617th AOC plans patient movements

When the 617th Air and Space Operations Center’s Aeromedical Evacuation Control Team picks up the phone, the clock starts to work against them.

Part of 17th Air Force (Air Forces Africa) and serving in the 617th AOC’s Air Mobility Division in support of U.S. Africa Command, the AECT has the responsibility for coordinating and transporting patients needing a higher level of care from Africa to locations where necessary medical care is available. Time is critical.

From October to February, the 617th AOC has coordinated the movement of 14 patients and tracked 154 patient movements with varying medical conditions ranging from dental and cardiac emergencies, orthopedic injuries and infectious diseases to compromised airways, said Tech. Sgt. Laura Jacobs, 617th Aeromedical Evacuation controller.

Sergeant Jacobs recalled that one of the unit’s most challenging missions involved six injured patients with two needing urgent care.

“We had a plane and crew on the ground at their location in probably right at 12 hours, which is good for Africa because the continent is so big,” she said. “Regardless of the urgent status and short notice of the event, we had a mission built in coordination with Tanker Airlift Control Center along with aeromedical evacuation crew tasked in four hours, which is fast compared to some other missions I’ve worked.”

Most of the patients come out of Djibouti, but patients have also been recovered from Kenya, Mali, South Africa, Liberia, Uganda and Ethiopia, she said.
Requests for patient movement in Africa are sent to the 617th AOC from the Theater Patient Movement Requirement Center here at Ramstein, said Lt. Col. Maria Guevara De Matalabos, 617th AECT chief.

“Air Force aeromedical evacuation begins once a validated movement request is passed to the Air Force for execution,” she said.

The AETC is always available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and as part of the 617th Air Mobility Division, it coordinates with appropriate agencies to get an aircraft and aeromedical evacuation crew onto the African continent in as little as 12 hours.

“The time we have to get there and have hands on depends on the seriousness of the patient’s condition,” Colonel Guevara De Matalabos said. “We would like to get hands on urgent care patients within 12 hours and priority patients within 24 hours.”

Without dedicated assigned aircraft or people for AE that quick response is challenging, she explained.

One of the longest missions involved tasking a C-17 out of Al Udeid, Qatar, to South Africa and back to Ramstein, Sergeant Jacobs explained.

“It’s a little over 11 hours from Ramstein to South Africa, and the total flying time with aircraft leaving Al Udeid took about 19 hours,” she said.

Seventeenth AF houses a “tailored” 617th AOC, which provides command and control capabilities for the planning and execution of aerial missions on the continent.

However, with no assigned aircraft or aeromedical evacuation crews, the unit requests for support as needed from TACC to pinpoint the most available and capable airframe for the specific mission.

On average, coordination times of AE missions for Africa take about four hours, even when requesting aircraft from TACC with aircraft originating out of Ramstein, Colonel Guevara De Matalabos explained. A plane equipped with the en route care capabilities is imperative for successful execution of AE missions.

“En route care is provided by trained (aeromedical evacuation crew members) consisting of qualified flight nurses and aeromedical evacuation technicians,” Colonel Guevara De Matalabos said.

Colonel Guevara De Matalabos and her team routinely call upon the 603rd Aeromedical Evacuation Control Team, the 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, both at Ramstein, the Critical Care Air Transport Team at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, and the Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., to assist in providing people and aircraft for the mission.

“These units have more than helped as far as lending us their assets,” Sergeant Jacobs said. “They recognize the urgency of the missions and they are more than willing to help us.”

The mission for the 617th AOC doesn’t end when coordination efforts are finished. They want to make sure that everyone, from patient to crew members, is taken care of in the patient movement process, Colonel Guevara De Matalabos explained.
“We flight-follow the entire mission,” she said. “We track every patient from when they are picked up until they are delivered to their destination. We also make sure the flight crew has the right information they need.”

Taking care of people is something the 617th takes seriously.

“We want to make sure everything runs smoothly,” Colonel Guevara De Matalabos said. “This is a team effort and the evacuations couldn’t happen if we all didn’t work together.”