Medic Mentorship at Pacific Angel 11-1
By Lt Col Collette Richards13 AF Surgeon General's Office
Bangkok, Thailand - Pacific Angel Cambodia took on a different flavor August 8, when personnel from the Royal Thai Air Force and a small team of Jungle Medics participated in a subject matter expert exchange in Bangkok, Thailand.
The RTAF and U.S. Air Force medics shared recent experiences concerning their response to the mishap at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. The RTAF medics were tasked with the safe evacuation of Thai citizens from Japan, and like many in the international community, were concerned with the radiological environment they were operating in.
During this subject matter exchange, the staff and students of the RTAF Institute of Aviation Medicine received lectures on the science of radiation, the health effects of exposure to large amounts of radiation and the treatment of casualties. They were particularly interested in how to protect themselves and their patients from exposure. They discussed the process of evacuating patients during a radiological incident and focused on the importance of mission planning and communication during a crisis.
The airmen also participated in a hands-on training simulation where a typhoon caused a chemical factory explosion and contaminated casualties. They had to plan the aeromedical evacuation mission, brief the aircrew and conduct a live flight mission. The casualties were decontaminated prior to treatment and evacuation, and were successfully moved from point of injury to definitive health care.
U.S. Air Force and RTAF personnel have participated in knowledge exchanges for several years, with previous conferences discussing blast injuries, disaster response and flight medicine.
This article was originally published at: http://www.13af.pacaf.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123269010
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