Operations Centre, which No. 86 Wing had sent to Darwin from RAAF Base Richmond, as the Air Evacuation Operations Officer. Her job was to coordinate the teams on the ground and dispatch them north once all was in place. NORCOM and No. 321 Health Services Flight provided staff to assist her in this vital role.

Personnel from No. 322 Health Services Flight at RAAF Base Tindal were also mobilised and headed to Darwin to assist with the reception of patients. They took with them their AMBUS, a large bus converted to take multiple stretcher patients.

Wing Commander Davis said the MAE arrived in Bali during the early afternoon of October 2.

“After a short in-brief at the Australian consulate, the MAE went to the local Bali hospitals to assess the number and clinical condition of Australians and foreign nationals that required medical evacuation,” he said.

“On arrival at Sanglah hospital, the scene was quite chaotic. At Sanglah and Prima Medika hospitals, the MAE identified 13 patients who required aero medical evacuation. They were 10 Australians, two Japanese and an Indonesian.

“The MAE liaised with the Indonesian medical staff and hospitals to evacuate the casualties to Denpasar Airport, where we had established a Casualty Clearing Station in the fire truck hangar.

“We coordinated the AME flights with Wing Commander Leshinskas in Darwin, and the first C-130 arrived in Bali at about 2130 (local time).

“The casualties all had blast and shrapnel injuries from the bombing.

“While the majority of the casualties had been stabilised and well cared for by the Indonesian medical staff, some of them remained in a critical condition and required close monitoring and intensive-level care throughout the evacuation process.”

The Hercules arrived in Darwin and then left for Bali with appropriate AME personnel and kit. The MAE, who had already organised patients for the evacuations, met them in Bali.

Group Captain Smart said that the EHF3 Basic set-up in Bali represented the first deployment of an Air Force hospital overseas “since perhaps Vietnam”.

“We did have an Air Force-led hospital in East Timor, however, this was initially deployed as an Army facility,” she said.

On the evening of October 2, all the patients and nine family members were evacuated to Darwin aboard the two Hercules. The EHF2 and FAST remained in Bali on standby should further assistance be required. The AME teams remained in Darwin and prepared for another mission, while Wing Commander Davis remained in Bali until October 7, working with the DFAT Emergency Response Team to ensure that there were no further casualties that required evacuation.

On October 5, nine Australian patients were evacuated to Newcastle using the AME teams.

“Our response was timely and we could have dealt with more casualties if required,” Group Captain Smart said.

“We applied lessons learnt from the first Bali response to this operation and things went even more smoothly than last time.

“It was a great team effort between Health Support Wing personnel, No. 86 Wing, No. 386 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron, No. 396 Combat Support Wing, health and support personnel from Darwin and Tindal, the Reserves, NORCOM staff and staff at Royal Darwin Hospital.”

Wing Commander Leshinskas praised the efforts of the support personnel who remained in Darwin.

“The Darwin end of the air bridge was coordinated by Air Force, Navy, Army and civilian personnel in Darwin,” she said.

“A coordinated effort was required to ensure that all aspects were considered and the teamwork ensured a smooth operation from start to finish.”

Wing Commander Davis paid tribute to the hard work by the teams.

“The aero medical evacuations operation went very smoothly, and all the medical personnel and support personnel did an outstanding job in less than ideal circumstances,” he said.

“The excellent work the team did was appreciated by all, particularly the casualties being evacuated. I’m sure that lives were saved by Air Force’s rapid response.”

 

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