Joint team moves critically ill infants over holiday weekend

Published May 29, 2009
By Maj. Sam Highley
13th Air Force Public Affairs

HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii -- A joint team of U.S. servicemembers spanning the globe from Japan to Texas successfully moved two critically ill infants needing specialized care over the Memorial Day weekend.

The infants -- one 9 months old and the other 20 days old, when moved -- were flown from Kadena Air Base, Japan, to San Antonio, Texas, May 26 aboard a C-17 Globemaster III.

Both are military family members needing specialized care at medical facilities in the continental United States. As of May 29, the children were in stable condition at hospitals in San Antonio.

A 25-person joint medical team from Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio helped move the older infant, who needed extracorporeal membrane oxygenation during the flight. ECMO is a technique that provides both cardiac and respiratory support to patients whose heart and lungs are not functioning properly.

Additionally, a five-person joint neonatal intensive care unit team from the U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa and Wilford Hall helped move the younger infant, providing the patient specialized care during the 15-hour flight.

Maj. Lorri Reed, chief of the aeromedical evacuation control team in the 613th Air and Space Operations Center here, said the move was a team effort by U.S. military personnel in Japan, Hawaii, Texas, Alaska and Illinois.

"We worked closely with our counterparts at the 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center [at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.] to coordinate the move, but also received tremendous support from many other units," Major Reed said. "Even over a holiday weekend, everyone came together to help these families when they needed it most."

This commitment was seen just before takeoff at Kadena, when a maintenance problem was discovered with the C-17 configured to move the infants. Airmen from the 18th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron there quickly off-loaded medical equipment and had another C-17 configured for the flight in just 90 minutes.

Maj. Maria Angles, validating flight surgeon with the 13th Air Force's Theater Patient Movement Requirements Center here, praised the hard work of the geographically separated, multi-service team that successfully moved the infants.

"I greatly appreciate the significant amount of effort the entire team put into making this transport happen," Major Angles said. "The number of personnel that came together and the number of moving parts that were coordinated is a testament to how much the military values taking care of its people and their families."

Units that assisted in the successful move included the 613th AOC; the 618th TACC; 13th AF's TPMRC; the 18th AES; the Wilford Hall Medical Center; the U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa; the 59th Medical Group Aeromedical Staging Facility at Lackland AFB, Texas; the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; the 168th Air Refueling Wing at Eielson AFB, Alaska; and U.S. Transportation Command's Global Patient Movement Requirements Center at Scott.