BEAUFORT, S.C. - With roads out and bridges down, medical teams rely on helicopters to transport victims to hospitals during the Vigilant Guard 2008 exercise April 21 - 24 in Beaufort, S.C.
The Emergency Medical Support team (EMEDS) from the Air National Guard runs the field hospitals when responding to a natural disaster. If a victim needs more treatment than the field hospital can provide they must be airlifted to another treatment center.
"Standard procedure for evacuating victims is to treat the patient and call in an air evacuation," said Maj. Douglas Genereux from the 143rd Medical Group with the Rhode Island Air National Guard. "The intensive-care patients get prepped with staff being conscious of their injuries. The patients are loaded onto a stretcher and taken out to the loading zone."
Multiple types of helicopters are used for medical evacuation (MEDEVAC). The most common are UH-60 Blackhawks, CH-47 Chinooks, and UH-1 Hueys. The number of people who are able to be evacuated depends on the type of helicopter.
"During a mass casualty we stay with each patient, maintaining life support, until we can get an available aircraft," said Genereux.
The field hospital staff is certified every five years and takes an annual class for EMEDS and Medevac.
According to Genereux this is the first time the EMEDS team has deployed to get certified." They were able to have the emergency room up and running in 24 hours.
"Setting up from a dirt lot, then staffing and stocking it in two days - during a natural disaster is huge!