Our People in WA
Cpl Carleen La Rosa - Flying angels
Posted to Health Service Flight, RAAF Pearce, the 26 year old is currently deployed to Op Catalyst where she works in TG 633.4’s Expeditionary Health Facility.
As task group medic she looks after the 160 members of the C-130 detachment, but is also required to escort patients back to Australia.
“We do the pre-flight preparations, making sure they are stabilised, that their vital signs are right, and we have everything we need in a worse-case scenario,” Cpl La Rosa said.
She said Army personnel usually evacuated patients to the nearest medical facility, but that Air Force-trained personnel were the ones charged with bringing our troops home.
“The AME course covers aviation physiology and the stressors of flight, such as increase in altitude, the vibrations, decrease in oxygen; all the factors which come into it when you’re looking after a patient.”
Half way through a six month deployment, Cpl La Rosa said she was settling in to her job with the task group.
“The first month with the handover/takeover was a bit difficult, but I’m really starting to enjoy it here,” she said. “It is an honour and a privilege to bring the guys back, because they are doing such a good job over here.
“Being in the medical profession, that is one of our most rewarding roles. I conduct the AME, I get them home and I get them back safe with their families so they can rest and recuperate and get better.”