THE suspense of the 1940 s airforce

Flying to the rescue

THE suspense of the 1940 s airforce movies, with wailing sirens and

spluttering engines as the planes i

prepare for take off, maybe something of the past. But the urgency with which the Medevac team at RAAF Richmond near Sydney operates today is every bit as impressive.

Medevac is a service provided by the Royal Australian Air Force that is de signed primarily to evacuate wounded military personnel in wartime. To main tain a high level of expertise and train ing, the Medevac teams are used to treat and transfer critically ill civilians from Asian and Pacific countries, as well as remote parts of Australia, to the more specialised hospitals in Australia.

Recently, a tourist on Norfolk Island collapsed because of severe internal bleeding. The hospital did not have the facilities to diagnose or treat the prob lem, and without immediate assistance the patient could have died. The airforce Hercules was airborne within hours,

flying a general surgeon, anaesthetist and pathology technician to the island.

The cause of the illness was found to be a bleeding ulcer. The haemorrhage was stopped and after a further night on the island to stabilise his condition, the patient was flown back to Sydney for surgery and recuperations.

Wing Commander Denis Gardiner, commanding officer of No. 3 Hospital at RAAF Richmond, said that the Medevac teams are on 24-hour standby.

“It takes a minimum of one hour to prepare an aircraft for a Medevac

flight,” he said. “It must be refuelled, loaded with medical equipment and sup plies, and flight plans must be lodged.”

He said that if specialists are required, they are usually called from the major hospitals in Sydney. The RAAF has a number of medical specialists in the Re serves who are willing to drop every thing and drive to Richmond when necessary. Even with these delays, the normal time taken to become airborne is only 2 to 3 hours.

Air Commodore Tom O’Brien, Chief of Staff at Air Command, Glenbrook, said: “It is a service that the RAAF offers the civilian population. If a flight is recommended by senior airforce medical staff, we will undertake it and worry about the paperwork later,”

Medevac evolved from the RAAF Medical Evacuation Support Unit, which was set up in the early 1960 s to evacuate the wounded from Vietnam. Initially, the idea was to fly in, collect the injured and treat them on board during the re turn flight. D

Robert Simms

Airborne hospital