Flight nurse living dream of service in Southwest Asia

Published Aug. 24, 2007
By Col. Tom Deall
U.S. Central Air Forces Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- Whether preserving the life of a severely injured Soldier in flight or providing command and control for aeromedical evacuation operations, for flight nurse Maj. Beth Ann Lumpkin Gambill, service in Southwest Asia is the culmination of a lifelong dream.

Major Gambill, now in her second month in Southwest Asia, is the deputy chief of the Aeromedical Evacuation Control Team, or AECT. In this position she has two primary duties that ultimately save lives. The first duty is as an aeromedical evacuation controller.

As a controller, she answers the validated patient movement requirement from the Joint Patient Movement Requirement Center, or JPMRC, when a patient needs immediate or routine airlift to a medical facility. This process includes mission planning to coordinate airlift, mission tasking for the aeromedical evacuation crews and critical care air transport team crews along with mission execution and responding to mission irregularities.

For example, during a recent shift she received a call that a patient had been stabbed in the head and doctors where concerned the injury would effect the patient's blood vessels in his brain. At the same time, she was notified of another patient who was shot by a sniper and the bullet was dangerously close to his spine.

To preserve life and limb, the aeromedical evacuation team often takes heroic steps and this mission was no exception. Within a matter of a couple of hours, the two patients were on a 13-hour non-stop flight from Iraq to the United States.

The second duty involves flying the missions herself. Once a month, Major Gambill finds herself as a flight nurse traveling throughout Iraq dropping off and picking up patients. These types of missions titled either Faith or Hope are flown in C-130 Hercules.

This flight, which often lasts more than 16 hours, is designed to get patient care when and where needed. And since they enjoy a lifesaving rate of more than 96 percent, these missions are considered very successful.

The youngest of three children, Major Gambill grew up where nursing was very much a part of the fabric of the family. As she reflected on her days at home, she said it was her mother who put the idea of nursing in her head and in her heart.

"My mother, Bernadette Lumpkin, was a nurse for more than 40 years," said the major. "She spent her entire career at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital located in Camden, NJ, starting in 1959. She worked in the labor and delivery department and worked everyday loving what she did for people in our community. To this day I meet people who say that my mother helped deliver their children. That was powerful for me to see and since then it's all I wanted to do because it was exciting."

After graduating from Paul VI High School in Haddon Township, N.J., she attended the Villanova University College of Nursing in Villanova, Pa., graduating in 1990. Shortly after graduation, she entered the Air Force through the direct commissioning program. Wanting to do something different and travel, flight nursing was a perfect fit.

Though now in her 17th year, this is the major's first deployment. The deployment proved a challenge for her and her daughters Mary (5), Sophia (4) and son, Ryan (22 months). But like so many deployed Airmen, it is her family and friends who make the time away possible.

"We learned of the deployment nine months ago and that's when we started preparing," said Major Gambill. "Since I'm now stationed at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, I am fortunate to be very close to family which helps tremendously. While I'm here, my kids are staying with my sister, but I also have aunts, uncles, cousins and my brother nearby."

Although challenging, she doesn't complain. From the day she joined the Air Force, she understood that travel and deployments were part of the contract.

"I knew what I was signing up for when I joined," said Major Gambill. "And although I miss my kids terribly, I also have to keep it in perspective. I never forget that my deployment is only four months while others in the military serve as long as 15 months. In the end, I'm confident that God has a purpose and for now this is mine."

To bridge the distance, Major Gambill regularly sends boxes of small gifts home. She also sends the kids DVDs with recorded messages. Though never a replacement for being home with her children, she knows it helps to ease the time of separation.

While in Southwest Asia, Major Gambill is part of a system that has treated more than 64,147 patients of which 11,030 suffer from combat injuries. In her role as flight nurse and controller, she works closely with the aeromedical staff at Balad AB, Iraq. Balad's hospital staff treat more trauma patients that any other emergency room in the United States.

When not in Southwest Asia, Major Gambill is assigned to the 21st Air Mobility Operations Squadron, McGuire AFB, N.J., as the deputy flight commander of plans.