Wing members evacuate patients from Rita's path

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Charles K. Miller
  • 445th Airlift Wing
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio --  A C-141 aircraft from the 445th Airlift Wing returned late Sept. 24 from Beaumont, Texas, the Southeast Texas Regional Airport, where the plane and its crew evacuated 59 patients from the path of Hurricane Rita. 

“We were the last plane, period, out of Beaumont,” said Lt. Col. Steve Bastian, one of the three pilots from the 356th Airlift Squadron, part of the 445th, who flew the evacuation mission. “The airport and their tower were actually closed; however we were given permission to take off and were monitored by Houston.” 

The 445th plane evacuated the patients to Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., where they are being cared for in Atlanta area hospitals and nursing care facilities. Forty two of the patients were on litters. Almost all of the patients were elderly from Beaumont area nursing homes but there were three newborn babies on board, one in an incubator. 

“Some of the evacuees were in their 90’s, some were one-day-old babies,” the colonel said. “Many of the folks we evacuated were in pretty tough shape. We evacuated two women who had their home burn to the ground and literally had nothing left except their two dogs,” the colonels said. 

According to Col. Bastian, local doctors had performed c-sections on near term pregnant women who were expected to go into labor during or right after the hurricanes arrival. The mothers, their newborns and the other patients were safely evacuated thanks to an outstanding response by Texas Air National Guardsmen, active duty Air Force and local medical experts, the colonel said. 

There were six C-17’s from Altus Air Force Base, Okla., and three C-5’s from Kelly Air Force Base, Texas and Travis Air Force Base, Calif., at the airport when the wing members landed. None of the planes were left when the 445th’s C-141 took off with the patients. 

“We were the only aircraft equipped to carry litter patients,” Col. Bastian said. The other planes took patients that could walk and were not in need of constant medical attention.
When the C-141 landed at Dobbins ARB after a 90 minute flight there were about 200 military and medical personnel waiting to care for the patients. 

“There were two life flight helicopters and maybe two dozen ambulances there,” the colonel said. “The Georgia National Guard, the Air Force Reservists and all the civilians working together was truly impressive. It was like a machine.” 

This was a repeat flight into a hurricane area for Doctor Maj. Brad Goldman, assigned to the 445th’s Aeromedical Staging Squadron. The major, who served as the flight doctor, had flown to Louisiana a few weeks ago after Hurricane Katrina. This time the doctor arrived just before the storm. 

“We had time pressures this time because the winds were building up quickly,” Maj. Goldman said. The patients had to be loaded quickly and safely. “We made sure no one was left behind.” 

But that was only one of the challenges for the major and his crew of seven from the 445th’s Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. 

There were nine critical patients aboard and a few required ventilators, which were not available. “We had to manually ventilate them during the entire flight,” Maj. Goldman said. This practice, while not uncommon, is not as effective as a ventilator machine.

The procedures were successful and the patients arrived at Dobbins without incident.
According to Col. Bastian flying conditions in and around Beaumont were not good, there were some turbulence, but the patients had a fairly smooth ride once they flew from the storm area. Oddly, the worst weather the mission experienced was a huge thunderstorm near Cincinnati on their return flight to Wright-Patt., with no patients aboard.