Photo By Capt. Kali Gradishar | Staff Sgt. Jesus Amador, 87th Aerospace Medicine Squadron independent duty medical...... read more read more
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PAKISTAN AIR FORCE BASE CHAKLALA, Pakistan – Getting a contingency response element out the door for a mission requires extensive training, preparation and motivation for all Airmen involved. Ensuring their health and wellbeing once they arrive at their destination requires just as much effort and dedication to keep the mission rolling.
A contingency response element, or CRE, is a group of Airmen from various career fields that form an efficient team specialized in standing up and running an airfield. For the CRE’s current mission in Pakistan, as there is already a running airfield at Pakistan Air Force base Chaklala, they are tasked with augmenting the Pakistan Air Force’s flood relief air operations out of the air base. For the sole medic attached to the CRE, his mission is to provide medical care for the more than 30 Airmen assigned to the unit as well as lend a hand with other mission-essential tasks.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Jesus Amador, 87th Aerospace Medicine Squadron independent duty medical technician from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, carries the responsibility of lending medical advice and expertise to the CRE as a one-man medical team. His duties include everything from recommending work/rest cycles through the measurement of Pakistan’s high heat and humidity, as well as monitoring the well-being of each CRE member.
“He’s invaluable to our operations here,” said Col. Gordon Bridger, Air Mobility Liaison to the Office of Defense Representative Pakistan and Pakistan Air Force. “It’s a challenging environment here with the heat and humidity, insects and injuries. If I didn’t have him here, it would take a lot more coordination for us to organize a means of medical care in the local area. And that would take up a lot of time that we just don’t have.”
Members of the CRE, as well as IDMTs, are constantly preparing for operations, oftentimes keeping bags packed and ready to go. For Sergeant Amador, preparation is more extensive for short-notice missions as he must ensure he arrives ready for any medical situation or emergency thrown his way.
Experience and preparation are especially crucial as a CRE team member
“I’ve been a medic the entire time (I’ve been in the Air Force). What set me up for this (experience) would be deploying overseas, working in an actual emergency room, and working with good doctors and good mentors,” Sergeant Amador said. “That and working in JPAC (Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command), gave me my experience downrange dealing with multi-service: Marines, Army, Air Force, Navy. It helped out a lot in knowing what to take, knowing what to leave behind.
“The supplies I’ve got are basically tailored for a (contingency response group) unit, but because this is a smaller contingent” I carried less supplies, said the medic. “So I have enough supplies to handle dehydration, cuts scrapes, burns, some medications, things of that nature.”
Once an order comes down for him to deploy as an IDMT, Sergeant Amador checks with his local public health flight for a medical briefing on the area he will enter. He also prepares by doing his own research on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Web site to get a better picture of what types of injuries and illnesses to expect.
“You get as much intel as you can and you tailor your equipment to the area you’re going to,” he said. “If you’re going somewhere that is going to be hot, you bring a lot of IV bags, a lot of fluids. I definitely bring a lot of suture material and a lot of certain types of medications.”
The top three supplies he made sure to pack for working with the CRE in Pakistan: Gastrointestinal medications, fluids and suture material.
Less than a month into operations, Amador has already seen a number of patients, averaging about four per day.
“Since day one, (I’ve already seen) lacerations, back injuries, back pain, dehydration,” said the medic.
Along with care for the CRE airmen, the Air Force medic also kept an eye on the soldiers of the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort Wainwright, Alaska, until the unit’s own medical crew arrived. The increased responsibility made for some pretty full hands for the IDMT, who has been an Air Force medic for more than eight years.
The 16th CAB arrived at the end of August, unloading disassembled CH-47 Chinooks and UH-60 Black Hawks from U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. The Soldiers quickly went to work reassembling the helicopters once unloaded, as task that can require difficult maneuvering and heavy lifting.
“My first patients were actually Army. They’re picking up a lot of equipment, so they’re getting a lot of muscle aches, muscle strains, back pains. And Air Force (injuries I’ve seen so far) were basically hand lacerations - a few people got some stitches,” the medic said. “That’s it. Wrap them up. Send them out. Get them back to work. I’m just taking care of my guys.”
Just as these responsibilities as a medic are all in a day’s work for Amador, he also takes on tasks generally reserved for loadmasters and aerial porters. Because the CRE is such a compact unit, and sometimes with only one or two people per career field, each member of the CRE finds ways to assist others even in tasks for which they aren’t typically assigned.
“I get to work with people I don’t normally get to work with,” said the medic. “I always try to help out wherever I can.”
As a behind-the-scenes medic not personally delivering aid to those in flood-affected areas, Amador still feels as though his efforts are contributing to the relief mission as a whole.
“We’re actually helping people, and we’re here for a good reason,” Amador said. “I’m just glad to be helping out.”
And the efforts he’s made in keeping the Airmen of the CRE and soldiers of the 16th CAB fit to carry out their roles in augmenting the Pakistan government’s flood relief efforts are appreciated by everyone from an airman first class with a hand laceration to his leadership.
“He’s done an incredible job working in both preventative and reactionary capacities,” said Bridger. “He provides a very unique capability, and I’m very grateful that he’s here.”
| Date Taken: | 09.11.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 09.11.2010 05:16 |
| Story ID: | 56076 |
| Location: | CHAKLALA AIR BASE, PK |
| Web Views: | 335 |
| Downloads: | 8 |
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