Airmen at contingency facility provide rest, comfort for service members

Photo By Capt. David Faggard | Airmen at Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, provide rest, comfort for service members.  

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AFGHANISTAN

09.13.2009

Story by Capt. David Faggard 

455th Air Expeditionary Wing   

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- In an air-conditioned tent, the sounds of Army Black Hawks carrying the wounded can be heard a few dozen feet away, as wounded service members eagerly await an aeromedical evacuation flight to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany.

A recent addition to the medical team's capabilities here is the Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, "an overflow facility for the main hospital," said Capt. Bostella Walker, a nurse deployed form Langley Air Force Base, Va., who serves as the officer in charge of the facility that sees many of Afghanistan's out-patient medical cases.

Medics see patients with a variety of injuries here, according to the captain, a Vicksburg, Miss., native.

"From nine-line IED injuries in the lower extremities to traumas, we're an extension of the hospital." According to the captain, the overflow capability was severely tested this week when a large group of more than 20 patients were waiting for flights to Germany.

Caring and housing for these patients as they move through the aeromedical process is a challenge, according to Tech. Sgt. Jason Stalling, a hospital administrator deployed from Scott AFB, Ill., who ensures the floors are mopped at least twice a day trying to keep the Afghan dust out of the tent.

"We have filled this facility with patients, and that's not a good thing," the sergeant from Indianapolis said about the air-conditioned structure comprised of multiple joined Alaska tents. "The first month we were open [July], we saw the most amount of injuries ever," from Operating Enduring Freedom. They exceeded that number in August and are on track for breaking records in September as well, according to Stalling.

As the Craig Joint Theater Hospital's overflow facility, the tents are lined with medical supplies, stretchers and gear you'd expect to find in any major hospital, but something was lacking.

"There was nothing for them to do," said Stalling looking on at four Army Soldiers waiting on transportation, which could take days to arrive. "All they could do was sit on their beds; now the USO donated more than $7,000 of TVs, games and DVDs for the wounded."

Large screen televisions play the Armed Forces Network and movies while the service members wait on their flights.

"I got here three days ago and there was nothing," said Army Pfc. Christopher Sednek, a native of Shelbyville, Ind., who was waiting on transportation for a respiratory problem. Now there's a big screen for movies, and popular Playstation Portable gaming devices for the wounded to play if they desire. "Often times, we're taken out of the field with nothing, just the clothes we're wearing. This is nice to have; it takes your mind off of things and helps the days go by."

The Airmen at the CASF treat everyone, from Americans to Afghans, to coalition service members. Lt. Col. Eid Al Abadi from Jordan was resting on a cot near a field hospital sink, fed by five-gallon jerry cans of water.

"It's a good place to rest and wait," he said through a translator. "I am thankful for them."

• Date Taken: 09.13.2009
• Date Posted: 09.15.2009 08:26
• Story ID: 38781
• Location: BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF