USTRANSCOM transports 40 litter patients out of harm’s way as Hurricane Lili approached
The Lake Charles area was under evacuation orders, and all possible roadways leading out of the city were clogged with traffic. The estimated driving time was 14 hours, and some of these patients required battery operated life support systems that would have run out of power before they arrived at their destination, according to Lt. Col. Mimi Reilly, director, Operations Division, Global Patient Movement Requirements Center at Scott.
“The GPMRC representative in U.S. Transportation Command’s Mobility Control Center received a call at 5 p.m. Oct. 2 asking for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Louisiana to move 40 litter patients,” she said.
Assisting a civilian request for help requires a lot of coordination.
“The Crisis Action Team chief called his counterpart at the Joint Staff in the Pentagon, who then went through the Directorate of Military Support office to verify this was indeed a FEMA request,” said Col. Jim Sharpe, chief, operations division. “The DOMS office is the Joint Staff interface with the State Department and other government agencies.”
While he was waiting for the Joint Staff coordination, he called the Tanker Airlift Control Center to alert them that a requirement was about to come through. The TACC alerted the aircrew members to get the aircraft ready.
The CAT chief at the Joint Staff called the USTRANSCOM CAT chief to say the request was authorized, who then called the TACC to have them activate the aircraft missions.
Two C-9 Nightingale aircraft with Aeromedical and critical care teams, a total of 25 aircrew members left for Louisiana shortly after the call was received. The C-9 is the only aircraft in the inventory specifically designed for the movement of litter and ambulatory patients.
“When the aircraft arrived in Lake Charles, the winds were just starting to pick up speed,” Reilly said, “but it was still under our maximum allowable wind speed of 35 knots to open the ramp and load patients.”
The 40 patients were loaded aboard the two aircraft in about one hour, then flown to Shreveport in 20 minutes. A civilian hospital team was there to receive the patients and take them to a local hospital.
“We were called because no one else could handle that amount of litter patients in a short time,” Reilly pointed out. “We are always ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
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